Swiss-Mile humanoid robot can do it all: stand on two legs, walk on four and drive like a car
In 2020, researchers considered that for legged robots, motorized wheels have a number of significant advantages over legs. Locked wheels can behave like legs, and unlocking them gives legged robots the ability to move faster and more efficiently.
Although we have seen several examples of robots using wheels, the best example of this strategy is almost certainly the work of the Robotic Systems Lab at ETH Zürich, which studies the possibilities of using wheeled robots built on the basis of any quadrupedal robots.
According to the Swiss company, last-mile delivery should use small autonomous electric solutions that will help reduce traffic load in urban areas, lower CO2 emissions, and meet growing demand.
This technology recently became a company called Swiss-Mile, which aims to commercialize robots with wheeled legs for a wide range of tasks, including mapping, inspection, disaster relief and urban logistics.
Originally known as the ANYmal quadruped robot, which looks like a relative of Spot, it received an upgrade meant to make it even more competitive. The device now has wheels and is called the Swiss-Mile Robot.
It is equipped with LiDAR and GPS sensors and can carry tools, goods, sensors, materials and other items both indoors and outdoors. The robot stands up, uses its front legs as arms, grabs packages and places them in the cargo compartment.
Swiss-Mile claims the robot is 83% more efficient than legged systems and has a maximum payload of up to 50 kg. Although there is no information about its price, the company plans to make the robot commercially available in 2022.
Swiss-Mile offers the ANYmal multimodal robot with wheels and legs, which has unique properties that make it a versatile solution for intelligent cargo logistics systems. Unlike wheeled delivery platforms and light delivery drones, it can move efficiently over flat terrain, overcome obstacles such as steps and stairs, and carry heavy loads indoors and outdoors.
“It is a four-legged car, a humanoid capable of moving at speeds of up to 22 km/h, overcoming obstacles and standing on two legs!”
Although the humanoid mode is very cool, it is unclear how useful it will be in practice. Entering this mode (and presumably exiting it) requires dynamic movement, which would be best performed far from people. It may be seen as an unstable robot that may need considerable space to balance properly. However, researchers believe that one day wheels combined with legs could be a useful feature for a logistics robot.
“Using its front legs as arms, the robot can take packages from customers and then place them in the cargo compartment on its back. It then goes back onto all fours and quickly rides down the street with the packages”
But for now, last-mile delivery (with or without the humanoid mode) is more of a long-term vision. Instead, Swiss-Mile is focusing on commercial tasks that require a unique combination of speed and obstacle handling, but do not venture into the complex space of human interaction, such as mapping or inspecting complex spaces.
"Swiss-Mile extends our research of the last five years by deploying a multimodal platform to address last-mile delivery and logistics challenges with superior speed, efficiency, versatility and payload capacity. With legs and wheels, our robot outperforms modern wheeled delivery platforms as well as light delivery drones. It is the only solution capable of carrying tools, materials, goods and sensors over long distances with energy efficiency and speed, overcoming difficult obstacles such as steps and stairs, and providing seamless navigation in urban environments both indoors and outdoors," the company said.
Key advantages of Swiss-Mile:
- Last-mile delivery. A versatile platform for urban and indoor environments, enabling various logistics applications by carrying goods, materials and tools.
- Digital twins. Automated solutions for large-scale reality capture that reproduce real cities in mirror (digital) worlds.
- Monitoring. Large-scale monitoring services automatically detect changes in the environment by comparing online data with a pre-mapped digital twin.
- AI-based autonomy. New AI algorithms that allow robots to navigate complex urban environments.
The original ANYmal robot, developed by ANYbotics, is also quite versatile, although it lacks these useful wheels. Its battery life is 90 minutes, and a full charge takes about three hours. It is well suited for inspections, as it is equipped with various sensors such as thermal, acoustic and optical.
