Shadow Robot to show how to build robots to survive real world training at RoboBusiness

Shadow Robot Co. recently finished a multi-year project working with Google DeepMind to produce a new class of robot hand. The team aimed for the hand to be reliable and robust enough to survive the challenges of reinforcement learning in the real world. At the same time, it had to be dexterous and capable enough to perform human-like manipulation tasks.

This is a key challenge the robotics industry is facing. Robots often learn through trial and error, which requires them to safely test things in the real world. Throughout this testing, the robot will sometimes execute motions at the limit of its abilities, resulting in damage to the hardware. Fixing this damage can be costly and slow down experiments. 

Shadow Robot said its new hand has several new technologies that can be used in the development of next-generation robot hardware. This includes high-speed control architectures based on force-controlled N+1 actuation, new stereo tactile fingertips capable of sensing the lightest of touches, and surviving the high forces typical of grasping and manipulation research.

The London-based company tested the new robot hand for thousands of hours – from component-level wear tests to high-force self-collision tests and impact testing – and produced a modular robot finger capable of assembly into a wide range of robots with serviceability and reliability at the core of the design.

See Shadow Robot in Santa Clara

In a session at RoboBusiness 2024, which will be on Oct. 16 and 17 in Santa Clara, Calif., Shadow Robot will discuss design challenges, how it mapped the development space, and the technical and practical solutions it developed to address various challenges.

The company will also show how these solutions could be applied to other robotics problems.

Rich Walker, director of Shadow Robot, will lead the session. He spent 14 years as managing director of Shadow Robot before graduating in 2022. Walker now works with partners to build strategic relationships, develop policy and programs around robotics and AI, and help define the next generation of what’s possible with robotics technology.

About RoboBusiness 2024

Produced by The Robot Report, RoboBusiness takes place Oct. 16-17 in Santa Clara, Calif. and is the leading event focused on developing commercial robots and robotics businesses. Walker’s talk will take place at 11:45 a.m. PT on the first day of the show. 

RoboBusiness will feature more than 60 speakers, over 100 exhibitors and demonstrations on the expo floor, 10+ hours of dedicated networking time, the Pitchfire Robotics Startup Competition, and more. Thousands of robotics experts from around the world will convene at the event.

In addition to enabling tech and robotics innovation, RoboBusiness 2024 focuses on investments and business topics related to running a robotics company. Keynote talks at the event include:

• Rodney Brooks, the co-founder and chief technology officer at Robust AI
• Sergey Levine, co-founder of Physical Intelligence and an associate professor at UC Berkeley
• Claire Delaunay, the CTO at farm-ng
• Torrey Smith, the co-founder and CEO of Endiatx

The show will also include a keynote panel on “Driving the Future of Robotics Innovation,” featuring:

• Amit Goel, head of robotics at edge AI ecosystem at NVIDIA
• John Bubnikovich, president of ABB Robotics US
• Eric Truebenbach, managing director of Teradyne Robotics Ventures
• Joan-Wilhelm Schwarze, a senior global innovation manager at DHL