Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 3.92
April 30, 2021
…“Being able to generalize is very important,” added Nikovski. “Restaurants are a prime example of high mix and low volume; just look at the menu. Such customization is not achievable with current robotics technology. You cannot really use approaches based on CAD models for food. Humans don't need geometric models, and machine learning is likely to help robots learn or estimate.” “We're starting with a subset of the problem that's more manageable and makes more business sense,” said Vetro. “We'll refine how robots deal with soft items of variable size and shape, and then graduate to more challenging cases. We're…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 10.84
April 21, 2021
…in Meituan, which has invested $15 million in PuduTech's restaurant robots. Meituan also participated in last week's Series C round for 3D vision firm Mech-Mind Robotics. Meituan mainly uses human delivery drivers, but it is working on autonomous vehicles and drones. Source: Getty Images Delivery robots jostle for growing market The global market for delivery robots will grow from $212 million in 2021 to $957 million by 2026 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 35.1%, predicts Markets and Markets. Meituan's e-commerce rivals include Alibaba Group, Amazon.com, and JD.com. All of them are actively developing delivery robots and drones…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 8.08
April 13, 2021
…in delivery demand over the past year. The quick-service restaurant, as well as campus food provider Sodexo, has evaluated the effect of robots on customer experience in its partnership with Kiwibot. The company is looking for additional partners. The delivery robots are already on college campuses and the streets of Santa Monica, Calif. By May 2021, customers can use Shopify-powered portals to use Kiwibot's service in Los Angeles, Miami, Pittsburg, Detroit, and San Jose, Calif., said Kiwibot. Shopify customers at local businesses, college campuses, airports, or malls will be able to order food. Kiwibots will then meet them up to…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 3.28
October 09, 2020
…truck stops around the country serve as dedicated hotels, restaurants, grocery stores, and entertainment hubs for truckers every day. If one assumes that each trucker spends only $5k a year on consumption on the road (about $100 per week), that’s a $17.5 billion economic hit in communities around the country. Beyond the hundreds of thousands of additional job losses, many communities may risk losing a sense of purpose without thousands of truckers coming through each day. For example, in Nebraska, one out of every 12 workers – 63,000 workers – works in and supports the trucking industry. Truck drivers do…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.26
September 29, 2020
…well as those that deal in tourism, cruise ships, restaurants, retail, and various other industries can profit from a simple solution that makes it easy to safely maximize utilization of space and still maintain the required occupancy levels. The PeopleCounter (PeCo) is a SensorApp developed by SICK that enables anonymous data processing and differentiation of people from objects over large detection areas. Based on the hardware of the MRS1000 3D LiDAR sensor, measurement data is generated as a point cloud. The integrated PeopleCounter app reliably identifies people using their contours. This means only people above the height of 1.4 meters…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 11.71
June 26, 2020
…reverse course on reopening measure. “He closed bars, ordered restaurants to return to 50% capacity, shut river-rafting outfits, and gave local officials more control over large gatherings ahead of the Fourth of July holiday,” reported The Dallas Morning News. If the pattern continues, PPE shortage could hamper effective and timely treatment of seriously ill COVID-19 patients. Essentium, an industrial scale 3D printer, recently shifted its Texas operations to manufacture protective face masks kits based designed approved by FDA for emergency use. The company is “now working with the Texas Division of Emergency Management, the Texas Military Department, and other groups…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 3.11
June 26, 2020
…go into initiatives like airport screening, retail establishments, and restaurants and office buildings, but industrial settings won’t be far behind. “There are a couple of companies looking at installing thermal cameras in warehouses to see if you can identify temperature spikes in an individual,” noted Danielle Bradnan, a research associate at Lux Research. Early adopters are primarily in Asia, she adds. Bradnan’s current focus is the use of wearable technologies to capture health markers for telemedicine. However, some solutions under development might find their way into the industrial workplace. Examples include a wearable wrist band that would identify whether you…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 3.91
September 04, 2019
…company tracks its produce from the farm to the restaurants using FoodLogiQ software to provide more visibility. Drones enter the cold chain fray A new generation of transport providers may be making some forms of temperature control systems irrelevant, say officials at the upstart drone company Flytrex. Along with the drone services firm Causey Aviation Unmanned, Flytrex has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to begin its on-demand, unmanned food delivery via commercial drones for local residents in Holly Springs, N.C. “Given the expediency of drones for food delivery, Flytrex requires no additional technology to preserve perishable cargo,”…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.30
November 10, 2017
…plop us down outside the cinema or our favorite restaurant? Before we mentally hail the next air cab, let’s consider what it would actually mean if the skies were filled with swarms of miniature helicopters ferrying people to their next destination. Though drones will have many important uses in the future, I do not believe moving people around cities will, or should, be one of them. The dream of unmanned aerial transportation is not new. When Fritz Lang created the futuristic cityscape for his groundbreaking 1927 film, Metropolis, he filled its skies with vertiginous towers and compact flying vehicles. Then,…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.39
August 01, 2017
…may be on the horizon, too, like delivery of restaurant meals by postal services to boost its income further 5. Insourcing Deliveries An increasing number of companies are using their own or shared vehicles for last mile delivery. Traditionally, shippers weren’t in the transport business. They didn’t own or owned limited trucks or vans or vehicles, but now they’re starting to collaborate with competitors in the regional area, to utilize each others’ transportation assets. LSPs now have their own local delivery services as well. They have their own vehicles and drivers on the payroll for local, not long haul, deliveries.…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 4.47
April 06, 2017
…repair jobs. At the same time, local retailers, from restaurants to clothing stores, may need extra staff hours to unload trucks. Whatever happens, it is crucial to not confuse truck drivers themselves with their entire industry, which depends on many different types of workers who carry out tasks that are not always easily automated. The trucking industry as a whole relies on a variety of workers who are also less susceptible to automation according to O*NET. Truck drivers only make up 60 percent of the nearly 1.5 million workers in this industry. Other support workers fill roles across more than…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 8.44
March 17, 2017
…car project. We were having a dinner at a restaurant near the office, and he told me that it would be nice to create a new self-driving car startup and that Uber would be interested in buying the team responsible for the LiDAR we were developing at Google. Recode also reported this week that Levandowski apparently started working for Uber much sooner than anyone previously knew. Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, according to Recode, hired Levandowski as a consultant to Uber’s self-driving car project just weeks after he left Waymo to start Otto, which officially formed Feb. 1, 2016. Levandowski was…
