After smartphones, Xiaomi presents its robot dog
The news
Boston Dynamics is following suit. Chinese electronics maker Xioami, now the world’s largest smartphone maker by number of units sold, presented a four-legged robot dubbed CyberDog at a conference on August 10.
Its design is heavily inspired by that of Spot, developed by the Boston robotics pioneer, now owned by Korean automaker Hyundai. However, Xiaomi did not think of it as a commercial product but rather as a demonstration of its know-how. The project is open source, and Xiaomi plans to distribute 1,000 copies of its “robot dog” to select engineers or handpicked fans. The opportunity to evangelize your brand. Note, however, that they will still have to pay 10,000 yuan, or about 1,300 euros. Read the full article on the Digital Factory.
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A concentrate of technologies
Technologies
To create its CyberDog, Xiaomi went into partnership with big names in the sector: Nvidia and Intel. Inside the Cyberdog, there is an Nvidia Jetson Xavier NX platform, used more in autonomous cars. With its capacity of 21 TOPS, this chip will be able to quickly run artificial intelligence software. The view of the Xiaomi Cyberdog is delegated to an Intel RealSense module capable of discerning depth and helping the robot to avoid obstacles. This technology is not new, Intel RealSense D450 was designed for augmented reality or identification applications. The dog also incorporates a flanking of sensors of all kinds to find one’s way in space and interact: touch sensors, cameras, ultrasonic sensors or even a more common GPS. On the mechanical side, Xiaomi promises that its Cyberdog can run at 3.2 meters per second, or 11.52 km / h, and can carry a load of 3 kg. Read the full article on Frandroid.
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A pet robot dog?
Target
If appearance is not its main asset, Xiaomi relies on the other qualities of CyberDog to promote its adoption. Above all, it was designed to appeal to robotics fans and other developers who will be able to add new features to it. Equipped with sensors, CyberDog can interact with its environment or interact with its owner. Thanks to facial recognition he follows his “master” and obeys him. As long as you want to hoe at home or in the street with a robot dog that looks more like the killers of Terminator than a friendly pet. Read the full article on Le Figaro.
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A market that opens up to other uses
Ambitions
The release of CyberDog by Xiaomi is very interesting, though not necessarily as a product in its own right. Instead, it says a lot about the current robotics landscape and the accessibility of this tech.
Boston Dynamics popularized the quadrupedal format for robots, and companies around the world are now exploring exactly how and where such machines can be deployed effectively. The price of this hardware has been falling though, allowing for new use-cases to be explored. Earlier this year, Chinese robotics firm Unitree released a quadrupedal bot that cost just $2,700, and Xiaomi’s own CyberDog undercuts that again. Obviously, the capability of these machines will not be identical, but broader access to the technology will show whether it’s worth these firms pursuing at all. Read the full article on the Verge.
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