Courtesy of Fellow Robots, Inc.

In our previous post we looked at socially engaging robots and how they are helping to break down barriers to remote presence. Another area on the fringe of telepresence is service robots. These robots operate autonomously, but have the ability to be controlled in telepresence mode when the need arises. The symbiosis between robot and machine allows these robots to take care of easier things, while allowing humans to take over when it needs help. As autonomy improves, the bar moves higher and higher.

In October 2014, Suitable Technologies opened the first retail store staffed only by Beam telepresence robots. Two months later, Orchard Hardware in mid-town San Jose began using the semi-autonomous OSHBot by Fellow Robotics. OSHBot has image and voice recognition enabling it to guide customers up and down aisles to the items they are looking for — most of the time. Fellow Robotics, still in the pilot phase for the project, is improving certain processes like natural language recognition. Phrases like, ‘lawn mower’, ‘lawnmower’ or ‘lawn-mower’ can be a problem. However if an issue does arise, an associate from another store can login to help with more technical questions. No different than doctors using telepresence robots in rural hospitals when an expert isn’t physically available.

Silicon Valley isn’t the only place where you can find examples of service robots in retail.  REEM, by Pal Robotics, recently spent the summer on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.  When at the mall she (yes, she) helped shoppers and tourists find their way, along with taking lots of photos. The team at Pal Robotics are also working on a bipedal unit called REEM-C, a robot that could potentially rival Honda’s ASIMO. REEM has two advantages: its use of ROS and availability to researchers. As of now, ASIMO uses proprietary software and he’s not available for sale.

Service robots are also entering homes as well. Korea’s Future Robot first unveiled FURo-i at CES in 2015, a home assistant robot, designed to maintain your home while away and chat with friends and family when you are there. Robot Base, out of NYC, also debuted ‘Personal Robot’ at CES in 2015. Think of Personal Robot like Siri on wheels, which can play your favorite music and remind you of upcoming appointments, ‘Personal Robot’ comes with advanced connectivity and autonomous algorithms to automate your home, like turning off lights and turning down the thermostat when you aren’t there. Recent media attention has gone to Buddy, by Blue Frog Robotics, due to its highly successful Indiegogo campaign (perhaps you saw it on RoboHub). Buddy is certainly the cutest robot of them all. Buddy can integrate with IBM’s Watson cloud services improving natural language and object recognition, along with the typical personal and home assistant functionality you would expect.

We’re now reaching the end of our telepresence series. In the final part, we’ll talk about the future of telepresence and where it could be headed.

Fetch Robotics has just announced $3 million funding from Shasta Ventures and O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures , which will be used to bring their new mobile manipulator robots to market in Q2 2015.Fetch Robotics is looking at the light industrial and logistics sectors, although researchers will also find the robots affordable. This comes hot on the heels of PAL’s February 4th launch of Tiago, also a mobile manipulator. And it seems very possible that Google will announce something similar very soon. After all, they have now had plenty of time (and experts) to finish what Redwood Robotics had started.

The innovator’s dilemma is at work here. The companies producing new mobile manipulators are not the big names in robotics. Companies like ABB, Kuka, Fanuc, etc. cannot really afford to produce a new style of robot that might damage their brand if it doesn’t perform to the same high standards. For example, ABB has been working on a collaborative manipulator for at least four years but in spite of unveiling the concept robot in 2011, ABB is only officially releasing YuMi for market on April 13 2015. This creates opportunity for faster-moving small companies. It looks like the technological conditions are ripe for the development of affordable mobile manipulators. Now, we’ll all get to see if the market is also ready.

Who’s who in the new light industrial manipulator sector?

These new robots are like the affordable compliant offspring of a PR2 and Motoman’s SDA series robots. Only these robots are safe for working together with humans and won’t break the bank. We will also be seeing combinations of robots where a base from one company, ie. Fetch or Adept is used with an arm from another, ie. Kuka or Universal.

Firstly, Fetch Robotics is not Unbounded Robotics, and the robots will be different (although Melonee Wise is now the CEO of Fetch Robotics and the core robot building team is the same). Unbounded Robotics ceased operation in 2014 just prior to marketing the UBR-1 (pictured). Where the UBR-1 was like a smaller version of Willow Garage’s PR2, the new robot(s) from Fetch Robotics will have separable base and arm(s). More information will be available in Q2 2015.

PAL’s Tiago is also modular, available as a base, as a base-and-arm package, and in other configurations. Tiago has a 7DOF arm capable of lifting a 3 Kg payload and a five-finger underactuated hand. Similar to the UBR-1, Tiago has a rising torso, USB and ethernet ports, and is also ROS compliant. The various Tiago combinations will cost between 30,000 and 60,000 euros.

Baxter from Rethink Robotics is not autonomously mobile but you can add a wheeled base to your Baxter and push it around. And Baxter is definitely affordable at $25,000 USD, although the various gripper options are extra.

YuMi from ABB is another stationery dual armed collaborative robot, developed for small parts assembly, especially in the consumer electronics sector. YuMi is part of a total small parts assembly solution that includes adaptable hands, flexible parts feeders, force control sensing and vision guidance.

Nextage from Kawada has similar specifications to Baxter and YuMi (although only 6DOF in the arms), but with an additional 1DOF in the waist. Nextage has been designed to be wheeled from place to place in an assembly line and has a compact configuration.

There’s also the Care-O-bot 3 from Fraunhoffer Institute, which is using industrial robotics components to create a service robot. Care-O-bot 3 has an attractive form factor for human interaction. Quite a difference from earlier versions, which were arms on mobile bases, suitable for tasks like welding assistance, not emptying garbage bins or serving coffee. (added 2/12/15 hat tip to Hizook)

Who knows for sure what Google is about to announce, although they have the IP and the experts to complete Redwood Robotics and Meka’s vision of an affordable lightweight compliant robot arm. They’re also well positioned to develop an autonomous mobile base.

And who knows how many other startups still in stealth will announce their light industrial/logistics manipulators this year? I’m betting that there’s at least one more.

As well as some robot arm/base combos being mix-n-match, the end effectors are also a whole other story. Perhaps 2015 will really be the year of the end effector. 

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

• Robot Startup Series #7: Interview with Soft Robotics’ Carl Vause

• Just launched: Fellow Robots’s OSHbot
• Amazon Picking Challenge
• Grasping objects in a way that is suitable for manipulation

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