3 ms·
Batteries have changed a whole lot since the 90's, though. Lithium-ion has a much higher energy density than lead-acid or nickel-cadmium. And without these impr
by skykooler 11y ago
Batteries have changed a whole lot since the 90's, though. Lithium-ion has a much higher energy density than lead-acid or nickel-cadmium. And without these improvements, many modern robots (roombas, quadcopter drones, etc) would simply not be possible.
- sbierwagen 11y agoRoombas run on NiMH batteries. The PR2 I discussed in the blog post does indeed have a lithium ion battery pack. It has a 1.3kWh capacity, (188 times bigger than an iPhone 6's battery! Probably part of the reason the robot massed 220 kilos) which gave it a rated... 2 hours of runtime. Lithium ion is better than earlier battery chemistries, but it's still not very good: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c6/Energy_density.svg/1080px-Energy_density.svg.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c6/En...
- nobbis 11y ago450 lbs, not 480 kgs. The main power draw comes from the 2 desktop computers sitting in its base. Runs for ~4 hrs if you turn one off.
- sbierwagen 11y agoFixed.