Mentee Robotics, a humanoid robot company founded by Mobileye CEO Amnon Shashua, former Facebook AI research director Lior Wolf and others, has released a new end-to-end demonstration of their MenteeBot.
In the latest demo, the humanoid robot MenteeBot assists a person with shopping, providing services for those with mobility limitations. The entire process appears very smooth and coherent.
The robot begins by politely asking how it can help. A user in a wheelchair instructs the robot to push a shopping cart and follow along. This suggests a potential application in shopping centers or retail stores.
After understanding the instruction, the robot responds that it will get a shopping cart, but waits for the wheelchair user to start moving before approaching the cart. It takes some time for the robot to recognize, plan the grasping method and make decisions before raising its arms to grab the cart handles like a human. The engineering team developed specialized motors for these dexterous hands.
During the shopping process, MenteeBot's gait is very natural, with a relaxed feel that would be difficult to imitate. The subtle yet precise interactions between the robot and human are particularly impressive.
Whenever the shopper stops to add new items to the cart, MenteeBot pushes the cart to an appropriate position and stops in time to avoid colliding with the wheelchair. After items are thrown into the cart, the robot waits for the person to move forward some distance before continuing to follow.
Upon finishing shopping, the wheelchair user turns towards a cabinet (which could represent a car trunk). MenteeBot parks the cart in a suitable position for unloading.
This latest demonstration once again showcases MenteeBot's excellent "3D vision" capabilities. With precise perception, the robot can identify various obstacles and targets in the shopping environment, including real-time detection and analysis of the shopping cart, wheelchair user, and surroundings.
Enhanced by efficient path planning and real-time adjustment algorithms, MenteeBot can closely follow without collisions or delays. Its ability to make autonomous decisions during shopping, such as when to stop or move, relies on advanced AI algorithms and real-time data processing capabilities.
Much of this progress is largely due to improvements made in the NVIDIA Isaac Lab simulator.
This shopping companion solution originated from a brainstorming session between Mentee Robotics and a global retailer, providing an innovative way to enhance customer experience, especially for those with special needs.
The company states that MenteeBot V3, equipped with a detachable battery, will be released later this year.
Earlier in July, MenteeBot also released a new video demonstrating the robot's good natural language understanding, navigation, and balance control capabilities. In the video, the robot could follow, retreat, turn, and even walk sideways like a crab within a room.
Mentee Robotics plans to launch a production-ready prototype in the first quarter of 2025. While the price remains unknown, they hope it will be "affordable" for the market.