Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 17.41
May 03, 2022
…in Tokyo, SB Logistics, the e-commerce fulfillment arm of SoftBank, is working to make a lights-out facility a reality. “Our ultimate goal is a completely automated warehouse,” said Masashi Okabe, a project manager and production engineer at SoftBank Robotics, and a member of the team that designed the highly automated 600,000-sq.-ft. facility in Ichikawa City. Part of that vision includes the development of a facility where a limited number of people are primarily there for maintenance and supervision, not warehouse processes. They’re not there yet. When the facility first adopted automation, inbound receiving and outbound shipping were still manual. In…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 12.35
April 19, 2022
…Blankespoor, senior vice president and general manager of warehouse robotics at Boston Dynamics. “We took all of the technology that we've grown over the past several decades with Spot and Atlas, and everything that came before, and repackaged it for a purpose-designed solution for moving boxes.” Unloading trucks has been a challenge for short-staffed logistics providers, as well as robotics developers. Boston Dynamics announced the commercial availability of Stretch and unveiled the production version of the robot at MODEX 2022. The company noted that it is already sold out through this year and that it's accepting reservations for 2023 and…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 50.95
April 12, 2022
…hands, demonstrating the challenges facing service robot vendors. United Robotics Group today announced that it has agreed to acquire SoftBank Robotics Europe SAS from SoftBank Robotics Group Corp. The transaction will result in United Robotics Group becoming one of the leading service robot providers in Europe, said the companies. As part of United Robotics Group (URG), the former SoftBank Robotics Europe (SBRE) will revert to the name “Aldebaran,” which developed robots for academic and customer-service use. URG offers robots including Pepper and Nao, Boston Dynamics' Spot, and the current Rethink Robotics' Sawyer through a robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) model. “We are pleased…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 36.82
March 21, 2022
…Motors Co. last week announced it is buying the SoftBank Vision Fund's stake in its Cruise self-driving car company for $2.1 billion. San Francisco-based Cruise makes electric, driverless vehicles such as the Origin shuttlebus. Last month, the company announced that SoftBank was going to invest an additional $1.35 billion because Cruise had started operating its fully autonomous vehicles. It has also begun offering self-driving car rides to the public in San Francisco, claiming to be the first company to do so. Now that GM has bought SoftBank Vision Fund's stake, it will give Cruise the $1.35 billion in SoftBank Vision…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 42.70
March 17, 2022
Bear Robotics Inc. today announced the completion of a $81 million Series B funding round. The Redwood City, Calif.-based company provides robots for the restaurant and hospitality industries. Founded in 2017, Bear Robotics described its flagship product, Servi, as an “all-in-one,” fully autonomous mobile robot (AMR) that can perform food bussing and waiting duties such as delivering food to customers and picking up dirty dishes. The company released the robot in 2020 in partnership with SoftBank Robotics Group. The AMR uses artifical intellgence and self-driving technology to help it navigate environments, according to Bear Robotics. Mobile waiter at your service…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 24.19
February 23, 2022
…fast, accurate, and reliable manipulation of variable objects. RightHand Robotics Inc. has raised $66 million to continue developing its piece-picking technology and expanding its partner network and presence worldwide. “This Series C funding round attracted top-tier investors who know the space and share our vision that piece-picking automation enables predictable throughput with lights-out item handling, while meeting customer needs for scalable fulfillment services,” stated Yaro Tenzer, co-founder and CEO of RightHand. “We are eager to continue expanding our solution set and global presence to meet the needs of warehouse operators worldwide.” Harvard Biorobotics Lab, Yale GRAB Lab, and MIT researchers…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 16.14
February 14, 2022
…integrated the LIO sensors into the fingertips of a SoftBank Pepper humanoid robot. Sensors on the fingers of each hand can be positioned on a patient's chest to take electrocardiogram (ECG) and photoplethysmogram (PPG) readings. Blood pressure is monitored and estimated by combining the sensor data from each hand. Using predetermined algorithms, the signals from the paired sensors can generate a patient's systolic and diastolic blood pressure without using the traditional cuff-based digital sphygmomanometer. Kim's earlier work involved programming sensing robots to measure other human physiological signals, such as temperature, respiration rate, and those from an ECG, which monitors heart…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 16.04
January 30, 2022
…also working with mobile robot providers such as Locus Robotics Corp. and autonomous truck developers like TuSimple Holdings Inc. Stretch builds on existing robot tech Boston Dynamics said Stretch builds on its decades of experience designing robots that can operate in unstructured or hard-to-traverse spaces such as construction sites or warehouses. The company's portfolio includes the Spot quadruped, which is available for commercial use, and the Atlas humanoid for research and development. Stretch advances technologies first developed in the Handle mobile robot over the past four years (see video below). “Stretch is Boston Dynamics’ newest robot, designed specifically to remedy…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 21.41
December 28, 2021
…the market is still open for more providers. YouiBot Robotics this week announced that it has completed two rounds of Series B financing for a total of RMB 300 million ($47.11 million U.S.). The Shenzhen, China-based company said it plans to use the funding to continue developing its technologies and accelerate its global market expansion. Founded in 2017, YouiBot said it provides autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for inspection, maintenance, logistics, and operations in electronics manufacturing and the energy industry. The company said it has achieved large-scale production for its systems, which also serve applications such as materials handling, disinfection, and…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 21.30
December 13, 2021
…to take Symbotic to the next level,” Cohen added. “SoftBank has tremendous experience investing in leading-edge artificial intelligence and robotics innovators, and our partnership with them will provide us with new insights, relationships, and capital that will help us realize our full potential. Together, I’m confident Symbotic will be a powerful, long-term force in modernizing the supply chain to the benefit of all.” Software acts as AI 'conductor' for Symbots Symbotic's AI-powered software acts as the conductor of a fleet of Symbots, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) that receive, store, and retrieve a virtually unlimited number of products. The company said…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 48.72
December 09, 2021
…year, with funding flowing to developers of autonomous trucks. Robotic Research OpCo LLC today announced that it has raised $228 million in Series A funding. The Clarksburg, Md.-based company said it will use its first outside capital to drive further innovation and expand its RR.AI division, which is focused on commercializing autonomous driving systems for commercial truck, bus, drayage, and logistics vehicles. “This investment reflects our success in developing autonomous solutions for our U.S. government customers, and [it] will provide the resources needed to meet our growing commercial customer demand and the expansion of our commercial efforts,” said Alberto Lacaze,…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 45.70
November 10, 2021
Gaussian Robotics today said it has raised 1.2 billion yuan ($188 million U.S.) in Series C funding. The COVID-19 pandemic raised awareness of the need to frequently sanitize facilities, mitigate worker shortages, and control costs, said the Shanghai-based company. Founded in 2013, Gaussian Robotics makes autonomous mobile robots for cleaning and indoor deliveries. The company, also referred to as Gaoxian, said its robots are used in airports, schools, offices, shopping malls, hospitals, hotels, and other sites in 40 countries. Gaussian Ecobot line cleans 93M mi. The Ecobot product line from Gaussian Robotics includes a robotic vacuum and sweeper, as well…
