This Ceiling-Mounted Crane Robot Tackles Household Clutter From Above

Nathaniel Nifong grew tired of the same scene repeating every day. Toys lay scattered near the couch. Socks and shirts dotted the floor after his kids finished playing. The mess demanded constant attention, yet it always returned. Most robot arms stay fixed to one workbench or table. Rolling robots must weave around furniture and adapt to a floor that changes constantly. Nifong wanted something that could reach anywhere in the room without those headaches.

He secured four motorized units to the four corners of a rectangular space. All of this was held together by a thick braided fishing line that ran from each anchor to a central platform. By carefully shortening or lengthening the cables in near-perfect timing, the platform may travel to any location in three dimensions below the ceiling. There is also a fifth cable that drops straight down from that platform, carrying the gripper itself. When the task is completed, the gripper retracts upward, and the entire assembly parks high and out of the way.

Each corner anchor houses a small computer, a camera, and a motor that rotates a spool. But the motors work together to share the load, so none of them require a lot of power on their own, and one of the support lines also delivers current down to the gripper, so it never needs a battery. The entire system is always powered up and ready to go, with no need for anyone to swap cells or dock at a charging station.

The gripper features two fingers joined by a four-bar linkage, which allows it to pick up a wide range of things, from a soccer ball to a crumpled up shirt. When the motor opens them wide, the fingers extend in a broad arc. As they close, the motion changes so that they travel parallel to one other, which is ideal for picking up smaller or flatter items such as socks or even a coin. A pressure sensor in one of the fingers alerts the system when it hits anything and then switches control to a basic loop that maintains a constant force rather than simply crushing whatever it is hanging onto. There is also grip tape on the contact surfaces, which provides dependable friction without leaving any sticky residue or causing any harm.

The four anchors contain cameras that provide a 360-degree view of the area while also locating the gripper and any target objects on the floor. Along with this, there are little printed markers that you place in crucial locations, such as the rim of a washing basket, to provide the system with accurate reference points for dropping items. The gripper also includes a camera, a laser distance sensor, and a motion sensor to determine its final approach and assure a secure hold before lifting.

The system was trained using hundreds of real-life household examples, and the model learnt whether forms and textures correspond to toys, clothes, or trash, as well as how to approach each one. All of the processing takes place on a home computer, with no data being sent to outside servers unless the owner chooses to pass some data over for future enhancements. The same arrangement allows you to manually manipulate the item with a gamepad or run fully automatic cycles that last around an hour before returning everything to its resting position.

In the real world, the crane glides across the open space above the furniture with ease, only lowering to catch something. It then rises and carries the load to the appropriate bin. Demonstrations show how it collects scattered laundry or stray toys and neatly places them without bumping against walls or knocking down lamps. Because of their form, flat books occasionally slip through, but most common detritus is easily picked up.
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