ubr-1
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Unbounded Robotics introduces UBR-1, a one-armed semi-autonomous robot for $35K
Willow Garage is a company of some renown in the world of robotics. While it's known primarily for the bots it builds, the company may one day be more famous for its alumni and the spinoff firms it has spawned. Unbounded Robotics is the latest such company, and its creation is the UBR-1, a sort of smaller, cheaper, one-armed relative of Willow Garage's famed PR2. The UBR-1 has been built to aid both academic researchers and make business automation (think stocking shelves or inspecting products) more affordable. How affordable? It's just $35K, as compared to the $285,000 or $400,000 price tag on the PR2. In industry parlance, the UBR-1 is a mobile manipulation platform, which in plain english means it's a robot that can see where it's going, move itself around and manipulate objects using its arm. Unbounded designed the thing to interact and work with humans, so the company chose a gender neutral color scheme and skinned it with rounded friendly edges -- so as to avoid any untoward associations with the forthcoming robot apocalypse.
