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lightsomeness ’s Digitwasn’t the only humanoid hold court at Modex in Atlanta this week . On the opposite end of the Georgia World Congress Center , Reflex Robotics , a young and smaller inauguration , was draw its own crowd . The John Wilkes Booth was centered on a single demonstration pass throughout the week . Passersby request something from the Reflex robot , and it ricochet into legal action , catch the item off the ledge ( it did n’t pain that the company was give out destitute food and drink ) .
From the look of it , most showgoers were impressed by the system ’s speed and accuracy . The hardware is an in - house design , feature a “ trunk ” mounted to a basis that allows the subdivision and sensors to dynamically move up and down . It makes for a surprisingly dexterous golem that can access shelves at a salmagundi of tiptop , while maneuvering tight spaces . The system has a wheeled base , which is perfectly efficacious for navigating these sort of layout .
Something that needs be mentioned is the fact that the organisation is in the main tele - operated . It ’s an exercise of a human in the loop organization , whereby it can be operate remotely . The only existent constraint there are potential latency issues if the operator is go too far . Co - beginner and CEO Ritesh Ragavender compares the interface to a video game . He adds that the robot is “ approach ” human - level efficiency .
The team is moving toward a system that want fewer and fewer people . As the robot grow more autonomous and adequate to , the human element will shift from control to supervisor . Humans dumbfound around as a variety of fail - safe , should the robot get into fuss or encounter something totally fresh . For now , however , the human - to - robot ratio is 1:1 . Ragavender say he believes the company will achieve a 1:2 proportion in storage warehouse and 3PLs ( third - party logistics ) by early next year .
The golem set in the hour at Modex is a second - multiplication organisation , which is currently being selectively piloted with potential client , including some “ heavy names , ” per Ragavender . He adds that the current timeline take having 10 to 20 Reflex robots in the globe , followed by “ hundreds ” next twelvemonth .
“ I think the fact that you have a system that ’s getting smarter the more it works , coupled with remote operators and a really low - cost robot is what allows us to surmount this and make it puzzle out , ” aver Ragavender . “ We ’re quick to ship today . ” The organisation ’s current cost full point is “ below $ 50,000 . ” Scaling manufacturing should be capable to add that number down further .
The New York – based startup is still extremely lean , with just five mass . The founders all come from MIT , in addition to companies like Boston Dynamics and Tesla . Reflex has thus far bring up a ejaculate turn , run by Khosla Ventures . Ragavender says the startup will likely pursue a Series A by and by this yr .
