French Exoskeleton Company Wandercraft Pivots to Humanoid Robots

After attracting global attention at the 2024 Olympics. exoskeleton Helped paraplegic to walk, the Paris Wandercraft now switches his focus from a load -bearing robotics to a completely autonomous Humanoid robots.

Wandercraft -ov new humanoid robot, Calvin 40– That’s what it was called because it was supposedly built in just 40 days – it is already tested on factory floors. As explained by Wandercraft Executive Director Matthieu Masselin, the rapid construction of the Calvin 40 is enabled by diverting technology from the Exoskeletal Company.

“You see all these humanoid robots everywhere – Tesla, AI figure, companies in China – and for us it is the same technology we have been developing for the last 10 years,” Masselin told to say Decipher in an interview. “It was so natural for us.”

Masselin said that the company could also partly produce the Calvin 40 because it left out the features of the head and hand usually found in humanoid robots, such as Tesla Optimus or a picture of Ai Figure 02.

“We are not focused on adding our heads because it does not help navigation, the same is true of the hands, the hands are very fragile,” he said. “We believe we have a humanoid robot that can carry the most difficult burden.”

Instead of hands, the Calvin 40 uses lined, hands like hands with flat circular plates to lift boxes and crates.

Masselin said that both heads and hands were left out to avoid the uncanny Valley effect, the discomfort that people feel when they interact with robots that appear almost – but not exactly – humane.

“Expressive manipulation is important in homes or certain situations, but in our case it is simpler design equally effective,” he said.

Humanoid robots rose in popularity in recent years. According to February 2024 report According to Goldman Sachs, it is expected that the global market of the humanoid robots will reach $ 38 billion by 2035, guided by progress in AI and automation.

While some developers of humanoid robots focused on social interaction or personal helpMasselin said the choice of Wandercraft design emphasizes physical work in spaces built for humans.

“So many environments are built for a human form that it is difficult to solve all the needs without imitation,” he said, adding that the company cooperates with partners to schedule the Calvin 40 in “dangerous” or heavy tasks.

“One of the greatest differentiators of our technology is that it was originally designed – and it is still used – for the development of an exoskeleton, which is a robot carrying a human being up to 220 pounds,” Masselin said. “This means that technology must handle this kind of useful load.

According to the Wandercraft, the Calvin 40 can carry useful loads up to 40 pounds, or about 88 pounds -already twice as much as comparable robots such as Tesla Optimus or AI image, Figure 02, which are evaluated to carry about 45 pounds.

“No other humanoid robots can wear a wide margin so much – mostly because they focus so much on their hands,” Masselin said.

According to Wandercraft, Calvin 40 is currently testing a French multinational car manufacturer Renault Group, but refused to provide the price of robots.

By repeating basic technologies from its exoskelets, Masselin believes that Wandercraft can skip the experimental phase and focus on the schedule of robots in industrial environments.

“We work with our partners to understand their needs – where they have tasks that are too difficult, too dangerous or difficult to hire,” he said. “The question is asked: Can we offer a safer solution for dangerous jobs so that workers can focus on quality and skills? That’s a strategy.”

Edited Andrew Hayward