They are here: The rise and rise of AI robots
The buzz is visible in headlines streaming live. Masayoshi Son is making a $1.3-trillion bet under Project Crystal Land alongside TSMC for building robots and AI hubs. Tesla is all set, finally, to unveil its Robotaxi in Austin, Texas. Nvidia and Foxconn are in talks to deploy humanoid robots at the Houston AI server plant. Amazon deploys AI-enabled robot Vulcan at its warehouses and plans to deploy delivery robots as part of a plan to automate $200 billion in logistics costs. A Chinese outfit has unveiled the first robotic hand combining tactile perception with complete motion capabilities. Hexagon launched Aeon, a humanoid designed for industry for autonomy, automated measurement systems and perception—and what's more, it can produce digital twins.
Indian entities, too, are chasing productivity to expand the use of robotics for an array of businesses. Reliance-backed Addverb is launching humanoid robots to eliminate '3D jobs', ones that are dull, dirty and dangerous. Bengaluru-based Invento is developing Mitra robots for retail, hospitality and senior care. Kochi-based Asimov Robotics develops robots for high-risk settings. Hyderabad-based Svaya Robotics specialises in industrial robots for collaborative tasks in manufacturing and logistics. Bengaluru start-up Genobotics is the developer of Bandicoot robot which automates sewer cleaning. Kody from Ahmedabad is developing robots for surveillance, office services and industry.
The term robot owes its etymology to the Czech word robota, which means forced labour, and was introduced in Czech author Karel Capek's 1921 science fiction play Rossum's Universal Robots. Robots made their cinematic debut in 1927 in Metropolis, a movie about a polarised society in a divided futuristic city. Popular passions, though, surfaced with the 2007 blockbuster Transformers about alien robots produced by toymakers Hasbro and Takara Tomy and Schwarzenegger starrer Terminator. A century after Capek's coinage, a combination of factors has spurred the creeping robot evolution to a tipping point. The blend of knowledge and technology has propelled investments.
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