An MIT research team developed a robotic system that utilises radio frequency able to penetrate barriers to detect items out of sight.
Radio frequency (RF) identification is not a new term or an emerging technology. It is rather used for many years and for a wide variety of purposes, scientific, military, commercial, etc. However, it has not yet become obsolete due to the sensing qualities it acquires, rendering it unique and so distinct from the sense of vision. Therefore, there is still a lot to explore concerning its abilities in our rapidly evolving world we live in.
In this direction, an MIT research team developed a robotic system, named RF-Grasp, that utilises radio frequency able to penetrate barriers to detect items out of sight and ultimately seize the detected items. It consists of a camera, an individual RF reader that transmits tracking information back to the robot’s algorithm, a built-in robotic arm, and an attached grasping hand.
The research team strongly believes that the robot developed would perform well in e-commerce situations, as well as assisting people in their homes to find and collect hidden objects. The team claims that its invention could one day revolutionize the e-commerce world, where robots could help in warehouses to trace and collect packages and items hard to notice. Furthermore, they intend to share their creation in May at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.