Hardware Podcasts

Designing robot arms to survive lunar nights; Waymo 'no plans' to expand in Ariz.

The Robot Report Podcast · 5 Feb 2021 · 1h 06m

What this episode covers

Tom McCarthy, VP of Business Development at Motiv Space Systems, explains the engineering challenges of the COLDarm, a robotic arm designed to operate at -279°F during lunar nights without active heating, partnering with JPL for a 2024 launch. Ben Upcroft, VP of Technology at Oxbotica, discusses the company's 'Selenia' autonomy software, which uses camera, LiDAR, and radar for infrastructure-free navigation in mining and on-road applications, emphasizing the role of synthetic data and simulation. The episode also covers Boston Dynamics' Spot Arm, a 6-DOF manipulator that enables Spot to perform mobile manipulation tasks like opening doors, and notes Waymo's decision not to expand its robotaxi service in Arizona.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Motiv Space Systems, JPL, Boston Dynamics, Waymo, Oxbotica, AutoX
Products
COLDarm, Mars Perseverance Rover, Spot, Spot Arm, Selenia

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Next Byte Podcast · 28m

    74. Robots Working on the Moon and in Warehouses

    Hosts Daniel and Farbod discuss two robotics topics: a team from ETH Zurich and Anybotics adapting their quadruped robot 'Anymal' for lunar exploration via the ESA's Glimpse project, and Carnegie Mellon University's research into decentralized, AI-driven warehouse navigation. They detail the challenges of lunar terrain, the specifics of the ESA competition, and the three-part reinforcement learning framework (navigation, safety, and awareness) designed to allow robots to operate in dynamic, unstructured warehouse environments without centralized control.

    Robotics & autonomyEmbedded firmware
    6 chapters

  • The Next Byte Podcast · 26m

    20. NASA’s New Moon Buggy, Rock Picking Robot, Super-Strong Concrete

    Hosts Daniel and Forbode discuss three engineering stories: the joint Lockheed Martin and General Motors contract for NASA's Artemis lunar rover, which will leverage GM's Cruise autonomous driving tech; TerraClear, a startup founded by serial entrepreneur Brent Frei that raised $500,000 to build a robotic rock-picking arm for agriculture; and a graphene-enhanced concrete developed by the University of Manchester and Nationwide Engineering that reduces CO2 emissions by 30% in the material and 2% globally.

    Robotics & autonomyMaterials & manufacturing processes
    4 chapters

  • Robot Talk · 24m

    Episode 146: Embodied AI on the ISS - Jamie Palmer

    Jamie Palmer, co-founder and CTO of Icarus Robotics, explains how his company is building free-flying dexterous mobile robots to perform routine and risky tasks in low Earth orbit, starting with the ISS. Palmer details the engineering challenges of controlling a 20-degree-of-freedom robotic arm in microgravity, where moving an arm creates equal reaction forces that destabilize the base, requiring advanced flight control similar to underwater robotics. He highlights the role of recent AI breakthroughs, such as Google's RT-2 and Open X Embodiment, in enabling general-purpose manipulation models trained on teleoperation data, and outlines the company's path from remote testing to a 2027 mission with Voyager Space.

    Robotics & autonomyEmbedded firmware
    7 chapters

  • The Next Byte Podcast · 19m

    146. Robotic Pioneers on the Moon’s Surface

    Hosts Daniel and Forbode discuss a team from ETH Zurich and other European universities developing 'ANIMAL,' a modular quadruped robot designed for lunar exploration. The episode details the team's winning entry in a European Space Resources Innovation Center competition, focusing on a swarm of specialized and generalist robot dogs that use spectral analysis and geological mapping to identify valuable resources like water and rare earth metals. The hosts analyze the advantages of this collaborative, energy-efficient approach over traditional single-rover missions and discuss the potential for future autonomous AI integration.

    Robotics & autonomyEnergy & climate tech
    5 chapters

  • Robot Talk · 22m

    Episode 75: Robot hands and exoskeletons - Antonia Tzemanaki

    Antonia Tzemanaki, Senior Lecturer in Robotics at the University of Bristol, discusses her work on robotic hands, hand exoskeletons, and teleoperation. She details the Artemis project, which uses soft, pneumatically actuated sensors for autonomous breast cancer detection, and explains how her team designs haptic feedback systems for teleoperation in extreme environments like nuclear plants and space. Tzemanaki highlights the differing trust requirements between surgeons and industrial operators, noting that surgeons reject systems with communication delays while remote operators adapt to them.

    Robotics & autonomyMedical & health devices
    6 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by The Robot Report Podcast. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.