Xpeng Motors unveils the world's first smart robot horse you can ride
Judging by everything, elements of science fiction are gradually becoming reality. Pengxing Intelligence, a subsidiary of Xpeng Motors, has unveiled the world's first smart robot horse.
Chinese Xpeng Motors, often called the "Chinese Tesla", first published a teaser image of the mysterious new product, and then shocked everyone by presenting a robotic horse. Its designers were inspired by the image of a unicorn.
Xpeng said the horse is based on the architecture of a four-legged robot. The design features an innovative body and joint system. It is able to mimic natural movements far better than previous attempts at animal robots.
The robot horse is equipped with an intelligent driving system at the level of a vehicle, which includes lidars and external cameras. The system allows the robotic animal to "sense" its surroundings, map roads, avoid obstacles, and move independently and follow objects.
In addition, this robotic horse has several AI interaction functions, each supporting voice and touch interaction, and can even display a corresponding facial expression.
At first glance the robot seems like something from a science fiction film, but in fact the device is meant to be a children's toy. Although one can ride the robot horse, the company expects that only children will ride it. No further information about the rider's age or weight has been provided yet.
Although the robot is intended more for children than adults, it can also be used to carry cargo: there is a small storage space on its back for this purpose. The intelligent system provides self-charging: when the battery level drops to a minimum, the "horse" heads to a charging station on its own.
Xpeng has not disclosed the price of the robot horse or said when the device will go on sale. However, it is known that the robot will still be refined. Sales are expected to begin in 2022.
Pengxing Intelligence was founded in 2016 and is one of the first Chinese companies to invest in the development of legged robots. It has accumulated a number of patents in power modules for robots, motion control, intelligent driving and interactive systems.
The presented smart horse has a unique pony shape with "front knees and rear elbows". It is equipped with a power unit with a high specific power ratio and uses a precise dynamic model with AI technology to achieve excellent balance and maneuverability.
The chairman and CEO of Xpeng Motors believes that, in addition to smart computers and smartphones, smart cars and smart robots will bring a new way of life.
“When our generation grows old, we will be able to use our own robots. Help us achieve a better life at that time, whether it is cooking and laundry, communication and companionship, or traveling together”
He said that the XPeng Motors smart car model will be used to create smart robots. The company will extend its capabilities in autonomous driving, voice and intelligence to smart robotics with one goal: creating a low-speed intelligent transport pony robot called Little White Dragon.
According to Xiaopeng, if smart cars are the pinnacle of artificial intelligence, then smart robots are the pinnacle of machine intelligence. He said: "We hope more people interested in this direction will join us, including in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Beijing and the US, especially from the fields of automotive systems and artificial intelligence systems".
Xiaopeng noted that it is extremely difficult to start a business in intelligent robotics, but XPeng expects to use robots to help people do household chores, do many fun things and even become friends within a few years.
Currently, cars equipped with "advanced" autonomous driving systems often end up in road accidents, not to mention "vehicle-level" intelligent driving systems. This also limits the use cases of this product to only a few acceptable options.
As Xpeng's robot horse now joins Xiaomi's Cyberdog in a robot zoo, it seems that as AI technologies and materials develop, the era of service robots is not far off.
