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Sarcos Defense, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sarcos Robotics, today announced that the company has been awarded a contract by the Office of Naval Research to develop a remote-controlled variant of the upper-body of the innovative Sarcos Guardian XO wearable exoskeleton robot.
Nathan Gain 13 Oct 2020
Sarcos press release
The new, platform-agnostic, upper-body variant will be adapted to attach to a variety of mobile bases, such as wheeled or tracked vehicles that can operate at height. These include boom lifts, scissor lifts, and bucket trucks to address maintenance and logistics needs. Leveraging more than 30 years of technology development from prosthetic arms and humanoid robots to powered, full-body exoskeletons, the Guardian DX defense robot variant and the Guardian XT commercial robot variant will provide unparalleled strength, dexterity, precision, and versatility at human scale, enabling the robot to perform difficult tasks in dangerous environments while keeping the operator safe and out of harm’s way.
“Similar to our teleoperated Guardian GT robot for heavy, dexterous work, but designed at human scale, the Guardian DX robot can be teleoperated to perform intricate tasks that require human-like dexterity,” said Ben Wolff, chairman and CEO, Sarcos Robotics. “Examples of such tasks include the use of portable sensors for non-destructive structural testing and inspections, the use of portable power tools for grinding, cutting and welding at height, as well as lifting and manipulating heavy components weighing up to 200 lbs. Because the Guardian DX robot is kinematically equivalent to the upper body of humans, operators are able to manage the Guardian DX robot intuitively at typical human speeds by relying on their reflexes, instincts, and judgment to perform complex tasks in unstructured, often hazardous environments that historically have only been able to be completed by people directly.”
The Guardian XT commercial robot version is expected to begin shipping to industrial customers in late 2021.