Dozens of robots will descend upon the Back Bay for the RoboBusiness conference in Boston this week. A few of them may even try to follow you home.
Within the world of robots and drones, there is a growing trend toward tailing you — with your permission, in this case. It’s great for recreational use, where unmanned aerial vehicles, equipped with GoPro cameras, create mesmerizing video selfies for far less than the cost of renting a helicopter and hiring a film crew.
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There’s a complex tracking system within Harvest Automation’s industrial robots, which are designed for agricultural and manufacturing environments. The plant-shuttling HV-100, nicknamed Harvey, is already in use. Harvest Automation co-founder and COO Charles Grinnell says there are 100 zipping around in plant nurseries nationwide. LED sensors housed in orange cases allow it to follow patterns taped out on the floor; a LIDAR (light detection and ranging) sensor allows it to to detect obstacles to avoid and humans to follow.
LIDAR is what makes these robots very precise and — at $30,000 apiece — much more expensive.
The conference takes place in Boston’s Hynes Convention Center from Oct. 15 through 17.