Robots have become almost commonplace in technology news, but that masks the sad truth that all the really cool robots are still incredibly expensive — often into six figures for the ones capable of manipulating objects with human-like arms. A company called Unbound Robotics is endeavoring to bring the cost of advanced robotics down so more businesses and research institutions can afford to have these devices scuttling around the halls. The company’s first effort is the UBR-1, a semi-autonomous robot sporting a single arm with seven degrees of freedom and a heart of consumer electronics.

The UBR-1 bears a vague resemblance to the Pixar bot Wall-E thanks to its blocky frame and wide head, but the design is actually a bit human-inspired too. This is a so-called “mobile manipulation platform,” meaning it can see where it’s going and react to the environment. The head holds a 3D RGB image sensor, stereo microphones, and a stereo speaker. We humans might call those our eyes, ears, and mouth, but the UBR-1 goes a little beyond human. The robot can increase its height by 14-inches to reach otherwise out-of-reach objects, and uses a 2D laser scanner in the base to watch for dangers in a 180-degree arc in front of it.

The arm is definitely the selling point of the UBR-1. It has seven degrees of freedom, which allows it to manipulate objects up to 3.3 pounds in a very human-like way. A degree of freedom is the ability for a mechanical system to move in one dimension. A fleshy human arm also has 7 degrees of freedom when you figure in the shoulder, elbow, and wrist. However, a robot arm can surpass the flexibility of a human arm because our joints only rotate so far before popping out of place. Several of the motors in the UBR-1 can rotate a full 360 degrees.

The breakthrough here is that Unbound Robotics is going to be selling a robot with this super-flexible arm for $35,000, which admittedly sounds like a lot. After all, you can buy a very nice car for that much money, but it’s a fraction of what other robots with these mechanical capabilities cost. Before founding Unbound Robotics, several of the engineers behind the UBR-1 helped develop the PR2, a similar personal robot that still costs nearly $300,000. The UBR-1, by comparison, is an insane bargain.

Part of the formula for making a somewhat affordable robot is to use more consumer hardware. The UBR-1 is powered by a single Intel Core-i5 Haswell CPU with 8GB of RAM and a 120GB hard drive. It comes equipped with Ubuntu Linux and ROS (an open source software framework for controlling robots). There is a PC-based software suite to control the robot wirelessly, or it can be paired with a regular PlayStation 3 controller over Bluetooth.

At $35,000 the UBR-1 is still not going to be the robot you keep around to fold the laundry or serve drinks at parties, but it’s getting into the realm of affordability for businesses and research labs. Unbound Robotics hopes to take orders by the end of the year and deliver the final product next summer. Maybe you’ll even run into one.

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