T-Mobile and Sarcos Robotics are collaborating on an industrial robot platform that will integrate the carrier’s 5G technology.
The Guardian XT highly dexterous mobile industrial robot is an upper body version of Sarcos’ industrial exoskeleton. It is a remote controlled system that can work in conditions hazardous to humans and perform tasks such as lifting heavy objects and using power tools at great heights, T-Mobile says.
The integration of T-Mobile 5G will improve performance and response time as well as keep people out of potentially dangerous situations, the companies said. 5G will be integrated into the Guardian XT in two phases. The first will enable personnel located anywhere to remotely view what the Sarcos robots “are seeing.” Tele-operational capabilities will be added later.
Two versions of the Sarcos technology – the upper body XT and the full body XO — are expected to be commercially available by the end of the year, though the T-Mobile announcement pertains only to the XT.
The XT system will be capable of being mounted in inaccessible and high positions, making it well suited for applications in the aerospace, automotive, aviation, construction, defense, industrial manufacturing, maritime, oil and gas and other industries, according to the press release.
“The Sarcos Guardian XT robot requires a highly reliable, low latency 5G network that its human operators can count on,” John Saw, T-Mobile’s executive vice president of Advanced & Emerging Technologies said in a press release about the 5G industrial robot. “5G was designed from the ground up for industrial applications such as this and we cannot wait to further collaborate with Sarcos as they develop the next big thing in industrial robotics.”
Sarcos is in the process of becoming public through a merger with Rotor Acquisition Corp. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.
This isn’t the only new 5G application T-Mobile has touted lately. Last month, the company provided information on a commercial driverless car service it had begun operating earlier in the year in Las Vegas with Halo that will use the T-Mobile 5G network. Actual transport of passengers was expected before the end of 2021. The system is a step toward full autonomous vehicles.
