3 ms·
That's the problem. An obvious application, if this robot could do it, is retail store shelf restocking. That's a reasonably constrained pick and place task,
by Animats 1y ago
That's the problem.
An obvious application, if this robot could do it, is retail store shelf restocking.
That's a reasonably constrained pick and place task, some mobility is necessary, and the humanoid form is appropriate working in aisles and shelves spaced for humans. How close is that?
It's been tried before. In 2020.[1] And again in 2022.[2] That one runs on a track, is closer to an traditional industrial robot, and is used by 7-11 Japan.
Robots that just cruise around stores and inspect the shelves visually are in moderately wide use. They just compare the shelf images with the planogram; they don't handle the merchandise.
So there are already systems to help plan the restocking task.
Technical University Delft says their group should be able to do this in five years.[3] (From when? No date on press release.)
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHgdW1HYLbM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHgdW1HYLbM
[2] https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/telexistence-convenience-store-robotics/ https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/telexistence-convenience-store...
[3] https://www.tudelft.nl/en/stories/articles/shelf-stocking-robot-working-independently https://www.tudelft.nl/en/stories/articles/shelf-stocking-ro...
- MakeAJiraTicket 1y agoThe Telexistence demo isn't so bad, but I have no idea why we're trying to make human robots generally. The human shape sucks at a most things, and we already have people treating roombas and GPT like their boyfriends or pets...
- tomcam 1y agoWhat form factor would be better at going up and down stairs? Reaching to a high shelf? Getting between the refrigerator and counter to grab a key?
- jjaksic 1y agoBecause human work is designed for humans. If you want a drop-in replacement for human workers, humanoid robots are your best bet.
- seanhunter 1y agoThat doesn’t even remotely follow. Human work is designed for humans so if you want human work done you need a human to do it. If you want to replace the human the best bet is to redesign the work so that it can be done with machine assistance, which is what we’ve been doing since the industrial revolution. There’s a reason the motor car (which is the successful mass market personal transportation machine) doesn’t look anything like the horse that it replaced.
- blktiger 1y agoSure but robots don’t join unions or ask for a pay raise or benefits.
- jkestner 1y ago<HN voice>Technically, the motor car replaced the coach. A more accurate and enjoyable analogy would that car engines don’t look like horses.
- batch12 1y agohence horseless CARriage
- batch12 1y agoI don't think that it's human work this would target, but instead work in shared human spaces.
- seanhunter 1y agoWe already have robots that work in shared human spaces, and our experience in that domain has shown that you need to put a lot of thought into how to do this safely and specifically how to prevent the robot from accidentally harming the humans. Ask anyone with a robotic cnc machine how they would feel about running the machine without its protective housing for example. I expect they will start to throw up just a little bit. Flexibility is exactly the opposite of what you need until we have a CV and controller combination that can really master its environment. I could forsee a lot of terrible accidents if you brought a humanoid robot into a domestic environment without a lot of care and preparation for example.