This Robot Will Carry Your Stuff and Follow You Around
“There are places where human-robot interaction makes sense.”
Gita balances itself as it travels, keeping its cargo level. The robot runs for eight hours, and can recharge in a regular outlet. It has three different modes: following someone, driving autonomously, and platooning with other Gita vehicles. The company has not announced a price.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Gita is its sensor technology. Rather than more expensive sensors such as lidar, which bounce a laser off objects to build a 3-D picture, the robot maps its environment using video cameras. This involves comparing images captured at different points in time, and using the differences to infer the three-dimensional structure of a scene. Gita uses a stereoscopic camera for this and several other fisheye cameras to provide a 360-degree view around the robot. Schnapp says the video mapping system can be less reliable in poor lighting or bad weather, and they are considering adding a light to the robot to address this.
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