Category Archives: Robotics

Adam Sachs, cofounder and CEO of Vicarious Surgical, which went public today via SPAC.

Adam Sachs, cofounder and CEO, of Vicarious Surgical eagerly awaited this mornings first trade of his surgical robot company under the ticker RBOT on the New York Stock Exchange. Its honestly a dream come true, Sachs, 30, told Forbes on Friday in advance of trading.

Sachs, an MIT grad and alum of the 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 list, officially launched Vicarious in 2014 with his college buddy, Sammy Khalifa, now the companys chief technology officer, and Dr. Barry Greene. Their goal: To make abdominal surgery faster, easier and subject to fewer complications, starting with hernia repairs.

The surgical robotics market has been dominated by Intuitive Surgical, which introduced its Da Vinci robots two decades ago, and now sports a market cap of $123 billion. As Intuitives patents expire and robotic technology advances, competitors including J&J and Medtronic, both of which have acquired surgical-robot startups, are vying to make robotic surgery as common as laparoscopy. Vicarious, which has received funding from Bill Gates, Vinod Khosla, Eric Schmidt and Jerry Yang, has a different approach, with a miniature robot that enters a patients belly through a single incision and can efficiently move in all directions, thanks to nine actuators.

Earlier this year, Vicarious agreed to merge with a SPAC set up by Hong Kong investor Donald Tang in a $1.1 billion deal. With the deal, it will have around $220 million that it intends to use for final stages of product development and FDA clearance. The company has told investors that it hopes its robots will be on the market in 2023, and that it expects to reach $1 billion in annual revenue by 2027.

For more on Vicarious Surgical, see our magazine story from earlier this year.

I am a New York based health and science reporter and a graduate from Columbias School of Journalism with a master's in science and health reporting. I write on

I am a New York based health and science reporter and a graduate from Columbias School of Journalism with a master's in science and health reporting. I write on infectious diseases, global health, gene editing tools, intersection of public health and global warming. Previously, I worked as a health reporter in Mumbai, India, with the Hindustan Times, a daily newspaper where I extensively reported on drug resistant infections such as tuberculosis, leprosy and HIV. I also reported stories on medical malpractice, latest medical innovations and public health policies.

I have a masters in biochemistry and a bachelors degree in zoology. My experience of working in a molecular and a cell biology laboratory helped me see science from researcher's eye. In 2018 I won the EurekAlert! Fellowships for International Science Reporters. My Twitter account @aayushipratap

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Vicarious Surgical Starts Trading As It Prepares To Launch Its Surgical Robots And Take On Intuitive - Forbes

The supply chain industry has surged its warehouse automation efforts considering the e-commerce boom and labor scarcities, according to tech advisory firm ABI Research. In addition to solutions such as headphone-enabled voice-picking, mobile robots are proving to be the most prevalent productivity-enhancing solution in the warehousing sector.

According to ABI Research, worldwide mobile robot shipments in warehouses will have a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of almost 40% from 2021 to 2030 and exceed 500,000 global shipments in 2030.

Productivity technologies can achieve far greater return on investment if correctly combined with other technologies. For example, by combining location tracking data with a voice solution, warehouses using a Warehouse Execution System (WES) platform can optimize workflows by minimizing distance traveled based on where the worker is, states Adhish Luitel, Industry Analyst, Supply Chain Management and Logistics at ABI Research.

In addition to mobile robotics, the growth of solutions such as Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS) has also been explosive. Led by innovators such as Swisslog, Bastian Solutions, and Krber, the global AS/RS industry is set to be valued at over US$18 billion by 2030, with a year-over-year growth of 9% from 2021 to 2030. AS/RS consists of a variety of computer-controlled systems for automatically placing and retrieving loads from defined storage locations, ideal for high volume of loads being moved into and out of storage. This trend falls in line with the fact that the logistics sector has been experiencing high volume over the past year. Parcel shipping reached 95 billion in parcel volume globally in 2020, this volume is expected to double by 2026, with a 14% CAGR between 2020 and 2026.

As the shift toward robotics occurs with busier warehouses, manual workflows can be automated or workflows that have traditionally been carried out by highly specialized and inflexible machines could soon be carried out by robots that can be moved and retrained as needed, Luitel concludes.

These findings are from ABI Researchs Smart Warehousing market data report. This report is part of the companys Supply Chain Management and Logistics research service, which includes research, data, and ABI Insights.

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Analyst projection: over half million mobile robots to be shipped to warehouses in 2030 - Modern Materials Handling

SME manufacturers adopting robotics and automation, with the support of Made Smarter, are creating hundreds of new and upskilled jobs.

Since 2019 the North West Adoption Programme, a collaboration between UK government and industry designed to support the increased use of digital technologies, has supported 41 businesses with 45 technology projects focused on robotics and automation machinery.

The 2m investment, which combines 883k in grant funding and leverages 1.1m of private finance, is forecast to create 183 new jobs and upskill a further 234 existing workers.

Furthermore, the regions GVA is expected to grow by 137.4m over the next three years.

Alain Dilworth, North West Adoption Programme Manager at Made Smarter, said: These figures are further evidence that robots, cobots, and process control automation technologies are creating more jobs than they displace, as well as a host of other benefits.

Manufacturers who have adopted these digital technologies are experiencing increased productivity and efficiency, more consistent and improved part production and quality, lower operating costs, reduced lead times, the ability to be more competitive, and improved worker safety.

The Made Smarter North West Adoption Programme has proven the value that digital technology can bring to the manufacturing sector. By providing businesses with specialist, impartial technology advice, grant funding for projects, digital transformation workshops, a leadership programme, digital technology internships, and skills development, Made Smarter is helping them select the right approach and the appropriate level of investment and tools for their business.

Ultimately, at the heart of any change are the people, who are fundamental to understanding the need for change, driving that change and adopting that change.

Rachel Brown, CAD technician, and Steve Elleray, R&D fabricator, witrh the robotic welder at Storth. Courtesy of Storth.

Agricultural machine manufacturer Storth, based in Cumbria, used robotics to navigate staff shortages during the pandemic and overcome the problem of skilled welders being tied up with repetitive tasks.

Its robotic welding system produces parts at twice the rate its human counterparts and welding staff have been moved to higher value, more rewarding and more technically challenging roles.

Julian Lopez, Export Manager at Storth, said: Our investment in the robot welder enabled us to manufacture quicker and cost-effectively, and solved the problem of manpower not just in terms of sourcing quality welders to satisfy demand but to maintain production during the pandemic when welders were self-isolating. Meanwhile, the technology has made us more competitive to be able to react quickly to orders and changed the way we can approach export markets.

We have also been able to create new apprentice roles to operate the robotics and cultivate the skills we will need in the future.

Andrew Bond, CEO, of Empire Cartridges, an ammunition manufacturer, based in Preston. Courtesy of Empire Cartridges.

Ammunition manufacturer Empire Cartridges, based in Preston, invested in a six-axis cobot and process control technology which increased manufacturing output of shotgun cartridge shells by at least 50%.

Andrew Bond, CEO, said: By adopting Industry 4.0 automation we have been able to increase quality control, reduce manual handling and upskill our workforce from simple box fillers to cobot programmers.

A Brainboxes operator using robotics Courtesy of Brainboxes.

Brainboxes, an electronics manufacturer based in Liverpool, adopted robotics to improve its manual labelling process.

Luke Walsh, Managing Director, said: The task of playing hundreds of thousands of labels on products was low skilled and expensive, so by Investing in technology which prints directly onto the product and robotics to move the products into place, the entire process could be automated.

There was scepticism among our production staff about what a robot would do to their livelihoods. Now my production staff arent saying to me the robot has taken my job but suggesting where the technology could also be adopted.

While the adoption of robotics in the UK is on the rise, it is well behind global competition. According to the International Federation of Robotics, the UKs robot density or the number of robots per 10,000 workers is 71, below the global average of 74, and significantly lower than Germany (309) and South Korea (631).*

Mark Stepney, Director of the British Automation and Robot Association (BARA), part of the PPMA Group of Associations, said: It is fantastic to see Made Smarter supporting SME manufacturers in the adoption of advanced technologies like robotics to address the UKs shortfall in productivity.

The ROI on the use of industrial robots is startlingly clear. Along with faster production comes a long sought-after benefit: the ability to free human workers from the dangers and drudgery of manual work. Human workers can be elevated to roles where their individual skills and cognitive abilities can be better utilised.

*https://ifr.org/news/robot-density-rises-globally/

**Header image courtesy of Shutterstock

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The rise of the machines: how robotics and automation are creating jobs in manufacturing - The Manufacturer

Robotics and automation are playing a greater role in distribution than ever before, as supply chain professionals strive to boost efficiency and keep pace with escalating fulfillment demands. So what lies ahead for the industry? DC Velocity Group Editorial Director David Maloney recently gathered five experts from MHIs Conveyor and Sortation Systems Industry Group to get some answers and find out what the future holds for the automation and robotics markets.

Q: Automation and robotics are red hot right now. Often, these terms are used almost interchangeably. How do you define automation and robotics as they apply to our industry?

Satyen Pathak Designed Conveyor Systems: We do see a big difference between automation, being kind of the conventional part, and robotics, being the new art. I typically differentiate between the two by asking, How much autonomy is there? How much can it make its own decisions? That is how I distinguish between standard automation and the new robotics. We call it cognitive robotics, where the robots take over the decision-making, the reasoning, and so forth. That is kind of the new age, but there is kind of a blend over, and you cant really draw a line between them.

Doug Schuchart Beckhoff Automation:You may be limiting yourself if you think robotics is just like conveyors and sortation. It is another tool in the toolbox for automated systems. Often, robotics is working with something else. It is rare that it is just a completely stand-alone robot for an automated solution. Another way to think about it is how to blend the right mix of technologies and the new technologies that are coming at us every day.

Q: Traditionally, conveyor systems have been the go-to technology for fixed-path movement of products. Now, we have autonomous mobile robots that can perform similar tasks. Does the conveyor industry see AMRs and other robotics as a threat or as a complementary technology?

Markus Winkler TGW: We dont really consider it a threat. I think it is a great opportunity. I see it as something that is adding to our competencies. We are fortunate to understand these new technologies and apply them correctly to our advantage.

Tim Kraus Intralox:The way we try to think about it is that we know that there are certain applications where a robotics solution offers a clear advantage over conveyors, sorters, or automated singulators. We try to think about how can we augment that: How can we make that work better, work faster, and work more reliably? Is there something we can do to present items to a robot to make it much more efficient and help the total solution?

Q: The pandemic-fueled e-commerce explosion has boosted demand for systems that handle parcels and smaller items. Is that affecting the types of conveyors your customers are choosing?

Jeff Brown Mitsubishi Electric Automation Inc.:Absolutely, we see that. Everything used to be a full case. Now, it is not only moving the individual items but also factoring in the wide range of packaging that the items may come in. In addition to boxes, there are now different types of polybags that have added to the challenge. We see air-filled bags, poly, and paper envelopes. All of those things add to the mixit is not just the item size, but how is it packaged and how that affects what the conveyor solution should look like. [Customers] are not necessarily specifying rollers or belts, but they want a solution that is going to minimize downtime and will keep up with throughput demands without package damage.

Doug Schuchart Beckhoff Automation: We are also seeing grocery and pharmaceuticals now being handled more in e-commerce fulfillment. So, we have to accommodate an even wider spectrum of product types, along with handling requirements that differ from what weve seen in the traditional retail space. That expands the types of automated equipment that may be required, and that is playing into some of the equipment innovations we see in the marketplace.

Q: How have conveyor installations changed over the years, and is it easier to integrate them with robotics and other types of automation than it might have been in the past?

Markus Winkler TGW: I think the big challenge is we need to make conveyors much, much easier and quicker to install. They are more like an integrated product. It is the power supply. It is the communication. It is the logic that comes with the conveyor, and it is the package. That is definitely driven by the changes that our customers are seeing. Now, we are challenged with implementing large integrated systems within months when before it was probably years. That is where all those modular designs come into play.

Q: The rising cost of labor is one of the main reasons why people are turning to automation. As those costs continue to rise, do you feel this will help bolster the case for automation?

Satyen Pathak Designed Conveyor Systems: We are in a unique time in that we are coming out of a pandemic and wages are rising in order to get people to come back to work. I believe automation is in a constant change cycle. I still think robotics has a long way to go before its considered a tried and trusted traditional technology, the way crossbelt sorters and line sorters are. It is in its infancy. But I do see robotics growing at a higher rate.

Q: Conveyor companies are more than simply hardware suppliers. They see themselves as solution providers. How do you approach implementing these new technologiesthe sensors, the IoT, the vision systems, robotics, and other kinds of automationwith the conveyors and sorters you manufacture?

Tim Kraus Intralox:Companies have to evolve to think about the total solution. If you are just thinking about building the conveyor itself, you are going to miss what else is out there. How does it integrate? Where does it best fit? How does it work with other technologies? The whole industry naturally has to shift in that way to make sure that the solution is relevant and that it can be coupled with the right things to create a great system for our customer.

Jeff Brown Mitsubishi Electric Automation Inc.:Customers nowadays are not just looking for a brand. They are looking for a solution that is going to meet their needs now and in the future. There used to be conveyor companies that had just their material handling equipment and you felt an obligation as a customer to keep it all one brand. But as customers evolve and they learn about technology and what is available in the marketplace, they look at what is going to be the best solution for their company and their operations.

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The CSS perspective: Robotics and automation - DC Velocity

Robotics is not an AI problem, it is an engineering problem. The innovators in this space are trying to solve the issue of how to make robots move autonomously, and have behavioural control through sensory awareness of their surroundings. Fuzzy Logic Robotics (FLR) recently released a platform that allows customers to go from CAD to control with just one piece of software.

FLR is working on an all-in-one software platform that will make every phase of robotisation easier, from robotic cell design to daily industrial reprogramming by technicians. As per the experts, it creates a virtual environment in which a manufacturing robot may be operated on the fly and as easily as a video game.

FLR is working on an all-in-one software platform that will make every phase of robotization more easier, from robotic cell design to daily industrial reprogramming by technicians. As per the experts, it creates a virtual environment in which a manufacturing robot may be operated on the fly and as easily as a video game.

Fuzzy logic has been found to be suitable for applications in robot navigation. This is due to its ability to handle massive amounts of partial and erroneous input signals. Such signal processing could allow robots to navigate in unpredictable surroundings automatically. There has been a lot of research done on the application of fuzzy theory to robot navigation. A common application calls for the robot to be equipped with a variety of sensors for monitoring environmental data. Fuzzification, fuzzy inference, and defuzzification provide decisions that regulate the robots behaviour, allowing it to travel autonomously.

The input to a fuzzy logic controller can come from a variety of sensors. For example, the distance between a robot and obstacles can be detected using ultrasonic sensors. The present position of the robot can be detected using global positioning systems. The ultimate result of fuzzy inference allows a robot to distinguish between distinct contexts and perform the actions requested by the designer.

The following are some of the capabilities accessible in Fuzzy Studio, according to FLR:

The majority of robotic and cobotic applications, on the other hand, necessitate complex and disparate software tools as well as brand experts.Large corporations are showing a lot of interest in the platform. However, in addition to existing users of industrial robots, Fuzzy Logic plans to enter a market still in its infancy: small and medium-sized industrial businesses. The platform eliminates the difficulties of robotic integration and the necessity for robotics knowledge throughout the service life, two constraints that have proved prohibitive for SMEs and SMBs in the past. Already, manufacturers of industrial robotics are increasingly seeing India as a top market for their products. As a result, this new business will undoubtedly shake the Indian robotics sector. In the near future, Indian startups will produce a slew of new products.

Nivash has a doctorate in Information Technology. He has worked as a Research Associate at a University and as a Development Engineer in the IT Industry. He is passionate about data science and machine learning.

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The Future Of Robotics Is Fuzzy - Analytics India Magazine

Seems Locus Robotics is striking while the iron is hot. Seven months after raising a sizable $150 million Series E, Tiger Global is investing another $50 million in the Massachusetts firm. The last round made Locus a unicorn, and this one brings the companys total funding to around $300 million.

Locus specializes in warehouse and fulfillment robotics, making a more modular solution that doesnt require the sort of ground-up build of a Berkshire Grey. The companys approach is closer to that of Fetch, which was acquired by Zebra Technologies back in July. Locus seems prime for an acquisition from a logistics firm or retailer grappling to compete with the monolith of Amazon.

The continued funding rounds, on the other hand, seem to point to a company looking to continue to go it alone.

Were launching a robotics newsletter! Please sign up to get Actuator in your inbox as soon as the first issue hits! For free!

CEO Rick Faulk confirmed as much with me back in February, stating, We have no interest in being acquired. We think we can build the most and greatest value by operating independently. There are investors that want to invest in helping everyone thats not named Amazon compete.

Faulk adds this morning that the new funds are a kind of validation for Locus. Certainly theyre yet another sign in accelerated interest in automation amid the pandemic. At a time of increasing volumes and ongoing labor shortages, this new round of funding underscores how critical flexible, scalable, intelligent robotics automation has become to the warehouse and the supply chain, the executive says. Locus is uniquely positioned to drive digital transformation in this enormous global market.

Funding will be used to further expand Locus global operations.

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Locus Robotics just raised another $50M - TechCrunch

Members of the award-winning Afghan Girls' Robotics Team arrived in Qatar to continue their ... [+] education with aid from Qatar Foundation, amid uncertainty brewing from the Taliban takeover.

Members of Afghanistans all-female robotics team, or The Afghan Dreamers have evacuated Afghanistan for Qatar, and are continuing their education and enriching their robotics skills through scholarships funded by Qatar Foundation and Qatar Fund for Development.

It was very scary for everybody and we had such a big responsibility to make sure theyre secure, Roya Mahboob, CEO of the Digital Citizen Fund, which is the parent organization of the robotics team said of the exit. DCF coordinated with Qatars government to obtain visas prior to the teams departure.

Team member Ayda Hayderpoor said, Nothing can be worse than leaving your loved ones behind. We were sad and cried and missed our families, but we are lucky to be safe and be able to continue our high school education at the Qatar Foundations Education City. Hayderpoor, 17, and her teammates began attending their new classes this week.

Qatari officials organized for nine members of the Afghan Dreamers flight to Doha at the onset of the Taliban takeover. The faces and names of these nine have more prominently been featured in the media, putting them at greater risk of danger had they remained in Afghanistan, Mahboob said. The Dreamers began with a few girls in 2017 in Herat, and has grown to 50 members, boasts awards from global competitions and made it on Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia in 2021. They won an award at Europes largest robotics festivalin 2017 for building a robot that uses solar energy for small-scale farms, and in 2020 with guidance from MIT constructedventilatorsfor Covid-19 patients at Afghanistan hospitals. The polarity between Taliban views and the political climate that these members are accustomed to is significant, and the new shift is predicted to further disrupt womens opportunities. Under western control, in addition to other freedoms, 1.6 million more women entered the workforce in Afghanistan over the past 20 years, and in an attempt to continue the upward trend and ensure the safety of the Dreamers, Qatars aid is an early step toward advocating for a new generation of women.

The girls have resettled at Education Citya campus with multiple academic institutionsand will have opportunities to strengthen their skills at Qatar Foundation member universities including Carnegie Mellon and Texas A&M University, according to a September 7 press release. For Hayderpoor, focusing on the next competition is her priority, and attending university in a field that we love and is top in technology, is the next objective.

Qatar and the DCF were proactive in finding refuge for the girls, and Mahboob cited wartimes circumstantial conflict as a cause for concern. Taliban aside, chaos in the country could spur other factions that dont favor female leaders to leverage the shift to ultra-conservatism and marginalize these girls, she explained. The escape was important because, you might have a lot of people who support you, but you might also have a small group of people who dont like what youre doing and it might give them the opportunity to harm you.

Shortly before Taliban resurgence and the republics collapse, the administration aimed to continue progress and draft new initiativesone of them to increase womens presence in technology with the robotics team in mind, according to former Deputy Minister of Women Affairs Hosna Jalil.

Jalil, who is also the former Deputy Minister of Interior Affairs and the first woman to hold a senior position in that ministry, extols the robotics team and views them as a paragon of progress and success. What I have learned from these girls is, they wont give up, she said. They start something and they dont give up; they make it happen. Im absolutely proud of these teenagerstheir dedication, their passion, their determinationit keeps inspiring me.

In 2019 President Ashraf Ghani approved aproject to developa larger institute for the Dreamers at Kabul University that would span six acres at $2 million per acre, according to Mahboob. Completion of the project now remains unseen. Mahboob sees her dedication toward young women not as a charitable activity, but as work that she should be doing for her country. They are the young generation that is going to build Afghanistan 2.0.Market sizefor robotics is expected to reach $499 billion by 2025, according to a 2021 Technology and Innovation Report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development, but enriching the girls lives is on Mahboobs mind. Creating space for girls in tech has helped build their confidence and garner more respect in society, Mahboob said. It changed their family members minds when the girls started to do mechanical stuff at the homerepair radio and trying to fix thingsand their brothers or their fathers were so surprised, they like it.

Director General of Qatar Fund for Development Khalifa bin Jassim Al Kuwari said the venture offers high-quality technical training in the use of modern technologies that will enable Afghani female students to acquire the skills and knowledge that will allow them to be appropriately qualified and in demand within the labor market.

Hayderpoor is hopeful for the future and stands by her rights.If you are a male or female, still you are human and all the humans have their own rights, she said. She asks that these rights, specifically the right to an education, be observed. All the girls and women in Afghanistan deserve that.

Dozens of other girls from the robotics club have remained in Afghanistan, choosing to continue their education there, if and when possible. Mahboob ensures that the girls will not be abandoned. We will never give up on them.

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Afghan Girls Robotics Team Continues Education And Training In Qatar After Fleeing Taliban Danger - Forbes

PITTSBURGH (AP) After practicing in a former limestone mine and an abandoned hospital outside of Pittsburgh, a fleet of robots from Carnegie Mellon University is headed to Kentucky for the final test of the ability to autonomously navigate an uncertain, underground course.

The challenge: Collect as many objects as possible in one hour while navigating a cave in Louisville, Ky.

The goal: Create autonomous robots to help with search and rescue missions for military and first responders.

The kicker: Theres only one operator and a fleet that could include a dozen robots, so the machines must be able to move and make decisions on their own.

Its hard enough to make autonomous robots useful above ground. This CMU team is trying to do it in the depths below.

At the heart of this challenge, its really a problem of exploration, said Sebastian Scherer, the co-lead for CMUs team and an associate research professor at the Robotics Institute. Youre going into an environment that youve never been into, so with that comes a lot of uncertainty and the robot needs to be able to decide what do I do when I face uncertainty.

The researchers and students at CMU partnered with Oregon State University to create their fleet, dubbed Team Explorer.

The group is competing next week for a shot at the $2 million grand prize in the final round of the DARPA Subterranean Challenge, a competition hosted by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency to develop autonomous tech that navigates underground scenarios.

DARPA has hosted similar races in the past and CMU has made a name for itself in several competitions, ranging from those focused on self-driving technology to those developing software that helps with language translation and document understanding, said Martial Hebert, the dean of the School of Computer Science.

In 2007, a Pittsburgh team won the DARPA Urban Challenge, a race to develop a self-driving vehicle that could move through traffic, navigate intersections, merge and park. That, in turn, led to advances in the field of self-driving car research and propelled some team members to create their own companies, including Aurora and Argo AI.

These types of challenges help researchers discover the real problems, Mr. Hebert said. By having this type of challenge scenario, it pushes us to identify what is the next frontier, what is the next problem, really, that we must address.

The DAPRA Subterranean Challenge, or SubT, is focused on autonomous robots that can navigate an underground course and be able to handle the uncertainty of an environment they havent seen before.

The researchers also wont see the course before sending their machines in. To them, its like putting your robots in a black hole, said Matt Travers, another Team Explorer co-lead and a systems scientist at the Robotics Institute. Theres no GPS and no communications, he said.

The teams will each have 60 minutes to navigate the course in search of roughly 40 objects, including things like fire extinguishers, ropes and a helmet with a light on it. The objects and the course will simulate what a robot might find in an underground disaster scenario, as if it were sent on a search and rescue mission in a real-world application, the researchers said.

For a lot of rescue situations, it takes a long time for people to get in, Mr. Scherer said. You first have to make sure that its safe, that theres no gases. ...The idea is that these (robots) can go in very quickly, give you a lot of awareness and then you can send people in or your other robots.

Now helping to lead the team, Mr. Scherer also participated as a student on CMUs team for both the DARPA Urban challenge and the Grand challenge, which focused on self-driving technology to navigate a desert landscape.

CMUs fleet for the SubT challenge includes four small drones, three large drones, three ground robots and two walking robots.

Part of the challenge in creating their fleet was bringing all the different types of technology, Mr. Scherer said. Think of it like a human team, he suggested. Some colleagues will get along better than others and theres bound to be some friction when all the co-workers come together.

Just like a team of human co-workers have strengths and weaknesses among the group, the fleet of robots is also built to cover different tasks. Some robots are better at handling stairs, for example, while others are built for squeezing through narrow spaces, Mr. Scherer said.

For now, the human operator will help the robots determine who is best suited to handle different tasks but, eventually, he hopes that decision making becomes part of the machines autonomous capabilities.

In designing the technology, Team Explorer also had to consider the hierarchy of autonomy, said Steven Willits, the lead test engineer and a research scientist at CMU.

That starts with a local planner, or software that helps the machine decide what to do based on its surroundings. Thats what keeps it from bumping into objects or falling off a cliff, Mr. Willits said.

Then, the team layered on more tech that creates a global planner, which helps the machines paint a picture of the entire environment around them and communicate with one another. That helps make sure the robots dont cover the same ground as other fleet members.

Team Explorer is also preparing for its robots to fail.

Some will get stuck, some wont survive the course and some will take a wrong turn. The goal, Mr. Scherer said, is to make sure the robots and the fleet overall are resilient enough to recover from those failures.

We expect these systems to get into trouble, and theyll have to be able to get out of it themselves, he said.

The teams have been working on their fleets for more than three years, after the competition kicked off in September 2018.

Over the course of the challenge, CMU and Oregon State have already taken home a first-place prize in the first round, which had the robots navigating a research mine in South Park Township, outside Pittsburgh. The mine is operated by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Team Explorer also scored second place in the next round of competition, a course through an abandoned nuclear power plant in Olympia, Wash.

For the final round next Thursday, Team Explorer is up against seven other groups for a prize purse that includes $2 million for the first-place winner, $1 million for the runner-up and $500,000 for the third-place team.

Team Explorer includes about 20 people that are core members and roughly 100 that are involved in an extended team, Mr. Scherer said.

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Robots prepped for Louisville cave search and rescue mission - WDRB

KEWAZO, a Munich-based startup thats digitalising construction with robotics and data analytics, secured $5M (approx 4.2M) funding in a Series A round led by True Ventures.

Existing investor MIG AG, a Munich-based VC firm and one of the founding investors in BioNTech, also participated. With this round, the company has raised $9M (approx 7.6M) to date.

Get to know the amazing finalists here

Artem Kuchukov, CEO of KEWAZO says, With the new investment we aim to expand our robotic fleet in Europe and the US to introduce the RaaS model and to enable further digital services. LIFTBOT improves worker safety, makes jobs more efficient, and drastically cuts the amount of man-hours projects take, all while saving money.

Founded in 2016, KEWAZO develops smart robotic elevators for industrial and construction sites, with the first application focus being scaffolding assembly.

KEWAZO says that 80 per cent of projects, when it comes to building or dismantling scaffolding, are done manually.

Consequently, the German company has developed construction robot technology called LIFTBOT for scaffolding, which automates material transport.

LIFTBOT makes assembly more efficient and saves up to 44 per cent man-hours, which directly addresses labour shortage a long-term problem in the industry.

Further, LIFTBOT can be used for other tasks such as insulation, painting, and other on-site material transport with minor adjustments. At the same time, LIFTBOT also collects operational data and provides it in a data analytics platform.

The company works closely with large scaffolding companies and industrial service providers. The first batch of LIFTBOTs has been successfully delivered to key customers in the EU markets.

KEWAZO has completed more than 40 pilot and test projects and has delivered robots to major customers like Bilfinger, a leading European industrial service provider to oil and gas sites in Germany.

We have tested LIFTBOT during ongoing operations and immediately recognized the potential of the solution, said Alexander Brod, branch manager of Bilfinger Arnholdt in Gelsenkirchen. With innovative technologies from the fields of robotics and automation, we offer our industrial customers an even safer and more efficient service.

True Venture is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology startups. With $2.8B (approx 2.4B) under management, the VC firm has helped more than 300 companies launch and scale their businesses, creating over 25,000 jobs worldwide.

So many aspects of the construction industry stand to benefit immensely from robotic intelligence and RaaS offerings, said Puneet Agarwal, partner at True Ventures.

The KEWAZO team has a strong track record and proven solution that addresses a significant need in a critical part of the industry, he added.

How partnering up with Salesforce helped him succeed!

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Munich-based KEWAZO raises 4.2M to digitaliise construction with robotics and data analytics - Silicon Canals

Analytics Insight provides a list of top industrial robotics companies in the world

Robotics is thriving in the global market because companies have identified the particular need of multiple industries assistants. Industrial robots are helping factories and organizations in multiple different ways like welding, product inspection, automation, and many more to boost productivity at a low cost and yield higher returns. Thus, there is an emergence of several industrial robotics companies to provide sufficient supply to the high demand in the tech-driven market. The blend of robotics and artificial intelligence is generating smart functionalities into these industrial robots. Lets explore some of the top industrial robotics companies in the world.

ABB Robotics is known as a pioneer in robotics focused on manufacturing industrial robots and machine automation in 53 countries. It has shipped over 50,000 industrial robot solutions across the world. The industrial robotics company serves a wide range of industries including aluminum, automotive, cement, data centers, marine and ports, metals, building and infrastructure, and many more. It also offers a digital solution to reduce maintenance costs as well as increase employee safety in mining operations.

Mitsubishi Electric is one of the top industrial robotics companies in the world that offers regionally specific products. Mitsubishi MELFA is one of the popular industrial robots that is fit for cell manufacturing with a high speed as well as a high precision performance with intelligent technology of artificial intelligence. These industrial robots are perfect for a wide range of applications for high-volume production of foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals that demand fast operation. Industrial robotics can help to withstand environmental conditions without any external worry about the installation environment. There are different types of industrial robots such as vertical type robots, horizontal type robots, ceiling-mounted horizontal type robots, environment-resistant specified robots, as well as micro-working robots.

Apex Automation and Robotics have specialization in the design and manufacture of custom-built automation machines and industrial robots across the world. It is popular for utilizing the most suitable technology for each application. It focuses on the complexity of movements with a variety of functions with speed and accuracy. The company is involved with industrial robotics projects such as high sped robotic pickers, robotics packing, and many more.

Fanuc Corporation is a well-known industrial robotics company that manufactures industrial robots to improve performance as well as revenue. It offers over 100 industrial robots models with more than 40 years of helping the manufacturing industry. These industrial robots are very easy to operate and provide flexibility that can hold payload up to 2,300kg and maximum reaches up to 4.7m. It is popular for offering the widest series range of industrial robots in the world.

Yaskawa Motoman is focused on delivering high-quality industrial robotics for welding, cutting, picking, and assembly, and handling. These industrial robots are known for high-payload, high-speed, extended-reach, and unique 15-axis dual-arm robots. This company offers tailored solutions for manufacturing needs with cutting-edge controllers, vision systems, and other top-notch components.

Kawasaki is well-known in the world for being the leading supplier of industrial robots and robotic automation systems with the implementation of artificial intelligence. The aim is to develop high-quality and top-notch industrial robots while providing artificial intelligence and engineering. It has over 50 years of experience in robotics with different types of robots such as payload robots, painting robots, clean robots, place robots, palletizing robots, pharmaceutical robots, and many more.

Nachi is one of the top industrial robotics companies in the world that has its focused expertise with automation. The robotics company offers industrial robots in services such as handling, palletizing, spot welding, heavy-duty, cleanroom, controller, and many more. It has provided solutions in industrial robotics for a wide range of applications to the automotive industry as well as other industries. The payload capacity ranges from 2kg to 700kg with a reach capability of up to 13 feet.

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Top Industrial Robotics Companies in the World for You to Know - Analytics Insight