Figure today announced a “commercial agreement” that will bring its first humanoid robot to a BMW manufacturing facility in South Carolina.
BMW has not disclosed how many Figure 01 models it will deploy initially.
Nor do we know precisely what jobs the robot will be tasked with when it starts work.
Adcock alludes to Figure 01 being tasked with an initial set of jobs that require high dexterity.
Figure 01 will very much be learning on the job, as well, refining its approach during real-world testing, much as we humans do.
Fortunately, NASA (as as always) is thinking ahead, and has just shown off a self-assembling robotic structure that might just be a crucial part of moving off-planet.
“We think this type of construction technology can serve a lot of very general applications,” said lead author Christine Gregg.
“In the near term, the robust autonomy and lightweight structures of our approach strongly benefit applications in austere environments, like the lunar surface or space.
“For us, the structures and all of the robotic systems are resources that can be optimized over space and time.
Versions of the robot have already flown in space and done work in microgravity, so no worries on that score.
Remember that robot chef Samsung “debuted” at CES 2020?
At least the “return” of Ballie demonstrated that Samsung hasn’t lost interest in the home robot.
So why — after 20+ years — do we have little more to show for it than a bunch of robot vacuums?
Instead, conservatively tens of millions of dollars go into R&D across countless companies aimed at building a better robot vacuum.
Matic is — for most intents and purposes — yet another robot vacuum looking to make a name in a very crowded space.
Memphis-based Dextrous Robotics is calling it a day.
The news, noted by the Robot Report, was confirmed by the warehouse robotics firm’s CEO, Evan Drumwright, on LinkedIn.
Last year, Dextrous made headlines for its novel approach to truck unloading.
The titular dexterity (not to be confused with fellow truck unloading robot firm Dexterity AI) allows the system to approach boxes from a variety of vantage points and angles.
“We started Dextrous Robotics four years ago to organize our world with machines and focused on automating one of the most dangerous tasks in the industrialized world,” says Drumwright.
One of the easiest shots to take at the delivery bots some of us see trundling around techy cities is that they can’t climb stairs, curbs, or any other minor obstacle that even a slug could handle.
Mobinn, a new spinoff from Hyundai, has seemingly solved this using a set of flexible wheels that can take it up stairs with ease.
They showed off their delivery bot at CES 2024 in Las Vegas.
Stairs and curbs are the bane of many a delivery bot, and generally the solution has been to avoid them.
Mobinn’s pitch deck also shows that they are working on wheelchair and other mobility options, but so far it seems the delivery bot is the first out the door.
In some parts of the world (read: Japan, primarily), eldercare has been an important robotics focus for decades.
In Tel Aviv, meanwhile, Intuition Robotics has been promoting a “companion” robot since 2016 or so.
The latest version of the robot features design tweaks, more powerful hardware and — of course — generative AI integration.
The company is exploring other avenues with generative AI, as well here.
“One example is the ability to paint or write poems together, activities that contribute to cognitive wellness and creativity,” Intuition notes.
Samsung wants to make the smart home smarter — if your home’s a Samsung home, that is.
Elsewhere, Samsung launched a new “map view” for SmartThings similar to Amazon’s recently launched Map View.
Samsung’s take shows an interactive map of your home complete with the location of any smart home devices (e.g.
In a cute (or creepy, depending on your point of view) touch, the new SmartThings maps show “AI characters” that stand in for family members and pets inside the home.
But once that’s done, they’ll display on supported Samsung TVs, the screen of the Samsung Family Hub smart fridge and Samsung’s M8 monitors.
Remember Ballie, Samsung’s spherical home robot from CES 2020?
I sure didn’t — until Samsung brought it back at this year’s keynote with a few on-trend AI upgrades.
The new and improved Ballie, which Samsung previewed during its press conference at CES 2024 in Las Vegas today, is around the size of a bowling ball, packing a battery that’s designed to last two to three hours.
In the latter case, Ballie will respond with the aid of a chatbot to confirm requests before taking action.
“With its built-in front [and] rear camera, [Ballie] can detect and analyze its surroundings and learn recurring user patterns,” Samsung continues in the press release.
I don’t know that anyone expected such a massive deal to simply skate past regulators — particularly with all of the heat Amazon has received for privacy concerns and noncompetitive practices over the last decade.
At the same time, I don’t think too many of us assumed that we would be barreling into 2024 with this big, open question mark.
The deal has already been greenlit by a number of governmental bodies, but the process has felt drawn out at every step.
If you’re a regular Actuator reader, you likely already know my feelings about outside scrutiny of business practices (I’m generally pro), but I expected something definitive by now.
Amazon will be just fine, of course, but I can’t imagine this waiting game has been easy on iRobot, which underwent two rounds of layoffs in mid-2022 and early 2023.
More recently, the potential use of weaponized robots by law enforcement has been a political lightning rod in places like Oakland and San Francisco.
Earlier this week, I spoke about the bill with Massachusetts state representative Lindsay Sabadosa, who filed it alongside Massachusetts state senator Michael Moore.
Does the bill apply to law enforcement as well?
And what we’ve heard from law enforcement repeatedly is that they’re often used to deescalate situations.
We haven’t had law enforcement weaponize robots, and no one has said, “We’d like to attach a gun to a robot” from law enforcement in Massachusetts.
