When robots start working together, one of two things is going to happen: they are either going to serve us in previously unimaginable ways, or Skynet will become real and they will try to wipe out humanity. The stakes are high, but in theory they could fetch all our snacks and drinks, so it seems like a gamble worth taking. I mean, who wouldn’t trade a little dignity and potential human extinction for having a robot butler to bring them soda and chips on demand?
In all seriousness, collaboration between robots could accomplish far more than fetching snacks. A robotic system that can quickly get to nearly any location, for instance, could be invaluable in search and rescue operations. So to better serve these types of applications, researchers at Caltech have developed a multirobot system that they call X1. Through teamwork, X1 is able to walk, drive, and fly to go where no other robot has gone before.
Based on the very capable Unitree R1 humanoid robot , X1 is both accessible and agile. But humanoid robots have their limits, so X1 also wears another robot as a backpack. This backpack isn’t just for looks; it is an M4 robot that can transform between modes that allow it to roll on the ground or fly through the air, depending on what is required of it. With this arrangement, the sensor-laden humanoid robot can get close to the action, then deploy a rolling or flying robot only when it can go no further.
To test their creation, the team staged a demonstration on Caltech’s campus. The humanoid robot began inside a building, walked across campus, and deployed the M4 robot from its back like a mechanical falcon taking flight. M4 then transformed into driving mode to roll across the ground, switched back to flight mode to soar over a pond, and eventually reached the site of a simulated emergency.
This combination of locomotion types allows the X1 system to navigate complex terrain in ways that no single robot could manage. The robot is also supported by physics-based control algorithms that allow the humanoid to generate its own movements without relying on pre-recorded human motion data. Because of this, it is able to make its way through challenging environments even if it hasn’t seen anything quite like them before.
The team’s long-term goal is to create autonomous robotic systems that are safe, reliable, and capable of operating independently in dynamic real-world environments. If successful, the X1 collaboration could bring about a new era of cooperative, adaptable robots. And with luck, maybe they’ll bring us snacks, too.
X1 is more than meets the eye (📷: Caltech)
Nice backpack! (📷: Caltech)
Ready for liftoff (📷: Caltech)
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