Category Archives: Robotics

Researchers have discovered something creepier than the Uncanny valley: identical faces.

The uncanny valley is the scientific explanation for why we all find clowns or corpses creepy. And just when we thought nothing could be more alarming than clowns, scientists have found an even uncannier way to freak us out.

New research finds that there is something even creepier than the uncanny valley: clones. Scientists now predict that when convincing humanoid robots with identical faces are launched, we are all going to panic.

It all started with a robotics professorMasahiro Mori, who discovered the concept of 'bukimi no tani gensh'()in 1970, later translated as the uncanny valley. If robots looked very different from human faces, people are fine with it. And people have no problem with real human faces. But when a face is close to human but not quite right, people get creeped out. Think of zombies or corpses. This effect is called the uncanny valley because it correlates to a dip in the graph of peoples emotional responses vs. level of human likeness.

The uncanny valley refers to the dip in this graph: when something is close to human but not right, ... [+] people find it creepy.

One of the best known examples of the uncanny valley effect came from the movie, Polar Express, which gave countless kids nightmares. Known for the unsettling eyes of the computer generated characters, the movie is now used as a teaching example for film schools.

There are several theories for why the uncanny valley exists, but they all center around the idea that an aversive response to a face thats not quite right could have survival benefit. Perhaps even helping to protect us from contagion. So for robots to be successful in the marketplace, they need to overcome the uncanny valley.

And thats exactly what is about to happen: robots are overcoming our aversions. In a new research article, Dr. Fumiya Yonemitsu of Kyushu University and colleagues asked what would happen when humanoid robots got so good, they overcome the uncanny valley.

Technological advances in robotics have already produced robots that are indistinguishable from human beings, they write. If humanoid robots with the same appearance are mass-produced and become commonplace, we may encounter circumstances in which people or human-like products have faces with the exact same appearance in the future.

To test peoples reactions, the team asked people to look at photos individuals with the same face (clones), with different faces, and of one single person. Research participants were asked to rate how realistic the images appeared, their emotional reaction to them, and how eerie they found them.

An edited photo that shows one of the study authors face as an example of a clone image.

Peoples responses were clear: clones were creepy. And the more identical individuals in a picture, the eerier it got. The researches decided to call this the clone devaluation effect.

The clone devaluation effect was stronger when the number of clone faces increased from two to four,says Yonemitsu in a press release.

Its interesting how shows like Westworld and Humans, we are rarely shown multiple clones of each robot. Perhaps thats because doing so would interfere with our experience of the robots as individuals with their own identities. In fact, viewing duplicates could even induce disgust.

We also noticed that the duplication of identity, that is the personality and mind unique to a person, rather than their facial features, has an important role in this effect. Clone faces with the duplication of identity were eerier, says Yonemitsu. These results suggest that clone faces induce eeriness and that the clone devaluation effect is related to realism and disgust reaction.

It all begs the question: why are scientists so dead-set on creating robots with terminator-like realism anyway?

Our study clearly shows that uncomfortable situations could occur due to the rapid development of technology, says co-author Dr. Akihiko Gobara of Ritsumeikan University. But we believe our findings can play an important role in the smooth acceptance of new technologies and enhance peoples enjoyment of their benefits.

And that last line is the uncanniest of all. Bladerunner is right around the corner. Happy Halloween.

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New Robots May Be Creepier Than The Uncanny Valley - Forbes

AI Research Lab DeepMind acquired and open-sourced MuJoCo, a rich and effective contact model. By open-sourcing Multi-Joint Dynamics with Contact (MuJoCo), DeepMind has given a major push to its robotics ambition.

This article will trace how DeepMind has been making consistent efforts in pushing the envelope in robotics.

In 2016, DeepMind researchers demonstrated how deep reinforcement learning can train real physical robots. The paper showed that deep Q-functions-based reinforcement learning algorithms can scale to complex 3D manipulation tasks and efficiently learn deep neural network policies. The authors further showed that the time to train the robots can be further reduced by algorithm parallelisation across multiple robots that asynchronously pool their policy updates. The proposed methodology can learn a variety of 3D manipulations skills in simulation and a door opening skill (often considered a complex task for robots to train on) without manually designed representations.

In 2018, DeepMind published three major papers to demonstrate flexible and natural behaviours to reuse and adapt to solve tasks. The scientists trained agents with a variety of simulated bodies to perform activities like jumping, turning, and crouching across diverse terrains. The results showed that the agents develop these skills without receiving specific instructions.

Credit: DeepMind

Another paper demonstrated a method to train a policy network that imitates motion capture data of human behaviours to pre-learn skills like walking, getting up from the ground, turning, and running. These behaviours can then be tuned and repurposed to solve other tasks like climbing stairs and navigating through walled corridors.

The third paper produced a neural network architecture based on state of the art generative models. This research showed how this architecture is capable of learning relationships between different behaviours and imitating specific actions that are shown to it. After training, the systems could encode a single observed action and create a new novel movement.

DeepMind demonstrated a framework for data-driven robotics which uses a large dataset of recorded robot experience before scaling it to several tasks using a learned reward function. This framework can be applied to accomplish three different object manipulation tasks on a real robot platform.

The scientists used a special form of human annotations as supervision to learn a reward function and demonstrate tasks with task-agnostic recorded experience. This helps in dealing with real-world tasks where the reward signal cannot be acquired directly.

The learned rewards and large dataset of experience derived from different tasks are used to learn robot policy offline using batch reinforcement learning. This approach makes it possible to train agents to perform challenging manipulation tasks like stacking rigid objects.

DeepMind recently introduced RGB-Stacking as the new benchmark for vision-based robotic manipulation tasks. Here the robot has to learn how to grasp different objects and balance them over each other. It was different from previous works because of the diversity of the objects used and the variety of empirical evaluations performed to verify the accuracy of the results.

Credit: DeepMind

The results demonstrated that complex multi-object manipulation can be learnt using a combination of simulation and real-world data. The experiment could also suggest a strong baseline for generalisation to novel objects.

This experiment is considered a major advancement in DeepMinds endeavour towards making generalisable and useful robots. The authors will now work to make robots better understand the interaction with objects of different geometries. The RGB-Stacking benchmark has been open-sourced along with the designs for building real-robot RGB-stacking environments, RGB-object models and information for 3D printing.

MuJoCo is a physics engine simulator that facilitates research and development in fields that require fast and accurate simulations like robotics, biomechanics, graphics, animation, etc. Developed by Emo Todorov for Roboti, MuJoCo is one of the first full-featured simulators designed from scratch for model-based optimisation through contacts. Before DeepMinds acquisition, MuJoCo was a commercial product between 2015 and 2021.

MuJoCo helps in scaling up computationally intensive techniques like optimal control, system identification, physically consistent state estimation, and automated mechanism design before applying them to complex dynamic systems in contact-rich behaviours. It also has applications like testing and validating control schemes before deploying on physical robots, gaming, and interactive scientific visualisation.

This is probably a slow phase for research and development work in robotics. DeepMind rival OpenAI, after investing many years of research, resources and efforts into robotics, finally decided to disband its robotics research team and shift focus to domains where data is more readily available. On the industry side, too, several robotics-based companies have shut shop or are undergoing major losses. Given the circumstances, robotics, despite being such a lucrative industry, has limited to no buyers.

Backed by Alphabet, DeepMinds progress has helped it hold the flag high in this field over the past few years.

I am a journalist with a postgraduate degree in computer network engineering. When not reading or writing, one can find me doodling away to my hearts content.

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DeepMind's Progress Over The Years In Robotics - Analytics India Magazine

With the theme of "Intelligence Creates the Future", this three-day conference sets up sub-events such as opening ceremony, keynote speech, group forum, exhibition, challenge, and exhibition game. After the opening ceremony, speeches, exhibitions and competitions were launched around the future theme of robots. There are 52 exhibitors at the exhibition, mainly including SIASUN Robotics, Harbin Institute of Technology Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation under Chinese Academy of Sciences, IFLYTEK, DJI UAV ,and robot companies from South Korea and Japan. The challenge sets up robot construction creativity competition, programming competition, football competition and so on.

The conference was held online and offline. Academicians, experts, scholars, the executives and technicians from robotics and intelligent manufacturing companies were invited to participate. Tang Lixin, the academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Qu Daokui, the president of SIASUN Company, both delivered keynote speeches. Susan Biller, the secretary general of the International Robotics Federation, and Jeff Bernstein, the president of the American Robotics Association, also addressed the conference by video.

Established in 2015, the China Shenyang International Robotics Conference is the only professional conference and exhibition event with robot as its theme in Northeast China.

Image Attachments Links:

Link: http://asianetnews.net/view-attachment?attach-id=405137Caption: Guests visited the exhibition

SOURCE The Information Office of Shenyang People's Government

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The 6th China Shenyang International Conference on Robotics kicks off in Shenyang - PRNewswire

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Paint Process Automation Market by Offering, Purpose and Vertical and Type: Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global paint process automation market size was valued at $3.34 billion in 2020, and is projected to reach $9.22 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 11.7% from 2021 to 2030.

Paint process automation is an advanced method of industrial painting processes. It includes usage of high-end machines and robots. It helps users to increase competitiveness, product quality, and workman safety.

Some of the prime drivers of the paint process automation industry are consistent painting results, cost-effective painting processes, and ability to meet industry-specific needs. These factors are estimated to propel the market growth rapidly during the forecast period. However, high installation cost acts as a major barrier for the paint process automation market growth. Contradictory, integration of advanced technologies with paint processes and its ability to meet sustainable goals create lucrative opportunities for the market growth during the forecast period.

The paint process automation market is segmented into offering, purpose, vertical, type, and region. On the basis of offering, it is fragmented into hardware, software, and services. The hardware is further sub-segmented into robots, controllers, atomizers, and others. The robot is again segmented into 4-axis, 6-axis, 7-axis, and others. Based on purpose, the market is segregated into interior and exterior. By vertical, the market is divided into automotive, aviation, agriculture, textile, furniture, pharmaceutical, electronics, construction, and others. By type, the market is divided into floor-mounted systems, wall-mounted systems, rail-mounted systems, and others. Region-wise, paint process automation market trends are analyzed across North America (the U.S., Canada, and Mexico), Europe (the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, South Korea, and Rest of Asia-Pacific), and LAMEA (Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa).

Market Dynamics

Drivers

Restraint

Opportunities

Key Players

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/xm1eto

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Global Paint Process Automation Market (2021 to 2030) - Featuring ABB, CMA Robotics and Graco Among Others - ResearchAndMarkets.com - Business Wire

A pioneering new partnership between the University of Strathclyde and Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland (CHSS) is bidding to kickstart a revolution in stroke care.

Academics at the Universitys world leading Department of Biomedical Engineering are working with the charity to integrate cutting-edge research in areas like robotics and computer gaming technology with CHSSs Hospital to Home services. They aim to ensure a smooth transition for stroke patients discharged from hospital.

The partnership in its first phase of development is the first of its kind in Scotland for stroke.

Over the next 12 months it will integrate the work of Strathclyde engineers at theUniversitys Sir Jules Thorn Centre for Co-creation of Rehabilitation Technology and the Hospital to Home stroke services.

The centre uses artificial intelligence and machine learned methods used in computer gaming to produce tailored exercise programmes for stroke survivors that encourage and support people in their own rehabilitation.

In the first phase, the work of the partnership is open to people in the West of Scotland, who will be given opportunities to take part in cutting edge recovery research and transform wraparound recovery support.

The technology will then be developed using the insight generated from stroke survivors going through the centre, with the programmes generated made available in community settings across the country.

The first cohort of stroke survivors are already going through the programme, and its hoped that through fundraising, the numbers will increase significantly over the next year.

Dr Andy Kerr, from Biomedical Engineering at University of Strathclyde said: We are delighted to have Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland as a partner in our bid to revolutionise rehabilitation.

Our determination is to develop technology that not only helps recovery but can also be used, easily, at home and in the local community, for example leisure centres. We consider this to be a key factor in improving access to rehabilitation technology.

Our pilot has gone very well at the Sir Jules Thorn Centre for Co-creation of Rehabilitation technology, and we are well placed, with the support of CHSS, to scale up our efforts in the new year.

Stroke affects more than 9,000 people a year in Scotland and is the most common cause of severe physical disability among adults. Hospital care for these patients accounts for seven percent of all NHS beds and five per cent of the entire Scottish NHS budget. The work from the partnership aims to improve rehabilitation which has been proven to aid recovery, improve peoples lives and reduce pressures on the NHS.

On World Stroke Day, CHSS has set up aStroke Care Revolution Fundto help fund the venture, They are looking to initially raise 160,000 to support the work of the centre and help 450 stroke survivors access the services through the partnership over the next 12 months.

Jane-Claire Judson, Chief Executive of Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland said: Every day in Scotland 25 peoples lives are changed forever by stroke. In an instant, the things we all take for granted can be taken away like the ability to walk or talk.

Rehabilitation is a lifeline that helps stroke survivors get their lives back. But cutting-edge rehabilitation technology and support is out of reach of most people in Scotland. This partnership will change that. It will kick start a revolution in stroke care in Scotland that will transform care for survivors and reduce pressures on our NHS.

Linda Hanlin, is one of the first to use the pioneering stroke rehabilitation unit at the University.The 62-year-old suffered a stroke in January 2014 and has mobility issues on her left side.

Theretiredmum of two grown-up children,went through physiotherapy, but, almost eight years on, shestill has trouble gripping with her left hand and has to walk with a stick.

Twice a week since the start of September, she has been going through her paces in a series of technological tests andexercises designed to retrain her limbs at the centre.

Linda said: My balance isnt great, and I walk with a stick. Ive been using the treadmill with a harness that shows you howyou are working and encourages you to use your feet more evenly.My balance has definitely improvedby usingthe treadmill.

I love the sessions, even though they go so quickly.

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Computer gaming and robotics set to revolutionise the future of stroke care - University of Strathclyde

Following Episode 5

In this relay series, Samsung Newsroom is introducing tech experts from Samsungs R&D centers around the globe to hear more about the work they do and the ways in which it is directly improving the lives of consumers.

The sixth and final expert in the series is Brian Harms, a Research Engineer at Samsung Research America (SRA). Following 8 years of exploration into advanced robotics research at SRA, Harms and his team now employ an innovative array of methods in order to work towards changing the way robots are made and perceived. Read on to learn more about the fascinating research Harms and his team are undertaking at SRA.

Q. Can you please briefly introduce the kind of work you undertake at Samsung Research America?

In addition to developing innovative technologies, SRA is conducting research into various fields including AI, 5G/6G communication, Digital Health, AR and Robotics for Samsungs future innovation.

When I joined SRA, I was drawn to one in particular of my teams key areas of focus, which was imagining how robots will affect the future of our homes and everyday lives. A lot of my work at SRA focuses on prototyping experiences as rapidly as possible so that we can make decisions about how certain devices or products should or shouldnt work.

Our projects usually start very organically, and individuals are encouraged to pursue their ideas and then bring them to the team for feedback and creative input. Thanks to our strong relationships with different divisions within Samsung, our team is empowered to think about a really wide variety of ways we can improve peoples lives, and that freedom and support is a really cool aspect of what we do in the Think Tank Team at SRA.

Q. Following the recent accolades you have received for your work in advanced robotics, what are you and your team working on at the moment?

At any one time we may have approximately 10 to 20 projects that are happening simultaneously, but that operate on different time scales and with different resources. In past years our teams goal was to have the majority of those projects aim to be productizable within 3 to 5 years if successful, but in more recent years we have shifted our goal towards 1 to 3 years, as we are striving to make a strong impact on the user-facing market as quickly as possible.

In order to achieve this, we are working on several projects within the umbrella of practical robotics whose scopes are mindfully constrained so that we can work with different teams to transform these prototypes into products. Our goal is to find a balance where we provide a great deal of user value while still constraining the problem space within realistic bounds. We also pride ourselves in being optimistic about finding room for innovation, even in products that have largely remained the same over many years.

Our team is also currently working on many projects that are outside the realm of robotics, including new apps, phone features, connectivity devices and improved appliances with the goal of empowering users and keeping them connected.

Q. Practical robotics is a field that provides innovative and convenient user experiences and is primed to change the way we think about robots. Can you elaborate on this further?

I think that it is important for people to rethink what they consider to be robots because the way they are defined tends to vary greatly. Many common definitions might clash with each other or reject some actual robotic devices from the category. Personally, I lean towards an extremely inclusive definition along the lines of: if a machine actuates automatically in response to stimuli, you might as well call it a robot.

The reason I think it is important for people to take a moment to consider what robots really are is that so-called practical robots are all around us and affect us every day of our lives in impactful ways. Consider a mattress with sensors that measure sleep quality or temperature, adjust the mattress position with actuators and cool the user by pumping fluid through a network of tubes. I think by almost any definition of robot, this is a robot but perhaps the owner of such a mattress might not actively consider it one.

From automatic doors at grocery stores to cars that measure their distance to other cars and adjust speed accordingly and even to coffee makers that brew a fresh pot of coffee for you in the morning through sensor detection these are all robots, and if you were to accept this idea of what a robot is, youll start seeing them much more frequently in your day-to-day life.

Q. What do you see as the main user benefits brought about by the implementation of novel robot capabilities into consumer-facing technological devices?

The main user benefit brought by the inclusion of robotic technologies in a device will of course vary by device and the problem it solves for the user, but if I had to generalize, I think that the benefits boil down to making an activity or experience faster, easier, safer or more rewarding. Automation is a powerful mechanism in affecting these four criteria, whether it is in an industrial manufacturing plant or someones living room.

Q. Your team is made up of a unique range of researchers from a diverse range of backgrounds. Can you give an example of a time when this ability to ideate in an interdisciplinary manner resulted in the development of an innovative new robotics approach or technology?

Occasionally we hold brainstorming sessions where 1 or 2 people have an idea they want to turn into a project. Those people come up with a series of questions or prompts for the participants, and then every person in the room takes a stack of sticky notes and fills as many as they can with ideas and sketches for the new project and puts them all up on the wall. The cool thing about this is that when the prompts are about potential industrial design ideas, for example, we have not only industrial designers, but also programmers, scientists, electrical engineers and more, all responding to the same prompts in different ways.

Through this kind of multidisciplinary collaboration, designers on our team benefit from developing an improved understanding of what is technically possible, and engineers get a better understanding of what constraints good design might add to the project. What this results in is a team made up of designers who speak the language of engineering, and engineers that can speak the language of design. This kind of collaboration was critical for a project like Samsung Bot Chef, where both the aesthetic and engineering elements were highly dependent on one another.

Q. What would you designate as the latest trends in robotics technology right now? How are you incorporating them into your research at SRA?

Automation and robotics are evergreen fields that are growing exponentially at the moment. The main way we approach projects is to first identify a need or possible method of improving some aspect of daily life, and then consider the mechanisms for executing the idea. Fortunately, automation and robotics are effective tools that lend themselves well to addressing and solving some of these problems.

Our future product concept Samsung BotChef was one result of us monitoring the latest trends. Our then-team head noticed that there was a huge gap between the kinds of low-cost, low-performance robot arms you might see on crowdfunding platforms and the high-cost, high-performance of industrial robot arms, and had a strong intuition that there was opportunity in the consumer market for a robot offering in between the two. The goal there was to minimize end user cost while maximizing performance and capability, which took us down a long road towards designing our own servo mechanisms from scratch. What we created is one of the best-looking robot arms that Ive seen on or off the market, that is tailor made for interacting with the same everyday objects that we use at home.

Q. When you envisage a future powered by innovative robotics technologies, what does it look like?

When I picture the future, I try to imagine what might a typical day look like for me. I would hope that, in the future, robotics and automation provide opportunities for me to preserve more time for myself to do the activities that I love. Between maintaining relationships, work, hobbies, errands, finding time to rest and unexpected events in life, I constantly feel that I lack the time or energy to engage with each of these activities in balance. I believe that automation might be one mechanism that will help me preserve more of my time so that I can spend it in ways that I choose in order to feel more fulfilled.

Q. What has been your most important achievement at SRA so far, or the one that you are most proud of?

I was really proud of our team achieving our Samsung Bot Chef demonstration in Berlin, Germany at IFA 2019. It truly took a monumental amount of effort for us to design, manufacture and assemble completely new versions of Samsung Bot Chef from the ground up, by hand. We also had to plan a complex demo, program all of the interactions, and test everything repeatedly, not to mention transport our demo robots to Germany, work around the construction of the demo kitchen and collaborate with the host chefs. It was a really challenging but rewarding experience that not only brought our team closer together, but also reminded us that when we are united in pursuit of a single goal we can achieve amazing things.

In this series, Samsung Newsroom has introduced six tech leaders from Samsung R&D Institutes around the world who are actively involved in advanced technology development. Through the consolidation of the research and development capabilities of experts in Samsungs R&D institutes, just a few of whom have been showcased in this series, Samsung is able to bring next-level technologies and experiences to users in their devices. Samsung Research currently sees collaboration between the experts in its 14 R&D institutes in 12 different countries around the world.

In the future, collaboration will be a key factor towards advancing research into advanced technology. Samsung will continue to work towards a better future powered by innovation, inspired by daily routines and designed for users.

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[Into the Future With Samsung Research ] Samsung Research America: Powering the Future of Tomorrow and Today With Advanced Robotics Research -...

At Inspire Brands' Innovation Center in Atlanta, the Flippy robot is taking on a new challenge. The automated worker, made by Miso Robotics, first came onto the scene as a burger solution. Now, it's frying wings for the first time.

The bots, known as Flippy 1 and 2, have been in development for nearly five years, taking on pilots at brands such as CaliBurger and White Castle. The wings iteration is being tested at Inspire's Buffalo Wild Wings brand as a way to ramp up production and speed. The hope is to scale up its usage in 2022 and beyond.

"Our strategy and our vision for automation at Inspire is really not about the labor shortage, it is all about how we increase our capacity," said Stephanie Sentell, SVP of restaurant operations and innovation at Inspire. "The automation that we are looking at will allow us to unlock that and provide faster food to our guests."

Flippy robots at their stations.

Courtesy: Miso Robotics

But the labor shortage is unavoidable. The National Restaurant Association recently reported that 4 in 5 operators are understaffed. This includes 81% of full-service operators and 75% of limited-service operators. Robotics can help ease the staffing challenges and speed up operations.

Miso said its Flippy 2 can help fill a tough role in kitchens the fry station.

"The fry station is one of those jobs, it's tough to do," said Mike Bell, Miso Robotics CEO. "It's monotonous, sometimes it's dangerous, and it's pretty repetitive. So it was a perfect opportunity for automation robotics to step in and help brands like Buffalo Wild Wings."

The robot can cost up to $3,000 a month. Miso expects to participate in a dozen pilots with top restaurant chains in the next few months.

A White Castle team member next to Flippy.

Courtesy: Miso Robotics

And while Flippy gets to work in the back of the house, the Matradee from Richtech can wait and bus tables. The bot, which retails for up to $20,000, has been tested at restaurants including California Pizza Kitchen.

Richtech Chief Operating Officer Phil Zheng told CNBC the company has been signing up large chains for pilots weekly in this tough environment.

"Our food runner [robot] basically allows servers to serve a lot more tables, and customers get their food faster," Zheng said. "Restaurants are able to boost revenue, because servers are able to have more time communicating with the customer. ... They can upsell drinks or specials and things like that as well as drive more revenue for the business."

The company also has a hospitality robot for cleaning and foresees opportunities ahead in airports and even senior living facilities as the labor shortage is expected to continue for years to come.

Robotics usage also extends beyond just in-house operations for food companies. Ghost and virtual kitchen companies are also leaning into using robots to deliver food to customers.

Kitchen United this week launched a five-day pilot program using the Kiwibot to take restaurant orders from its site at the Westfield Valley Fair mall in the Bay Area to homes within a half-mile radius. Reef Virtual Kitchens has a similar program with Cartken in Miami.

Fast-food companies Domino's and Chipotle are also both involved with Softbank-backed Nuro. Domino's launched a pilot in Houston with Nuro's autonomous car this past spring. And Chipotle disclosed in March it had made an investment in Nuro as a part of its funding round in late 2020.

A recent report from EMSI, "The Demographic Drought," noted that while automation can help alleviate labor pains, it faces two challenges. First, robots can't fully replace people. And second, the current labor shortage isn't going anywhere, and workers will be needed to actually build robots and other automated technology solutions.

"Companies trying to invest in AI development already face significant worker and skill shortages. As for robotic automation, analysis of market share for robotic automation has shown that the industries already most invested in it (automotive, electronics and metal) are still the ones driving the market, while collaborative robots are not meeting the standards needed for market penetration," the report said.

A White Castle team member next to Flippy.

Courtesy: Miso Robotics

Ron Hetrick, a labor economist at EMSI and one of the report's authors, said that as a whole the industry is not yet able to bring robotics in at a meaningful level. But future restaurant business models will continue to evolve as labor challenges remain. He expects business models could change so that the amount of service customers need drops.

"You will probably lose out on the amount of restaurants that you can go sit in," Hetrick said.

Miso's Bell said that software engineers are always in high demand, but the company is facing "normal challenges" in terms of worker availability. The current supply chain crunch is more of an immediate concern.

"We don't have supply shortages at this time and we don't really foresee them in the next six months. But long term, there's a lot of things we need to get worked out. And hopefully this global supply chain straightens itself out in the months ahead," he said.

CNBC's Whitney Ksiazek contributed to this report.

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Restaurants prep for long-term labor crunch by turning to robots to work the fryer, shuttle food to tables - CNBC

TOKYO, Oct 22 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp is in talks to sell the Paris-based robotics business behind its Pepper android to Germany's United Robotics Group, according to sources and documents reviewed by Reuters, scaling back a business it once touted as a major growth driver.

The talks are ongoing and plans could change, said two sources familiar with the matter, who declined to be named as they are not permitted to speak to the media. It is not clear whether SoftBank will retain a stake in the business, nor how much the deal would be worth.

United Robotics Group, which is backed by German industrial robot maker Hahn, became the European master distributor for SoftBank's (9984.T) struggling Pepper and Nao robots in October.

United Robotics declined to comment. SoftBank has said it remains committed to the Pepper business.

Reuters reported in June that SoftBank had stopped production of Pepper and slashed jobs at its robotics business globally. Roughly half of 330 staff positions were cut in France, where operations date back to the 2012 acquisition of start-up Aldebaran, which custom-designed Pepper for SoftBank.

Additional staff have quit because of low morale, forcing SoftBank to advertise positions to fill core functions, according to the sources and a review of job postings.

United Robotics has offices in Germany and Austria, according to its website. Recently departed SoftBank staff in areas such as sales have been hired by the company, according to the sources.

SoftBank, which is riven by a culture divide between its European workforce and Japanese managers, has a dwindling stock of aging Pepper units and components approaching obsolescence, Reuters reported previously.

In addition to selling Pepper and Nao, a small humanoid robot, United Robotics also markets robots like Sawyer, an industrial robot that can operate alongside humans.

The restructuring comes as SoftBank focuses on selling third party hardware following the commercial failure of Pepper.

The conglomerate has created a parallel sales operation in Britain, reducing its reliance on the Paris-based business.

SoftBank engineers in France have been working on a secret project to design a serving robot called Plato, according to the sources and documents reviewed by Reuters.

However, managers in Japan have put off ordering the robot, the sources said. At the same time, SoftBank has struck deals to sell similar robots from outside firms, diminishing the commercial viability of its own product.

Reporting by Sam Nussey. Editing by David Dolan and Gerry Doyle

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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EXCLUSIVE SoftBank in talks to sell French robotics business to Germany's United Robotics - Reuters

Amazon have announced the opening of a new first-of-its-kind robotics facility in Westborough, Massachusetts. The new facility will expand Amazon Robotics manufacturing capability in the U.S. and Amazons growth in the regionand has created over 200 new manufacturing jobs in Massachusetts.

Amazon began introducing robotics into its facilities in 2012 and has since added over a million new jobs worldwide. Earlier this week, Amazon announced it is hiring for 150,000 seasonal jobs, including 1,500 in Massachusetts. All regular, full-time employees will have access to a starting wage that is more than double the federal minimum wagealong with comprehensive health benefits, paid time off, up to 20 weeks of fully paid parental leave, and more for employees and their families.

Massachusetts offers a highly talented workforce, and this Amazon facility opening further cements our states reputation as a key center for robotics development, The opening of this new state-of-the-art robotics facility creates new jobs for individuals across a wide range of skills and backgrounds in addition to the 1,500 new seasonal jobs Amazon has created in the Commonwealth as the company continues its investment in the states economic growth and development and I am pleased to be here for this opening, especially during STEM Week in Massachusetts. Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito

With this new site, Amazon Robotics will continue to grow its engineering, manufacturing, support, and test teams in Massachusetts. The 350,000-square-foot facility will feature corporate offices, research and development labs, and manufacturing spacein addition to Amazon Robotics current site in North Reading, Massachusetts. Together, these two facilities serve as an epicenter of the companys robotics innovation.

Manufacturing of Amazon Robotics mobile drive units will be a primary focus in the facility. Since 2012, when Amazon first began introducing robotics into its facilities, the company has added over a million new jobs worldwide while deploying more than 350,000 drive units across its facilities. These drive units and other robotic technologies work closely with employees to help safely and reliably fulfill customer orders.

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Amazon Opens New Robotics Facility in the US - Tamebay

Robotics is the culmination of science, engineering, and technology to create automated machines called robots. These machines are then used for various purposes such as manufacturing, construction, healthcare, and much more. They can even perform tasks that humans cant easily do, such as space exploration or traversing dangerous environments.

Artificial Intelligence also plays a massive role in taking robotics even one step further. It gives them self thinking capabilities and autonomy to function by themselves without human support. Many imagine that these future robots may look like those seen in Hollywood movies like Wall-E and Star Wars. However, the reality is quite different from whats seen in pop culture.

More than 90% of the robots (2.7 million) currently used are present in various factories for manufacturing. It will likely stay that way due to its practical applications in a real-world scenario.

With the current covid situation, the world faces a labor force shortage as several migrant workers have gone back to their hometowns. Due to this, many companies have started relying on robots as a primary means of labor. White Castle, an American fast-food chain, has even begun using robots to make their hamburgers. This even helps with reducing human contact between employees and customers.

However, even with such a convenient solution, robots still cant do everything. They can do some of our jobs, sometimes even better than us, but human expertise is always needed for supervision. Specialized work always needs human experience, and that is true even in the case of labor tasks. So while the need for labor has gone down in quantity, there is still a need for quality.

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What is Robotics And Its Applications? - Fossbytes