A robot that can wash windows and do the shopping is something that the futuristic cartoon The Jetsons envisioned occurring in 2062 but it is happening now. Unlimited Robotics, an Israeli startup based in Tel Aviv has created a robot that can do the tasks that you don’t want to.
About Gary
Gary, named after the initials of the company’s founder and CEO Guy Altagar’s children, is not like the robots that are already on the market. He’s better, Altagar told Goodnet.
The robot has two functioning arms and it is no easy task to build a robot with two arms. In fact, Altagar said that the robot can activate its arms to work simultaneously to do a multitude of tasks. Gary is also autonomous, which means that it can do tasks that are programmed without a person turning on a switch like an iRobot.
This means that unlike robots that are designed to do just one task like picking fruit or assembling cars, reported No Camels, Gary can pick up new skills and perform new tasks just by writing some additional lines of code.
Easy to Program
Unlimited Robotics developed an open-source platform – Ra-Ya – that allows ordinary software engineers that have never worked on robots to be able to program Gary.
“Building applications for electronic devices is extremely complicated,” Altagar told No Camels. “You have to know electronics, mechanics, kinematics (the geometry of motion), AI,[and] software. So usually there is a big group of people working on building one application.
“We have simplified all that by building a layer on top of the hardware that enables developers to write very specific and very easy lines of code in Python.” In fact, any of the 25 million Python developers can build applications on Gary.
What makes this software unique is that a company will be able to deploy and manage several devices on the same platform, something that is not found in any of the robots in the market, Altegra told Goodnet. A company could conceivably have several robots doing different tasks without separate operating platforms.
Gary’s Capabilities
While Gary was designed to do tasks in homes and offices, the robot could easily do work in factories, stores, and hospitals, reported Israel Hayom. And, in fact, the robot is already deployed in medical settings in Israel.
Gary can hold up to 5 kilos (11 pounds) and has a top speed of 1.2 meters per second (3.1 mph) and can adapt to multiple settings – floors, carpets, and grass, indoors and out. Gary can adapt to different environments because of the three different infrared and in-depth cameras that are built in.
You have to program Gary to pick up something from one location and move it to another but because Gary uses AI, the robot can move around obstacles and change routes to get the job done, according to No Camels.
(Courtesy Unlimited Robots)
What’s Next?
There are currently nine robots that are being used in medical settings and in hotels where there are presently labor shortages. Gary can do nonmedical work by bringing patients water or extra blankets. The robot can also do housekeeping chores like sanitizing beds, and cleaning floors.
But this is just the beginning. The company, Altegra told Goodnet, already has plans to increase the number of robots to 500 by the end of 2023. After that, who knows what other futuristic Jetsonian fantasy will become a reality next?
