From the home to the workplace, and to the sky above, robots in 2021
are transforming the world we know —and helping us understand the worlds we don’t.
Let’s highlight a few of these remarkable machines and how they might transform
not only how we interact with ourselves, but also the universe around us. So, don’t forget
to watch today’s video to the very end for the 10 most advanced robots at this moment!
But before we begin, we request you to subscribe to the channel and press the
bell icon to never miss another upload of ours. Having said that, let’s jump right in!
Number 10. Mars Perseverance & Ingenuity
Mars is a planet exclusively populated by robots. The two newest editions to
the Martian robot family are NASA’s new rover Perseverance, and it’s remarkable
payload — the Mars Helicopter, Ingenuity. Perseverance will have a familiar look to many,
given the popularity of earlier Martian rovers like Opportunity, Spirit, and Curiosity to name a
few. Packed with sensors, drills, and collection tools, Perseverance is a technological marvel,
but Ingenuity represents something altogether different. Ingenuity will be the first manmade
object to attempt flight in the ultrathin Martian atmosphere. The technology that Ingenuity is
testing has the potential to take us places even the greatest of rovers could never dream of.
Number 9. Moley the Robotic Chef Let’s come down from the stars above
and look at something a little closer to home — your kitchen. Meet Moley, the world’s first
fully robotic kitchen. While Moley is a far cry from the magic of food replicators in Star Trek,
it might be the next best thing. With two robotic arms,
Moley will cook complete meals for you, tell you when ingredients need replacing,
suggest dishes based on the ingredients you have available, learn what you like,
and even tidy up kitchen surfaces if it makes a mess. Moley also comes in a lighter version that
lacks robotic arms but offers touch screens, smart appliances, and a recipe database. For this setup,
the price tag is a modest $135K. For the full setup with robotic arms,
because of course that’s what everyone wants, you’re looking to pay in the range of $340K.
Number 8. Toyota’s Robotic Butler If a robotic kitchen and a Roomba aren’t enough,
the brilliant minds at Toyota Research Institute (TRI) have you covered. Inspired by Japan’s aging
population, engineers at TRI conceived of building a home designed to operate a robotic butler.
It can do everything from cleaning surfaces to gently opening a drink for you.
The downside of this design is that the robotic butler requires
scaffolding on the ceiling or walls of every room the robot will operate in.
They are working on developing a robot butler that can function without scaffolding but it
will suffer from the same mobility issues with stairs and obstacles that other home robots have.
While building your home with scaffolding for a hanging robot may not be the most aesthetically
pleasing design, it does offer hope to our aging population that they can remain living in their
own homes for longer, with a robotic butler on 24-hour standby for whatever they might need.
Number 7. Spot by Boston Dynamics
If robotic kitchens and butlers appeal to you, then how about a robot dog? Boston Dynamics,
a company that cannot be ignored when talking about robotics, developed the multipurpose robot
dog Spot. Spot isn’t really intended to be a personal pet. With a base price tag of $74.5K,
Spot is meant for industrial purposes. Spot can get into tight squeezes in mines or construction
sites and areas that might be dangerous for human inspectors. But if you are looking for a pet robot
dog, Unitree offers a similar offering to Spot at a greatly reduced size and price. Coming in
at little under $10K, Unitree Robotics A1 could be your new loyal companion, with significantly
less doggy mess to clean up. Developed by Boston Dynamics, Spot is a four-legged robot designed to
be rugged and customizable. It’s well suited for unstructured environments and is fully capable
of climbing stairs and traversing rough terrain. Weighing about 32.5 kg, it avoids obstacles,
sees 360-degrees and performs a large number of programmed tasks. Spot can go where humans cannot!
Spot’s versatile capabilities are adding value in wide variety of applications,
in hazardous or non-hazardous areas (energies, construction, factories…), including:
✓ Remote sensing and inspection ✓ Construction and environmental monitoring
✓ Site documentation and data collection ✓ Leak detection (radiation, gas, oil, water…)
Number 6. Digit by Agility Robotics Staying in the vein of robots designed
for industrial applications, Digit, made by Agility Robotics is a vaguely human-shaped robot,
albeit missing a head. Packed with sensors and two arms and two legs, Digit is capable
of navigating complex environments that other robot laborers would struggle with.
So basically it is a humanoid robot designed to move in a more dynamic fashion
than regular robots do. It has nimble limbs and a torso packed with sensors that will
allow it to navigate complex environments and carry out tasks like package delivery.
Able to walk, run, or climb stairs — and with the relatively modest price tag of $250K — Digit is
shaping up to be a major contender in the race to automate workplace manual labor.
Number 5. Atlas by Boston Dynamics We have yet another entry in this
list from the amazing minds at Boston Dynamics — Atlas, the world’s most dynamic humanoid robot.
The Atlas disaster-response robot made its public debut on July 11,
2013 in the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC). Back then, Atlas was a bruiser, coming in at 6’2”,
weighing 330lbs, and tethered to an external power supply and computer system.
Since then, Atas has evolved into something more like a ballet dancer. Measuring a little less
than 5’ and weighing 187lbs, Atlas has near human articulation and is capable of operating without
a tether. And we would be remiss not to mention that Atlas also has some pretty sick dance moves.
Number 4. Guardian XO Exoskeleton If you’ve ever dreamed of an Ironman
power suit of your own, Sarcos Robotics should be on your radar. Although you can’t shoot laser
beams out of your hands or fly on rockets in your feet, Sarcos’s Guardian XO Exoskeleton bestows
us mere mortals with the power of superhuman strength — at least until the battery runs out.
Able to enhance human strength up to 20X (with a maximum lift of 200lbs), the Guardian
XO Exoskeleton has applications across dozens of industries. Everything from manufacturing,
warehouses, and defense are looking to integrate exoskeletons into their operations. And with a
lease price of $100K per year, it looks like the science fiction promise of exoskeletons might
finally be a reality. The Guardian XO full-body exoskeleton is the world's first battery-powered
industrial robot to combine human intelligence, instinct, and judgment with the power, endurance,
and precision of machines. Set to transform the way work gets done, the Guardian XO
industrial exoskeleton augments operator strength without restricting freedom of movement to boost
productivity while dramatically reducing injuries. Born of a fundamental need to safely enable humans
to be more productive, the Guardian XO full-body industrial exoskeleton robot
is the perfect synergy of human and machine. It is revolutionizing the way work gets done.
Uniquely suited for safer, more productive manufacturing/assembly, construction,
field service, and warehouse/logistics use cases, the Guardian XO enables a single person to deliver
the productivity of many, while significantly reducing the risk of occupational injury.
Number 3. Vicarious Medical Robot According to Allied Market Research,
the robotic surgery market is worth approximately $90 billion. It’s no surprise that there are many
exciting new companies springing up to capitalize on the market size and the untapped potential of
integrating new technologies like virtual reality and 5G wireless into healthtech.
One of those exciting new companies is Bill Gates backed Vicarious Surgical. Having raised
$40 million, Vicarious Surgical’s mission is to transport surgeons inside the patient to perform
minimally invasive surgery using proprietary human-like surgical robots and virtual reality.
Number 2. British loyal wingman If we are integrating robots into our kitchens,
our bodies, and sending them into space, it makes perfect sense the military is getting
in on the action too. The British government recently announced plans to build a prototype
loyal wingman-type unmanned aircraft by 2023, with Spirit AeroSystems winning the
$41 million contract to design the new fighter. We’ve had unmanned drones in military operations
for decades now, but this new generation will be faster, smarter, and more autonomous.
The loyal wingman is intended to provide the human pilots who fly alongside it
with additional protection, intelligence, and enhanced survivability odds during missions.
Number 1. Xenobots Some lists like to end on a big and splashy entry
but that’s not our style. We’re going to end this video on the tiniest robot on our list. But
don’t let their size fool you, these little guys could end up having a bigger impact on our lives
than all the other robots on this list combined. Meet the Xenobots, living, programmable organisms!
Xenobots are synthetic organisms made from embryonic stem cells of the African clawed frog
(Xenopus laevis), hence the name — Xenobots. Depending on how you define a robot, Xenobots
are not the C3PO archetype you are envisioning, but they are undeniably machines. They are created
by computers to perform specific functions. Individually, they can complete simple tasks,
but the real potential for Xenobots is their ability to cooperate with each
other to perform more complex undertakings. Scientists envision Xenobots as a means to
deliver medication to specific parts of the body, scrape plaque from arteries,
and could even be used at scale for environmental remediation like removing plastics from the ocean.
And since Xenobots are organic cells, they are not pollutants or toxins. Once their
job is diligently completed and they exhaust their available nutrients, they simply biodegrade in the
environment like all living cells. So far Xenobots have been taught to walk, swim, push pellets,
carry payloads, and work together in a swarm to aggregate debris scattered along the surface of
a dish into neat piles. We are just at the inception of this incredible technology but
it’s safe to say, you will be hearing more about these little guys in the years to come.
With that, we come to the end of today’s video. If you enjoyed our content, don’t forget to like,
share and subscribe to the channel. Lastly,
join in a next time for more of such interesting content!