A pale-grey, nearly one-metre-tall, four-legged robot drew crowds at Tokyo’s International Robot Exhibition, lowering itself down some steps before lifting its right foreleg as if to greet onlookers. It rolled around one of the exhibition halls on wheels, avoiding obstacles in its path.
The quadruped, dubbed the D5, is the latest model unveiled on Wednesday by Chinese robot maker Pudu Robotics at IREX – a biennial industry showcase at Tokyo Big Sight from December 3 to 6.
It is Pudu’s second robot dog model after a smaller, less-agile version released in 2022. Since then, advances in motion-control algorithms, key components and embodied intelligence technologies have accelerated across the industry – helped in part by Pudu’s Chinese peers, including Unitree Robotics and Deep Robotics, whose products have pushed robot dogs into real-world settings.
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“Robot dogs have great application potential, from inspection and delivery to a wide range of industry-specific functions which can be customised, powered by high-performance computing,” said Felix Zhang Tao, Pudu’s founder and CEO, in an interview with the Post.
The D5, powered by Nvidia’s Orin chip and equipped with four 120-degree fisheye cameras and dual front-and-rear lidar sensors, was designed for autonomous, all-terrain and all-weather operation, according to the company. It used Pudu’s self-developed joint modules and motors, Zhang said.
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Shenzhen-based Pudu is known for its broad line-up of service robots, from those delivering food for restaurants and hotels to cleaning and factory logistics machines. The company said it had sold over 100,000 robots to more than 80 countries and regions so far.