"Handle" wheeled robot officially unveiled by Boston Dynamics

In early February, we reported that "Handle" a new robot that features both legs and wheels, was shown in a video at a presentation for investors. At this time, only a video recorded on someone’s smartphone recording the footage of Handle was available. Less than a month later, Boston Dynamics has released a high-resolution video of the wheeled robot in action.

Marc Raibert, the founder of Boston Dynamics—a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet—commented on the robot at the January 31 presentation.

"Everybody thinks we only do legged robots, so no one has seen this, you are the first," he told the crowd. "This is the debut presentation of what I think will be a nightmare-inducing robot, if you’re anything like me."

Raibert explained that the robot is an experiment with combining wheels with legs with a dynamic system that is constantly balancing itself and "has a lot of knowledge of how to throw its weight around." In the demonstration video, the robot—which Raibert says is more efficient than a legged robot—can be seen spinning around rapidly, darting across a room, and rolling down a small grassy hill. It can even be seen jumping over an object in the video.

Boston Dynamics called the robot "Handle" because it is supposed to be able to handle objects. In the video, the robot can be seen picking up a milk crate, and it indicates that the robot has a maximum payload of 100 lbs. Handle is 6.5 ft. tall, can jump 4 ft., and travels at speeds of up to 9 mph. Handle uses electric power to operate both electric and hydraulic actuators, with a range of about 15 miles on one battery charge, according to Boston Dynamics. Additionally, Handle uses many of the same dynamics, balance, and mobile manipulation principles found in Boston Dynamics’ quadruped and biped robots, but with only about 10 actuated joints, it is much less complex.

View the YouTube video.

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