Fetch Robotics Introduces Burly New Freight Robots

It's a good sign for the robotics industry that more and more robotics companies are starting to make major announcements at specialized events and trade shows, indicating that their robots are ready for tough, real-world applications. This week at ProMat, "the premier showcase of material handling, supply chain, and logistics solutions," Fetch Robotics is showing off two very new, and very large, stuff-transporting robots. This video shows the Freight 500, which can handle 500 kilograms of payload, or generally something about the size of a "case," which I guess is a standard unit in the area of "material handling, supply chain, and logistics solutions." The Freight 1500 weighs just under 470 kg all by itself, but it's only 35.5 centimeters (14 inches) tall, which is the same height as its smaller siblings. It has lidar sensors front and back, a forward-looking RGBD camera, and can run for up to 9 hours while recharging itself to 90 percent in just an hour.