Cobot: Proxie: New mobile robot beats costly humanoids with AI-powered efficiency

Collaborative Robotics (Cobot), founded by the team behind the scaling of Amazon Robotics to over 500,000 units, has unveiled Proxie, a new, versatile mobile robot. Cobot's Proxie, with its high adaptability and sleek, functional design, is designed to tackle complex material handling challenges. This innovation has proven vital to various industries and has quickly become essential to early adopters, including Maersk, Mayo Clinic, Moderna, Owens & Minor, and Tampa General Hospital. According to Cobot, "Proxie is the most intelligent robot available on the market today. Built to start by solving today's real-world material movement challenges, Proxie will become even more capable as AI advances." Inside Proxie's design: Blending functionality with innovation Cobot, a robotics company focused on improving robotic workforces, introduces its first product, Proxie. This new robot has two arms, four wheels, and looks like a mobile hatstand. It comes with a touchscreen and sensors at eye level. Proxie is designed to handle the important task of moving trolleys with items across different places like offices, airports, hospitals, and factories. Proxie features robotic arms and mobile robots that allow close human-robot interaction, enhancing automation and efficiency. This technology has also helped Amazon make its fulfillment centers faster, improving processing, delivery, and profits. Brad Porter, CEO and Founder of Cobot, asserts that "he vision is for trustworthy cobots to be ubiquitous, working alongside humans in every sector." By combining advanced AI, mobility, and modular manipulation systems with sophisticated situational awareness, Proxie takes robotic automation back to simpler, more practical designs. This setup ensures seamless human-robot collaboration by emphasizing the following: Trustworthiness: Safe and reliable, it aims to foster confidence in every interaction. Adaptability: With its versatile mobility and handling capabilities, Proxie can operate across various industries. Utility: It automates mundane material handling tasks, freeing human teams to focus on more strategic activities. Porter elaborates on the core philosophy behind Proxie, stating, "Today, simple manual tasks still take so much of our time and energy. We thought deeply about how we bring mobile cobots into our everyday work environments, not to replace us, but to help us," Moreover, Proxie's technical features are designed to reduce downtime. Its battery can be quickly swapped to avoid charging delays. Cobot also plans to make Proxie respond to voice commands using advanced language technology and is working on algorithms for more complex tasks. "Everything about Proxie is intentionally designed to create the foundation of trust between robots and humans that is necessary for true collaboration. Our customers are leaders in their industries with ambitious goals that require flexible, intelligent solutions. WWe'reproud to be working with them toward realizing the potential of intelligent robots - cobots." says Porter. Features of Proxie These are the distinctive features of Proxie, highlighted by Cobot: Glide 360: PProxie'smobility platform allows for effortless and intuitive navigation, allowing it to move smoothly around people and other robots. Scout Sense: By capturing its surroundings from eye level, Proxie ensures precise situational awareness, allowing seamless integration into its environment. Flex Grasp: Its adaptable manipulator can handle various items, from cart handles to boxes and totes, catering to a broad range of industry needs. Empathetic Design: Proxie's design exudes confidence and trust, with a stable and balanced hardware architecture and subtle visual cues like expressive "yes." Robotics Intelligence: Powered by cutting-edge AI, Proxie continually evolves, enhancing its collaborative capabilities with each software update. Currently, about 30 Proxie robots are undergoing trials at Maersk and the Mayo Clinic, where they have amassed over 5,000 hours of operation, maneuvered 16,000 carts, and covered more than 621 miles (1,000 kms). Other notable entities like Moderna, Owens & Minor, and Tampa General Hospital are exploring how they might incorporate Proxies into their operations. Simplifying robotics in an age of complexity Proxie is a more direct and practical solution in an industry where many companies gravitate toward super-advanced humanoid robots. Brad Porter explains that while humanoid robots represent an exciting frontier, their high costs and variable reliability pose significant barriers to widespread deployment. "At Amazon, we looked a lot at humanoids," Porter remarks. "Here are real problems to be solved with something more human capable, but jumping all the way to a humanoid is super complicated. The AI is not really there yet." Instead, Proxie is designed to efficiently handle the simpler, essential tasks humans prefer to avoid, reflecting a more immediate application of robotic technology in everyday operations. This approach aligns with industry trends where simplicity and reliability in automation are becoming increasingly important. However, Cobot is not the only company that has realized this. Rodney Brooks, another prominent figure in robotics and cofounder of iRobot, now serves as the chief technology officer of Robust AI. His company also focuses on creating collaborative mobile robots that assist human workers within factories and warehouses. Proxie and other mobile robots highlight a broader industry shift towards practical and implementable robotic solutions.