University of Texas Is Excited to Announce New Dog-Like Robots
University of Texas researchers will have robots that act as a delivery service on their campus within the following year.
In 2023 the University of Texas Austin will be bringing what they call “dog-like” robots on campus to see how they interact with faculty, staff, and students in a life-like environment. The robots will be a part of a delivery network on your smartphone that will serve as research in the AI interaction field of study.
A team of researchers at UT Austin has been supported with a grant to create this robot technology on campus. Researchers are planning a five-year study focusing on how to safely maintain these robots and adapt them to human life. They will learn how a high-quality robot can co-exist in the real world. In addition, they will be doing extensive research that will be available to the public.
The robots are coming 🤖
— MySA (@mySA) October 18, 2022
Beginning next year, @utaustin will see a fleet of dog-like robots from Boston Dynamics and Unitree on campus. https://t.co/lPAlF38Vn7
The project’s leader, Luis Sentis, explained, “Robotic systems are becoming more ubiquitous.” Sentis is a professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering’s Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics. He has been learning how to make robots live in harmony with humans for many years. Luis states that his team will not only focus on arranging the robots to perform tasks like delivering supplies, but they will also gather extensive observations to help ensure that these dog-like robots are safe, communicate, and behave appropriately in a community.
Once the technology runs smoothly, members of the UT Austin community can order free supplies like hand sanitizer through an app on their smartphones. Then, the robots will be able to deliver supplies door-to-door, much like delivery apps such as GrubHub and GoPuff.
These researchers have partnerships with the Good Systems research grant challenge. The grant’s main goal is to “Better understand what changes new technologies will bring, predict how these changes will unfold, and mitigate the harm or unintended consequences they could cause while still leveraging the benefits AI provides.”
The team plans to use two different robots from Boston Dynamics and Unitree. These robots will go into UT’s campus in pairs, be monitored by remote researchers, and interact with the community. In addition, researchers will be able to stop the robots simultaneously if needed.
A fleet of dog-like delivery robots from @BostonDynamics and @UnitreeRobotics will roam the campus at @UTAustin next year so researchers can study and improve human-AI interactions.https://t.co/k0cGf4pW9l
— Center for Digital Education (CDE) (@centerdigitaled) October 20, 2022
Furthermore, Nanshu Lu, a professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics, will design brain sensors worn by people monitoring the robots, much like a VR set. This technology will help researchers observe how these robots finish different tasks. In addition, these sensors will help study different ways to improve the robots’ function.
Once these robots have been on campus, researchers will gain insight into the user experience by observing and talking to people interacting with them every day. They expect people on campus to be confused by the dog-like robots. However, this insight can help future researchers and designers figure out how to make robots co-exist in our society.
