EDAG Group presents further development of the CityBot

The engineering service provider EDAG Group has announced the premiere of the AI prototype of the "EDAG CityBots" for October 26, 2020, as part of the "EDAG Tech Summit 2020". The prototype represents the further development of the CityBot mobility concept presented at the IAA 2019 and aims to underscore its technical feasibility. The robotic vehicle demonstrates concrete technical solutions in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Driving, Robotics, and Trajectory Planning to bring the vision into the real world. With this, the service provider aims to reinforce its competencies in the fields of connectivity and digitalization in mobility. The bot was first introduced at the IAA 2019. The vehicles are connected, autonomously driving robots that can be coupled with different utility modules such as trailer and backpack modules. This is intended to handle transport and work situations in urban or industrial areas. However, the bots are not supposed to represent an isolated solution, but are an integral part of a demand-oriented and holistic traffic system, as stated.

What had to be proven: From Playground to Practice

On a laboratory area (Playground), trade visitors – either in person at the Fulda location or via live stream – can be convinced by the extended skills of the CityBots in the application case of waste disposal. The AI prototype can move autonomously on the playground using a novel trajectory planning and self-localization and approach a identified waste object with pinpoint accuracy. Thanks to AI and machine learning, an object recognition system has been developed that can identify objects such as a crumpled paper, a beverage can, or a bottle and use its robotic arm to grasp them accurately and dispose of them appropriately. The chassis and drive concept is designed to ensure maximum maneuverability, including diagonal and lateral driving and on-the-spot rotation. No production vehicle worldwide offers this yet, the provider advertises.

"The CityBots represent a visible sign of the successful transformation process of the EDAG Group. With our software and digitalization competencies, we offer exactly the skills that vehicles of tomorrow need: connected, autonomously driving, and versatile," emphasizes Cosimo De Carlo, CEO of the EDAG Group, ahead of the EDAG Tech Summit 2020.

Thus, the CEO sees the service provider well-positioned to support customers in 360-degree engineering for vehicles and production facilities even in the future fields of mobility, continues De Carlo. The provider intends to continuously advance the concept, with an initial deployment envisaged in a so-called "Living Laboratory," and it is in advanced discussions with a major Spanish city for a test deployment. For the time horizon up to 2025, the group sees the industrial use of CityBots at airports or in the field of distribution/logistics as a realistic goal, where there is no mixed traffic and the influencing factors are better controllable than in real urban operations.