What do you believe is the single most important factor driving up the cost of living in Nigeria?

Robots are widely used in the automotive industry and have started entering new application domains such as logistics in the last few years. However, current robots still face many limitations. They typically perform a single action or a fixed sequence of actions, repeating them the same way each time.

To achieve greater efficiency and open new possibilities, robots must develop more human-like skills, such as fast physical interaction, spatial understanding, and fast adaptation to changes. Eindhoven University of Technology spoke with Alessandro Saccon, Associate Professor in nonlinear control and robotics at the department of Mechanical Engineering at the TU/e. He recently completed the I.AM project that explicitly focuses on the advancement of fast physical interactions.

Why are impact-aware robots so important for humanity?

Certain jobs are not particularly suited for humans from a safety or ergonomic perspective. For instance, when handling 20-kilogram luggage at airports, working in unsafe areas of a nuclear plant, or dealing with disaster scenarios, you might prefer a machine instead. There are also various plans to send them to space for planet exploration.

However, robots still statically interact with the environments when compared to us: the execution of certain key tasks is not yet possible or the execution is too slow. That's why, in our project, we aimed to develop impact-aware robots. That means a robot has to learn to predict and react to what happens when it comes into fast contact with heavy objects in the environment.

• Read More