Pudu Robotics Equips Delivery Bot with Dual Arms in New FlashBot Arm

Pudu Robotics, known primarily for its wheeled delivery robots often seen in restaurants and hotels, is branching out by adding manipulation capabilities to its mobile platforms. The company, through its Pudu X-Lab division, has introduced the FlashBot Arm, a robot that merges a familiar delivery chassis with a torso featuring two multi-jointed arms and dexterous hands.

Bridging Delivery and Manipulation

The FlashBot Arm represents a step towards more versatile service robots. While based on the company's established autonomous mobile robot (AMR) platform using VSLAM and LiDAR for navigation, the key differentiator is the upper body. It features two 7-DOF (Degrees of Freedom) arms, providing a significant range of motion, coupled with PUDU DH11 hands described as having 6 active and 5 passive DOFs for grasping and interacting with objects.

According to Pudu, this setup allows the FlashBot Arm to perform tasks beyond simple delivery. Promotional materials highlight its ability to autonomously press elevator buttons, swipe access cards, and potentially open certain types of doors – actions requiring a degree of dexterity not found in typical delivery bots. The stated goal is to enable operation in environments without requiring costly infrastructure modifications for robot access.

Technical Specifications and Features

The robot stands approximately 1.4 meters tall and utilizes an omnidirectional chassis with independent suspension for smoother movement. Its navigation system relies on a combination of RGBD cameras, LiDAR, and panoramic cameras. Safety features include pressure-sensitive skin on the arms and compliant force control algorithms designed to prevent harmful collisions during human-robot interaction.

The arms offer a combined maximum operating diameter of 2 meters. The robot includes a 10.1-inch touchscreen for interaction and supports multi-modal communication, though specifics on the AI interaction capabilities remain limited in current materials. Like Pudu's other robots, it features automatic recharging and capabilities for multi-robot coordination in fleet deployments.

The internal compartment maintains the delivery focus, offering a 15kg payload capacity within an enclosed space.

Context and Considerations

The FlashBot Arm enters a growing field of mobile manipulators aiming to automate tasks in service industries, logistics, and potentially light industrial settings. Adding arms to proven mobile bases is a common strategy, allowing companies to leverage existing navigation and fleet management technologies while expanding functionality.

While the ability to operate elevators and doors autonomously is a significant step, the full range of tasks the FlashBot Arm can reliably perform in real-world, unstructured environments remains to be demonstrated. The effectiveness of its dexterous hands for tasks beyond button-pushing and card-swiping will be crucial for its adoption in more complex roles.

The specified 8-hour working duration under no load suggests operating time will be shorter when actively using the arms and carrying payloads. As with many emerging robotic systems, real-world performance, reliability, and the actual breadth of autonomous capabilities will become clearer as the FlashBot Arm sees wider deployment and independent evaluation.