Global Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

NVIDIA DRIVE OS is an operating system for in-vehicle accelerating computing power. | Source: NVIDIA TÜV SÜD has determined that NVIDIA’s DRIVE OS 5.2 software meets the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 26262 Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL) B standard, which targets functional safety in road vehicles’ systems, hardware and software.  NVIDIA DRIVE OS is an operating system for in-vehicle accelerating computing powered by the NVIDIA DRIVE platform. DRIVE OS is the foundation of NVIDIA’s DRIVE SDK, which includes NVIDIA’s CUDA libraries for efficient parallel computing, the NVIDIA Tensor RT SDK for real-time AI inferencing and the NvMedia library for sensor input processing, among other developer tools and modules.  To meet the standard, NVIDIA’s software had to be able to detect failures during operation, and be developed in a process that handles potential systematic faults along the whole V-model, this includes everything from safety requir...

ARO field employees setup and maintain a delivery robot at the Cincinnati airport. | Credit: ARO We write often about the benefits of Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) here at The Robot Report, highlighting companies like Locus Robotics , who are building a strong business around RaaS. For automation buyers, RaaS changes the entire purchase process from a capital expenditure (CAPEX) decision, into an operating expense (OPEX) decision. This shortens the decision process (or the sales process for the robot manufacturer) and reduces the risk for the automation client. A RaaS contract guarantees the performance of the solution and enables the client to quickly scale up with additional robots (if the solution is successful) or easily return the solution if it is unsuccessful. Either way, RaaS is changing the vendor/customer dynamic and reducing barriers to entry for new robotic solutions. When there is no capital expenditure required, the purchase decision process can often be made quicker,...

Robots are being deployed into a number of new applications and markets. New business models are emerging to help make robots successful in their operations. What is a Robotic Service Provider? As the number of applications and the market for robotic solutions grows, robotic service providers (RSP) are emerging as an option for operating commercial robots. So what is a robotic service provider? The answer starts by understanding the difference between the traditional capital equipment selling cycle and the concept of a subscription service selling model. In the enterprise software market the subscription service business model is known as software as a service (SaaS). In the robotics world, a subscription-based service model is known as robots as a service (RaaS). A company selling its solutions in a RaaS contract doesn’t sell the robot to the client, but rather the client pays for the service provided by the robot. This means that the client doesn’t need to be a robotics exper...

Pony.ai robotaxi in Beijing. | Credit: Pony.ai Pony.ai  and Baidu announced that they have been issued a fully driverless autonomous vehicle road test permit by the Beijing Intelligent Connected Vehicle Policy Pilot Zone. With this new permit, Pony.ai will test ten driverless robotaxis in the pilot zone in Yizhuang, Beijing, over an area of 20 square kilometers (7.7 square miles). The Pony.ai robotaxis will be tested in difficult traffic situations in cities. The autonomous vehicles will be tested without anyone in the vehicle; a safety officer will monitor the test vehicles remotely. As with the other regulatory approvals in Beijing over the past year, Pony.ai is one of only two AV companies to get approval in the first group. In addition to receiving the driverless permit in Beijing, Pony.ai received a permit in April 2022 to begin testing fully driverless vehicles in Guangzhou , laying the groundwork for future driverless applications and commercial operations. Over the pa...

This year, we covered nearly 50 mergers and acquisitions worth billions of dollars. The SPAC craze of 2021 seemingly came to a crashing halt, but there was still plenty of M&A activity. Below are 10 robotics acquisitions, in chronological order, that stood out to us in 2022 and two notable mergers. Take a look back at the notable acquisitions of 2021 . Subscribe to The Robot Report  Newsletter  or listen to  The Robot Report Podcast to stay updated on the robotics stories you need to know about. For all the mergers and acquisitions, check out our special section. Aptiv acquires Wind River Date Announced: Jan. 11, 2022 Amount: $3.5B Aptiv kicked off the year with a bang, announcing it was acquiring Wind River for $4.3 billion . The deal just closed on Dec. 23, but at a lower price point of $3.5 billion. The companies said the price was amended because of certain changes in Wind River’s operating structure required to bring the regulatory approval process to a ...

Every driver will, inevitably, face unexpected hazards on the road, like other drivers running red lights or suddenly changing lanes. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) are no different, and AV developers have to find ways to prepare their autonomous drivers for as many unexpected events as possible.  Waymo , the self-driving unit of Google-parent Alphabet, recently gave some insight into how it trains its Waymo Driver to avoid collisions on the road. The company recently published a paper detailing how it judges good collision avoidance performance, how it identifies the right set of scenarios to test and the testing tools it has developed to evaluate the Waymo Driver’s performance.  Waymo is currently operating fully driverless robotaxi services in Chandler, Arizona, Downtown Phoenix and San Francisco, but before rolling out any of those services, the company tested its Driver extensively. To determine whether its Driver is ready, Waymo compares its performance against the perform...

We kicked off 2022 by asking robotics experts to give us their predictions for the year to come. We heard back from a number of industry leaders including Juan Aparicio, the VP of product development at READY Robotics, Adam Rodnitzky, the COO and co-founder of Tangram Vision, and Deepu Talla, the VP and general manager of embedded and edge computing at NVIDIA.  Now, we’re looking back at some of the predictions they made and how they played out in the robotics industry.  Robot deployments will continue to grow While the experts we heard from had a number of different predictions about what changes they expected to see in the robotics industry, many of them agreed on one thing: robotics deployments would continue to grow in 2022. The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) releases information about industrial robot installments across the world. In 2021, the IFR’s report showed that there were 517,385 new industrial robots installed in the year , an all-time high for ...

Aerones , a company that creates robots that scrub and inspect wind turbines, brought in $38.9 million in funding, according to TechCrunch . The funding came from dozens of undisclosed investors, and the company hopes to bring in $2.5 million more, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Aerones uses robots operated by three Aerons technicians. The robots clean the towers and blades of wind turbines, which can leak hundreds of liters of oil causing corroded blades, increased wind resistance and pollution in the ground below.  The robots blast the blades and towers with a liquid biodegradable detergent. As the robot cleans, the water used for cleaning is collected by skits and belts and pumped into a filtering station. Once the water is filtered, it can be safely reused. Aerones’ robots also use cameras and ultrasound scanners to inspect the turbine.  Aerones claims its robots can help minimize downtime on wind turbines by 4-6 times and r...

The robotics industry had its fair share of memorable moments in 2022. Here we take a look back at our picks for the most memorable robotics stories of the year. The list is comprised of moments that made us laugh and cringe, as well as moments that left us surprised or amazed at the capabilities of various robots. What did we miss? Please let us know in the comments what you’ll remember most from 2022. Subscribe to The Robot Report Newsletter to stay updated on the robotics stories you need to know about. First audio of Martian dust devil According to NASA, nearly every Mars rover has experienced dust devils. But the Perseverance rover is the first to capture audio of one. In December 2022, NASA released the audio, adding that it could help scientists better understand how dust might affect future Mars missions. NASA said capturing a passing dust devil takes some luck, adding that this first-of-its-kind recording was around a 1-in-200 shot. Scientists can’t predict when they...

There are  many reasons robotics companies fail . From an ill-conceived idea to poor execution or the inability to raise funding, building and running a sustainable robotics company is challenging. This is never a fun recap to write. We don’t want to see startups fail, but inevitably many do. The last couple of years have been especially difficult thanks to a global pandemic, economic uncertainties and ongoing supply chain issues. But perhaps some lessons can be learned from those that couldn’t survive a global pandemic or supply chain issues. Here are some of the robotics companies we’ll, unfortunately, remember losing in 2022. Argo AI (2016-2022) Argo AI, the self-driving company previously backed by Ford and Volkswagen, abruptly closed its doors in October . For most, this will be the most surprising shutdown on the list. When news broke about the shutdown, Ford said its plan was to shift its focus away from funding Argo AI’s development of Level 4 autonomous driving techno...

Jama Software has released an updated version of its Jama Connect specifically for robotics deployments. | Source: Jama Software Jama Software launched Jama Connect for Robotics, a set of frameworks, example projects and procedural, export and configuration documents that aim to help teams reduce robot deployment times.  “Jama Software is proud to release a first-of-its-kind solution to the market that caters to all companies innovating and developing robotics applications,” Tom Tseki, the Chief Revenue Officer of Jama Software, said. “Jama Connect for Robotics enables companies to rapidly innovate, reduce risk, implement Live Traceability, and optimize their systems development process.” Jama Connect for Robotics includes a robotics dataset, a procedural guide to functional safety based on IEC 61508 , an industrial standard for robotics product development, and other relevant guides. With Jama Connect, developers have access to comprehensive reporting to better document the ...

Robot simulation (left) and physical robot (right) programmed using the RoboDK API for Matlab. | Credit: RoboDK The RoboDK API for Matlab enables robot programmers to develop programs and simulate the motions using Matlab code. This API provides the tools to work offline using Matlab. The program can then be run on a simulated robot to check its validity before running on a physical robot. Matlab is a powerful programming environment that provides the functions to calculate complex paths, kinematics, and other high-level mathematic operations. RoboDK is a powerful and cost-effective simulator for industrial robots and robot programming. RoboDK supports more than 700 robots and more than 50 robot manufacturers, including robots like ABB, Fanuc, Yaskawa, Universal Robots, Motoman, Staubli, and more. RoboDK is a robust simulation and offline programming tool. | Credit: RoboDK There are two primary classes provided by the RoboDK API for Matlab : The Robolink class is the li...

SafeAI announced that it brought in $38 million in Series B funding. The company offers robotic retrofit kits for construction and mining vehicles.  SafeAI plans to use the funding to accelerate its autonomous vehicle technology roadmap and to scale operations globally to support its growing customer base and deliver on contractual milestones. The company plans to expand its developer and engineering teams. SafeAI especially wants to fill the position of Chief Technology Officer to lead its efforts in the autonomous vehicle engineering space.  “Autonomy has existed in mining for more than two decades—but its growth has stalled when it needed to skyrocket. I founded SafeAI to change that,” Bibhrajit Halder, founder and CEO at SafeAI, said. “We’ve designed a flexible, interoperable, scalable retrofit model to enable companies across heavy industry to uplevel their operations. The mining industry has been successfully implementing Autonomy on a limited scale for years. Our ap...