The Next Walking Robot For The Home

As the name suggests the Ubtech Robotic Walker is a bipedal walking robot, which is part of a new wave of robots that are looking to invade households. It has no arms only legs and the walking is the only feature people are currently buzzing about.

Ubtech Robotic Walker

There has been a lot of talk about the difficulties these types of robots face in the development stages. Obviously, with the development of robots like Atlas from Boston Dynamics, which has mastered walking and backflips, people expect this type of robot creation to be a breeze. However, it is quite the opposite. These new robots are meant to operate in people’s homes which brings a collection of new challenges. The noise the robot comes with is a leading problem. Most of the impressive biped robots up to this point incorporate hydraulics into their systems, the drawback of this being it’s very loud. Along with this, it is reported to be fragile, expensive and witnesses say it falls over more than it should. Despite all this, there are some fairly impressive videos of the robot doing things such as kicking a football.

The ChildMinder

Ubtech, the Chinese creators of the robot, are currently doing extensive work into making this product suitable for the home however impossible it may seem. The idea is that it will essentially do anything that a person could need in their house, patrolling the home, acting as a calendar and being a general online assistant. Another big selling point that the company is pushing is its capabilities when it comes to entertaining children, with reporters stating they watched the robot kick a ball, dance and descend stairs. There is likely a market for a child-entertaining robot on its own.

A worry with most biped robots being around kids is the weight of them and the fact that they are typically heavy which could pose obvious threats to a young person. Despite these worries, the Ubtech walker is only an astonishing 82 pounds. For a robot that promises to have so many abilities this is incredibly light and will likely be another fairly massive selling point, perhaps even putting them above any competition they may face. Along with the remarkable weight, it does have systems which aim to keep it balanced along with systems where even if it does fall it will fall away from danger. When it runs out of power the walker will simply stand still until powered up again.

Listening To Feedback

Ubtech have listened to the feedback and criticisms of the robot and are now working on a manipulation arm to accompany the walker, along with developing a wheeled robot which will have a robotic manipulation arm. The challenge they will mainly be facing is keeping the walker balanced and eliminating any chance of it falling over, all the other problems can be developed and improved on at a later date.