Japan: an ibex robot to ride like a unicorn, but what for?

Spot has a new friend Bex the robotic ibex

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After the dogs robots, including Spot is the best known of the representatives, place for ibexes robotized! This is no joke, and it is Kawasaki Robotics who unveiled this horned robot, a strange cross between a horse and a chamois. His name: Bex, because it would ultimately be more of an ibex (Ibex in English).

In the video below, we discover that its horns light up and that its articulated legs can move up and down, and above all turn into wheels… All with a seat and handlebars for a rider to climb on it the back. Yes, unlike Spot, Bex is not only autonomous, and can therefore be used as a mount. Unless you’re in a hurry…

A future in surveillance and transportation

Halfway between robots humanoids and wheeled robots, we wondered if there was an opportunityMasayuki Soube, of Kawasaki, said in an interview translated by IEEE Spectrum. That’s why we started to develop Bex, a quadruped robot. We believe that the walking technology applied in the development of humanoid robots can definitely be applied to quadruped walking robots “.

According to its designer, Bex can carry up to 100 kilos of merchandise, and he could be used for harvesting or as a storekeeper in factories. Another use envisaged: as a surveillance tool in the warehouse since it has cameras. Kawasaki specifies that the bust of the pseudo animal is not fixed and that each interested partner will be able to adapt it to its needs. Perhaps we will see a unicorn or a llama

For the moment, this robot seems more out of the world of a fairground than a warehouse where it would be responsible for surveillance. © Kawasaki

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