Tag Archives: new

#439537 Tencent’s New Wheeled Robot Flicks Its ...

Ollie (I think its name is Ollie) is a “a novel wheel-legged robot” from Tencent Robotics. The word “novel” is used quite appropriately here, since Ollie sports some unusual planar parallel legs atop driven wheels. It’s also got a multifunctional actuated tail that not only enables some impressive acrobatics, but also allows the robot to transition from biped-ish to triped-ish to stand up extra tall and support a coffee-carrying manipulator.

It’s a little disappointing that the tail only appears to be engaged for specific motions—it doesn’t seem like it’s generally part of the robot’s balancing or motion planning, which feels like a missed opportunity. But this robot is relatively new, and its development is progressing rapidly, which we know because an earlier version of the hardware and software was presented at ICRA 2021 a couple weeks back. Although, to be honest with you, there isn’t a lot of info on the new one besides the above video, so we’ll be learning what we can from the ICRA paper.

The paper is mostly about developing a nonlinear balancing controller for the robot, and they’ve done a bang-up job with it, with the robot remaining steady even while executing sequences of dynamic motions. The jumping and one-legged motions are particularly cool to watch. And, well, that’s pretty much it for the ICRA paper, which (unfortunately) barely addresses the tail at all, except to say that currently the control system assumes that the tail is fixed. We’re guessing that this is just a symptom of the ICRA paper submission deadline being back in October, and that a lot of progress has been made since then.

Seeing the arm and sensor package at the end of the video is a nod to some sort of practical application, and I suppose that the robot’s ability to stand up to reach over that counter is some justification for using it for a delivery task. But it seems like it’s got so much more to offer, you know? Many far more boring platforms robots could be delivering coffee, so let’s find something for this robot to do that involves more backflips.

Balance Control of a Novel Wheel-legged Robot: Design and Experiments, by Shuai Wang, Leilei Cui, Jingfan Zhang, Jie Lai, Dongsheng Zhang, Ke Chen, Yu Zheng, Zhengyou Zhang, and Zhong-Ping Jiang from Tencent Robotics X, was presented at ICRA 2021. Continue reading

Posted in Human Robots

#439437 Google parent launches new ...

Google's parent Alphabet unveiled a new “moonshot” project to develop software for robotics which could be used in a wide range of industries. Continue reading

Posted in Human Robots

#439316 Tencent’s New Wheeled Robot Flicks Its ...

Ollie (I think its name is Ollie) is a “a novel wheel-legged robot” from Tencent Robotics. The word “novel” is used quite appropriately here, since Ollie sports some unusual planar parallel legs atop driven wheels. It’s also got a multifunctional actuated tail that not only enables some impressive acrobatics, but also allows the robot to transition from biped-ish to triped-ish to stand up extra tall and support a coffee-carrying manipulator.

It’s a little disappointing that the tail only appears to be engaged for specific motions—it doesn’t seem like it’s generally part of the robot’s balancing or motion planning, which feels like a missed opportunity. But this robot is relatively new, and its development is progressing rapidly, which we know because an earlier version of the hardware and software was presented at ICRA 2021 a couple weeks back. Although, to be honest with you, there isn’t a lot of info on the new one besides the above video, so we’ll be learning what we can from the ICRA paper.

The paper is mostly about developing a nonlinear balancing controller for the robot, and they’ve done a bang-up job with it, with the robot remaining steady even while executing sequences of dynamic motions. The jumping and one-legged motions are particularly cool to watch. And, well, that’s pretty much it for the ICRA paper, which (unfortunately) barely addresses the tail at all, except to say that currently the control system assumes that the tail is fixed. We’re guessing that this is just a symptom of the ICRA paper submission deadline being back in October, and that a lot of progress has been made since then.

Seeing the arm and sensor package at the end of the video is a nod to some sort of practical application, and I suppose that the robot’s ability to stand up to reach over that counter is some justification for using it for a delivery task. But it seems like it’s got so much more to offer, you know? Many far more boring platforms robots could be delivering coffee, so let’s find something for this robot to do that involves more backflips.

Balance Control of a Novel Wheel-legged Robot: Design and Experiments, by Shuai Wang, Leilei Cui, Jingfan Zhang, Jie Lai, Dongsheng Zhang, Ke Chen, Yu Zheng, Zhengyou Zhang, and Zhong-Ping Jiang from Tencent Robotics X, was presented at ICRA 2021. Continue reading

Posted in Human Robots

#439311 Amazon develops new technologies to ...

Teams at the Amazon Robotics and Advanced Technology labs in both Seattle, Washington, and northern Italy have begun diligently testing out new technology they hope will improve safety for employees by carrying out tasks such as transportation of carts, packages and totes through Amazon facilities. Continue reading

Posted in Human Robots

#439292 New processes for automated fabrication ...

Researchers from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) have developed novel techniques, known as Automated Fiber Embedding (AFE), to produce complex fiber and silicone composite structures for soft robotics applications. Their work was published in IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters. Continue reading

Posted in Human Robots