Swiss-Mile, a spin-off company of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, has just presented the latest version of its ANYmal robot which will go on sale next year. Equipped with wheels at the end of its four legs, it is intended for city delivery. He is fast, he can climb stairs and can even stand up to receive parcels.
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In 2018, researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich presented their new robot ANYmal, a quadruped capable of dancing and which was reminiscent of the Spot robot from Boston Dynamics. The team then founded the company Swiss-Mile and decided to improve the robot by adding wheels to the end of its four legs. The result is a very agile robot, able to overcome most urban obstacles, and much faster than others. quadrupedal robots.
On the flat, the ANYmal uses its wheels to reach up to 22 km / h. Its legs also act as shock absorbers, allowing it to easily descend stairs. By precisely controlling the wheels and bending his legs, he is able to climb steps or climb obstacles with almost as much ease.
ANYmal by Swiss-Mile is a robot with three operating modes: on wheels, quadruped and biped. © ETH Zürich
A bipedal mode to be able to enter packages
The most amazing thing is that this robot also works in bipedal mode, while standing on its two rear wheels. This mode was designed specifically for delivery services. With its two front wheels, it can grab customers’ parcels and put them in a compartment on its back. The robot then returns to quadruped mode to move quickly and bring the package to its destination. It is able to carry up to 50 kilos.
ANYmal uses GPS, Lidar and cameras for navigation, and has a battery life of two hours. The robot of Swiss-Mile will be available for sale next year, but the manufacturer has yet to announce the price.
ANYmal, the rhythmic robot
Article by Marc Zaffagini published on 03/17/2018
Designed by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, ANYmal is a four-legged robot that dances to the rhythm of music, analyzing what it hears in real time. A fun experience that contains interesting innovations for robotics in general.
After the robot that makes back saltos, the one who open the doors or the one who makes giant leaps, here is the dancing robot. Created by a team of Robotic System Lab of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), ANYmal is a quadrupedal robot that serves as a research platform.
As we can see in the video below, ANYmal is able to dance by synchronizing his steps with the music. He also knows how to adapt in real time to a change of pace or style. The reaction time from one song to another is sometimes a bit long, but we can see that the robot knows how to beat time with its shoe quite convincingly.
The four-legged robot ANYmal shows us his dance steps. © ETH Zurich Robotic System Lab
ANYmal dances to Daft Punk
Watching ANYmal sway to Daft Punk, Beyoncé or U2 playing cello is definitely entertaining. But the demonstration also serves to highlight a very powerful real-time analysis system. Indeed, the robot reacts live to what he hears and does not use any pre-recorded dance steps. For this, he analyzes the speed piece of music, plan its movements, starts dancing then checks his gestures to check that they are well synchronized with the rhythm.
This self-checking mechanism can prove to be very useful in robotics, whether for industrial robots or models intended for research or assistance missions. Moreover, since dance is a fairly complex human activity, managing to reproduce fluid movements is also a great technical performance.
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