Category Archives: Robotics

Shares of robotics manufacturers ABB (NYSE:ABB) and Rockwell Automation (NYSE:ROK) both jumped Tuesday following so-so earnings reports during a trading session that was anything but decidedly bullish. Rockwell topped its sales and earnings estimates for the three-month stretch ending in March, but the bar was set low. Unlike ABB, Rockwell Automation managed to grow its top and bottom lines, yet each company cautioned investors that coronavirus-related shutdowns were already taking a financial toll on the quarter currently underway. The stocks rallied anyway.

That bullish interest may be rooted in an idea that's much bigger than last quarter or the present quarter, however.

While the sheer disruption caused by the coronavirus is making it difficult to "do" any sort of business, and the prospect of a recession is forcing some organizations to rethink spending plans, the COVID-19 contagion has exposed a weak link in the world's commerce engine -- people. If people can't or won't work, things don't get done. Robots, however, don't get sick.

Image source: Getty Images.

For its second fiscal quarter ending in March, U.S.-based Rockwell turned $1.68 billion worth of revenue into operating earnings of $2.43 per share. That was better than the $2.04 per share earned in the same quarter a year earlier when the company generated $1.66 billion worth of business. But, organic sales were flat, and Rockwell warned its shareholders that organic revenue looked as if it was going to slump between 6.5% and 9.5% this year.

Swiss automation company ABB fared worse in its first quarter of the year, with revenue of $6.21 billion sliding 9% lower compared to the year-earlier comparison of $6.85 billion. Operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) slipped 17% to $636 million, coinciding with a comparable decrease in profit margins.

The company didn't offer detailed full-year guidance, but CEO Bjorn Rosengren did comment, "In the second quarter, we expect ABB's operations to be significantly challenged by a sharp drop in demand due to lockdowns in many parts of the world."

So why the big advances for each? Most plausibly because investors know where the present global situation is leading.

GlobalData analyst Wafaa Hassan was the latest to chime in on the matter, commenting on Tuesday, "Robots have been replacing humans in certain jobs for some time, but the COVID-19 crisis is accelerating the process."

Hassan was responding to reports that robotics company Brain Corp. had secured new funding that will primarily go to expanding the use of its robots to scrub floors for companies that have been under shutdown orders for weeks now. Other floors have gotten use, like stores operated by in Walmart and Kroger, both of which already use Brain's cleaning robots. Walmart is buying another 1,500 robots in response to the COVID-19 contagion and the expanded need for cleanliness.

It was Hassan's broader assessment that points to the changing underpinnings of the industry's forward progress. He adds, "The COVID-19 crisis will ultimately increase the use of robotics across all industries."

He's not alone in his expectation. While almost all companies will have to fight to work past the temporary financial roadblock put in place by the coronavirus, manufacturing sites, processing plants, and other industrial companies don't want to be trapped in the same situation again. International Data Corporation's (IDC's) Jordan Speer wrote for IndustryWeek late last month that more than 70% of the companies participating in IDC's 2020 Supply Chain Survey said robotics will be important, or very important, to their organization within the next three years.Market research company Fact.MR now believes the robotic process automation market is poised to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 33% through 2029 due to the adverse impact of COVID-19.

Rockwell Automation and ABB certainly aren't the only automation names that stand to benefit from the displacement of millions of workers. Fellow Fool Lee Samaha named 10 robotics stocks last year that may catch a nice tailwind as we move into the new normal of a post-coronavirus world.

Rockwell and ABB may be the easiest to own, however, due to their bigger size and more straightforward product lines. ABB makes total control systems for materials companies, auto manufacturers, paper companies, and food processors --just to name a few -- all hit hard by shutdowns. Rockwell makes servos, computerized motion-control systems, and the sensors that make them all work together properly, plus more.

Of the two, Rockwell Automation appears to be the lower-stress pick right now. Not only is it seemingly faring better than ABB in what's turned into a very uncertain environment, but there's also better visibility. While Rockwell knows revenue is apt to dip this year, at least it's been willing to suggest how much that's going to happen. And, analysts still expect a resumption of solid growth after this year.

Data source: Thomson Reuters/Refinitiv. Chart by author/

More than anything though, these are both names well suited to capitalize on a bigger theme -- robotics -- than a short-term cultural or societal tide. As an example, a biopharma company that comes up with a treatment for the coronavirus may do very well for a quarter or two, but there's no thrilling follow-up. The aforementioned IDC, conversely, believed earlier this year that the global robotics and drone market was poised to swell from $129 billion this year to $241 billion by 2023. The COVID-19 contagion likely dampened that expectation in the meantime, but Fact.MR's decade-long, double-digit growth expectation suggests the industry will push past what's only going to be a temporary headwind.

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Robotics Stocks Will Thrive in the Wake of COVID-19 - Motley Fool

ALEXANDRIA, VA Even in the midst of a pandemic, high school students across the country are finding ways to further their education and deal with the drastic changes. No where is this more evident than the students from Titan Robotics, the FRC Robotics team from T.C. Williams High School.

Marketing Lead Caroline Winakur says, Up until the moment competition was cancelled, our team was preparing and adapting, and while it was certainly sad that our season came to such an early and untimely end, the team handled it with grace and was still able to be proud of what we could accomplish in the time given.

Throughout the year, the student-run FIRST robotics team presents at many outreach events to share STEM with the community. Although they no longer attend these events in-person, they are continuing with their mission by creating a series of virtual outreach videos shared on their YouTube account and accessible through their website.

Winakur says, The team was formed by Mr. Solomon in 2014 and this season was our sixth season. When we were first starting out, the focus was almost entirely on building a robot and then competing. However, in the past few years, we have made the shift from being just a robotics team to also finding ways to give back to our community and be sustainable. While the team is, of course, still largely focused on the robot, our team has realized that it can be so much more than that.

Titan Robotics hosted or participated in 39 community outreach events in 2019 and 10 events in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic shut things down for the year. At these events, the team does things such as demonstrate robots and allow kids to control it, offer STEM activities for kids to do, and answer any questions people may have about their robot or our team.

We are an FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) team, but there are other types of teams within FIRST for different age groups. These include FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge, 6th-12th grade), FLL (FIRST LEGO League, ages 9-14), and FLL Jr. (FIRST LEGO League Jr., ages 6-10). Our team has helped start many of these teams throughout Alexandria, often based in schools or community centers in order to make these teams accessible to all children. Our grouping of Titan Robotics and the FTC, FLL, and FLL jr teams we start is called Titan Robotics Coalition, and currently includes 26 teams, although we plan to continue expanding, Winakur adds.

In 2019 the team made it to the World Championship, held in Detroit, by winning a special award, Engineering Inspiration, at District Champs. This award recognized the team for their significant impact through their outreach, highlighting their nontechnical achievements over the past two years.

While learning and demonstrating, the team also bonds over their experience, Winakur says. Our robotics team is truly a community, and the friendships that are formed extend even beyond the team. Since the team includes 9th-12th graders, older team members can act as mentors to younger members, helping them not only learn skills for the team (which can also be applied to many areas of life) but also guiding and advising them in other areas, such as which classes to sign up for in school or helping them with difficult homework. This team provides an opportunity for students to meet people they may not have otherwise and build long lasting friendships. During build season, when we are sometimes in the shop for 9+ hours per day, we often have team lunches and dinners where food is supplied to all members and we eat together in a circle talking, de-stressing, and building team culture.

What is most timely is their virtual outreach video series that they made to stay connected with the community despite being in quarantine. Students write, film, and produce their own videos at home, usually in teams of two. Although they are working remotely, we are still encouraging students to collaborate on their projects because we want to continue to promote teamwork and communication even while social distancing, says Winakur.

She adds, Our goal is to provide entertaining and educational STEM content. While most of our content is targeted towards elementary schoolers, we try to make sure that our videos are engaging for students of all ages and their parents. We want to engage students and their families, whether that means doing one of our crafts or beginning to learn how to code in their free time.

Team members create lessons based on their strengths; for example, two of our programmers made a video about coding basics, the electrical team made a video about how our electrical board functions, and one of our members made a fun Tiktok video. We want this to be a fun project both for the kids who watch our videos and for the kids who make them.We post twice a week (Tuesdays and Fridays) with bonus content on some Wednesdays and Sundays.

Despite the change in routine and a unique end to the school year, the team has adjusted. Our team has been working to adapt to change in positive ways by channeling time and resources to help our community through our outreach videos, using resources to help with COVID-19 efforts (some of our members have sewn masks or 3D printed headbands for face shields to donate to hospitals and community members), and continuing to learn (for example, through our design challenge).

Even with all that goes on, the T.C. Williams students remain focused on the important things. In order to keep learning new skills and teaching new members despite not being able to meet in person, our team decided to hold a design challenge.

We chose to focus on a skill that can be learned and practiced at home: computer aided design, or CAD for short. Each competition season, we begin by creating a CAD version of our robot early on in the design process in order to plan out our design and expand on our ideas. As such, this is a critical skill for all team members to have. Over the past few weeks, we had a mini competition within our team where anyone who was interested was assigned to a team and then worked together to create a CAD model of a robot. All of these robots were then judged to determine a winner, but the purpose of the challenge was to have fun and learn new things.

Watch their videos here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFikibzKA7Q&list=PLwYOGjxGOFGPVwwazCmtl_3I_Xeq33v8_

Visit their website for more information about their team and what they do athttps://frc5587.org

MORE: National Geographic Brought Famous Crittercam to T.C. Williams Before the COvid Shutdown

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TC Williams High School Robotics Team Connecting and Helping Others in Time of Covid - The Zebra

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, manufacturing is a mixed bag of activity. Though some industries have been hard hit by stay-at-home and social distancing directives, essential businesses like food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, and even the electronics needed to work from home are going like gangbusters. Meanwhile, some manufacturers have stepped up to retool their lines, ramping up production of the medical suppliesmasks, gloves, ventilators, hand sanitizers, and moreneeded to handle the coronavirus.

Through all of this, as manufacturers figure out how to keep their workers socially distanced on the factory floor, robotics have come to the fore, making continued production not only possible but safer and more efficient.

Im actually quite proud of the industry itself because I think the amount of innovation were seeing by leveraging technology such as to repurpose or retool lines really quickly to deal with demands and the requirements out therewhether its PPE [personal protective equipment], or testing kits, or whatever it might be. I think its phenomenal, said Jrgen von Hollen, president of collaborative robot (cobot) manufacturer Universal Robots. From that perspective, people are understanding how important technology and automation is to their industriesperhaps more than ever before.

While robotics companies were trying to figure out if they should be among those businesses considered essential during the pandemic, customers were insisting that they were, said Milton Guerry, president of Schunk, which makes robotic grippers. They wanted to know what Schunk and others were doing to be ready. That shows to me that robots, at least in our own sphere, we know what we can do to help, added Guerry, who also serves as president of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). I think we have a real opportunity to bring robots to the forefront. We all see the restrictions. Automation and robots have a way to bridge this gapnot only in crisis time, but in good times.

A few key robotics CEOs got together (virtually) recently to talk specifically about how COVID-19 is impacting the robotics industry. In a webinar put on by the Association for Advancing Automation (A3) and moderated by Robert Huschka, director of education strategies at A3, executives discussed not only what theyre seeing in their own companies but along the supply chain as well.

I think this is bringing a big awareness to how much robots and automation are in our manufacturing companies certainly around the company and around the world, said Mike Cicco, president and CEO of robot manufacturer Fanuc. Every time you go to a grocery store and you are hoping that toilet paper is on the shelves or that Clorox wipes are there or that theres foodyou should really stop to think about how robots and automation play a factor in helping those things get into those stores.

A lot of my calls and time in the first couple weeks has been talking to end users, ensuring that were going to be there to make sure those robots are still up and running, Cicco added. Robotics and automation are playing a critical role. It allows people to be separated, it reduces crowds on the manufacturing floor. And as manufacturers struggle to continue producing everything they need to produce, robotics and automation play a key role in making sure machines stay running, he added.

They also play a key role in disinfecting the workspaces. Theres been a lot of interest around disinfection capabilities of robots, according to Melonee Wise, CEO of Fetch Robotics, which is focused on autonomous mobile robots. Whether its chemical disinfection or UV disinfection, we are probably fielding 10 or 20 leads a day on just how do we get people back to work in these facilities safely, she said, noting that they are looking to Fetch to provide a mechanism to autonomously disinfect their facilities. Its very unique to mobile [robots] right now. Theres a lot of demand there.

>>Read more about how COVID-19 provides use cases for mobile robotics.

Flexibility in robotics

Wise called attention to the benefits of some technology decisions Fetch has made early onparticularly its more digital approach to robotics and their cloud capabilities. In the face of social distancing demands, Fetch has been able to roll out robotics to its customers with a minimal amount of interaction.

Because were in the cloud, weve been able to continue to deploy systems without having people on site, Wise said. This is showing not only the value of automation but also the value of cloud paired with automation. Its definitely been extremely important for a lot of customers. Weve been able to help them very easily remotely reconfigure this system.

Fetch is somewhat of an outlier, Wise pointed out, because it has been so cloud-centric from the beginning, which has made it easier for the company to weather some of the transition. We immediately started enabling remote deployment. Weve been deploying robots over Skype, she said. We will probably continue with that. Its been going pretty well.

Universal Robots has been seeing similar trends, von Hollen said, including remote proof of concept and remote deployment of robots. Those will continue, he added.

Flexible automation has also been instrumental in helping customers retool their operationsin some cases to better distance staff members and in some cases to make a switch to the products that are needed to combat the coronavirus. Most systems deployed right now have definitely been reconfigured for different shifts and different applications, Wise said.

Wise expects a continuing trend toward flexible automation after the crisis rather than rigid repetitive automation.

Lasting impact on supply chain

Some of the changes that robotics manufacturers are seeing in their own operations and their customers operations might very well be here to stay. But with the landscape still changing rapidly, that can be hard to predict.

What I felt today is not what I felt yesterday or the week before. I think peoples feelings are changing really on a daily basis, Cicco said. I think were going to have to continually worry about global pandemics. I think this is going to end and were eventually going to get past it. But this is going to be one of those things that has a lasting impact on us and the way we do business and the way supply chain works.

Comparing the current situation to the recession in 2008-09which he noted had an effect but didnt change much in how business operatesCicco contends things will be different this time. That was just something that happened to our economy, he said of the past recession. This is going to have a lasting effect in terms of how we fundamentally behave. And itll be interesting to see what comes out of it and what changes.

Von Hollen nodded his head as Cicco spoke, following up with, For the first time, in our company, weve moved away from supply chain robustness or vitality to business continuity. Its much more for us about, for us, how do we ensure that we can get product to the customer.

The coronavirus pandemic has required Universal Robots to institute a two-hour meeting every day with all departments to make sure resources are optimized and work remains effective and efficient, von Hollen said. What we see here in this pandemic is having everybody sitting at the table because everybodys impacted in some way, shape or form, he added. Its not just one department or one process; its everything at once.

Though Guerry predicts that many of us are likely to change the way we work even after the pandemic is over, he is not sure how far that will go. Were all doing what it takes to get things done right now, he said. But I still really believe in collaboration. People need to be with people.

Both von Hollen and Cicco expect that their habits of spending 80-90% of their time traveling will likely not come back after the pandemic. That will change, von Hollen said, noting that the company will likely continue to leverage videoconferencing tools instead. Were trying to be more effective. We will rethink about how to get efficiency up.

Cicco, who commented that Fanuc went from a couple VPN connections to more than 1,000 overnight, added, I think the new normal is going to be an enhanced level of teamwork. Im really proud at how the level of communication has increased.

Companies will need to take a long look at their supply chains and where investments most make sense, Guerry said.

Preparing for post-pandemic

Eventually, manufacturers will have to find their new normal as restrictions are lifted. We think that coming out of the transition and into the new normal, theres going to be a significant uptick in demand, Wise commented. Some customers have time now, during decreased production activity, to lay out new technology projects. Were telling them to start focusing on that now so that they can get ready to go when the lockdown is done.

Wise suggests reaching out now to your supplier of choice. Theres going to be a long line of people to start automation projects, she said. Now is the time to get started because the line is getting longer. You dont want to have to wait six months because you joined the line late.

Guerry is concerned about the difficulty that industry already faced finding the employees it needs and what that means for the future. We were already starved for enough talent to make sure wed fulfill the potential of the industry, he said. We will operate differently. But we have to look at ways to keep our teams engaged and focused. We need to make sure they know there is a bright future of robotics and automation.

The new normal, von Hollen contends, is being flexible enough to deal with crises in general. We have to be out there not just as one company but as a group, supporting each other, supporting customers, he said. The flexibility and the speed of that is absolutely critical for any company out there.

Flexibility is key because of the ever-changing landscape, Cicco said. Were prepping now, preparing for what the new normals going to be, he added. Were in the midst of our getting-back-to-work plan. Were looking at what does that mean for bringing people back into our facility and the safety of our employees when they enter other peoples facilities.

>>More on COVID-19 developments:

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COVID-19 Brings Increased Visibility to the Role of Robotics - Automation World

In 1969, Victor Scheinman invented the Stanford arm, the first all-electric, six-axis articulated robot the predecessor of the robot arms that we use today. Here, EU Automation's Jonathan Wilkins discusses three ways that robots have diversified in the five decades since.

With more than 384,000 industrial robots installed globally in 2018, according to the International Federation of Robotics, robots are growing in popularity.

In fact, they have become ubiquitous in industrial facilities and theyre not just used for the applications youd expect.

One innovation in the field of robotics is an electronic skin that gives robots a sense of touch.

Known as Wootzkin and developed at the University of Edinburgh, the electronic skin is made up of nanostructures and includes underlying electronics that can be used in targeted drug delivery or in gripper technology.

Like human skin, it can give the robot feedback on force, pressure, temperature and humidity, making it easier for robots to complete tasks that require a high level of dexterity.

The sensitive area size can be changed, between 50 microns and 12 inches, tailoring the robot to the specific needs of the application.

Wootzkin operates in temperatures from 0 180C, which means that a robot can perform dextrous tasks under conditions that humans cannot endure, while maintaining a delicate approach to fragile items.

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have produced a kit that can be used to construct a variety of robots using only a handful of components.

Professor Neil Gershenfeld was intrigued by the fact that all living things are made of 20 amino acids placed into a myriad of combinations and wanted to implement this concept into robotics.

The kit consists of five different components, including rigid and flexible components, a coil, electromagnetic parts and a magnet, at the five millimetre-scale. The parts can be assembled into different shapes, such as a tiny walking motor and a gear turning robot.

The research groups goal is to expand to a purpose-built manufacturing robot built out of standard components that can be easily disassembled and repurposed.

Robotic innovation is taking place in fields as well as factories. Strides have been made with the creation of the Global Unmanned Spray System (GUSS), for example, an unmanned, fully automated vehicle to spray orchards with pesticides. T

he system is helping to bridge the shortage of workers and is reportedly more efficient than spraying manually.

GUSS creates a safer environment for workers, by reducing their exposure to the potentially harmful chemicals used in pesticides. It uses lasers and touch sensitive bumpers that allow the robot to be aware of its surroundings and immediately stop when it detects an object, eliminating the potential damage to produce and people.

During the creation of GUSS, the largest issue was that GPS didnt consistently work under the tree canopies.

To overcome this, sensors and software, such as cellular connectivity, were implemented to supplement the GPS. Cellular and radio signals are transmitted to the control vehicle, operated by a person, allowing multiple robots to relay position data, statistics and a live stream from its front mounted camera.

GUSS also gives farmers the ability to analyse all pertinent information, such as the volume of pesticides used on each plant, which can be helpful when marketing crops to buyers. Those using autonomous machines, like GUSS, will see fewer mistakes made, leading to less lost time and an increase in cost savings.

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Three innovations in industrial robots - The Manufacturer

Jacques Bonfrer

A digital marketplace for robotics and AI services has completed a six-figure equity funding round.

Bot-Hive connects SMEs with the best automation technology for their business and shows them how to introduce robots to their workflow processes.

The round was led by new investor the Development Bank of Wales with an investment of 250,000 - with continued further investment from its pre-seed lead investor Britbots, a specialist robotics, artificial intelligence and automation business investor.

Six new angel investors also participated in the round.

Bot-Hive has used the funding to open its headquarters in Cardiff on Wellington Road. Three existing staff, along with three new hires will be based in its new offices.

The start-up also uses a hot-desking facility at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory at the University of West England and has a European presence in Amsterdam.

Chief executive and co-founder Jacques Bonfrer said: "We are delighted to have closed this round of fundraising and very pleased to welcome the Development Bank of Wales, as well as the new angel investors.

"We've worked closely with them all over the last few months and they have shared our excitement as we demonstrated how we intend to provide a unique platform for all those consumers in the robot industry."

Funding for this equity round came from the 20m Wales Technology Seed Fund.

Sarah Smith, technology investment executive for the Development Bank, added: "Automation and robotics have a crucial role in the future of multiple industries not only in Wales, but throughout the UK and globally. Bot-Hive is a conduit between the automation industry and businesses.

"The Bot-Hive team is ideally placed to play an influential role in this sector over the coming years. They have a clear growth strategy and industry knowledge and we are delighted to be able to support them through the Wales Technology Seed Fund."

Dominic Keen of the Britbots Sidecar Fund said: "We are delighted to be able to continue to support Bot-Hive's roll-out. They have an extremely important role to play in the post-pandemic economy with the increasing importance of higher levels of automation."

See the article here:

Robotics and AI specialist completes funding round - Insider Media

As the coronavirus began to spread through Japan in March, workers at a warehouse in Sugito that processes millions of personal care products each day were overrun by a spike in demand for masks, gloves, soap, and hand sanitizer.

To prevent workers from spreading the deadly virus, the company that operates the center, Paltac, introduced temperature checks, masks, and regular decontaminations. In coming weeks, it plans a more radical solutionhiring more robots.

We have to consider more automation, more use of robotics, in order for people to be spaced apart, says Shohei Matsumoto, deputy general manager of the companys R&D division. There are going to be fewer opportunities for humans to touch the items.

Read all of our coronavirus coverage here.

The coronavirus pandemic has cost millions of jobs. Now, it may transform work in other ways. As manufacturers and ecommerce companies struggle to adapt to social distancing, regular cleaning, and a potential shortage of workers because of quarantines, some may invest in robots.

Paltac already uses robots from the US company RightHand Robotics to pick objects from bins and assemble orders. Matsumoto says it should be possible to expand the use of these robots with software updates, allowing them to recognize and grasp a new object or retrieve items from new types of bins. Many industrial robots, including those found in car factories, take hours to program, cannot easily be moved, and blindly follow precise commands. The flexibility offered by these newer robotic systems makes it possible to redeploy them quickly.

Not every factory or warehouse will be able to use robots. In some ways, the coronavirus crisis has only highlighted how limited most workplace robots still are. They typically lack the ability to sense, respond, and adapt to the real world, so humans are still crucial even in the most automated facilities.

But the return to work may accelerate adoption of more flexible, cloud-connected collaborative robots with basic sensing capabilities. That might lead to more automation of work involving picking, packing, and handling products and components.

Robots at Japan's Paltac pick items from bins to assemble orders.

If you have to space out the people throughout your facility differently than you used to for manufacturing, or even picking, then you can't keep the automation in the same places, says Melonee Wise, CEO of Fetch Robotics, which makes wheeled robots capable of ferrying items around factories and warehouses.

Fetch is working with a large US ecommerce company to reprogram its robots to adapt to staggered shifts with fewer workers to allow for social distancing. It is also working on versions of its robots that can autonomously disinfect workplaces.

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As Workers Spread Out to Halt the Virus, Robots Fill the Gaps - WIRED

Combining Roborock's Advanced Laser-Navigation Technology with a Stereo Camera for the Ultimate Navigation Robot Experience

HONG KONG, April 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Roborock, developer of ultra-intelligent vacuum cleaners, today introduces its latest product innovation, the Roborock S6 MaxV. This premium addition to the company's S-Series lineup is the first Roborock vacuum to include a stereo camera, allowing advanced obstacle avoidance technology called ReactiveAI. In addition, it's the first product to be powered by a Qualcomm APQ8053 processor chip from Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. giving the MaxV cutting-edge on-device AI and connectivity performance. Its ReactiveAI enables the vacuum to not only recognize, but also avoid a range of common robot trapping obstacles, meaning people, especially parents and pet owners, can run their robotic vacuums with fewer worries than ever before.

Roborock S6 MaxV Robotic Vacuum

"The seamless integration of ReactiveAI with our advanced laser technology allows the Roborock S6 MaxV to estimate the size and location of common obstacles and the best way to clean around them, setting the standard for our smartest navigational robot vacuum yet," said Richard Chang, CEO of Roborock. "The powerful image processing technology behind it has led us to work with Qualcomm Technologies for the first time, a journey we are delighted to begin as we continue to imagine the next generation of robotic vacuums to navigate today's world."

This vision is echoed by Dev Singh, senior director of business development and head of autonomous robotics, drones and intelligent machines at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. "The advancements that Roborock has made in the Home Robotics industry these past years are remarkable," said Singh. "We're thrilled to work with Roborock on their first product to launch with a stereo camera and a Qualcomm APQ8053 heterogeneous processor powering the MaxV with cutting-edge on-device computation performance plus long-lasting battery life - in an effort to bring the next generation of innovative robot vacuums to life."

Advanced Obstacle Recognition and Avoidance

Roborock's Most Powerful Robot Vacuum Yet

Beyond Hardware

The Roborock S6 MaxV will be available in the US at the end of Q2 for $749 RRP. In addition, the company also added the Roborock E4 to its E-Series lineup today. The robotic vacuum, available on Amazon for $299, features precision sensors and an internal map, enabling it to know where it has cleaned and what areas still remain.

For more information on either product visit us.roborock.com.

About Roborock

Roborock specializes in the research, development, and production of robotic home cleaners and other cleaning appliances. It develops and produces robot vacuums under its Roborock brand, as well as creating robot vacuums for one of China's largest technology companies, Xiaomi. Each robot it builds is designed to fulfill a singular purpose: To give people more time to spend on the things they love. Currently, Roborock is available in 40 countries, including the U.S., Germany, France and Spain. The company operates out of four locations, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong.

Qualcomm and Snapdragon are trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated, registered in the United States and other countries.

Qualcomm APQ8053 is a productof Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries.

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-new-roborock-s6-maxv-sets-innovative-navigation-standard-in-home-robotics-301049138.html

SOURCE Roborock

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The New Roborock S6 MaxV Sets Innovative Navigation Standard in Home Robotics - Yahoo Finance

To lessen constant exposure between covid-19 patients and caregivers, and intensify screening, hospitals in India are turning to robots of all kinds. Delhi-based AIIMS hospital has deployed a floor disinfectant and a humanoid robot in covid-19 wards. Fortis Hospital, Bengaluru has also deployed an interactive robot at its entrance to screen everyone, including medical staff, entering the premises.

We have seen an increase in demand for our robots coming from hospitals across India. We are already in talks with several hospitals including Fortis, CloudNine and Max. Some hospitals have shown interest in how robots can be leveraged in the long run," said Rajeev Karwal, founder chairman, Milagrow, the Gurugram based robotics company that made the robots deployed at AIIMS.

According to UK-based data analytics firm, GlobalData, adoption of robots to treat covid-19 patients is expected to grow in India due to shortage of PPE or personal protective equipment.

Universal Robots has also seen demand for cobots or collaborative robots for manufacturing high-quality face masks in government-run assembly lines. Doctors are exploring how cobots can be used to remotely test patients for the virus to lower risks for healthcare workers.

A Jaipur-based hospital is in talks with robotics companies to deploy a robot to deliver food and medicines to covid-19 patients in isolation wards.

The interactive humanoid robot deployed at AIIMS stands 92 cm tall, has cameras and sensors to detect obstacles and can monitor and interact with patients. The second robot deployed at AIIMS can disinfect floor surfaces using sodium hypochlorite solution. Both robots can move autonomously and operate without human intervention.

The robot at Fortis uses face and speech recognition to ask questions and thermal scanners to take temperature reading. Once it has screened and cleared a person, it issues a pass to enter. In case it detects higher body temperature, it will alert the doctors, and patient can consult a hospital doctor directly through the screen on the robot.

The medical industry is especially embracing cobots, which allow humans and robots to work safely together something that is especially crucial in a time like this when human-to-human contact must be limited," said Pradeep David, general manager, South Asia, Universal Robots.

Karwal points out, AIIMS wanted a robot that can prevent healthcare workers from going inside the covid-19 ward too many times, as every time a person goes in and comes out of the ward, they are supposed to change the PPE.

Deploying robots to reduce human contact is being tried in other countries as well. The field hospital in Hongshan Sports Center, Wuhan has deployed multiple robots for almost everything from screening people when they enter hospitals to delivering food and medicine in isolation wards and entertaining patients. They are also being used to spray disinfectants and clean hospital floors.

Robots have been used by hospitals in India before. For instance, it was used in the precision surgery performed by doctors at PGIMER Chandigarh on a two-year-old baby who was born without a food pipe. However, the use has been limited to a few hospitals and tasks. The ongoing crisis has made the world grasp the importance of many of the emerging technologies such as 3D printing, drones and robots.

Although robotic technology is currently expensive for wider adoption across all types of healthcare settings, it is expected to find increasing use in countries such as India due to very less number of healthcare professionals available for more than 1.3 billion population," Bhaskar Vittal, medical devices analyst at GlobalData said in a press statement.

Faisal Kawoosa, founder and chief analysts at techARC points out, going forward hygiene will be very critical, especially at hospitals. This level of hygiene cannot be managed without automation and so-to-say human less intervention. That is when robots will step in.

Read more:

Adoption of robots in India hospitals to grow during and post covid - Livemint

How can remote workers make their presence known in their organization? How can enterprises overcome the limitations of video conferencing and enable a level of communication and collaboration that approaches on-site interaction?

Telepresence robots have been on the scene for the better part of a decade, though as global upheavals reshape work and reorient attitudes toward remote participation, the technology may finally be primed to break out of its niche user base and go mainstream. The timing is fortuitous: The market is now mature enough that consumers have choices when it comes to feature set and price point. As companies downsize physical locations and revamp their policies toward distributed workforces, telepresence offers both technological benefits and collaboration advantages that will appeal to some employers and workers alike.

The current telepresence lineup reflects the range of use cases and intended end-users out there, including a handful of models designed for specific fields and workflows, as well as others that fit organizations of any size.

These are our picks for the best telepresence robots out there right now.

Disclosure: ZDNet may earn an affiliate commission from some of the products featured on this page. ZDNet and the author were not compensated for this independent review.

Double Robotics has been one amonga few telepresence robotics companiesoffering lower-priced models focused on core functionality: Mobile video conferencing that's drop-dead simple to use. Affectionately called a Segue with an iPad mount, the Double 2 did something very important for the technology by giving consumers a palatable entry point to the world of telepresence that required neither a massive capital outlay or a master's degree in robotics.

Though now superseded by its predecessor (see below), the Double 2 is still a tremendous value, particularly if your organization uses iPads already or the IT department has one lying around.

A wide-angle lens, motorized height control to meet your coworkers at eye level, and automatic stabilization and parking make this bare-bones telepresence model drop-dead simple to use.

Double is still selling the Double 2 through Amazon and third-party suppliers for $2,749.

In the battle for low-cost, truly robotic telepresence, OhmniLabs has been giving rival Double a major run for its money.

At under $2200, the Ohmni Robot weighs just 20 pounds and folds up, meaning you can take it anywhere, but still manages all the functionality you need in a telepresence robot. It features wide-angle, low-latency streaming at HD+ resolution and real-time full-resolution zoom to read whiteboards or see fine details at full UHD 4K detail.

A secondary dedicated wide-angle navigation camera lets you see around the base of Ohmni while you're driving, which you can do remotely from just about any standard device. The unit features a bright 10.1-inch screen and integrated Jabra speakerphone for great audio. It doesn't have automatic rising and lowering like Double, but the robot can move its head side to side for natural interactions.

OhmniLabs is also thoughtful about who might use the device, which has dual-band Wi-Fi radio with full 2.4GHz + 5GHz support and optimized background scanning and roaming for large spaces. Full 802.1x support means it should be simple to run on business or school networks.

Where the Double 2 used a tablet display, Double 3 replaces the iPad with a fully-integrated solution using anNvidia Jetson TX2 GPU, two Intel RealSense depth sensors, two high-resolution cameras, and a beamforming microphone array. In place of the iPad is an integrated screen and new feature sets, includingAR overlays, that really step up the functionality and feature set game of the Double.

Some of those features include a new click-to-drive interface, obstacle avoidance, and pan/tilt/zoom video, all of which contribute to a fully-immersive remote experience that's still intuitive to use. Perhaps the biggest functionality upgrade is the addition of mixed reality overlays.

In Double's version of mixed reality, virtual 3D objects are added into the video stream to appear as if they're in the real world. Virtual objects include helpful waypoints to make the video feed more informative during navigation.

The Double 3 with charging dock runs $3,999. If you already have a Double 2, you can upgrade your current device with a Double 3 head for $1,999.

With the Ava Telepresence robot, remote users easily and safely navigate through large workspaces, event spaces, and retail spaces with an enterprise-grade video conferencing system designed to make interacting with people on-site feel natural.

Unlike lower-priced models, the robot features intelligent, autonomous navigation. Remote users simply specify a destination, and Ava automatically moves to the desired location while avoiding obstacles. The technology is slick: The robot utilizes advanced mapping to learn the local environment and create a realistic map of the area, which enables it to navigate at the push of a button. Obstacle avoidance we're used to seeing on autonomous mobile robots in fields like logistics and fulfillment enables Ava to navigate around people and avoid tumbles down the stairs.

Perhaps Ava's biggest selling point is its form factor. This is one sleek unit, making it ideal for applications in client-facing offices and sectors like hospitality.

It's also secure. Embedded enterprise-grade security (including encryption, secure HTTPS management, password protection) means Ava is well suited to a corporate IT infrastructure.

This is a niche product for the healthcare market, albeit one that's extremely flexible and could be a good option for a number of related fields. As doctors increasingly embrace telemedicine to mitigate exposure risks, it's a good time to be selling telecommunications to doctors' offices and hospitals, and Ergotron has been in the game for a while.

Built on an open architecture that allows the cart to integrate most standard communications equipment, this pro-grade telecom console isn't technically a robot but rather a rollable ergonomic cart designed for patient consultations.

Designed with customization in mind, it can be configured with the devices and network-compatible systems a hospital is already using.

Meeting Owl is a 360-degree video and audio conferencing system that automatically focuses on the people speaking in the room. It doesn't move, so it's not a robot by most definitions, but its autonomous functionality makes it an excellent and highly affordable tabletop system for individuals and teams that routinely conference and collaborate remotely.

Eleven-inches tall, Meeting Owl uses an eight microphone array to pick up sound and lock in on the person speaking. Remote viewers on the other end get a panoramic view of all the meeting attendants and a close-up view of the current speaker.

The system comes in original and Pro versions. The Pro version improves on the Meeting Owl's 720p picture and increases audio pickup range from 12 feet to 18 feet, which is especially useful for larger teams or any collaboration utilizing a whiteboard.

The system integrates with all the major video conferencing services so usability is a snap. The original retails at $799 and the Pro version goes for $999.

Kubi is an inexpensive robotic docking cradle for tablets that augments the teleconferencing experience you're used to with the addition of movement.

During video conferencing, the remote participant can steer the cradle to look around a room. "Kubi" means "neck" in Japanese.

That makes it a particularly useful device for team environments where one participant is remote. The remote worker sits at a laptop or desktop but is able to look around the room to engage with speakers, which the device's developers say enhances the interactive experience.

An enhanced audio kit and a secure docking retrofit to keep tablets secured to the base make them good options for educational environments where learners have to beam into larger classroom settings and engage in conversations but won't necessarily have to move around the classroom.

Anyone in tech or a tech-adjacent industry will be familiar with the sight of telepresence robots roving around conference room floors as virtual attendants beam in remotely.

Beam is comfortable in offices and is used by some of the biggest companies in the world, but this robot from Suitable Technologies really shines in conference settings, where it's nimble enough to bounce from keynotes to breakouts to hallway banter.

Beam has four wheels (the pro version has 5 for increased stability and maneuverability) and wide-angle navigation cameras. The entire ecosystem was built in-house, which means participants must use Beam's app.

The advantage is security, which is best in class. Using industry-standard technology such as TLS/SSL, AES-256, and HMAC-SHA1, Beam encrypts all communication that travels through our system to ensure your calls remain private and secure.

VGo's parent, Vecna, knows the healthcare sector, so it makes sense that the company has developed a telepresence robot that enables healthcare providers to deliver lower-cost services and improved quality of care virtually.

Telemedicine is certainly having a moment as providers figure out ways of reducing in-person visits, but the robot has also been used to enable homebound students to go to school virtually.

Using the VGo application on a PC or Mac, an internet-connected person located anywhere connects to a VGo in a distant facility. VGo can be shared by a set of people or dedicated to a single person using standard web accounts and permission settings maintained by the admin.

VGo is lightweight, contributing to its excellent battery life, which is best in class at 12 hours. That makes it ideal for clinical environments and hospitals.

Offices are coming around to telepresence solutions for remote workers, and the recent health crisis has put the transition to distributed workforces into hyperdrive. Teachers and school administrators are now also embracing remote learning, which, in the short term, can quell infection rates -- but, in the longterm, may be a way to maximize limited resources while bringing needed services to students.

Markets and Markets estimated the overall telepresence market will be over $300 million by 2023, however that market research doesn't take into account the rapid adoption of remote work due to COVID-19 or the expected longterm effects of the global stay-at-home experiment on attitudes toward remote working. Pivoting out of the pandemic, many companies may embrace a partially distributed workforce, which is a huge opportunity for developers of telepresence and video conferencing systems.

For workers, employers, and IT pros who wish to advocate for telepresence systems, the most important strategy is to tout the collaborative benefits of the technology and to have a plan for implementation. Robots in the workforce carry a longstanding stigma. Coupled with lingering resistance to remote work situations, existing biases on the part of employers or employees could stop proposed adoption of telepresence dead in its tracks.

But advocating for telepresence as a way of maximizing collaboration and approximating the productive magic that happens in unstructured interactions in hallways and face-to-face chatscan help mitigate concerns. As can explaining that most telepresence systems are ready-to-go out of the box with intuitive user interfaces. The technology is carefully designed not to need extensive training to use. After all, most humans don't need training to have natural interactions in person.

The biggest questions to ask are who might use a telepresence solution and in what settings. If you're just looking to enhance video conferencing without spending big bucks or implementing new processes and protocols, solutions like Meeting Owl or Kubi would be the best places to start.

However, for those willing to embrace the dynamic features offered by a mobile robot, consider whether your environment is client-facing. A slick robot like Ava makes a great impression, although it comes at a price.

For most SMBs, models from Double or Ohmni are likely to be smart bets. They're relatively inexpensive and provide a seamless user interface. A company can get by with one shared robot to start and easily scale up to meet needs.

After all, once one remote employee gets a robot doppelgnger, it's likely others will want them as well.

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Best telepresence robots for business in 2020: Double Robotics, OhmniLabs, Meeting Owl, and more - ZDNet

The coronavirus has dealt a stunning blow to supply chains, logistics and fulfillment, shutting businesses and economies down and revealing many of the vulnerabilities they contain. Like other epidemics and pandemics, but unlike most other disasters we commonly encounter (earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, fires, political unrest) that involve physical destruction of buildings and infrastructure, COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on supply chains because it has knocked people out of the game. Factories, warehouses, fulfillment centers, vehicles and roads are not under water or caved in on themselves. They are withstanding COVID-19 just fine.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people are falling ill globally, social distancing is the rule of the day and most non-essential businesses are temporarily (or permanently) closing their doors. Not surprisingly, consumers, sheltering in place, have quickly ramped up their online shopping. According to a consumer survey conducted by IDC from March 23-31, online shopping is up by 47%, with 35.4% expecting to spend more on retail, whether in store or online, because of COVID-19 concerns. Moreover, fears of scarcity as well as the ability to acquire goods are likely whats behind a significant increase in bulk buying that goes well beyond toilet paper. Overall, 55.8% of consumers are loading up or expect to load up on bulk quantities of goods. The increase in e-commerce is putting extra pressure on supply chains already strained to the max, requiring as it does more individual picking, packing and shipping of goods, and increased last-mile delivery.

As business executives begin to map out immediate, near- and long-term strategies to improve fulfillment, many of them are looking to increase automation and robotics in warehouses and DCs. This will eliminate some of the risk of slowdowns or shutdowns that arise when workforces are partly or entirely knocked out of the picture.

But even before COVID-19 reared its ugly spikes, the adoption of robotics, automated material handling equipment, artificial intelligence (AI), voice, and other advanced technologies into warehouses and distribution centers (DCs) was on the rise, driven by the need to manage high-velocity operations with limitedand increasingly expensivelabor resources while meeting the ever-changing demands generated by digital commerce.

High competition for labor and talent has been a challenge for organizations across most industries for at least a decade, with businesses struggling to find and retain delivery drivers, warehouse workers, factory workers, mechanics, and retail sales associates, to name just a few of the job roles that are in constant need of people to fill them. Literally hundreds of thousands of jobs remain open in these fields. Some workers recently left unemployed by the pandemic may fill some roles in the near-term but the problem is likely to persist.

Moreover, as technology has advanced and some companies have made significant steps to automate and digitally transform their enterprises, some of the skills those new systems require are more advanced and more difficult to find or recruit. Industries that are typically regarded as less sexy, such as manufacturing and retail, often struggle to draw talent in technical expertise. Many of the people highly skilled in areas such as AI and analytics, automation and robotics gravitate toward Silicon Valley companies such as Facebook and Google. According to the IDC Manufacturing Insights April 2019 Industrial Talent Management Survey, industrial organizations reported that they are experiencing issues with supply chain talent and that more than 50% of the employees in this area lack skills needed to perform as required.

CXOs across industries report that this crisis is prompting them to accelerate plans to invest in automation and robotics to better manage operations, despite facing revenue declines that will result from the pandemic.

In the supply chain, automation, digital connection and edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics, to name a few, all integrated and working together, are critical to achieve the speed, efficiency and resiliency needed to meet both the demands of todays complex markets and to keep the lines of supply moving and open both in times of normalcy and time of crisis, such as what we are experiencing now with COVID-19. Nearly 28% of respondents to IDCs 2020 Supply Chain Survey ranked improving supply chain resiliency/responsiveness as a top concern driving strategic change in their supply chains.

Among the changes coming to todays supply chains, expect to see an acceleration of automation and robotics into warehouses. That will likely include more operations converting to dark warehouses, those that operate 100% autonomously, but the greater changes will come not in eliminating humans from distribution centers altogether but in replacing non-value-added movement with automation and robotics that can speed processes and make them more efficient.

Todays intelligent robots are particularly well suited to the complex demands of omni-channel supply chains. Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are built with more agile navigational abilities, able to move about anywhere in a warehouse by navigating with built-in sensor and laser scanners, retrieving goods and bringing them to people. As they move, AMRs can maneuver around obstacles in their path, including people, but also can work in collaboration with people, unlike more traditional automated guided vehicles (AGVs). Thats significant, because it means that AMRs can adjust to new layouts and patterns. They are not fixed.

Given the eaches nature of e-commerce and the variability of SKUs and orders that characterize them, this class of robots offers businesses the ability to flex and scale as needed without major infrastructure changes. This is true, too, for intelligent robot arms that are getting better at assessing a wide variety of objects in front of them and grasping with the correct force and grip. They can be used to quickly sort items into appropriate bins or packages for shipping. These two developments are particularly significant when you consider the soaring demand for smaller, more local warehouses located closer to point of delivery, which need to operate quickly and flexibly.

We are not going to wake up tomorrow and find that robots have replaced humans in the warehouse. But we are going to see robots improve the fulfillment process by eliminating labor that is redundant, physically taxing and non-value-added, and by doing it faster and more efficiently. A full 72.8% of respondents to IDCs 2020 Supply Chain Survey say that robotics will be important or very important to their organization in three years. Intelligent robotics will speed and improve the flow of goods through the warehouse and DC while freeing humans to focus on other tasks that involve human strengths such as creativity, critical thinking, fine-motor coordination and customer engagement.

Jordan K. Speer is a research analyst with the IDC Retail Insights practice, covering global connected supply chain execution and fulfillment across the retail and manufacturing industries.

Continued here:

Intelligent Robotics: What to Expect in the Post-COVID-19 Era - Material Handling & Logistics