Benzinga · Aug 29, 2021
EXCLUSIVE: Sarcos CEO On Whether Tesla Is Late To The Robotics Party, AI Utility In Repetitive Vs. Dynamic Tasks And More
Ben Wolff, Chairman and CEO of Sarcos Robotics, a maker of robotic exoskeletons that is set to go public in a SPAC merger with Rotor Acquisition Corp (NYSE: ROT) soon, talked with Benzinga about industrial robots and the relevance of Tesla Inc’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) foray into the industry. Exoskeletons Or Full On Bots: Fictional machines — like Tony Stark's exoskeleton from "Iron Man" and the B-9 Robot from “Lost in Space” — are getting closer to reality, but which one is a better approach when it comes to removing humans from dangerous, repetitive, and boring tasks? Sarcos’ industrial exoskeletons, for one, are specifically designed to undertake work that isn’t repetitive in nature. “We focus on tasks that are diverse and dynamic in nature, where human judgment, wisdom and intuition are important to getting the job done, all while reducing the risk of human injury or death,” Wolff told Benzinga. Recently, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that the automaker was foraying into making Tesla Bots — humanoid robots that utilize the same software used in the company’s self-driving system. The robot’s prototype is expected next year. Wolff said that autonomous walking robots are far more complex than even self-driving cars, which are yet to “come on the scene.” “Self-driving cars have ‘the rules of the road’ that constrain the data sets they have to deal with, but autonomous humanoid robots have no ‘rules’ that limit the variables they would have to deal with,” he said. Don't Bet Against Musk: Wolff is not dismissive of humanoid robots and accepts that they have a place. As for Musk, the ...
