#wheeled-humanoid

#wheeled-humanoid

The ALEX RS is a bilateral upper-limb exoskeleton designed for post-stroke rehabilitation, covering 92% of the human arm's natural range of motion and is CE certified as a Class IIa medical device.

Out of the company's first 80,000 deliveries the bots finished on campus, about 1,600 involved incidents of vandalism. At a cost of $2,500 per Kiwibot, the damage adds up quick.

Body agency is a power returned after an incident took it away from the user's physical form, and some wearable devices and technologies have this exact goal in mind.

"War is terrible, war is terrible, war is terrible," he intones, holding my gaze and giving voice to a universal chorus.

At about 18 kilograms, roughly 40 pounds with its battery included, the As2 is compact enough to move through tight spaces, yet built to handle a standing payload of up to 65 kilograms. That's more than 143 pounds sitting on top of a 40-pound robot, which is genuinely impressive and a little hard to picture until you actually see it in action.

Human hands are incredibly dexterous tools - but they have their limits. They are asymmetric, they have only a single thumb and, fundamentally, they're connected to our arms. But none of that poses a problem for this robot claw. Its symmetrical design means it can seamlessly approach different tasks without having to twist to find the right angle, six-fingers mean the design can juggle multiple objects at the same time and, if needed, it can simply leave its arm behind, perfect for dangerous or hard to reach places.

Not everybody agrees that replicating the four-limbed, bipedal shape of a human should be replicated in robot form. For one, walking with two feet is inherently less stable than four, nevermind a set of wheels. Replicating the dexterity and fine motor skills of human hands also remains a major challenge. In a modified approach, Boston Dynamics has clearly decided to loosen up some of the restrictions of the human form.

Intrinsic "graduated" into an independent company inside Alphabet's Other Bets division in 2021, a portfolio of high-risk, speculative ventures that also includes robotaxi firm Waymo and healthcare company Verily. It pitches itself as an Android-like layer for robotics, building software and tools that make it easier to create robot applications.