/ News
Fetch Robotics tag teams to speed up warehouse work
As internet commerce matures, consumers are expecting more immediate delivery of goods, but a fleet of drones won't do any good unless the packing warehouses can keep up. The latest effort to help speed up this process comes from Fetch Robotics, which has unveiled Fetch and Freight – a robotic tag team that takes over the boring task of collecting and delivering stock.
Fetch and Freight may sound like an end-of-pier act, but their purpose is to make the job of human shipping workers faster and easier. Designed for the logistics industry, robotic team consist of a mobile base and an advanced manipulator that can act as either a static or mobile unit. The robots use the ROS open-source robot operating system, and include anti-collision systems to help them work in the vicinity of humans.
The basic purpose of Fetch and Freight is to take over the pick-and-pack and other repetitive warehouse jobs, so workers can concentrate on more complex tasks. In addition, they can carry out autonomous, continuous operations by means of a charging station that the robots can use by themselves to top up their batteries and minimize downtime.
Fetch is an advanced mobile manipulator that uses a back-drivable arm with seven degrees of freedom and a modular gripper, which can be switched out and replaced depending on the task. It's set on a telescoping spine that can stretch from a height of 1.1 to 1.5 m (3.5 - 4.9 ft). Together, they can lift about 6 kgs (13 lb). The pan-tilt head holds cameras and a 3D depth sensor, and can seek out and select items from standard shelves. The mobile version is installed on a Freight base.
Freight
Freight is the mobile base that works in tandem by following Fetch or a human worker. It can carry about 68 kg (150 lb), and has a 2D laser scanner for navigation. It can be programmed by means of a smartphone app to navigate a particular route, or to follow Fetch or a human worker using wireless signals.
In basic warehouse operations, Fetch and Freight work together with Freight seeking out stock items on shelves, then transferring them to a basket carried by Freight. When the order is complete, Freight heads off to packing, while a second base unit moves in to replace it, so there's no pause in the work.
Fetch and Freight are controlled by an app
"Consumers are increasingly acting like impatient toddlers when it comes to delivery; they want their purchases and they want them now," says Rob Coneybeer, Managing Director at Shasta Ventures. "As a result of this trend, commercial order fulfillment is becoming more and more challenging for retailers. A robotic system such as the one from Fetch Robotics can address these issues and ultimately lead to healthier margins, competitive advantage, and satisfied customers."
The robots will go on display at the 2015 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) running May 26 to 30 at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle.
The video below introduces Fetch.
Source: Fetch Robotics via IEEE Spectrum
Fetch & Freight from Fetch Robotics on Vimeo.
Source: http://www.gizmag.com/fetch-robotics-tag-team-warehouse-autonomous/37254/
/ About us
Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
/ Follow us at:
/ Contact:
For additional information, partnerships and sponsorship, contact:
info@2045.com
Media requesting information and interviews, contact PR@2045.com
LinkedIn
LiveJournal
Google
Twitter
Facebook
Я.ру
ВКонтакте
Mail.ru