While giants like Tesla invest in industrial robots for factories, an American startup is betting on something much more intimate, robots that live with us, not replace us,
Cartwheel Robotics presented Yogi, a humanoid created for the home, capable of moving naturally, performing small tasks and, above all, creating a real emotional connection with people.
Designed with medical grade silicone and soft protective materials, Yogi is the opposite of the typical cold, metallic robot that many imagine, its body was conceived to be safe, cozy and even comforting to the touch, but beneath its friendly appearance there is advanced engineering. Yogi uses high torque actuators with overload protection and a swappable modular battery that guarantees hours of continuous operation.
According to the company Yogi was born with a different purpose, “we want robots that move, respond and connect in a genuinely human way.” Yogi is not just an assistant, he is an emotionally intelligent companion. The company, based on a FOMtech platform, would integrate hardware and software and motion systems into a single system.
This fusion allows Yogi to understand commands, express subtle emotions and react contextually, approaching a truly natural interaction. Yogi is designed to offer light help around the home, carry objects, assist the elderly, accompany those with reduced mobility, but also to be present.
The company describes it as a robot that listens, responds and understands without rushing. There are plans for health-oriented versions and preliminary discussions have already been opened with a major US medical institution to test Yogi in clinical settings; Universities have also shown interest in studying it as a research platform in human-machine interaction.
The first complete full-body prototype will be officially presented at the Humanoid Summit in December in Silicon Valley and while Elon Musk claims that Tesla will have 1,000 optimal robots operating in factories before the end of the year, something that seems less and less likely, Cartwheel Robotics follows a different path, that of empathy and instead of efficiency
The question that arises is profound, if robots can now understand emotions and connect with us, they will cease to be just tools and become cohabitation companions; Yogi could be the beginning of a new era, not that of robots that produce more, but that of those that feel more.
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