Inspenet, July 19, 2023.
Chinese company Fourier Intelligence plans to produce 100 GR-1 general-purpose humanoid robots by the end of 2023 with the promise of helping people with disabilities or suffering from diseases.
Fourier Intelligence specializes in rehabilitation technologies, offering physiotherapy devices to treat various conditions. Alternatives range from wrist strength exercises to hand and finger grip training to lower-body exoskeletons that help people walk, sit, stand, balance and climb stairs.
The GR-1 humanoid robot project, launched in 2019, may seem a bit unusual considering the company’s focus on rehabilitation. However, a lower body physical therapy exoskeleton is likely to use much of the same technology and have to solve many of the same challenges as the legs of a humanoid robot.
The new robot, like other projects being developed by companies such as Tesla and Figure, is designed for general use, but has a particular focus on physiotherapy care and assistance as some of its early use cases.
GR-1: A valuable assistant for people with disabilities
The GR-1, which is 165 cm tall and weighs 55 kg, will be able to walk at a maximum speed of approximately 5 km/h. Its joints, like those of the Tesla and Figure robots, will offer a modest 40 degrees of freedom thanks to electric actuators, as opposed to the hydraulic systems used in robots like Boston Dynamics’ Atlas.
The electric motors that drive the robot will be powerful, especially the largest one, which will be located on the hips and will be capable of generating up to 300 Nm of torque.
According to the company, the GR-1 will have the capacity to support loads of up to 50 kg , almost equal to its own weight. This will allow the robot to perform tasks such as transporting relatively light, immobile patients between beds and wheelchairs .
Likewise, the GR-1 has the potential to play different roles, such as a caregiver, therapeutic assistant or companion for older people who live alone in their homes.
The robot system itself is capable of achieving balance when walking and performing various tasks. It can be programmed to sit, stand, and jump, and its arms can be programmed to pick up utensils and tools, as well as perform other tasks as required by engineers.
Since 2021 the company has built and tested several partial and complete prototypes of the GR-1. In this video you can see how the robot learns to walk, passes the famous push test with a broomstick, handles delicate objects such as glass bottles, performs some rudimentary dance movements, responds to physical interactions with humans, and dodges some obstacles.
The process of building the hardware and incorporating basic movements like walking represents the easiest part. The real difficulty lies in teaching these robots to navigate autonomously in a chaotic and unfamiliar environment, as well as to perform tasks for which they have not been specifically programmed.
It is for this reason that Fourier is ramping up production to 100 units by the end of the year . These will not be fully functional general purpose robots, but rather hardware and software platforms with basic capabilities, primarily intended for research and development labs.
Source: https://www.teknofilo.com/este-robot-humanoide-creado-en-china-puede-transportar-su-propio-peso/
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