Daily Archives: March 26, 2022

Mohamed Ebeida is looking to inspire the next generation of innovators to change the world, one robotics team at a time.

Ebeida, a research scientist at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, has brought his vision to North Texas. He launched the nonprofit Itkan Institute of Technology in Dallas, aiming to spread access to the STEM topics of science, technology, engineering and math within the Muslim community and beyond.

Since last July, Ebeida has formed four local student-led robotics teams and counting, including the areas first Muslim community robotics team, Marvels of MAS. The team practices at the Islamic Center of MAS-Dallas, home of the Muslim American Societys Dallas chapter.

The competitive goal is to build a robot thats programmed to compete in a sequence of games and complete tasks in under three minutes. The overall mission is much bigger.

The whole point of the Marvels is that you are the superheroes of your community, said Ebeida, who holds a Ph.D. in mechanical and aeronautical engineering. We want our movement to spread and impact as many young people as we can for the greater good of this country.

Most of the kids who joined the teams Ebeida coaches didnt know much about robotics, engineering or programming. In just a few months, thanks to the mentorship of Ebeida and other adult coaches, the students have immersed themselves in robot design, 3-D modeling, programming with artificial intelligence and marketing. They also have tapped into the knowledge of industry professionals to learn and troubleshoot.

Along the way, the team has become a family.

These days, Ebeida said, he nearly has to push kids out the door to go home after sessions that can last up to five hours.

Now they are like a little startup company inside the Islamic Center, Ebeida said. If we can do it here, we can do it in schools and other underserved communities. Our nation really needs efforts like these. Just imagine if every kid learned this at age 12.

The Marvels of MAS team, made up of 25 students from area schools in grades 7 to 12, recently placed fourth in the regional FIRST Tech Challenge, a robotics competition for middle school and high school students.

Its been inspiring to watch, said Lon Cherryholmes, who organizes the North Texas areas FIRST Tech Challenge competitions. He also teaches physics at Dallas George Bannerman Dealey International Academy and coaches three robotics teams.

When I visited these kids in September, they were shy, Cherryholmes said. They arent shy anymore, and they are breaking all the stereotypes. Muslim stereotypes, gender stereotypes it is all broken in this room.

Outreach is a natural extension of Ebeidas efforts and one of the requirements to participate in FIRST Tech Challenge, a global robotics community focused on increasing accessibility for low-income and underrepresented students. The MAS team has shared its STEM-inspired work with other Muslim students through dozens of gatherings at local community centers and schools and virtual presentations with students as far away as Syria.

Our goal is beyond robotics robotics is just a way to get there, said 16-year-old Eisha Alam, a team captain and 10th-grader at Brighter Horizons Academy in Garland. Our goal is to spread the enjoyment and excitement of STEM and modern technology. We want youth who dont have much access to technology to have the potential to grow up and make a real impact.

Holding practices at the mosque is akin to the tradition of mosques also serving as an informal place for education, one of multiple goals Ebeida has for the program. Among them: Promote inclusion and shine a positive light on Islam by hosting events and creating connections between Muslims and non-Muslims.

A lot of people hear inaccurate information about the Muslim community, Ebeida said. When they visit our Islamic centers and see our hospitality and how we care and are supporting the kids and pushing all kids not just ours to collaborate with each other, I think it brings us all together.

For Ebeidas son, 15-year-old Hamza Ebeida, being part of the MAS robotics team has shaped his desire to pursue a career in computer science.

Ive found my passion, said the younger Ebeida, a sophomore at Allen High School, who deftly directs the teams robots to handle the competition tasks.

Parents are a critical cog in Mohamed Ebeidas effort to spread the robotics movement in the Muslim community. The program is free, but kids must apply, and parents are required to attend 40 percent of the sessions.

Amber Sheikhs 14-year-old son, Noah, an eighth-grader at Frisco ISDs Fowler Middle School in Plano, is a member of the Marvels of GEM robotics program. Ebeida, she says, challenges the kids to work together to solve problems, develop technical skills and brainstorm innovative ideas. (GEM stands for Guidance, Education and Mentorship.)

The obvious benefits of the program are scholarships and college acceptances, but what excites me more is seeing the next generation of youth as thinkers, leaders and change-makers, said Sheikh, who also co-founded the recently opened GEM Multicultural Center with her husband, Farouk Sheikh.

Robotics competition is a game with a purpose, and a fun way to teach kids from all backgrounds to learn to work together, said Ebeida, who is fielding requests from all over to expand his program.

His goal is to have robotics teams in mosques all over the country.

To learn more and donate, visit Itkan Institute of Technology at itkantech.org. For more on FIRST Tech Challenge robotics teams and events across Texas, visit firstintexas.org.

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The tech whisperer: Scientist has formed four robotics teams and counting for D-FW youths - The Dallas Morning News

The Beal City First Robotics Competition Robotics Team are heading to a competition at H.H. Dow High School in Midland this weekend.

Were hoping to be able to make it to playoff rounds at the competition, Beal City Middle School and High School robotics coach Kathleen Rau said. We compete again April 8-10, 2022.

The high school First Robotics Competition (FRC) team was started in 2016 and the middle school First Tech Challenge (FTC) team was started in 2018. There are around 15 kids on the FRC team and 12 on the FTC team.

Beal City has Pre K through high school robotics and each team has a season where they design a robot to compete, Rau said.

For competitions, FIRST engineers will design the game which is later released at a kick-off event. The teams will design a robot to play the game in a match play competition.

The Beal City Robotics Team. Photo provided by Middle School and High School coach Kathleen Rau.

The Beal City Robotics Team prepares for competition. Photo provided by Middle School and High School coach Kathleen Rau.

The Beal City Robotics Team prepares for competition. Photo provided by Middle School and High School coach Kathleen Rau.

The team has three sub-teams that consists of the build team, the programming team and the marketing team.

The build team fabricated most of the robot parts this year, thanks to grant funds we received to buy equipment to build the robot, Rau said. The build team is guided by their building mentors Nathan Finnerty, Nick Finnerty, Kenny Myer, and Stacey Fox. The programming team programs the robot in Java under the guidance of their mentor Bill Scott. The marketing team designs or branding logos and have done several things such as bulletin boards, webpage building, 3D printing of awards for competition mostly with me.

Recruiting events for both teams are generally held in the spring.

For more information, visit firstinspires.org or weberjack222.wixsite.com/pegacyborgs.

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Beal City Robotics Team gear up for competition - The Morning Sun

In this past weekends Austin Daily Herald, we hope you had the opportunity to read about Brownsdales young robotics team of Daniel Grush, Abe Phillips and Eric Blust, who are making waves while gearing up for competition on both the national and world stage.

The trio make up an independent team, which means they are not supported by school and despite that have made strides in just three short years that have elevated them from a novice team to a competitive team.

Its the perfect time to point out just how pivotal a robotics curriculum truly is in todays education. Those who compete in robotics competitions are learning skills that will put them in a state of readiness for their days after school.

It teaches them problem solving skills, engineering skills, computer skills and perhaps most importantly working with others to demonstrate the best possible outcome.

This is illustrated in a couple different ways for our Brownsdale trio, who not only have established a team-based mentality among themselves, but with the robotics team from Southland, where they have formed friendships and partnerships.

With a spirit of STEM education, robotics further builds young competitors into better people by starting them on a path of being the technical leaders of tomorrow.

A poignant question remains. Grush, Phillips and Blust have been able to find this level of success in just three years what does the future hold for them?

Its a question that becomes even more poignant when you expand it to include the potential of all kids taking part in robotics and when the question is left that open-ended then in reality the only answer need be: the skys the limit.

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Our Opinion: Robotics a step toward the future - Austin Daily Herald - Austin Herald

New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute collaborates with Google Research to identify new cellular characteristics of disease in skin cells from Parkinsons patients.

A study published today (March 25, 2022) in Nature Communications unveils a new platform for discovering cellular signatures of disease that integrates robotic systems for studying patient cells with artificial intelligence methods for image analysis. Using their automated cell culture platform, scientists at the NYSCF Research Institute collaborated with Google Research to successfully identify new cellular hallmarks of Parkinsons disease by creating and profiling over a million images of skin cells from a cohort of 91 patients and healthy controls.

Traditional drug discovery isnt working very well, particularly for complex diseases like Parkinsons, noted NYSCF CEO Susan L. Solomon, JD. The robotic technology NYSCF has built allows us to generate vast amounts of data from large populations of patients, and discover new signatures of disease as an entirely new basis for discovering drugs that actually work.

This is an ideal demonstration of the power of artificial intelligence for disease research, added Marc Berndl, Software Engineer at Google Research. We have had a very productive collaboration with NYSCF, especially because their advanced robotic systems create reproducible data that can yield reliable insights.

The study leveraged NYSCFs vast repository of patient cells and state-of-the-art robotic system The NYSCF Global Stem Cell Array to profile images of millions of cells from 91 Parkinsons patients and healthy controls. Scientists used the Array to isolate and expand skin cells called fibroblasts from skin punch biopsy samples, label different parts of these cells with a technique called Cell Painting, and create thousands of high-content optical microscopy images. The resulting images were fed into an unbiased, artificial intelligencedriven image analysis pipeline, identifying image features specific to patient cells that could be used to distinguish them from healthy controls.

These artificial intelligence methods can determine what patient cells have in common that might not be otherwise observable, said Samuel J. Yang, Research Scientist at Google Research. Whats also important is that the algorithms are unbiased they do not rely on any prior knowledge or preconceptions about Parkinsons disease, so we can discover entirely new signatures of disease.

The need for new signatures of Parkinsons is underscored by the high failure rates of recent clinical trials for drugs discovered based on specific disease targets and pathways believed to be drivers of the disease. The discovery of these novel disease signatures using unbiased methods, especially across patient populations, has value for diagnostics and drug discovery, even revealing new distinctions between patients.

Excitingly, we were able to distinguish between images of patient cells and healthy controls, and between different subtypes of the disease, noted Bjarki Johannesson, PhD, a NYSCF Senior Investigator on the study. We could even predict fairly accurately which donor a sample of cells came from.

The Parkinsons disease signatures identified by the team can now be used as a basis for conducting drug screens on patient cells, to discover which drugs can reverse these features. The study also yields the largest known Cell Painting dataset (48TB) as a community resource, and is available to the research community (https://nyscf.org/nyscf-adpd/).

Notably, the platform is disease-agnostic, only requiring easily accessible skin cells from patients. It can also be applied to other cell types, including derivatives of induced pluripotent stem cells that NYSCF creates to model a variety of diseases. The researchers are thus hopeful that their platform can open new therapeutic avenues for many diseases where traditional drug discovery has been unsuccessful.

This is the first tool to successfully identify disease features with this much precision and sensitivity, said NYSCF Senior Vice President of Discovery and Platform Development Daniel Paull, PhD. Its power for identifying patient subgroups has important implications for precision medicine and drug development across many intractable diseases.

Reference: Integrating deep learning and unbiased automated high-content screening to identify complex disease signatures in human fibroblasts 25 March 2022, Nature Communications.DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28423-4

About The New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute

The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute is an independent non-profit organization accelerating cures and better treatments for patients through stem cell research. The NYSCF global community includes over 200 researchers at leading institutions worldwide, including the NYSCF Druckenmiller Fellows, the NYSCF Robertson Investigators, the NYSCF Robertson Stem Cell Prize Recipients, and NYSCF Research Institute scientists and engineers. The NYSCF Research Institute is an acknowledged world leader in stem cell research and in the development of pioneering stem cell technologies, including the NYSCF Global Stem Cell Array, which is used to create cell lines for laboratories around the globe. NYSCF focuses on translational research in an accelerator model designed to overcome barriers that slow discovery and replace silos with collaboration.

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Hidden Signatures of Parkinsons Disease Uncovered by Artificial Intelligence and Robotics - SciTechDaily

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Raider Robotixs robot hangs on the hanger high bar with its alliance partner FRC Team 41-RoboWarriors on the lower bar during the Rapid React game.PHOTO COURTESY OF KAREN RAMSDEN-ZAHLER

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FRC Team 25-Raider Robotix with their Finalists award from the competition at Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School.PHOTO COURTESY OF HARSHAL DALAL

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Raider Robotixs robot hangs on the hanger high bar with its alliance partner FRC Team 41-RoboWarriors on the lower bar during the Rapid React game.PHOTO COURTESY OF KAREN RAMSDEN-ZAHLER

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FRC Team 25-Raider Robotix with their Finalists award from the competition at Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School.PHOTO COURTESY OF HARSHAL DALAL

NORTH BRUNSWICK North Brunswick Township High Schools robotics team, FRC Team 25-Raider Robotix, is celebrating 25 years of competition in FIRST Robotics this season.

The team was founded in 1996 at the high school and in its career has been a two-time world champion during the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition (FRC) in 2000 and 2012.

In addition to the World Championship victories, Raider Robotix has earned many banners and awards in local and regional competitions during the last quarter century.

During Raider Robotixs first competition of the 2022 season, the team competed at the FIRST Mid-Atlantic (FMA) robotics event held at Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School March 5 and 6. The team was pitted against 35 other robotics teams from New Jersey and Pennsylvania in the FMA region.

Team 25 finished qualifying rounds ranked as the No. 3 seeded team.

For the semi-finals, the No. 2 seeded team, Watchung Hills Regional High Schools FRC Team 41-RoboWarriors, selected Raider Robotix as an alliance partner to form Alliance No. 2. Teams 41 and 25 then selected FRC Team 4285-Camo-Bots (Honesdale High School and Western Wayne High School, Pennsylvania) to complete their alliance to play against the seven other alliances in the semi-finals.

Alliance No. 2 emerged from the semi-finals to face Alliance No. 4, which was composed of Team Captain FRC Team 75-RoboRaiders (Hillsborough High School), FRC Team 3142-Aperture (Newtown High School) and FRC Team 2577-Pingry Robotics (Basking Ridge High School), in the finals.

Alliance No. 4 defeated Alliance No. 2 in the first Finals match by a score of 68 to 50.

Team 4285s robot was disabled during competition, so FRC Team 6897-Astraea Robotics (East Brunswick High School) replaced Team 4285 in Alliance No. 2.

In Match 2 of the finals, Alliance No. 4 won by just one point, 44 to 43, and they emerged as the winners of the event, while the teams in Alliance No. 2 were declared the finalists.

The next scheduled FMA event for Raider Robotix FRC Team 25 will be April 2 and 3 at Montgomery High School. It is anticipated that if Team 25 qualifies, the team will travel to Lehigh University in Pennsylvania to compete in the FIRST Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships April 6-9.

Due to COVID concerns, all FIRST competitions are closed to the public and spectators, but the robotics events can be viewed live or recorded online at https://thebluealliance.com.

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Raider Robotix celebrates its 25th year competing in FIRST Robotics - centraljersey.com

SEOUL, South Korea, March 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- KEENON Robotics, the world's leading service robotics company, has recently announced its strategic partnership with Hyundai Robotics. The pair will team up to drive autonomous transformation in multiple commercial settings in South Korea.

Keenon Robotics and Hyundai Robotics have reached strategic partnership.

At the International Franchise Show(IFS) running from March 24 to 26 in Seoul, KEENON Robotics and Hyundai Robotics are presenting a joint display of their latest products, including KEENON's food delivery service robots. KEENON is also showcasing the South Korea debut of its T8, an indoor delivery robot. T8 will hit the market for sale in late April.

Visitors at IFS showed great interest in Keenon T8.

"It is a great honor for KEENON Robotics to build a strategic partnership with Hyundai Robotics and showcase our latest endeavor at IFS. We look forward to a partnership that will bring higher efficiency robotic solutions made specifically for the local market," said Yaxin Li, Head of KEENON Robotics South Korea.

Sejin Joo, Head of Hyundai Robotics, said that Hyundai Robotics are very excited about the partnership with KEENON in commercial service robots. KEENON has developed advanced technologies in the field, making their products a leading player in the industry. "We believe that the partnership will fuel innovation in South Korea's retail landscape, bringing autonomous transformation to its hospitality and food sectors thereby lowering labor costs," said Sejin Joo.

Facing issues such as an aging population, higher labor costs and the impact of pandemic, businesses in South Korea are showing growing demand for professional service robots to automate certain dangerous, menial and time-consuming tasks. KEENON service robots are built for the digital transformation in a range of commercial settings, offering greater accuracy in navigation. They can be used in a variety of complex settings and can even navigate their way through narrow passages to reach their destination.

About Keenon Robotics

Keenon Robotics, founded in 2010, is committed to using AI technology to empower surrounding life. It is the world's leading commercial service robot company.

Headquartered in Shanghai, Keenon Robotics has more than ten years accumulated in the field of mobile robotics. With stable, efficient and practical commercial service robots as the business core, the company offers intelligent solutions for various scenarios such as restaurants, hotels, hospitals, government offices, elderly-care communities, banks and airports. Keenon robots have been deployed in more than 30 countries, serving over 10,000 customers worldwide. For more information, please visit http://www.keenonrobot.com.

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KEENON Robotics Forges Strategic Partnership with Hyundai Robotics to Showcase at 2022 IFS - The Korea Herald

Seoul Robotics

Joint application integrates Seoul Robotics 3D perception software with Herzogs occupancy detection suite to ensure greater safety for rail passengers, operators, and pedestrians

IRVINE, Calif. and ST. JOSEPH, Mo., March 24, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Seoul Robotics, the 3D computer vision company using deep learning Artificial Intelligence (AI) to power the future of mobility, and Herzog Technologies Inc. (Herzog), a leading railroad systems and technology integrator, today jointly announced the introduction of an automated obstacle detection and warning system aimed at making the interface between the railroad and the public safer. Critical Asset Monitoring (CAM) combines Seoul Robotics 3D perception software, SENSR-I, with Herzogs occupancy detection platform with the goal of reducing future railroad incidents.

CAM is an integrated solution that utilizes a multi-sensor hardware platform and 3D perception engine to track and classify objects. This edge detection is coupled with business intelligence, which allows the system to analyze the information in real-time and make timely decisions for notifying the appropriate entities. CAM can detect humans, vehicles, bicycles, and other foreign objects, enabling it to provide unparalleled safety insights. A powerful component of the system is the ability to evaluate the situation according to complex conditions as well as the behavior of the objects being monitored. This enables the system to make smart decisions that are specific and unique to each area being monitored.

We pride ourselves on equipping our partners with solutions that will improve safety and efficiency. CAM provides customers with the ability to monitor aspects of their critical infrastructure in ways previously unavailable. With this innovative technology, our goal of improving safety is now within reach, said Glen Dargy, Vice President of Technology at Herzog. By integrating our products and services with Seoul Robotics software platform, we are providing an industry-leading solution.

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Since 2011, over 23,000 incidents have occurred where trains have struck trains or people, resulting in 2,700 fatalities and 9,500 injuries, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Railroad Administration. By using CAM systems at crossings, bridges, tunnels, stations, and other areas of critical interest along the corridor, train conductors and operations personnel are programmatically alerted to hazards detected in monitored areas. The solution is being implemented by Trinity Railway Express, a commuter rail operator between Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas, with engineering underway for several additional bridges, crossings and passenger stations with other operators.

"For a rail detection system, every second is critical. Trains need adequate time to fully stop and require advanced warning to reduce the chance of a collision. This is only possible with an accurate, highly granular 3D perception system like ours, said Jerone Floor, Vice President of Product at Seoul Robotics. Through our partnership with Herzog, we are making this technology available to any rail operator, ensuring they can cost-effectively access these insights and make every second count.

Seoul Robotics proprietary software, SENSR-I, uses deep learning to analyze and understand 3D sensor data with unrivaled accuracy. SENSR-I enables the detection of more than 500 objects up to 200 meters ahead, predicts motion up to three seconds in advance, and provides real-time object perception. SENSR-I is compatible with more than 75 different types and models of 3D sensors and even supports systems consisting of different brands of sensors, making the technology cost-effective and scalable over large geographies. SENSR-I also comes equipped with dynamic weather-filtering AI that enables CAM to glean and decipher obstacles even through harsh weather conditions, such as snow or heavy rain.

Seoul Robotics will be showcasing CAM and its full suite of 3D perception-based solutions at Intertraffic from March 29 - April 1, 2022, at the RAI Amsterdam. Visit Booth #05.466 to learn more about the companys field-proven technology for smart cities, ITS, autonomous mobility, and more.

To learn more about Seoul Robotics, visit https://www.seoulrobotics.org/. To learn more about Herzog, visit https://www.herzog.com/.

About Seoul RoboticsSeoul Robotics is a 3D computer vision company building a perception platform that uses AI and machine learning to power the future of mobility. Founded in 2017, Seoul Robotics has partnered with OEMs, system integrators, and government agencies around the world to diversify the use of 3D data. The company has developed its own proprietary software, which is compatible with nearly all commercially available LiDAR and 3D data sensors, to increase accuracy, efficiency and ensure safety across a range of industries and applications. Seoul Robotics has offices in Seoul, Silicon Valley, Munich, and Detroit and is backed by leading global financial institutions. For more information, visit http://www.seoulrobotics.org/.

About Herzog Herzog is an employee-owned company founded in 1969, headquartered in St. Joseph, MO. Comprised of five divisions, Herzog is the only company in the U.S. that builds, operates, and maintains rail systems in North America. With more than 2,300 field and office personnel located across a network of construction and transit offices, Herzog operates in 36 states and maintains a large presence in California, Texas, Florida, and Missouri.

To remain at the forefront of a growing rail services landscape, Herzogs subsidiary, Herzog Technologies, Inc., provides extensive technology and operations-centric solutions to its clients ranging from traditional wayside and grade crossing systems to advanced communications, network, and Positive Train Control (PTC) systems. When partnered with Herzog, railroads are provided critical information for their track environment, allowing customers to make data-driven, operational decisions.

The safety of our employees, subcontractors, railroad counterparts, and the traveling public is what drives Herzogs continued investment into the development of specialized maintenance-of-way equipment and custom technology solutions. Our commitment to improving on-track safety is further demonstrated through rigorous safety training and daily toolbox talks, and is reflected by an outstanding industry safety record year after year.

Media ContactAnn Gargiulo ann.gargiulo@seoulrobotics.org

LaunchSquad for Seoul Robotics seoulrobotics@launchsquad.com

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Seoul Robotics Introduces Critical Asset Monitoring Solution In Partnership with Herzog - Yahoo Finance

A team of students from the University of Alabama in Huntsville made it to the finals in the University Rover Challenge. It is the world's premier robotics competition for college students.

"I'm feeling excited! Pleasantly surprised that we made it," Shelby Tull said.

She's the team leader of UAH's Adaptable Service Transport Research Apparatus, or ASTRA for short. She's proud of the team of 21 students, who were able to design and build this rover from scratch.

"It's crazy to see it here, built and actually working, in person," Thomas Bennett said.

The team started working on the project in February 2020, just before the Covid-19 pandemic.

They faced many challenges as they worked remotely, but that didn't stop them.

"We put in the effort, did all our homework. Here's our design now, let's actually build it and see our finished product," Michael Sorrell said.

However, the project is more than just building a rover. It actually has to go through four missions in the desert sands of Utah.

The rover must be able to detect life, pick up heavy objects and take them through difficult terrain, fine manipulation, before making its way to a designated spot all while avoiding obstacles.

"All by itself!" Tull said.

The team's software lead said it was tricky, but they were able to transfer some of their work from prototypes to the actual thing.

"It worked beautifully," Areeb Mohammed said.

The rover caught some eyes while out on UAH's campus Thursday afternoon.

The team says they're glad all of their hard work is paying off, but they know it couldn't be done without each other.

"It's really incredible being on a team with such skilled and talented people, each on their own focus areas," Andrew Adams said.

The UAH team will head out to Utah in late May for the competition in June.

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UAH makes it to finals in robotics competition with their Mars rover - WAAY