Canonical, the company that sponsors the development of Ubuntu, has revealed that the popular Linux distribution helps power Xiaomi’s recently released CyberDog.
Introducing the Mi Pad 5, Mi Mix 4, and some new smart home products earlier this year in August, Xiaomi released a robotic version of Man’s Best Friend. Nicknamed CyberDog, Xiaomi’s mechanical canine looks a lot like Boston Dynamics’ famous robotic dog, Spot.
However, unlike Spot, CyberDog has an open source kernel, Ubuntu 18.04 to be exact.
“Open source is fundamental to CyberDog, it guarantees compatibility and growth. It allows developers the freedom to push the boundaries, and that’s what CyberDog was meant to do, ”said Huang Changjiang, Xiaomi project manager.
Open source robotics
Canonical has used CyberDog as an example to illustrate how the open source community helps facilitate the field of robotics, thanks to a rich set of tools and libraries such as the Robot Operating System (ROS).
“Implementing ROS in Ubuntu becomes easier and makes secondary development more user-friendly. Our goal is to unlock this rich ecosystem of applications and algorithms for CyberDog, ”says Huang.
Canonical shares that Xiaomi has released 1,000 CyberDog units and that the company will also establish the “Xiaomi Open Source Community” to constantly share progress and results with developers around the world.
Priced at $ 1,540, Canonical understands that CyberDog’s affordability and open source nature will help encourage robotics enthusiasts and engineers to accelerate research for new use cases.
“We are already seeing four-legged robots exploring mines or helping first responders in natural disasters. These devices have also found uses in the construction industry or to assist with industrial inspections, where terrain maneuverability represents a challenge. Every day more applications are discovered thanks to this collaborative work, ”says Canonical.
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