Even robots know when to call it quits. As part of a warehouse demonstration, a busy robot actually collapsed after working for 20 hours straight.
Life can be quite difficult for a working robot as they are always trying to meet constant deadlines while working on the factory front line. Digit was put the test to see how long it could work away for without any breaks.
During the 20 hours the robot hustled for, it was able to demonstrate a number of neat tricks and organizational skills before completely collapsing into a bit of nuts and bolts. However, before the epic collapse, the warehouse bot had a 99 percent success rate for tasks carried out.
Agility Robotics confirmed that Digit did complete about 20 hours of live demos but also took a couple of falls on the chin while carrying out its duties. Vice president of communications at Agility Robotics Liz Clinkenbeard said that the company wanted to demonstrate how a robot like Digit will pick itself up and carry on even when the chips are down.
“We wanted to show that Digit did fall a couple times, that it’s a normal part of any new technology, and it’s not a big deal,” Clinkenbeard said.
She added: “Sometimes it may need a repair; rarely something that takes more than 15-20 minutes. We do want to be careful about not over-humanizing a machine or ascribing intent. While Digit looks something like a person, in reality, it is a computer that can do physical work, and it’s following a program.”
Source: https://twitter.com/agilityrobotics/status/1644117447098929152