Tag Archives: Robot Delivery

Monocycle robot with legs may be last-mile delivery helper in the future

Posted on by

When we think of robots, more of then than not, we think of them in their humanoid design or at the very least in a dog-like form. But if you’re really experimenting with this kind of technology, you can get inspired from sci-fi and futuristic movies or TV shows. You can even be inspired by something “old” that can be adapted into a high-tech design. I’m fine with more experimental kinds of robots as long as they don’t overthrow the human race.

Designer: Joohyung Kim

A professor from the Electrical & Computer Engineering department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has come up with a robot that is inspired by the monocycle and some of those fast-moving circular robots you see in sci-fi films. The Ringbot is basically a monocycle robot that has two legs inside of it that looks like someone lying inside a ring and pedaling away. While there have been wheel-leg designs previously, this is the first one that was probably inspired by monocycles and General Grievous from Star Wars’ Clone Wars series.

The large wheel is the frame of the robot itself while the legs actually help the robot to balance itself and avoid toppling over. There are actually two indepent driving modules inside of it and each one controls its velocity so it can track a desired orientation. It can go around with the legs in the air steering and balancing it. When it does fall down, the legs will enable it to stand back up. It is also able to move and turn when stuck in tight spaces. It is able to make full rotations inside the wheel and drive it up to 5km/hour.

For now the Ringbot seems to just be something they are experimenting with. But in the future, they are looking at this robot to do autonomous last-mile deliveries in congested environments. They will be adding two additional limbs so it can carry packages and even go up and down stairs and rough terrains. Who knows, in the future you’ll get your package delivered by this monocyle robot with legs.

The post Monocycle robot with legs may be last-mile delivery helper in the future first appeared on Yanko Design.

Boston Dynamics’ latest robot moves away from biomimicry to design a practical warehouse solution!

Posted on by




Thirty years ago, starting out as a tightknit research company, Boston Dynamics began its quest to create robots that could go where people go, do what people do, and move as people move. Today, a leading engineering and robotics design company, the team behind Boston Dynamics continues to produce and deliver commercial robotics equipped with dynamic control, cutting-edge electronics, and next-generation software. Designed for easy rollout servicing in existing warehouses, Stretch is Boston Dynamics’ latest mobile, automated case-handling robot.

In appearance, Stretch resembles an excavator or backhoe construction truck, with a solid, bottom-heavy base and tensile robotic arm. Filled out with four small wheels for tight turning and lots of movement, Stretch’s mobile base is capable of sliding in every direction and designed to allow the fuller robot to fit anywhere a pallet fits. The long robotic arm provides plenty of reach and height with seven degrees-of-freedom, granting Stretch access to cases and shipping goods throughout any freight space or pallet.

At the end of Stretch’s robotic arm, a smart gripper embedded with sensors and active controls grants Stretch with handling mechanisms to grasp a wide array of different types of packages. Keeping the whole operation going throughout the workday are high-capacity batteries and an advanced perception mast for long-lasting, precise, and stable power. Speaking of how Stretch differentiates the currently saturated truck unloading robots, palletizing and depalletizing robots, and mobile bases with arms, Kevin Blankespoor, Boston Dynamics’ VP of Product Engineering and chief engineer for both Handle and Stretch says “Stretch is built with pieces from Spot and Atlas and that gave us a big head start. For example, if you look at Stretch’s vision system, it’s 2D cameras, depth sensors, and software that allows it to do obstacle detection, box detection, and localization. Those are all the same sensors and software that we’ve been using for years on our legged robots. And if you look closely at Stretch’s wrist joints, they’re actually the same as Spot’s hips. They use the same electric motors, the same gearboxes, the same sensors, and they even have the same closed-loop controller controlling the joints.”

While Stretch is still a prototype, the wheeled robot is the commercial version of a smaller, earlier model from Boston Dynamics called Handle. Stretch currently enacts unloading and building applications for trucks and warehouses, with future plans for truck loading in the works for Boston Dynamics. While the team behind Stretch has yet to name a price, Boston Dynamics is working to make the case-handling robot compatible with other warehouse systems.

Designer: Boston Dynamics

Four wheels fill out Stetch’s mobile base, allowing it to fit anywhere a shipping pallet fits.

Smart gripping technology allows Stretch to reach for and take hold of a multitude of varying package types.

Stretch’s lengthy robotic arm grants the robot access to packages throughout the warehouse and full extension for easy rollout.

The team at Boston Dynamic equipped Stretch with seven degrees-of-freedom, providing plenty of reach and height.

Stretch was designed for warehouse case-handling and truck unloading.

Is resurrecting Google’s BookBot the need of the hour?

Posted on by

Everyone in Silicon Valley is trying to design something straight out of the future. We treat science and technology as the end all be all of our issues and rightfully so, but here is an unpopular opinion – do we REALLY need technology in every aspect of our lives to make it better? A decade ago, robots doing all our tasks were just a thing of movies and today we don’t go a day without interacting with a robot – think about it, even if you call a place there is a 99% chance an automated voice will speak to you first. So when I read about former Google engineers trying to resurrect a robot that was ‘put to rest’, my question was why are they bringing it back? Let’s evaluate what the two sides of this coin…or chip –

Google engineers created BookBot within the company’s Area 120 incubator for experimental products. It is a simple-looking cube-shaped robot that was becoming popular in a California town where it used to pick up books from residents and deliver them back to the Mountain View Library for check-in. Every Thursday, BookBot which has a limit of 5-10 items will come to you and deliver/pick up the books you request on its website. You will be notified via text message when it arrives or you can follow its route with a link shared with you. Safety concerns were taken care of by constant monitoring and a human handler present for the initial phase. The project’s team lead, Christian Bersch, said they are testing the waters of what could be possible for autonomous, electric robots, the problems they can run into and if it is feasible for bigger, more crowded neighborhoods. Ideally, it would help reduce the vehicles on the road, save personal time and help the senior citizens as well as the disabled residents. Who knows, it could also be the new medium to collect second-hand items for charity!

It ran for 4 months much to the delight of kids who tried playing games with it and also for those who love a cool selfie before being shelved. Despite the overwhelmingly positive response from the Mountain Valley residents and the popularity of BookBot, Google seems to want established third-party experts to handle the deliveries while it focuses on advancing in other tech arenas. The primary reason is presumed to be Project Wing, another Google partnership for making drone deliveries that will optimize Google Shopping. However, the two former Google engineers who worked on BookBot and Area 120, Jake Stelman and Christian Bersch, have launched Cartken that is offering low-cost automated delivery with a darker (think about that all-black Spiderman) version of Bookbot because of how well received it was especially by those who have mobility issues.

Now let’s flip the subject, while it brings convenience to a certain demographic, what struck me as an avid real book reader is that this takes away a part of the library experience. Now as much as we might groan about having to go all the way to return a book, we usually always end up browsing for more books, chatting up with community readers and getting recommendations that we otherwise wouldn’t come across. The whole experience of going to the library brings the local community closer – children study together, adults have bookclubs especially those who are retired and older citizens who are not as tech-savvy and still treat books as a source of entertainment. BookBot and Cartken obviously solve an issue by saving time and effort but, like any robot, it takes out the emotion from the activity and can only see through a logistical lens. As we advance, it is vital to keep in mind that technology can very quickly dehumanize us, make us dependent, reduce the EQ that separates us from robots. I am all for robots cleaning up houses or being able to translate what our pets say to our language, but let’s not take away the smaller life experiences which is also how some earn their livelihood – think of the librarians, clerks, even delivery personnel! In a small town, one robot can take over the jobs of many and unknowingly make us detached. We can now carry thousands of books in one device but it will never be the same as smelling an old book from a library and flipping the page. So I ask once again, do we really need robots to do it all?

Designer: Jake Stelman and Christian Bersch