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Unitree Robotics showcased its robots, which can run at speeds of up to 11 mph. I didn’t see any evidence of anything nefarious at Unitree’s booth this week-just a lot of bots that were feeling the groove.
Techcrunch event
San Francisco
|
October 13-15, 2024
The convenience store clerk
I stopped by the booth for Galbot, a Chinese company focused on multi-modal large language models and general purpose robotics.galbot’s booth was styled like a convenience store,and its bot appeared to be synchronized with a menu app. A customer could select an item from the menu, and the bot would retrieve it. After I chose Sour Patch Kids, the bot dutifully retrieved a box off the shelf. According to the company’s website,the robot has been deployed in real-world settings,including as an assistant at Chinese pharmacies.
The housekeeper
Creating a machine that can fold laundry has long been a core ambition of the commercial robotics community. The ability to pick up a T-shirt and fold it is considered a basic test of automated competence.I was impressed by the display at Dyna Robotics,a firm that develops advanced manipulation models for automated tasks. A pair of robotic arms efficiently folded laundry and placed it in a pile.A Dyna representative said the firm has established partnerships with hotels, gyms, and factories.
One of those businesses, the rep told me, is Monster Laundry based in Sacramento, California. Monster Laundry integrated Dyna’s shirt-folding robot into its operations in late 2023 and now describes itself as the “first laundry center in North America to debut a state-of-the-art robotic folding system from Dyna.”
Dyna also has notable backing. It concluded a $120 million Series A fundraising round in September 2023, which included funding from Nvidia’s NVentures, Amazon, LG, Salesforce, and Samsung.
The butler
I also stopped by LG’s section of CES to look at its new home robot,cloid. It was cute but wasn’t the fastest bot. You can read my full review