robot

Unitree has a robot dog that moves at full speed through seemingly impossible terrain. His trick: legs with wheels

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With the boom of humanoidsit seems that the quadruped robots They have taken a backseat, but Unitree has just shown that they can still leave us speechless. during this weekend a video has gone viral of his latest invention: a wheeled robot dog traversing terrain through which no other robot could move, and all at brutal speed. It is called Unitree As2-W and what distinguishes it from other quadruped robots is that its legs have wheels. This allows you to overcome obstacles more easily and move very quickly. So much so that Unitree itself warns that the video is not acceleratedbut it is the real speed. Up to 6 meters per second and 30km of autonomy Many of the comments on networks refer to the speed at which it moves. A user in X says “Imagine trying to escape that thing”, another on YouTube comments “You can’t escape them now, guys!” Specifically, the robot can reach a speed of 3.7 meters per second, although it is capable of reaching peaks of 6 meters per second. This is equivalent to 13.3 km/h with sprints of 21.6 km/h, but if we take into account that the video shows how it descends very steep slopes, the speed it reaches is much higher. It has a 15,000 mAh battery that allows you to walk non-stop for 3 hours, which translates into a total autonomy of 30 km. If the robot is loaded, the autonomy is reduced to 2 continuous hours and about 25 km. Speaking of weight, the robot weighs only 25 kg and is capable of moving 16 kg of load while walking, but supports up to 150 kg statically. The secret is in the wheels (and their flexibility) At a design level, the Unitree As2-W is the same as many of the robot dogs we have seen, with the main difference that it does not have pads on its legs, but rather wheels. These wheels have 7 inches in diameter which, combined with the wide range of movement of their joints, allows them to adapt to all types of terrain, reaching overcome obstacles 80 cm high and slopes of 45º inclination. Regarding the flexibility of its legs, its body can rotate between -45º and 45º, the thigh between -115° to 200° and the calf between -159° and -47°. They are wide ranges that allow you to fold and extend the leg to absorb impacts after falling from great heights, adopt open postures for climbing, and reposition yourself very quickly after a jump. In addition to being able to go down mountains and cross rivers (it has IP54 water resistance), in the video they also show how does stunts because of course, if not It wouldn’t be Unitree. Your hiking companion or your worst nightmare In the video, Unitree shows that its new robot is the perfect hiking companion that carries your backpack and always stays by your side thanks to its intelligent tracking system. However, while Unitree sells it to us as a kind of “sherpa”, A good part of the comments on networks point towards a very different use: its potential in military environments. One of the comments with the most ‘likes’ on YouTube says “Imagine this dog chasing you through the jungle with weapons”, another points out that “Millions of soldiers are rethinking their lives after seeing this”, along with others like the one who jokes with a manhunt or mentions of the Black Mirror episode ‘Metalhead’. These are the typical comments that usually appear in robot videos, but it is still striking how the company’s marketing collides with the interpretation made by the networks. Image | Unitree In Xataka | If you have 500,000 euros spare, Unitree has a gift for you: a manned mecha robot weighing 500 kilos

This new Lefant robot vacuum cleaner with a self-emptying base is very compact and hardly requires maintenance

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Find a good robot vacuum cleanerwith a self-emptying base and having a lot of suction power without spending a fortune, is not easy. If you are currently in that search, it may be a great fit for you. one of Lefant’s robotsright now with very juicy discounts. Today we are going to focus on Lefant’s new release, the M210 Omni Robot, which has an introductory offer: from 799 euros it now costs 279.99 euros, but remains only 229.59 euros if we use the discount coupon ‘QSTQTB4O‘. Lefant M210 Omni Robot Vacuum Cleaner and Floor Mop, 20000 Pa, Zero Tangles, 800 ml Dust Tank, 85 mm Ultra-Thin Body, Ideal for Hard Floors and Homes with Pets, Space Gray The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A powerful robot vacuum cleaner that requires very little maintenance We have a huge discount on this Lefant robot that is ideal for homes with pets and for those users looking for a device that requires very little maintenance. This model stands out for being quite compact and for having a low profile, which allows it to fit through narrow gaps and under low furniture. In other words: very few places will be left uncleaned. The M210 Omni has a suction power of 20,000 Pafigures that are not usually present in this price range (and even less so, taking into account that it is a compact model). With this, you will be able to collect the smallest particles from all types of surfaces, as well as human or animal hair. Although of course, having this power also allows us to select a less powerful one so that it makes less noise. Speaking of hair, it should be noted that this robot vacuum cleaner has double brushes and an anti-tangle system. Its structure is easy to explain: it has a straight suction mouth and two side brushes, thus avoiding the need for a central roller. This way, we will not have hair tangles that force us to use scissors or similar to remove them manually. Beyond suction, it is also a model that scrubs. Its roller, which is 20 centimeters, exerts a pressure of 1.5 kg against the ground. In this way, It is capable of removing those embedded stains that are difficult to removesuch as leftover coffee or sauce. Its self-emptying base, as we said above, requires very little maintenance. This same one is in charge of remove dirty water and fill the tank with clean wateras well as washing the roller and air drying it. In addition, since it has an 800 ml dust container, we will only have to empty it once every one or two weeks. Thanks to this tank, the robot does not use disposable dust bags, which will help us save. Two more things to keep in mind about him. Its navigation system is based on 9 sets of sensors that cover a 190-degree field, which means that the robot has almost no blind spots and easily avoids obstacles. In addition, its 3,200 mAh battery makes it have autonomy for up to 130 minuteswhich is enough for medium-sized homes. For all this, taking into account that it remains in 229.59 eurosa very interesting quality-price option. Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Lefant In Xataka | Best robot vacuum cleaners in quality price. Which one to buy based on use and six recommended models In Xataka | Best upright vacuum cleaners. Which one to buy based on use and six recommended models

Today at Lidl (and half price) this robot vacuum cleaner with a self-emptying base that hardly requires maintenance

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Entering Lidl means finding a lot of different devices. There is a good assortment of them to help us clean the home, although few are as comfortable as this Eufy robot vacuum cleaner. It’s a pretty interesting device. if we take into account that it is very discounted: from 799 euros that marks its RRP, it costs right now 399.99 euros. Eufy X10 Robot Vacuum Cleaner and Scrubber with Empty Station The price could vary. We earn commission from these links If you can’t get it or prefer an alternative, this one may fit you very well. iRobot Roomba Plus 516. It is a robot vacuum cleaner with good suction power, a self-emptying base that saves us a lot of work and is currently available on Amazon for 379 euros. iRobot Roomba Plus 516 Multifunction Self-Cleaning AutoWash Base Combo, 22KPa, Liftable and Extendable DualClean Mops, Washes 75º, Dry 45º, Clearview LiDAR, Autonomy 90 Days, Extra Accessories, Black The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A robot vacuum cleaner that hardly requires maintenance We are facing a very good discount for this Eufy X10 Pro Omni. It is a robot vacuum cleaner that stands out for coming with a self-emptying base, something that reduces (a lot) the maintenance it needs. This cleans the pads with water and dries them with hot air, and the dust container only needs to be changed every two months. The only thing we will have to do regularly is empty the dirty water and change it for clean water. The robot has a suction power of 8,000 Pa, a figure that is enough to collect most dust particles and hair, something ideal if we have pets at home such as dogs or cats. It also does a good job of scrubbing, even on embedded stainsthanks to a system that exerts 1 kg of pressure on them. And for carpets, the mops are raised 12 millimeters automatically. To all of the above, we must add that it has an active obstacle avoidance system. This one promises recognize more than 100 different objects (such as cables, shoes or toys) and automatically avoid them. In addition, it is compatible with Amazon Alexa and the Google Assistant. ⚡ IN SUMMARY: eufy robot x10 offer ✅ THE BEST Your self-emptying base: This robot requires very little maintenance, which is very convenient. Obstacle detection: Its obstacle detection, capable of recognizing more than 100 objects, will prevent you from banging your head all over the house. ❌ THE WORST Maintenance of the water tank: We must empty and refill the water tank regularly. 💡 BUY IT IF… You are looking for a robot vacuum cleaner that hardly requires maintenance, that offers good suction power and a good quality-price ratio. ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… Do you prefer a cheaper model (even if it requires more maintenance) or are you looking for one whose base is also responsible for emptying and refilling the water tank. You may also be interested roborock Qrevo S Pro Set Robot Vacuum Cleaner (Upgraded Version of QV 35A) 18500 Pa Suction, All-in-One Base, 2.7L Dust Bag, Anti-Tangle System, Obstacle Avoidance, White The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Lefant M5 Pro Robot Vacuum Cleaner and Floor Mop with Self-Emptying Base, 120 Days Self-Cleaning, 18000 Pa, 3.2L Self-Emptying, 75℃ Washing, dToF Laser Navigation, 5G WiFi/App/Alexa The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Lidl, Eufy In Xataka | Best robot vacuum cleaners in quality price. Which one to buy based on use and six recommended models In Xataka | Best upright vacuum cleaners. Which one to buy based on use and six recommended models

We had a lot of fun watching robot fights. Until we saw how one decapitated another with a kick

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In the video two robots appear in a ring similar to that of UFC fights. The cameraman zooms out and at that moment one of the robots throws a spectacular roundhouse kick and hits his enemy in the head. This one falls round like a human would. A human probably wouldn’t get up after a hit like that. The robot did. He does it in an amorphous, very science fiction way, twisting himself so that his legs allow him to do it again. The fight continues in a slightly ridiculous way: the robot that has decapitated him continues trying to give those type of roundhouse kicks in the best Van Damme style, while the poor decapitated robot continues fighting with his head completely detached and hanging from his body. The video, absolutely viral on X, was shared by Elon Musk on his official account this Saturday. It has 11 million visits at the time of writing these lines. Accompanying the video, a message: “robot fights are funny.” We could consider it that way, of course, but since it happened with the April Robot Half Marathonthat fight is once again reliable proof that the Chinese robotics industry is advancing non-stop. A year ago those robots seemed quite absurd to us. They ran clumsily and the edition of the race was a disaster, and something similar happened with the humanoid robots that also They got into kickboxing fights. They were fun to watch because, again, they didn’t look particularly lethal. Chinese humanoid robots get serious With these things change. This year’s event, called URKL and organized by the Chinese robotics company EngineAIshowed those robot fights of 32 international teams that you can see on the Shenzen Story YouTube channel. All of these teams, yes, used the same humanoid robot, the T800 model of this company. In fights it is true that the robots are still clumsy and that when they end up hitting the opponent they do so more by luck than anything else, but also that the aforementioned evolution of these humanoid robots is palpable. The prize for the winner of the tournament, which is held in several sessions, will take home a prize of 10 million yuan (approximately 1.3 million euros) The T800 robot, the absolute protagonist of these combats, measures 173 centimeters and has 29 movable joints throughout its body. Each one of them has a price of 36,000 euros and its weight ranges between 75 and 85 kg. In their heads they have an artificial vision model and an omnidirectional radar and a processor that is responsible for computing all the data that arrives. The motors in the joints can develop up to 450 Nm of torque, which allows you to perform, for example, those striking flying kicks in the video. Beyond the specifications and the spectacular nature of the fights, the objective of these competitions is to promote the development of Chinese robotics, but also to expand its potential applications. Fighting is a perfect way to validate both the design and hardware of the robots themselves and their software. Zhao Tongyang, CEO of EngineAI, explained in Global Times how “we want to use the competition to drive industry research and development.” The organizers also commented how this competition was about more than just brute strength, and evaluated both the effectiveness of the blows and stability, defensive and evasive ability, and general durability. And certainly the robots are beginning to show that they fight better and better. Let’s hope that is never its true purpose. In Xataka | Making a robotic hand is “100 times more difficult” than building the entire robot. These Chinese companies are determined to solve it

Xiaomi has a full-time humanoid robot in its car factory. You’re ready to stop being an intern

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Xiaomi has made its car factory cause a sensation. With the SU7 and YU7 in the market, the company has managed to make people stand in line and pay a fortune to see how these cars are manufactured, something they have achieved thanks to a good marketing strategy and, above all, a futuristic factory with a hook that is difficult to ignore: humanoid robots riding the cars. It was this past March when we learned from Lei Jun, founder and CEO of the company, that they had put a series of humanoid robots to work. “do internships” inside the factories. The tasks of these robots were not at all exciting, as they were dedicated to one thing: putting self-tapping nuts on the floor parts of cars. However, the period of being robo-interns is coming to an end and it has been the CEO himself who has commented that robots have climbed several steps. Specifically, they are almost on the same level of success as their human “companions.” From robo-interns to robo-experts The task they had to do is the most alienating and example of chain work that you can imagine. The system collects the nuts from an automatic supply equipment and deposits them in the indicated place, where the automatic screwing is subsequently carried out. Indeed: the robots were putting nuts… and that’s it. In March, Lei Jun said the robots had achieved a 90.2% success rate in placing nuts during three hours of continuous autonomous operation. This figure indicates the number of correct operations compared to the total attempts made and, in addition, they detailed that they adjusted to a production cycle of 76 seconds. Timing in these factories is crucial, especially when all steps are so automated if the car output goals are to be achieved. Now, although putting on nuts seems simple, they are not like those on an Ikea piece of furniture and there are some things to consider. A key challenge in this process is getting the self-tapping nut to precisely align, center and seat on the locating pin before screwing. Otherwise, the system crashes and the join is incomplete. And this process is complicated by three main factors: Grip variability: The orientation of the nut on the robot gripper changes with each cycle. Design and physical forces– The internal knurling of the nut and the magnetic attraction of the pin make exact adjustment difficult. Operating environment: There are limitations on the working angle and external interference in the assembly area. For the robot it is more complicated than it seems, but now it has been Lei Jun himself who has turned to come to the fore to point out that robots have gone from that success rate of 90.2% to 98%. They are, according to the executive, just one percentage point behind human workers. And most importantly, they are ready to take on more complex tasks. Because thanks to that success, it has been decided that Robots can begin to tackle more complex tasks. Because from tightening nuts, they have moved on to new stations that included tasks such as installing the side panels of the center console, as well as folding and recycling parts. The side panel task is complex because it is a large, flexible, irregularly shaped component that requires multiple pick-and-place cycles in different positions. Xiaomi says this is the first time a humanoid robot has completed prolonged manipulation of such a part on a real automotive production line and estimates the success rate to be over 90%. In four months we will see where that percentage is, but although it is clear that the evolution of the company’s humanoid tobots It is being remarkable, we are talking about robots that are still in the testing phase and in a single workstation. They are taking data and running every possible metric to determine if they are up to par for a productive, full-scale deployment. Human workers can rest easy, at least for a few more months. What I don’t understand is why they have to look like robots taken from the reboot from ‘Robocop’. In Xataka | In the war of humanoid robots, those from the United States dance and those from China work by the piece. It is not a technological issue

This Lefant robot vacuum cleaner with the last name Pro has a discount

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Cleaning our home is necessary, but we don’t always have the time to do it. Any device that can give us a cable to do this is always welcomed and, if it does it without us having to do anything, then all the better. Yes, we are referring to a robot vacuum cleaner and, although there is a lot to choose from, Today we are going to focus on the Lefant M5 Pro: a high-end model that is now available for only 499.99 euros. Lefant M5 Pro Robot Vacuum Cleaner and Floor Mop with Self-Emptying Base, 120 Days Self-Cleaning, 18000 Pa, 3.2L Self-Emptying, 75℃ Washing, dToF Laser Navigation, 5G WiFi/App/Alexa The price could vary. We earn commission from these links @xataka.seleccion This robot vacuum cleaner does EVERYTHING for you, you barely have to touch it in 4 months and now it costs €1000 less #lefant #technology #robot #offer #home ♬ original sound – Xataka Selección – Xataka Selección A robot vacuum cleaner that requires very little maintenance Before talking about its features, let’s stop for a moment to talk about its price. We are looking at a robot vacuum cleaner that has a RRP of 1,599.99 eurosso we have a real discount right now. These types of offers are temporary and last a very short time, so we cannot take too long to go for it. We can also find more offers on Lefant robots right now. This robot vacuum cleaner, the best the brand has to date, It has a suction power of 18,000 Pa. These are very high figures compared to cheaper robots and will help the robot vacuum up small dust particles or hair, even from carpets. For these, in fact, its roller is automatically raised by 8 millimeters. This roller (which is 20 centimeters) is also larger than most, allowing you to cover more space in one pass. The brush of this robot vacuum cleaner is V-shaped, which allows both dust and hair to concentrate towards the center of it. Furthermore, as it has a double comb, the robot is especially effective in homes with petssince this helps prevent tangles. One point in which this Lefant stands out a lot is that it has a somewhat atypical scrubbing system. Its roller rotates vigorously to loosen dirt and has 16 water nozzles that They rinse and clean at the same time. In this way, the dirty water is evacuated and the robot always works with a clean roller. Two more things to analyze. The robot comes with a self-emptying base that clean the roller with hot water at 75 degreesdries cold and automatically sucks up dust. The brand promises that the robot vacuum cleaner does not need any maintenance for at least 120 days. In fact, it has a system that empties dirty water and automatically refills the tank with clean water. And finally, its guidance system. The Lefant M5 Pro has a 360-degree LiDAR navigation and 3D visualizationso we can expect quite remarkable guidance from him, avoiding all types of obstacles. The technology it uses has a 190-degree ultra-wide angle that allows it to identify obstacles even of low height. All this, added to a compact design to fit through tight spots and an app to customize its operation, makes this Lefant M5 Pro a great robot vacuum cleaner (and more, at this price), especially with homes where there are pets, a lot of hair loss or large homes where there are large furniture and complex spaces. Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Lefant In Xataka | Best robot vacuum cleaners in quality price. Which one to buy based on use and six recommended models In Xataka | Best upright vacuum cleaners. Which one to buy based on use and six recommended models

Making a robotic hand is “100 times more difficult” than building the entire robot. These Chinese companies are determined to solve it

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China has achieved let your humanoid robots run, they fight and even that execute choreographies with astonishing precision. That was the easy part. The key for a humanoid to stop being a fairground attraction and become a useful product is not in its legs, balance or its “brain”, but in something much smaller and much more complicated than it seems: the hands. The challenge of the hands. The human hand has 27 bones, 34 muscles and countless nerve endings. Replicating this in metal and circuits is the biggest bottleneck facing modern robotics. sums it up well Guardian Zhou Yong, founder of LinkerBot, one of the most advanced Chinese startups in this field: manufacturing a robotic hand is “a hundred times more difficult” than manufacturing an entire humanoid. “The dexterity required by a hand is ten times greater than that of any other part of the body, but its volume is only one-tenth the volume,” Zhou says. That is, not only is it the most technically complex element, it is also the smallest. The Chinese advantage. Pan Yunzhe, founder of Wuji Technology, studied in the United States and considered setting up his robotic hands company there, but soon saw that it was unviable. He tells The Guardian that “It was practically impossible to manufacture hardware in the United States due to the enormous limitations of the supply chain.” And China has an unmatched supply chain: it is agile, it is sophisticated and, above all, it is cheaper. This gives them a key advantage in hardware and allows companies like Linkerbot to already manufacture 5,000 robotic hands per month, a figure impossible to match anywhere else in the world. The problem is the software. Making the hand is only half the job, you also have to make it move like a human hand and there is still a long way to go here. Nathan Lepora, professor of robotics and AI at the University of Bristol, sums it up: “the challenge of making these hands is already being solved,” but controlling them “is a completely different game… no one knows how to do it yet.” The scarcity of data is one of the big problems and it is that, while LLMs have been trained with the enormous amounts of data on the Internet, there is hardly any data on how a human hand moves and, above all, what it feels like when touching something. To try to overcome this obstacle, Wuji Technology is testing a glove packed with sensors that captures all the movements of the human hand in everyday tasks. Its founder admits that being able to capture “how a person moves and what they touch or feel” is an “extremely complex and unsolved” task. The robotics market. The Chinese robotic hands sector had a turnover of $7.4 billion last year, almost four times more than in 2024. LinkerBot, one of the leading startups, aspires to a valuation of $6 billion. The case of this startup is just one example of the robotics boom in China, where more than a million companies are already registered, 40% more than last year. This translates into brutal dominance: China already manufactures 90% of the world’s humanoid robots and it is the country with the most industrial robotsby much difference with the rest. Yes, but. Robotics is advancing by leaps and bounds, but there are voices calling for calm, and not just any voice, but that of the International Federation of Robotics. In your report published in September last year were clear: “True multipurpose humanoids are still far away.” We are going to continue seeing more and more amazing demonstrations, but from there until they are sold en masse and we can all have one at home that is truly capable, there is a way to go. Image | Xataka with Magnific In Xataka | We still don’t know if humanoid robots will be the next great technological revolution. Yes we know that China will lead it

Selecting all the traffic lights is no longer enough to prove that you are not a robot. Now you have to scan QR codes

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There are those who think that There are no people on the internet and everything is bots.is what is known as dead internet theory. For years, we have used captcha technology to prove that we are not robots, but visual tests and puzzles are no longer reliable proof because AI can skip them without problem. The solution is to make us scan QR codes, but there is an ulterior motive behind it. Scan to verify you are a person. This is what I found this morning when trying to enter a website. My first instinct was to check the URL and all the details in case I was facing some kind of scam, but no. I took out my phone, opened the Google app and scanned the QR to access it. It is the new reCAPTCHA method to verify that we are not a bot. Although this novelty was introduced last monthI had not come across one of these QR until today. An anti-AI test. As we said, AI has managed to solve the most common captcha tests, such as the classic visual tests that ask us to select elements from an image or write the letters and numbers in an image. The solution that Google, owner of reCAPTCHA, has found is to make us scan a QR code with our mobile phone. The function is called Mobile verification” and They describe it like this: “In addition to visual challenges, it includes AI-resistant controls that use a mobile device to scan a QR code and verify human presence and device integrity.” At the moment this function is in the experimental phase and we can still use the visual challenges by clicking on the eye icon, but everything indicates that it will become the verification standard. The real reason. Being resistant to AI is not the only reason for this new method, there is something else that has consequences for many users. With mobile verification, Google has linked reCAPTCHA to Google Play Services making it only work with devices that have a current version of Google services. In practice, this means that users of Android phones without Google, such as Fairphone, GrapheneOS or Huawei phones, will not be able to verify that they are human. In other words: either you use our services or you will not be able to browse freely. No problems on iOS. As they point out in this Reddit threadGoogle could argue that having Play services updated is a security issue, but at the same time they allow the system to work on iOS where you are not forced to install any software. I have scanned the code myself from an iPhone and the only requirement is that the device has iOS 16.4 or a later version, something that almost all iPhones will comply with without problems. This shows that it is not about security, but about controlling the ecosystem and penalizing those who try to escape from it. The danger of QR. During the pandemic, QR code scanning had a golden age thanks to restaurants eliminating physical menus. This caused the QRishing scams, which basically consists of falsifying the QR codes so that they direct us to a fraudulent website. If Google normalizes QR scanning to browse the web, it’s a matter of time before fake codes posing as reCAPTCHA verification start appearing and scammers have a field day. Image | reddit In Xataka | You thought you were solving a CAPTCHA to enter a website. You were actually training an AI

the humanoid robot Figure 03

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In October 2025, Figure showed us what his new humanoid robot was capable of. The Figure 03 boasted a new design and much more precise dexterity, allowing it to move around the house and do such delicate tasks as picking up dishes or folding clothes. Although it is not for sale at the moment, Figure 03 has already started its first work. The chosen place has been the BMW factory in New Jersey. It is not the first time that BMW integrates humanoid robots in their factories. In fact, this new pilot program is the continuation of a first phase in which the previous model, the Figure 02, was supporting the production of the BMW X3 and previously They also had Figure 01 “in practice”. A very technological warehouse boy Figure 02 spent ten months at the BMW plant in Spartanburg, specifically in the body department. His job was to load the sheet metal panels that dress the BMW X3. Specifically, it helped the production of more than 30,000 vehicles. Now, Figure 03 has a totally different job that takes advantage of its new capabilities. The department where Figure 03 operates is assembly logistics. Here they receive the components in large, messy containers. Your job will be to collect them and sort them into carts that are sent to the assembly line in a specific order. In its first job, Figure’s robot had a very specific task in that it always picked up the same pieces, but now it must pick up pieces of different shapes, weights and sizes, which requires greater adaptability and precision. Figure 03 introduces important improvements compared to the previous generation, such as a design with soft parts that makes it safer, cameras in hands that improve the grip of objects and much more sensitive touch sensors. A key test This pilot is part of the initiative BMW iFactoryits global production strategy that seeks to promote digitalization starting with warehouse number 52 of the Spartanburg plant. The BMW X3 is produced here and the BMW iX5 electric. In this plant, technologies such as 3D simulations have already been implemented to optimize processes and vision and sound systems based on AI that provide real-time feedback to operators. Unlike the first pilot, this time they have chosen a more complex task in the sense that it undergoes changes and does not always follow the same pattern, which makes traditional industrial robots not the best option. If Figure 03 manages to maintain the precision and rhythm of the assembly line, it will be the litmus test to see whether humanoid robots can go from being a laboratory demonstration to a real worker. Images | bmw In Xataka | Humanoid robots will be truly ready when they manage to summit Everest. And they are already at it

A cement company stopped sending its personnel to inspect dangerous areas. Your new inspector is a robot dog

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Even though the conversation revolves around humanoid robotics Lately, this sector has had much more traction in the industry for decades, driving a good part of the current processes and assembly lines. In this regard, a Swiss cement plant has wanted to take advantage of robotics in a somewhat peculiar way: it has been using a quadruped robot to monitor your facilities every night. Below these lines we tell you all the details. The problem that had to be solved. Vigier Ciment has been producing cement in the hills of the Swiss Jura, south of Biel, for a century and a half, generating approximately a fifth of all cement in the country. Its plant houses more than 1,000 machines spread across several buildings and floors, connected by metal stairs of up to 16 sections, areas with temperatures that reach 50 degrees, constant dust and the occasional presence of ammonia near the unloading docks. The maintenance of all this fell to operators who toured the facilities on foot filling out paper records. Over time, continued exposure to these conditions generates what the plant workers themselves call “operational blindness.” You stop seeing what is in front of you because you have already seen it too many times, according to collect Techeblog. The guard dog. Just like account The medium, in November 2024 the Swiss robotics company ANYbotics began talks with Vigier Ciment to deploy its ANYmal quadruped robot at the plant. The robot arrived on January 6, 2025 and before the end of the first month it was already carrying out night patrols completely autonomously. ANYmal is similar in size to a large dog and weighs more than 50 kilos. It does not need human supervision, and its managers say it climbs stairs, avoids obstacles, navigates narrow hallways and accesses areas that previously required considerable effort on the part of staff. What exactly does it do in every round. Every night, even on weekends, ANYmal goes through more than 450 inspection points predefined elements distributed in three mills and six levels. To do this, it has several detection systems, including a visual camera that identifies cracks, oil leaks or corrosion; a thermal camera that measures the temperature of critical components such as bearings, motors and gears; a gas sensor that monitors ammonia levels; and an acoustic camera capable of locating compressed air leaks or filter failures at distances of up to 50 meters. According to point In the middle, all that information is automatically dumped into a software platform called Data Navigator, which analyzes the data collected overnight, compares it to the facility’s history, and generates a daily report for the maintenance team. What he has found along the way. In sixteen months of operation, ANYmal has already completed more than 33,000 inspections without recording any technical failures. According to ANYbotics, the most relevant findings have had a direct impact on plant operations. The middle share In addition, the robot detected a crack in the base of a shredder the size of a large kitchen table. The oil had been leaking for some time and no one had reported it on the usual rounds. The repair was completed the next day. Had it collapsed, the plant would have lost more than a week of production, with estimated losses of more than $630,000, according to the company’s own figures. In another case, thermal monitoring detected a bearing reaching 140 degrees Celsius, allowing a $30,000 eight-hour repair to be scheduled rather than facing a much more costly emergency failure. The robot also detected levels of ammonia exposure at unloading docks that had not been measured until then, and located air leaks in filtration systems installed 50 meters high. Industrial maintenance. The plant’s traditional fixed sensors only covered about 200 elements, mainly on the clinker side (the main component of cement). The robot expands that coverage substantially and accesses areas that static sensors cannot reach. At the same time, it removes operators from the most dangerous environments without reducing the frequency or quality of inspections. Images | ANYbotics In Xataka | One of the big problems with AI is that it always proves you right: this is the most effective way to avoid it

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