By Mike Oitzman | August 23, 2023

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The humanoid robotic market is rapidly maturing. Our visitor this week is Apptronik CEO and co-founder Jeff Cardenas. He tells the in-depth story in regards to the growth of legged robotics and humanoids at Apptronik and the launch of the corporate’s first industrial humanoid robotic, Apollo.

With the launch of Apollo, Apptronik joins a rising variety of high-profile robotics firms within the race to develop a multi-purpose humanoid. Apptronik has a wealthy historical past in legged robotics, having labored on the primary technology of NASA Valkyrie robotic, and a number of generations of exoskeletons since its founding in 2016.

We will probably be discussing the state of humanoids within the opening keynote panel of RoboBusiness 2023. The dialogue will function Geordie Rose, co-founder and CEO of Sanctuary, Cardenas, and Jonathan Hurst, co-founder and chief robotic officer of Agility Robotics. The panel will share firsthand insights into the challenges and alternatives that lie forward and talk about the industries poised to be early adopters of those outstanding creations.

12:45 Dialog with Rick Faulk, CEO of Locus Robotics on the 2B decide milestone

27:11 Interview with Cardenas

Information this week:

Cruise pressured to chop robotaxi fleet in half

• The transfer comes after Cruise autonomous autos have been concerned in a number of crashes in San Francisco this week the place the self-driving vehicles appeared to stall in intersections, together with one on Thursday evening when it collided with a fireplace truck.
• “The DMV is involved with Cruise and legislation enforcement officers to find out the details and requested Cruise to instantly  cut back its energetic fleet of working autos by 50% till the investigation is full and Cruise takes applicable corrective actions to enhance highway security.” Cruise has agreed to function not more than 50 robotaxis through the day and 150 at evening till the DMV concludes its investigation into how one of many GM subsidiary’s autonomous Chevrolet Bolts collided with a fireplace truck final week.
• The information follows on the heels of the latest story that the CPUC voted to grant Cruise & Waymo last permits

Locus surpassed its 2 billion decide milestone earlier this week

• Locus CEO Rick Faulk offers us a fast replace on reaching this milestone.
  • Reaching this milestone took simply 358 days, with the final 100 million picks taking simply 27 days – a mean of three.7 million picks per day. By comparability, it took greater than six years to make the primary billion picks, and 1,542 days to select the primary 100 million items.

The large information is the Apptronik Apollo humanoid product launched in the present day.

• Listed below are the fundamental specs for the brand new Apollo humanoid robotic:
  • Top: 5’8”
  • Weighs: 160 lbs
  • Can elevate 55 lbs
  • 4-hour runtime with a swappable battery
• Options:
  • It received’t have an articulated hand and fingers in its first technology.
  • The primary functions will probably be choosing up and transferring crates, totes, and containers. All of which don’t require effective manipulation from a hand.
  • Goal functions: warehouse, logistics and sortation
  • Apptronik has developed a novel, electrical linear actuator for Apollo and is introducing a design with out a rotatory axis.