Robot deployed at Ati Motors
If we need to get to Point B from Point A, we use our knowledge of the destination and surroundings to decide how to go; we continuously adjust our plans, alter our route if a path is blocked, predict what others may do, swerve to avoid hitting someone and so on,” says Madhava Krishna, professor, IIIT-H, explaining that the research team tried out something similar for AMRs using vision-language models. The robot did not rely on LiDAR, a technology that uses laser beams to measure distances and map surroundings, or on a conventional map showing precise distances and positions. “Humans do not navigate with 3D coordinates. Our sense organs detect our surroundings, and by combining visual cues, memory and a sense of movement, we figure out where we are.
Instead, it used a camera, a series of images captured during an earlier walkthrough of the factory, and a 3D AI model that used pairs of images to work out the layout of the space.