Global Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

FANUC opened its headquarters in Aguascalientes, Mexico in July 2022. | Source: FANUC America FANUC recently closed its April-June quarter with a net profit of 42.1 billion yen, around $313 million, a nearly 5% increase from last year.  The company said it had strong demand for its robots in lithium-ion battery plants, due to growth in the electric vehicle market, and in the logistics and food industries. FANUC’s sales increased 14% to 211.5 billion yen, over $1.5 billion. While FANUC’s sales overall increased, the company did see a 12% drop in sales to China, one of the company’s biggest markets. Shanghai’s recent COVID-19 lockdown delayed product deliveries, but FANUC president Kenji Yamaguchi said during the earnings call that demand in China has not changed before or after the lockdown. FANUC isn’t alone in facing struggles in China, however. There have been reports of major layoffs at Pudu Robotics , a Chinese developer of commercial service robots. Pudu’s CEO, Tao Zhan...

Wiferion wireless charging pads can recharge heterogeneous robot fleets. | Credit: Wiferion WiTricity , a provider of wireless charging for electric vehicles, has licensed its wireless charging technology to Wiferion . Wiferion is a provider of mobile, wireless power supplies for a range of industrial applications, including automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). “We are happy to see Wiferion join our other licensees to further the possibilities for wireless charging,” said Alex Gruzen, CEO, WiTricity. “We are proud to see our pioneering technology help fuel the future of industrial automation and look forward to partnering with Wiferion to accelerate growth in the industry.” Wiferion’s contactless, inductive charging systems supply fleets of vehicles with energy, no matter the voltage, current or battery type.  “Already today, Wiferion’s etaLINK wireless charging solutions are powering thousands of mobile robots around the globe. Having access...

Equipped with a fifth axis, the ABB IRB 365 can reorient an item during the pick-to-place motion. | Credit: ABB ABB launched the IRB 365 FlexPicker, a 5-axis, high-speed delta robot. The ceiling-mounted robot is designed for high-speed picking applications with a payload under 1.5 kg (4 lb). With a fifth axis of motion, the IRB 365 FlexPicker can change the orientation of the picked item. This enables more high-speed product handling applications that might not be possible with fewer axes. The ABB IRB 360 FlexPicker is the four-axis version of this solution. The new IRB 365 FlexPicker extends the FlexPicker family and enables FlexPicker to be used for applications such as kitting, packaging and parcel handling, where either the infeed pick point or the placement location changes the orientation of the item. In a parcel handling application, parcels or boxes might require reorientation in order to proper position the parcel for barcode or label reading. | Credit: ABB With the...

Clearpath Robotics released developer tools to make it easier to use ROS with its robots. | Source: Open Robotics Clearpath Robotics has released new Robot Operating System (ROS) tools for its mobile robots. The tools are designed to make it easier for ROS developers to get started with and use the company’s robots. The first tool is a robot customizer that Clearpath said makes it easier to add sensors to a robot, whether it be in the real world or in simulation. The interface allows users to modify environment variables, visibly add sensors to a robot’s model and enable the launch of the sensor’s drivers. Clearpath said it also simplified the process to install ROS on its robots. With the new streamlined process, users can install ROS and its drivers in just a few steps. Clearpath said this makes it simpler and faster to get a robot up and running with some basic capabilities. The simplified installation is available on robot computers and uses various customizations such as ne...

Welcome to Episode 85 of The Robot Report Podcast , which brings conversations with robotics innovators straight to you. Join us each week for discussions with leading roboticists, innovative robotics companies and other key members of the robotics community. This week we talked with Nima Fazeli about the chess-playing robot that, unfortunately, captured the world’s attention this week when it broke a finger of the 7-year-old chess player in Russia. If you haven’t seen the video of the incident with the chess-playing robot, you can watch it at the bottom of this article. Nima is the perfect person to break down the flaws of the chess-playing robot used in the Moscow chess tournament. Nima is an assistant professor of robotics at the University of Michigan and director of its Manipulation and Machine Intelligence Lab. But he also created a famous Jenga-playing robot during his days as a grad student at MIT. Nima discusses the lack of basic safety protocols, the poor choice of using ...

An illustration showing an Ingenuity-like Helicopter, the Perseverance Rover, the Mars Orbiter, the Sample Retrieval Lander and the Mars Ascent Vehicle. | Source: NASA/JPL NASA is swapping out its Sample Fetch Rover for two drones, similar to the Ingenuity Helicopter, to serve as backups to the Perseverance Rover in the Mars sample return campaign .  The sample return campaign begins with the Perseverance Rover, which has already been on Mars for over a year and, at press time, had sealed 11 samples to eventually send back to Earth. NASA plans to launch its Earth Return Orbiter in fall 2027 and its Sample Retrieval Lander in summer 2028.  The lander is expected to make it to the surface of Mars in 2030. If all goes well, the samples should return to Earth in 2033.  The lander will carry two Ingenuity-like helicopters – the Mars Ascent Vehicle and the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Sample Transfer Arm. NASA plans for the lander to precisely land on the surface of M...

I am a robotics booster. I believe that smart robots will have a positive impact, helping us deal with some of the challenges that humanity will continue to face over the next several decades – from climate change to food production, from shelter to entertainment. Basically, I’m optimistic about the role robots can have in our lives. However, every now and then I run into specific areas that give me pause, and the emerging field (?) of necrobotics is one of them. In case you’re wondering, necrobotics means turning dead tissue into (parts of) a robot. Anyone who has read fantasy books will likely recognize the term necromancer; for everyone else, it means a person who uses witchcraft to reanimate dead people or to tell the future by communicating with them. Now this concept is crossing over into the real world, except using science and engineering as a modern form of witchcraft. First, some context. Researchers at Rice University have found a way to turn dead spiders into robotic...

From top-left to bottom right: Joel Reed, Tom Ryden, Andra Keay, Jeff Burnstein, Matt Johnson-Roberson and Ritch Ramey joined Congressman Mike Doyle for a robotics roundtable discussion. | Source: Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University held a robotics caucus virtual roundtable last week with leaders from the U.S. robotics industry. The roundtable discussed the future of the industry and how the U.S. can keep up with the pace of the global industry. The following speakers took part in the roundtable: Congressman Mike Doyle, co-founder of the Congressional Robotics Caucus Joel Reed, executive director of the Pittsburgh Robotics Network Tom Ryden, executive director of MassRobotics Andra Keay, managing director of Silicon Valley Robotics Jeff Burnstein, president of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3) Matt Johnson-Roberson, director of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University Ritch Ramey, the director of strategic partnerships at EduEvert...

The new UR20 cobot features a 20 kg payload and 30% more speed and torque compared to other UR cobots. | Credit: Universal Robots Teradyne ‘s industrial automation group generated $101 million in revenue for the second quarter of 2022. The group’s revenue grew 10% from Q2 2021 and 19% for the first half. Revenue declined slightly from the $103 million generated in the first quarter of 2022 . Teradyne’s industrial automation group consists of AutoGuide Mobile Robots , Energid , Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR) and Universal Robots (UR). Energid’s revenue is included with UR’s and AutoGuide is still being revamped. As always, UR led the group with $83 million in revenue during Q2 2022. That is up 8% year-over-year, with the highest growth in Northern Europe, but down slightly from the record $85 million the collaborative robotic arm pioneer generated in Q1 2022. MiR sales were $17 million for the quarter, which is up 9% from Q2 2021 in the quarter, but flat compared to the $17 milli...

An AutoX Level 4 fully driverless robotaxi in Shenzhen. | Credit: AutoX The government in Shenzhen, China announced new provisions that lay out comprehensive rules governing the use of autonomous vehicles in the city. The regulations are set to take effect on August 1, and they grant permission for autonomous vehicles to operate in Shenzhen without a person in the driver’s seat.  The new regulations allow autonomous vehicles to operate in designated areas of the city. According to the regulation, companies must obtain relevant permits. To hit the road, the vehicles must be registered with the Ministry of Public Security. To engage in business activities, like charging for robotaxi rides, companies need permission from the Ministry of Transportation. While Shenzhen is officially laying out comprehensive rules for autonomous vehicles, it’s not the only city to allow autonomous vehicles to drive without safety drivers. Robotaxis have been allowed on a case-by-case basis in Beiji...

  Locus Robotics operates fleets of AMRs in warehouses around the world. | Credit: Locus Robotics Locus Robotics just completed and documented its first Service Organization Control 2 (SOC2) audit. A SOC 2 audit documents an organization’s business processes and determines compliance with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) guidelines. Why is this important for a robotics company? Locus Robotics operates as a Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) business. As part of its normal operating procedures, Locus Robotics remotely monitors, updates and supports its fleet of mobile robots deployed on customer premises. To communicate with the robots, Locus connects over the internet and through a client’s local network. Locus also stores operational data about a robot fleet running on a customer site. Before organizations allow any third-party products to connect to their network, they want to ensure they can trust the security and data handling processes of that ve...

Intuitive Surgical da Vinci SP. Intuitive reported second-quarter results that failed to meet the consensus forecast on Wall Street. The surgical robotics giant warned that COVID-19 will likely continue to have an adverse impact on da Vinci procedure volumes. Sunnyvale, California–based Intuitive said last week that it earned $308 million, or 85¢ per share, off $1.52 billion in revenue for the quarter ended June 30, 2022, representing a 40% bottom-line slide and a top-line gain of 4% compared with the same quarter a year ago. Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were $1.14, a nickel behind The Street, where analysts were looking for EPS of $1.19 on sales of $1.56 billion. Worldwide da Vinci procedures were up 14% year-over-year in Q2 — but system placements were down 15%. During a conference call with analysts, Intuitive officials said that trade-ins of da Vinci robots are significantly down because there’s a lower volume of older-generation systems out there....

Chuck is an autonomous mobile robot that can speed up logistics operations. | Source: 6 River Systems GXO Logistics , a pure-play contract logistics provider, announced a multi-year, global agreement with 6 River Systems to use the company’s autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in its logistics operations across the U.S. and Europe.  The AMRs, which are called Chuck, can aid in all put-away, picking, counting, replenishment and sorting tasks. Chuck has a payload of up to 200 lb. and can run 24/7 with its charging technology. The robot doesn’t need any wires, cables or stickers to navigate, which means they can be put into any warehouse without adding new infrastructure. It can move on all kinds of warehouse floors, including rack-supported mezzanine.   “6 River Systems’ Chucks provide a huge boost to the retention of our team members and deliver a substantial sustained increase in operational productivity,” Sandeep Sakharkar, Chief Information Officer at GXO, said. “This ag...

Well, here’s something you don’t see everyday. Engineers at Rice University are turning dead spiders into mechanical grippers. The dead wolf spiders are being tested to show they can reliably lift more than 130% of their own body weight. The researchers said this is the first step toward a novel area of research they call “necrobotics.” According to the researchers, unlike people and other mammals that move their limbs by synchronizing opposing muscles, spiders use hydraulics. A chamber near their heads contracts to send blood to limbs, forcing them to extend. When the pressure is relieved, the legs contract. Internal valves in the spiders’ hydraulic chamber, or prosoma, allow them to control each leg individually. Watch the video at the top of this page to see a demo of the technology. “The dead spider isn’t controlling these valves,” said Daniel Preston, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, Rice’s George R. Brown School of Engineering. “They’re all open. That worked o...

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) have developed a learning method for robots that allows them to perform household tasks after watching a person do them just once. | Source: Carnegie Mellon University A research team from Carnegie Mellon University’s (CMU) School of Computer Science has developed a new method for robots to learn called WHIRL, which stands for In-the-Wild Human Imitating Robot Learning.  WHIRL is an efficient algorithm for one shot visual imitation. With WHIRL, a robot can learn to perform household tasks just watching a person perform them.  The CMU team added a camera and its algorithm to an off-the-shelf robot to test the abilities of its software. When testing the robot, the team found that it was able to perform over 20 tasks after watching someone perform them just one time.  The robot learned how to do things like opening and closing appliances, cabinets, doors and drawers, putting a lid on a pot, pushing in a chair and taking ...

Youibot has a wide array of autonomous mobile robots for a number of different applications. | Credit: Youibot Chinese autonomous mobile robot (AMR) maker Youibot recently joined the International Foundation of Robotics (IFR). The IFR’s goal is to connect the world of robotics around the globe. The general purpose of the IFR is to act as a focal point for organizations and governmental representatives in activities related to robotics. The IFR provides worldwide market data for surveys, studies and statistics. Participation in the IFR is voluntary, and the non-profit organization is well respected for its work promoting and shaping the international robotics industry. Historically, the IFR membership is made up primarily of industrial and collaborative robotic manipulator manufacturers. However, there is a growing segment of AMR providers who are joining the organization and contributing to the organization’s goals. The IFR produces annual reports highlighting the statistics ab...

An Argo AI autonomous vehicle driving down the road. | Photo Credit: Argo AI The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced this week that it’s establishing a two year federal advisory committee that will make recommendations on how to best innovate the transportation industry. The Transforming Transportation Advisory Committee (TTAC) will be made up of 25 members appointed by the DOT secretary for up to two year terms. The TTAC will make recommendations on how the DOT can best handle emerging technologies. The DOT set out six issues for the committee to focus on:  Explore pathways to deploying emerging technologies in safe, secure, equitable, environmentally friendly and accessible ways.  Find ways to promote cross-modal integration of emerging technologies, particularly in deploying automation.  Recommend policies that encourage innovation, support a safe and productive workforce and foster economic competitiveness and job quality.  Assess approach...

Image from Medical Microsintruments Robotic microsurgery company  Medical Microinstruments  announced today that it raised $75 million in a Series B financing round. Pisa, Italy–based Medical Microinstruments plans to use proceeds from the financing round, along with its planned U.S. presence, to move into its next stage of growth through expanded indications and ongoing commercialization efforts for its Symani microsurgery system. The company designed Symani to address the challenges of microsurgery with the NanoWrist instruments for accessing and suturing small, delicate anatomy, such as veins, arteries, nerves and lymphatic vessels as small as 0.3mm in diameter. It provides motion scaling and tremor reduction to allow precise micro-movements. Symani received CE mark in 2019, and the company intends to accelerate commercialization in the U.S. and Asia-Pacific, as well as advance clinical research through an FDA investigational device exemption (IDE) pivotal study. “Th...

Based on the principle of echolocation as seen in bats, Toposens ECHO ONE compensates the drawbacks of optical sensors through sound-based triangulation in combination with sophisticated noise-filtering software. | Credit: Toposens Munich based high-tech startup Toposens is announcing the market launch of its first commercial Toposens 3D collision avoidance system for mobile robots based on the proprietary Toposens 3D ultrasonic echolocation technology. This represents a key milestone for the company following more than seven years of R&D and product commercialization. Addressing the unmet need for higher safety of mobile robots in industrial settings, the Toposens 3D Ultrasonic Echolocation Sensor ECHO ONE and Toposens processing unit with sophisticated filters for 3D collision avoidance is now available, having been run through rigorous commercial testing in real-life industrial scenarios with reputable mobile robotic companies. This kind of “co-developing” of a high-tech pr...

ForSight Robotics’ ORYOM platform wants to make eye surgery more accessible. | Source: ForSight Robotics ForSight Robotics raised $55 million in Series A funding for its surgical robot platform ORYOM that the company said can perform fully robotic cataract surgeries. Cataract surgeries are some of the most common ophthalmic (eye) surgeries worldwide, with around 28 million procedures performed a year .  However, ForSight aims to eventually make all eye surgeries more accessible through its platform. Ophthalmic surgeries can prevent many of the causes of blindness when performed early enough, but the surgeries themselves are intricate and complex. It can take years to master the skills, resulting in a shortage of ophthalmic surgeons. According to the British Journal of Ophthalmology , affluent nations have 72 eye surgeons per million people, while low-income nations average around 3.7 surgeons per million. ForSight said its ORYOM platform is ten times more accurate than a huma...

Global professional services company Accenture is acquiring Eclipse Automation , a provider of custom automation and robotics solutions for manufacturing applications. Accenture said the acquisition will enable it to offer automated production lines that leverage the cloud, data and artificial intelligence (AI). Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Based in Ontario, Canada, Eclipse Automation creates automated manufacturing systems for life sciences, industrial equipment, automotive, energy and consumer goods companies. Its technologists and engineers design, build, integrate and service advanced automation solutions for producing components and devices such as electric vehicle batteries and wearable blood-glucose monitors. Founded in 2001, it has offices in Canada, the US, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland and Malaysia. Eclipse Automation’s approximately 800 employees will join Accenture’s digital engineering and manufacturing service, Industry X .     “Ma...