Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 8.84
May 01, 2022
…sensor providers to end users like Procter & Gamble, General Motors, and Ford. We hope to publish it later this year.” “We're trying to get alignment with OSHA [the Occupational Safety and Health Administration] to make it a compulsory standard,” Wise said. “Safety is like religion—you either believe in it, or you don't. Larger manufacturers largely get it, but as robots push into logistics and distribution, there isn't the same belief.” “Over the past couple of years, we've interacted with prospective customers who ask, 'Why can't you do this?' and we'll say, 'Because the safety standard says it isn't a…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 8.69
April 27, 2022
…empathy, and decision making, it said. Leading enterprises including General Motors and Slack use Cobalt's top-to-bottom automation in their workplaces. Robots provide security as a service Cobalt said its mobile robots have more than 60 sensors, including day-night cameras, 360-degree cameras, thermal cameras, depth cameras, lidar, and badge-reading capabilities. They can autonomously patrol and continuously collect data throughout a facility, providing customers with Daily Security Reports (DSRs) and actionable real-time information. The company said each of its “state-of-the-art” robots uses machine learning, semantic mapping, and novelty detection to independently identify and flag security-relevant anomalies like people, sounds, motion, doors and…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 8.10
April 22, 2022
…later this year. As with previous work at Ford Motor Co. and research institutions in Ohio and Michigan, the latest deployments will enable Agility to iterate with customer feedback. They will also help it gain insights into operating environments, discover new uses for its robots, and refine their capabilities, said the company. New Amazon fund joins investors DCVC and Playground Global led Agility Robotics' Series B round. Previous investors, including MFV Partners, ITIC, Robotics Hub, Safar Partners, Sony Innovation Fund, and TDK Ventures, also participated. “We’re deepening our investment in Agility Robotics because their robots solve the labor shortages plaguing…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.22
April 19, 2022
…the warehouse,” said Kevin 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…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.14
April 17, 2022
…Justin Vranic, Adam Dmytriw, and Aman Patel at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and Marcin Balicki of Philips Research North America. Tilt and twist for endovascular surgery Endovascular surgery is a specialized, minimally invasive procedure that involves carefully twisting and guiding a thin medical wire through the body's arteries and vessels to a target location, in a way that avoids damaging vessel walls. The procedure typically requires years of training for a surgeon to master. Robotic systems are being explored as assistive technologies in endovascular surgery. These systems mainly involve motor drives that advance and retract a wire while twisting it…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 8.26
April 12, 2022
…Google (now part of Alphabet) in 2017, to Hyundai Motor Group. Xavier Lacherade, general manager of SBRE, will continue to lead the company, renamed Aldebaran under URG. “We know URG as a strategic partner in sales, services, and software development,” said Lacherade. “I am firmly convinced that the short management paths, which are also characterized by the German-French friendship, will inspire the work on both sides of the Rhine and lead us to new successes in the near future.” SBRE will aquire a minority stake in URG, and the two companies said they will continue to cooperate in the global…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 24.30
March 25, 2022
Mobile robots are getting smarter. OTTO Motors yesterday announced the availability of OTTO Lifter, which it called “the smartest autonomous forklift on the market.” The new system is designed to pick up and drop off pallets autonomously. OTTO Motors plans to demonstrate OTTO Lifter alongside its OTTO 100 and 1500 robots at MODEX 2022 next week in Atlanta. OTTO Motors, a division of Clearpath Robotics Inc. in Kitchener, Ontario, provides autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for moving materials inside factories and warehouses. The company said it has more than 3 million hours of driving experience with no safety incidents in demanding…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 24.66
March 21, 2022
General 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…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 8.89
March 16, 2022
…motion planning, the Robot Operating System (ROS), drives and motors, and simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM). Median prices for robot arms have dropped over the past six years, said the AI Index Report 2022. AI investments continue to climb Private investment in AI totaled about $93.5 billion in 2021, more than double the amount of investment in 2020. However, the number of newly funded AI businesses dropped from 1,051 companies in 2019 and 762 startups in 2020 to 746 companies in 2021. In 2020, there were four funding rounds worth $500 million or more; in 2021, there were 15, said…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 7.60
February 27, 2022
…an assembly-line overhaul. After some initial challenges, the Tesla Motors factory in Fremont, Calif., is an example. Requiring greater upfront investment in robots from Comau, the flexibility of the plant can repurpose and redirect equipment to suit amended product specifications and volumes. Tesla founder Elon Musk has made no secret of his ambitions for general-purpose robots that would be even more capable. Flexible manufacturing to pick up speed The time required to change robot programming has delayed the acceptance of flexible manufacturing. Once, automating a one-hour task could require more than 15 hours of programming. A more recent move to…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 22.29
February 25, 2022
…this service and growing our collaboration with Via.” Hyundai Motor Group and connected vehicle firm Aptiv formed Motional as a joint venture in 2020. The Boston-based company is developing SAE Level 4 autonomous vehicles for robotaxi providers and fleet operators. It claimed that its achievements include the first fully-autonomous cross-country drive in the U.S, the launch of the world's first robotaxi pilot, and more than 100,000 public rides. In November 2021, Motional announced plans to partner with Lyft Inc. on robotaxi service in Las Vegas by 2023. Via helps cities digitize transportation The new service will combine Via's booking, routing,…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 13.49
February 18, 2022
…lidar series production award in the industry to date, based on the number of vehicle models awarded, to support General Motors’ Ultra Cruise program. Cepton is also engaged with all other Top 10 global OEMs.
