Latest news with #BostonDynamics
Top Gear
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Here are nine humanoid robots used by carmakers and no we're not scared at all
Advertisement Agibot's got a whole portfolio of humanoid robots, but it's the A2 that caught BYD's eye. The machine is 169cm tall (5'7"), weighs 69kg and has a turning radius of 60cm... and a great sense of humour? Cool Tinder profile. Agibot's A2 runs on a 700wH battery, capable of two hours' work before it needs a recharge. Robots tire too? Who knew. Advertisement - Page continues below Apptronik Apollo (Mercedes-Benz) Apptronik's Apollo - now strutting its stuff in Mercedes-Benz factories - is less sci-fi overlord, more blue-collar bot with ambition. Merc reckons the 170cm tall machine lightens the human load; it walks, it lifts, it learns, and crucially, it doesn't whinge about the weekend's footy results every Monday morning. You might like Atlas is made by Boston Dynamics, enjoying partnerships with a number of carmakers including Audi, BMW, Tesla and Hyundai. Atlas's six-foot-two hydraulic predecessor retired in April 2024, replaced by a fully electric version. Crucially, it's the only robot that has a pet dog called Spot. Advertisement - Page continues below Chinese carmaker Chery partnered with Aimoga to deploy 'Mornine'. Rocking a set of blond locks and that fetching pair of blue glasses, she's helping to sell cars at a Malaysian dealership. Although her dynamic movement is a little awkward, we're told she'll be a three-phase evolution. Beginning, middle, end? Powered by an all-solid-state battery with a six-hour runtime, Guangzhou Automobile Company's GoMate stands at 1.4 meters on four wheels and towers to 1.75 meters on two. The otherworldly rollerblader moonwalks and wheelies in one fluid motion, and limited production is planned for 2026. Reckon it'll be ready to [robot] rumble with the others? Unitech G1 (Great Wall Motor) Though Great Wall Motor has partnered with Unitree to work out how best to deploy the tech in factories, you could own your very own G1 for about £24,000, courtesy of the world wide web. The Unitree G1 bot dances better than most blokes bordering the floor of the local disco - with movements reminiscent of Mickey Mouse with those gloves and shoes on. Tesla's Optimus is set to cost less than £20,000 and hit production lines in mass numbers from 2026. But let's not get too starry-eyed. Right now, it's a toddler with ambition - walking, waving, maybe stacking boxes if it's feeling cooperative. Elon reckons it'll change the world; for now, it's changing batteries. Advertisement - Page continues below A 1.7-metre-tall Swiss Army knife in a shiny suit, UBTech's Walker S1 is armed with 41 servo joints, superhuman algorithmic perception, and a brain powered by a large language model. Like its peers, Walker S1 can lift boxes, sort parts, and even dodge obstacles for the likes of Audi, BYD, Nio and VW. The question is, can this robotic Bear Grylls do the moonwalk yet? Xpeng's Iron (man-bot) looks like it walked out of a Marvel film and straight into a factory. It stands 1.78 metres tall, and features 200 degrees of freedom along with a spine that flexes like a yoga instructor. It's driven by a 40-core AI chip, giving it the brains to match its brawn. Sure, it's still in prototype mode, but if this is the future of robotics, then the machines are arriving in style. Advertisement - Page continues below
Korea Herald
7 days ago
- Business
- Korea Herald
Samsung, LG eye first-mover edge in robotics camera modules
LG takes lead with Figure AI talks, Boston Dynamics partnership Korea's top two electronics parts makers — Samsung Electro-Mechanics and LG Innotek — are accelerating their efforts to gain an early foothold in humanoid robot camera modules, which is seen as a blue ocean market with no clear leader yet. LG Innotek is in talks with US-based humanoid robotics startup Figure AI to supply camera modules for its robots, according to industry sources on Tuesday. The two firms are expected to finalize supply volumes and pricing in the second half, with mass production likely to begin in early 2026. Figure AI, backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, aims to produce 100,000 humanoid robots over the next four years. If the negotiations are successful, LG will become the official camera module supplier for the US startup, marking its first major achievement in its new robotics business. LG has been strengthening its presence in the sector, signing a partnership last month with Boston Dynamics to jointly develop a custom vision sensing system for the company's Atlas humanoid robot. The system will be tailored to Atlas' specifications to enhance its visual perception capabilities. The Korean parts maker is reportedly collaborating with more than half of the 14 humanoid robotics firms that appeared during Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's keynote speech at CES 2025 in January. These firms include Boston Dynamics, Agility Robotics, Figure AI, Apptronik and Unitree. According to Eugene Investment & Securities, LG's deals with Figure AI and Boston Dynamics could contribute about 19 billion won ($13.9 million) to operating profit by 2028 and more than 90 billion won by 2029. While it represents a small portion of LG's 2023 operating profit of 706 billion won, the figure is expected to rise significantly as the firm expands its client base in the robotics sector. Samsung Electro-Mechanics is also engaging with multiple humanoid robotics firms as it looks to expand into the field. At a press conference during CES 2024, CEO Chang Duk-hyun identified robotics as a key focus for future growth. 'Samsung has yet to supply camera modules for any dedicated robotics firms, but its technological expertise and mass production capabilities in smartphone and automotive camera modules are well-established,' said an industry source who requested anonymity. 'As the humanoid robot market enters mass production, interest in Samsung's camera modules is likely to rise.' Industry watchers predict the market for robotic camera modules will experience explosive growth. Eugene Investment & Securities projects the market will grow from 40 billion won in 2026 to 4.7 trillion won by 2029. 'With the smartphone camera module market reaching saturation, the robotics sector presents a rare growth opportunity. Early movers will have a significant advantage in what promises to be a fiercely competitive landscape,' the anonymous source said.
Mint
23-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
The Holy Grail of automation: Now a robot can unload a truck
The robots are coming for the last human warehouse jobs. Loading and unloading a truck is backbreaking, mind-numbing work that retailers and parcel carriers have tried to solve for years. Workers may not stay long in these jobs. Summers and winters are particularly grueling for anyone stuck in a metal trailer, slinging heavy boxes. Injuries are common. Automating this process has long been the holy grail of warehouse logistics. When loaded, packages must be fitted together to fill the available space and be sorted by weight—with the heaviest items on the bottom—so they don't topple or break. Unloading them is challenging, too, because the unloader must move in and out of a trailer, ferrying packages of different sizes and weights. On a typical warehouse floor today, every task might be heavily automated—except for workers loading and unloading the trucks. People who have worked these jobs say they have to stand for extended periods, hefting boxes as heavy as 70 pounds. New advances in robotics are changing that. Improved sensors and algorithms, advancements in AI and faster image-processing technology are making these robots proficient players in tasks that are like a game of 3-D Tetris. Engineers at Ambi Robotics designed a videogame to train its robotic stacking system, AmbiStack. It simulated challenging situations, including heavy parcels and boxes with strange dimensions, said Jeff Mahler, Ambi Robotics co-founder and chief technology officer. Another company, Boston Dynamics, has designed a robot called Stretch, named for its flexible arm that can reach the top corners of a trailer. With a vacuum gripper covered in suction cups, it can lift boxes weighing up to 50 pounds. DHL now has a total of seven Stretch robots in supply-chain facilities in three states and has trained nearly 100 associates to operate them. In Columbus, Ohio, one Stretch robot that DHL staff named 'Johnny 5" unloads around 580 cases an hour, almost twice the rate of a human unloader. DHL in May signed an agreement with Boston Dynamics for 1,000 more robots. United Parcel Service is also increasing automation at its facilities, including for loading and unloading trailers—a move that will help the company cut costs, UPS executives said in April. FedEx has been testing and refining the truck-loading process in one of its facilities with robotics company Dexterity since 2023. Walmart also has introduced robots that can unload a truck. DHL wanted a robot that had the flexibility to handle different products, that could move in and out of a trailer and that didn't require a large capital investment, said Sally Miller, global chief information officer of DHL Supply Chain. 'These are hard jobs to fill, especially unloading a trailer in the warmer months," she said. Stretch the Robot still has some difficulty picking up thin packages, and the robot can't unload bags yet. Boston Dynamics declined to say how much each robot costs but estimates that there is a two-year return on investment on the robots. Megan Diveley, a warehouse worker at a logistics company in Virginia who has been loading trucks for around three years, said she got nasty bruises on her legs when she first started. 'It got better after I got stronger, but I am always peppered with bruises," said the 44-year-old. Diveley said she fears losing her job and feels that worry even without the specter of robots. Lower volume, facility consolidation and cost-cutting at logistics companies are all factors that can result in layoffs. Her advice for the humans still doing the job: stay hydrated and wear steel-toed shoes.
Daily Mail
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Even robots get stage fright! Watch the horrifying moment a robot dog COLLAPSES on stage during America's Got Talent audition
Boston Dynamics' Spot robot dogs wowed the America's Got Talent judges with their dancing in an incredible audition. Five of the 35kg robots showed off their moves to Queen's Don't Stop Me Now in an incredible feat of engineering. But it turns out that even robots can get stage fright, as one of the dancing bots collapsed just minutes into the performance. On social media, commenters joked that the robot must have been 'tired of all the rehearsals'. Even after one of their members collapsed, the robotic performers continued to strut and sway across the stage without missing a beat for their entire 90-second routine. And the slip-up didn't hold this unique dance troupe back as the judges swiftly awarded four 'yes' votes, sending them through to the next round of the competition. Even the usually surly Simon Cowell couldn't hold back a smile as he said: 'Can I be honest with you? I don't mean this in a cruel way. It was weirdly better that one of them died. 'Because it showed how difficult this was.' As Simon Cowell points out, the fact these robots were able to keep dancing despite the loss of a team member points to their impressive design. Each of the Spot robots has a degree of autonomy over its moves, which lets them avoid any obstacles while still staying as close to the choreography as possible, just like a human dancer would. In this performance, that technical prowess let the robots dance around their fallen member and navigate the stage with ease. However, even though the pressure of performance appeared to have gotten to one of the robots, it wasn't down for good. The onstage representative for the company said: 'We have a saying at Boston Dynamics: build it, break it, fix it.' And, as if on cue, the fallen robot leapt to its feet and ran to the front of the stage amidst wild cheering from the crowd. The show's judges were amazed by the performance and gushed over the robots' dance moves. Howie Mandel said: 'After 20 years, how can we see something we haven't seen on this stage?' While Melanie B added: 'It's kind of blown my mind a little bit because I've never seen anything like this before and I want to thank you for bringing this to the stage.' But it wasn't just the judges who were impressed, as social media users rushed to share their amazement. One excited commenter wrote: 'They could do the halftime show at the Super Bowl. This is awesome!!' Another added: 'This act was completely different than anything I've seen before on this show. I'm excited to see what they bring on next!' But not everyone was quite so enthusiastic, as some found the dancing just as creepy as it was impressive. One commenter wrote: 'Well that was equally entertaining and terrifying at the same time.' 'I'm amazed and creeped out at the same time,' joked another. One scared commenter chimed in: 'In ten years, we'll be running from these in terror, but yeah cute performance.' On social media, fans were amazed by the technical prowess of the robotic performance Some commenters were less impressed, saying the performance was just as creepy as it was entertaining One scared commenter said that we would be 'running from these in terror' within ten years But this is not the first time that Boston Dynamics' robot dogs have impressed audiences with their dancing. In 2021, the robots joined superstar K-pop group BTS to film a music video. In a blog post at the time Eric Whitman, a Boston Dynamics roboticist said: 'There were a lot of challenges around getting the vision of our choreographer, who's used to dealing with human dancers, into our software. 'Robots have the advantage over humans in that they're very repeatable: Once you get it right, it stays right. 'But they have the disadvantage that you have to tell them every little detail. They don't improvise at all.' In order to allow Spot to learn complex dance routines, Boston Dynamics has its own 'Choreographer' software. This software understands Spot's environment and physics and prioritises staying upright before completing the exact dance moves. If the choreography calls for something that Spot won't be able to complete, then the software instructs the robot to perform the closest possible move without falling over. This lets choreographers give the robots broad instructions such as 'sway' or 'step' without telling the robot exactly what angle to bend its legs to. However, costing around $75,000 (£55,000) each, Spot isn't designed to fill out the ranks of dance troupes. Instead, these robots are primarily designed for inspecting industrial environments like factories or working in places that aren't safe for humans. Their four-legged design which allows for such creative dancing is intended to allow access areas that wheeled robots can't access. WHAT IS BOSTON DYNAMICS' SPOT MINI ROBO-DOG? Boston Dynamics first showed off Spot, the most advanced robot dog ever created, in a video posted in November 2017. The firm, best known for Atlas, its 5 foot 9 (1.7 metre) humanoid robot, has revealed a new 'lightweight' version of its robot Spot. The robotic canine was shown trotting around a yard, with the promise that more information from the notoriously secretive firm is 'coming soon'. 'Spot is a small four-legged robot that comfortably fits in an office or home' the firm says on its website. It weighs 25 kg (55 lb), or 30 kg (66 lb) when you include the robotic arm. Spot is all-electric and can go for about 90 minutes on a charge, depending on what it is doing, the firm says, boasting 'Spot is the quietest robot we have built.' Spot was first unveiled in 2016, and a previous version of the mini version of spot with a strange extendable neck has been shown off helping around the house. In the firm's previous video, the robot is shown walking out of the firm's HQ and into what appears to be a home. There, it helps load a dishwasher and carries a can to the trash. It also at one point encounters a dropped banana skin and falls dramatically - but uses its extendable neck to push itself back up. 'Spot is one of the quietest robots we have ever built, the firm says, due to its electric motors. 'It has a variety of sensors, including depth cameras, a solid state gyro (IMU) and proprioception sensors in the limbs.
Time of India
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Watch: Boston Dynamics Robots dances at America's Got Talent, dies mid-performance onstage
Boston Dynamics' four legged Spot robots recently impressed everyone with their dance performance on 'America's Got Talent'. The robots managed to impress everyone with their synchronised dance steps on the iconic hit song ' Don't Stop Me Now'. However,an unexpected mishap during the performance made their dance video viral. All the five spot robots started dancing and all of a sudden one of the robot froze mid-performance. However, the remaining four robots continued with the dance performance and later earned a standing ovation and 'yes' vote from the judges of the show. Boston Dynamics' four legged Spot robots danced on America's Got Talent All the five Spot robots from Boston Dynamics took to the stage and started their dance performance. Both the judges and the audience of the reality show were in awe seeing their synchronised movements which included swaying, spinning, and precise shifts in formation. At one point, their gripper arms even mimicked Freddie Mercury's signature mic stand gestures. However, the audition witnessed an unplanned turn when during the performance one of the robots abruptly stopped dancing and remained motionless on stage. Despite the sudden shut down of the robot, the other four robots continued their performance without missing a single beat. Reaction of the audience and judges to the dance performance by Boston Dynamics' four legged Spot robots After the performance, both the judges and the audience gave a standing ovation to the robots. When a Boston Dynamics engineer appeared on stage and was asked if the downed robot could be fixed, he confidently replied, "Of course. At Boston Dynamics, we believe in building, breaking, and fixing." In a dramatic moment, the seemingly lifeless robot then whirred back to life, stood up, and rejoined its fellow performers, eliciting an even louder cheer from the crowd. Cowell even remarked on the unexpected malfunction, suggesting it "was weirdly better that one of them died... because it showed how difficult this was. AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
