Welcome! And on this video, we’re doing a product review for the UBR-1 by Unbounded Robotics. So if you want to see how this mobile one-armed robot is getting us closer to the promised maid robot from the Jacksons then please stay tuned.

Huh? Go get me some dinner!

Hi guys! I’m Philip English from RoboPhil.com

Now, on this video we’re looking into the UBR-1, pronounced as Uber one from Unbounded Robotics. The introduction of the UBR-1 from Unbounded Robotics represents the next generation in personal robotics research.  With decades of robotic hardware and software experience, the team of Willow Garage alumni has developed a mobile manipulation platform that offers state-of-the-art software and a sophisticated hardware exterior and infrastructure.  This robot offers mobility, dexterity, manipulation, and navigation in a human-scale and ADA-compliant model.

The Unbounded Robotics founding team consists of Eric Diehr, Lead Mechanical Engineer; Michael Ferguson, CTO; Derek King, Lead Systems Engineer; and Melonee Wise, CEO.

UBR-1 comes pre-installed with Ubuntu Linux LTS and ROS Hydro Medusa, along with applications such as ROS and MoveIt! navigation, calibration, and joystick teleoperation.

The team has done extensive software integration to improve the user experience; MoveIt! being the highlight of that integration.  On the hardware front, the UBR-1 requires no calibration at start-up, has a workspace large enough for the robot to reach the ground as well as countertops, and was designed with extensibility in mind so that users can easily develop custom applications.

To run through some of the features of the UBR-1: Number 1, the robot has orange-colored joints to emphasize that the user can move. Number 2 Continuous Charging Operation, with the enhanced charge dock that allows UBR-1’s to have an amazing run time. The charge dock can help UBR-1 complete long running tasks like unloading a dishwasher, fetching beverages, or setting the dinner table by taking a little time out to recharge. Number 3, it’s fully integrated and complies the ROS REPs. UBR-1 is also ready to run high level applications like Navigation and MoveIt right out of the box without playing with configuration files. Number 4, you can take control and command the UBR-1 remotely by logging in using ssh to write and run programs directly to UBR-1, for the best performance when running complicated algorithms.

UBR-1 has a growing community for UBR-1 owners. We share research code and data sets with other researchers and institutes around the world who are using the common platform. The robot has several add ons that is plugged directly into the robot’s computer with one of UBR-1’s several USB expansion ports. We still have to attach new sensors and devices specific to your application to mount points on the head and the body.

You can now program it longer with the UBR-1 has a continuous run time of 3-5 hours and an idle run time of over 10 hours. So take your time and don’t worry about charging UBR-1. The UBR-1 will fully be compared to PR-2 robot from Willow Garage, given the background of Unbounded robotics team and the teams prior experience with ROS’ PR-2 along with the market focus on the academic and commercial markets. While UBR-1 is not specifically designed as the heir apparent for the PR2, we take pride in the comparison.  UBR-1 offers a far more sophisticated platform than the PR2, however, which was originally designed more than five years ago.  At a list price of $35,000, UBR-1 is also approximately one-tenth the cost of the PR2.  UBR-1 is also capable of being deployed in business automation scenarios.

Thanks guys! I hope you enjoyed the overview of the UBR-1 robot from Unbounded Robotics, the Uber one.

Rosy, where’s my dinner?

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Please have a look below as well where I have put other related links to this video as well as other information about the UBR-1.

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UBR-1 Product Review YouTube: https://youtu.be/Gl92Ez-B51w

Philip English: https://philipenglish.com

Sponsor: Robot Center: http://www.robotcenter.co.uk