Xiaomi took advantage of the MIX Fold 3 presentation event to launch the cyber dog 2, a new version of their open source robot dog. The peculiar device stands out not only for adopting an aesthetic much more similar to that of a real dog, but also, according to the Chinese brand, its attitudes and movements are more realistic.
According to Xiaomi, CyberDog 2 is smaller than its predecessor, which was introduced in 2021. It weighs 8.9 kilograms and has a height of 36.7 centimeters. In addition, it is considerably faster, being able to run at a speed of 1.6 meters per second, against the 3.2 meters per second of the original model.
For its development, the Chinese brand has once again opted for internally developed servomotors. They offer more torque, quicker response and more precise control. Thus, the device can quickly recover from a fall and continue to perform complex movements without problems. While the original CyberDog was capable of doing one backflip, Xiaomi claims that the second generation can do several and continuously.
But the new robot dog from the Asian firm also takes advantage of artificial intelligence for its operation. Xiaomi explains that the CyberDog 2 uses a multimodal AI to feel the presence of people in the room and make decisions. In addition, it can learn by itself thanks to the use of the reinforcement learning technique (Reinforcement Learning).
This, thanks to its primary brain powered by an NX processor, capable of executing 21 trillion operations per second, and its two secondary brains equipped with dual coprocessors. To which are added multiple sensors and cameras that make the second generation of the CyberDog a true technological beast.
Xiaomi bets on a new version of CyberDog, its robot dog
The arsenal of hardware built into the Xiaomi CyberDog 2 is simply impressive. The new robot dog boasts an RGB camera, an interactive AI camera, an ultrasonic sensor, a LiDAR sensor, a depth-sensing camera, two “fisheye” sensors, a force sensor, four time-of-flight (ToF) cameras ), four microphones, two ultra-wideband (UWB) chips, and an inertial measurement unit.
As with the first model, Xiaomi it states who has developed the CyberDog to do so “hills open source possible”. The Chinese brand indicates that the robot dog has more than 100 open source interfaces, and all the code of the display engine is freely available.
Structural schematics will also be made available and access to modular processing of several of its detection capabilities will be offered. Although, in the latter case, it is not clear How much can you “play” with technology?.
“With its continuous open source ecosystem, the CyberDog family will attract more developers to participate, while continuously promoting the progress and improvement of bio-inspired robots to truly benefit people’s lives in the future,” says Xiaomi.
Now, those who are excited to try the CyberDog 2 should know that Xiaomi brings bad news. Lei Jun, CEO of the company, remarked that the price of the original robot dog, which sold for 9,999 yuan — about $1,500 in 2021 — was too low and did not cover research and development costs. Thus, this second version will be more expensive. It will be marketed in China in exchange for 12,999 yuan; that is, about 1,800 dollars at the current exchange rate.