If you’ve followed robots with any frequency, you’ve no doubt encountered the wheel versus leg debate. Why, for instance, should a warehouse opt for a legged Digit robot instead of a rolling Locus system? The explosive popularity of drones has led to similar debates with flying. Recent interest in inventory automation has prompted similar debates between UAVs and rolling systems when it comes to dealing with tall shelves.
Robots tend to be built with a single purpose in mind. That means they do one thing exceptionally well (hopefully), but teaching an existing robot new tricks is tough. Software and AI can only go so far when a piece of hardware has built-in limitations. Meanwhile, building general- or even multi-purpose systems is a lot easier said than done.
