Spot is a a four-legged, dog-like robot at the University of Colorado Boulder originally designed for subterranean search and rescue. Meanwhile, another robotics team is developing a tiny insect-inspired robot that could someday serve the same search and rescue purpose.
These robots are two examples of projects on display during a robotics showcase at CU Boulder on Thursday.
"The point of robotics is to try and take humans out of dangerous equations," Robotics Lab Manager Destin Woods said. "For instance, in the (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) subterranean exploration, we have tried to get it to where Spot could go into dangerous situations that you don't want a human going into. If a mine collapses or something, it collapses on a robot, not a human. Removing the human element of it is really the importance of this kind of work."
Spot stands a few feet tall on four legs with a backpack containing cameras and other computer equipment. While Spot was originally designed for subterranean exploration, navigation and rescue attempts, Woods said, it now serves a broader purpose.
"Basically, we query ChatGPT and ChatGPT can take the images that we're getting from the robot," Woods said.
This allows the robot to sense the environment it is in, like an office or lobby. It can be instructed to find an apple, for example, and it evaluates the environment it is in and knows how to look for a kitchen or café that might have an apple.
Woods said creating robots like Spot can help solve more real-world problems. It could help obtain objects for people with mobility issues, and some versions can detect well-being in humans and could help respond in a medical emergency.
Noah Liska, a CU Boulder senior, helped develop the code that runs a robot called the Franka Emika. It's a robot with a long arm that can pick up objects and place them or push them in different spots.
The robot was created to automate certain processes of chemistry so chemists don't have to return to their lab every few hours to perform simple tasks.
Liska is excited by the potential for future uses. Similar robots are already being implemented in factories, and he hopes it could someday help retirement communities with assisted feeding, automated dressing or other tasks.
"I think if we can prove that we can automate general chemistry tasks then we can automate a lot of menial tasks that do not need to be done (by a human)," Liska said.
The small-scale insect robot, mCLARI, can walk in different directions and change shape. Heiko Kabutz, a robotics doctoral student, helped design and build it.
"It's been really beautiful seeing the connection between biology and robotics and having that connection between seeing how excellent animals get through gaps and spaces and trying to implement some of those concepts in our robots to also squeeze through tighter spaces," Kabutz said.
By using mCLARI, an engine in a plane could be inspected much more regularly, leading to safer air travel. The robot can explore underground tubes and tunnels and help with search and rescue in small spaces.
"It allows the robots to squeeze through gaps where it previously couldn't," Kabutz said, adding, "Pretty much any application where you could send an insect in, now we have a controlled version of it."
The next step in advancing the robot is to establish a more advanced body and leg control and bring the whole system closer to real-world application.