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Reflex's Robot Shoveling Snow Outside Their HQ

By Rain Noe - February 25

in Tech

While many robot manufacturers are aping the human form, Reflex Robotics is not. Instead they've gone with a sort of robo-centaur model: A human-like torso, mounted to a forklift-like mast on a wheeled base.

Here's video of their robot shoveling snow outside of the company's Brooklyn HQ:

"We're building affordable general-purpose robots to free humanity from the drudgery of boring and repetitive tasks," the company writes. The applications they show are of the boring, repetitive variety (and that don't require navigating stairs):

By eschewing legs, the company reckons their robot is far cheaper than the humanoid competition. The full numbers aren't out yet, but they're ballparking the 'bot at $50,000, plus an unspecified monthly fee.

One caveat is that what you're seeing here, is likely not autonomous behavior. The company says their 'bots "can be remotely controlled by human operators, who intervene as needed."

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Ross Oliver

2 months ago

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The up/down pillar is inspired. Much simpler and more stable than humanoid legs, hips, waist, etc. If they simplified the arms to one degree of in-out linear motion, with perhaps limited side to side, and relied on that terrific omnidirectional base for all other movement, they could achieve 90% functionality at 20% of the cost. Robot designers need to break out of their anthropomorphic prison.

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Zach W

2 months ago

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Ironically the snow-shoveling robot can't move on actual snow......

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Ryan Cee

2 months ago

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Robot snowblowers exist. They look like roombas and work the same way. This is still VC bait anthropomorphism.

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