Global Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

Two yellow blaze African cichlid fish, the ones at the center of the University of Bristol team’s research for underwater robots. | Source: University of Bristol A research team led by the University of Bristol is studying fish sensory organs to better understand the cues they give to determine collective behavior. These researchers think these same cues could be used in swarms of underwater robots.  The team’s research is focused on the lateral line sensing organ found in African cichlid fish, but it can also be found in most fish species. This lateral line-sensing organ helps the fish sense and interpret water pressures around them. These organs are sensitive enough to detect external influences, like neighboring fish, changes in water flow, nearby predators and obstacles.  On fish, the lateral line system is distributed across the head, trunk and tail of the fish. It is made up of mechanoreceptors, or lateral line sensory units called neuromasts that are either withi...

Boston Dynamics is officially putting its Stretch robot into the hand of its customers. Its first commercial application is with DHL Supply Chain , a company that Boston Dynamics has been collaborating with since 2018, when it began developing Stretch. DHL Supply Chain was Boston Dynamics’ first Stretch customer back in January 2022 , when the company announced a $15 million deal with Boston Dynamics, and now a year later, we have a look at those robots being put to work in DHL warehouses.  In a video released by Boston Dynamics this morning, we see Stretch using its suction gripper to unload boxes from a shipping container and onto a flexible or telescopic conveyor belt that brings the packages to DHL employees for processing.  Once Stretch is set to start unloading, it does the work on its own without any interruption needed from DHL staff.  Even when Stretch drops a package, it readjusts its methods and picks it back up again. With a six and a half foot extended ...

Symbotic Inc. , a developer of A.I.-enabled robotics technology for the supply chain, announced financial results for its first fiscal quarter that ended December 24, 2022. Symbotic posted revenue of $206.3 million, a net loss of $68.0 million and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $16.3 million for the first quarter of fiscal year 2023. In the same quarter of fiscal year 2022, Symbotic had revenue of $77.1 million, a net loss of $23.1 million and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $21.3 million. “Symbotic achieved triple-digit revenue growth and added to our base of outsourcing partners during the first quarter. We are optimistic about our outlook and are poised for continued strong growth. Demand for our solutions continues to grow and our backlog increased to $12.0 billion in the quarter,” Symbotic Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Cohen said. “In addition to our 168% annual revenue growth, gross margin improved and operating expenses, excluding stock-based compensation, declined sequen...

Machina Labs , a company that uses robotics to manufacture advanced sheet metal products, announced that Lockheed Martin Ventures (LMV), the venture arm of Lockheed Martin Corporation, completed its investment in the company. The investment brings Machina Labs total funding to date to $21.8 million.  Machina Labs plans to use the funding to accelerate company growth to meet customer demands, and expand research and development to include more processes and metallurgical offerings.  “At Machina Labs, we are creating the factory of the future; one where a variety of designs and physical products can be produced on-demand and at scale,” Edward Mehr, CEO and Co-Founder of the company, said in a release. “With Lockheed Martin’s investment, we can accelerate [the] development of our sheet metal Roboforming to better serve the need of the defense sector and give the United States a competitive advantage in speed of development for national security and defense products.” “We aim ...

Universal Robots reported its highest annual revenue to date in 2022. | Source: Universal Robots Teradyne announced it brought in $3.15 billion in revenue in FY 2022. This marks the company’s second-biggest year in history, following 2021 . Its Industrial Automation Group , which includes Universal Robots (UR), Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR), and Energid , brought in $404 million.  This is a $28 million increase from the $376 million it brought in during 2021. In 2022, UR brought in $326 million, while MiR brought in $77 million.  “We delivered better than expected results in the fourth quarter on higher revenue and gross margins and lower expenses than planned,” Teradyne CEO Mark Jagiela said in a release. “Increased shipments of our Eagle products serving the automotive and industrial chip markets combined with stronger demand for UR cobots in the quarter drove the improved results.”  UR brought in $85 million in revenue in Q4 2022, slightly down from the $97 mi...

News:   US and EU to launch first-of-its-kind artificial intelligence agreement More Information:  https://artificial-intelligence-conferences.sciencefather.com/ Nominate Now: https://x-i.me/aircsent3 Contact us : ai@sciencefather.com 4th Edition of Global Conferences on Artificial Intelligence&Robotics,24-25👆 February 2023, Amsterdam "The magic here is in building joint models (while) leaving data where it is," the senior administration official said. "The US data stays in the US and European data stays there, but we can build a model that talks to the European and the US data because the more data and the more diverse data, the better the model." Many European countries have similar data points they gather relating to their own grids, the official said. Under the new partnership all of that data would be harnessed into a common AI model that would produce better results for emergency managers, grid operators and others relying on AI to improve systems. The pa...

The Intelligent Surgical Unit powers the Senhance surgical robot. | Credit: Asensus Surgical Asensus Surgical has received the CE mark for an expansion of machine vision capabilities with its surgical robot. The approval expands machine vision for the previously cleared Intelligent Surgical Unit (ISU) of the Senhance system. This regulatory nod makes the expanded ISU capabilities available across Europe, Japan and the U.S. The  FDA cleared the machine vision capabilities in September 2021 . According to Asensus, the approval also makes Senhance one of the first surgical robot systems approved through EU MDR. “We are thrilled to be able to offer these ground-breaking ISU capabilities to surgeons in the EU,” said Asensus President and CEO Anthony Fernando. “Surgeon feedback from the expanded feature set across the U.S. and Japan has been tremendous, and we look forward to partnering with new and existing customers to help bring advanced real-time intraoperative digital tools i...

Relay Robotics , a developer of mobile service robots for the hospitality, healthcare, and real estate industries, added three key executives to its product team. Matt Townsend joins as VP of software engineering, Eric Nguyen was named VP of product management and Jason Hu was named senior designer. “We’re excited to add Matt, Eric, and Jason to our product team just as we’re experiencing rapid growth and interest from some of the largest customers in hospitality, healthcare and corporate locations,” said Michael O’Donnell, Relay Robotics chairman & CEO. “Their 50-plus years of collective experience designing and building award-winning software and hardware products will enhance our strong team and bring new levels of innovation and speed to market.” Relay Robotics launched in May 2022 . It was formed by acquiring Savioke, a developer of mobile delivery robots. The people, intellectual property, the Relay product line, and all customer agreements all came over to Relay Robotic...

Cirtronics building a charging and data processing station for American Robotics’ drones. | Credit: Cirtronics Your manufacturer should feel like an extension of your business. Manufacturing relationships are just that – relationships. Since your contract manufacturer (CM) will be working alongside you, actively learning about your robotic system and the requirements specific to your company and application, your partnering decision needs to be deliberate and extend beyond bottom-line cost comparisons. The following key considerations are shared as a guide in supporting your selection of a manufacturer who will co-create a path – tailored to you and your robotic system – toward successful commercialization. Each step from onboarding to production should feel like it was made just for you, your priorities, and your product. So, what are the considerations for choosing a partner who feels like an extension of your business? And what kinds of engagement and interactions will support...

Scythe Robotics, a Colorado-based developer of autonomous lawnmowers for the professional landscape industry, raised $42 million in Series B financing. The round was led by Energy Impact Partners and included additional new investors ArcTern Ventures, Alumni Ventures and Amazon’s Alexa Fund, alongside participation from existing investors True Ventures, Inspired Capital and more. Scythe Robotics said the funding will help it meet demand for the more than 7,500 reservations for its all-electric, fully autonomous M.52 mower. Founded in 2018, this financing round brings the company’s total capital raised to date to $60.6 million. According to Scythe Robotics, the latest generation of Scythe M.52 can mow all day on a single charge. It features a suite of sensors that enable it to operate safely in dynamic environments by identifying and responding to the presence of humans, animals and other potential obstacles. Simultaneously, it captures property and mower performance data that hel...

Roin Technologies developed a shotcrete handling robot for the construction market. | Credit: Roin Tech San Francisco-based Built Robotics has acquired Roin Technologies. Roin is a three-year-old engineering company that has designed and built several robotic concrete finishing solutions, including a shotcrete robot and a concrete trowling robot. Built Robotics CEO and co-founder Noah Ready-Campbell said the acquisition is primarily an acqui-hire that will enable Built to accelerate its current roadmap of automated construction equipment. Roin co-founder and CEO Jim Delaney joined the Built engineering team along with the other engineers from Roin. Financial details of the acquisition were not released. Solar is hot Ready-Campbell said the solar utility infrastructure market is one of the hottest segments of the construction industry at the moment. He added that Built is well-positioned to help automate many of the construction processes here. “It’s emerged as a great use case...

Cepton’s Helius smart LiDAR system. | Source: Cepton Cepton , a Silicon Valley-based developer of LiDAR products, has raised $100 million from Koito Manufacturing Co., its automotive Tier 1 partner and current shareholder. The investment comes in the form of convertible preferred stock and was approved during a special meeting of Cepton stockholders. The investment will be convertible starting on the first anniversary of the issue date and can be converted into shares of Capton’s common stock at an initial conversion price of $2.585 per share. Cepton offers a range of LiDAR products that include the Vista-X family of automotive-grade LiDARs and its Sora-X family of industrial-grade LiDARs. The company also offers a smart LiDAR system called Helius. Helius combines Ception’s LiDAR technology with edge computing and perception software to provide 3D perception. It can be used for smart cities, smart spaces and other applications to provide object detection, tracking and classificati...

Deep Learning Robotics’ robot controller. | Source: DLR Deep Learning Robotics (DLR) has launched robot control software. The software allows users to teach robots tasks by simply demonstrating them.  “We are excited to introduce this cutting-edge technology to the world,” Aviv Vana , Marketing Director of DLR, said. “Our goal is to make it easy for anyone to unlock the full potential of robots, regardless of technical expertise. This revolutionary software will greatly expand the use and application of robots in various industries.” DLR’s software uses machine learning algorithms to allow robots to learn by observing and mimicking human actions. The software is designed with a user-friendly interface so that anyone with any level of robotic knowledge can teach the robots new tasks.  The system has the ability to tell the difference between a human hand and the objects it’s handling. This means it can automatically translate end-user demonstrations into robot control la...

Welcome to Episode 103 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. In this episode, we discuss Mike’s recent adventure at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2023. Steve and Mike recap the event, the types of robots that were at this years event, and difficulties covering so many interesting product. The podcast features interviews from CES 2023 with: Dan Haddick, Head of Product for Aeolus Robotics Tony Crisp, Chief Marketing Officer for Robosen Robotics Paul Mitchell, President and founder of Indy Autonomous Challenge Steve and Mike also discuss the capabilities of the Boston Dynamics Atlas robot that are demonstrated the recent video released this week. Links from today’s show: CES 2023 Recap story (The Robot Report) IAC 2023 recap story (The Robot Report) Boston Dynamics Atlas ...

Outrider’s autonomous yard trucks can automate operations in distribution yards. | Source: Outrider Outrider, a developer of autonomous yard operations for logistics hubs, announced that it raised $73 million in Series C financing, bringing the company’s total funding raised to $191 million.  The company plans to use the latest round of funding to expand its proprietary autonomy and safety technology portfolio, increase hiring both domestically and internationally and scale its yard automation solution with large customers. Outrider’s solution can be used for package shipping, retail, eCommerce, consumer packaged goods, grocery, manufacturing and intermodal industries.  “Outrider has consistently delivered breakthrough technology to automate one of the most inefficient links in the supply chain – the distribution yard,” Andrew Smith, CEO and founder of Outrider, said. “Our customers will move massive quantities of freight more efficiently, safely, and sustainably using Ou...

Soft Robotics grippers can acquire and move items that might be damaged by classic mechanical gripper fingers. | Credit: Soft Robotics Robots are finally getting a grip.  Developers have been striving to close the gap on robotic gripping for the past several years, pursuing applications for multibillion-dollar industries. Securely gripping and transferring fast-moving items on conveyor belts holds vast promise for businesses.  Soft Robotics , a Bedford, Mass. startup, is harnessing NVIDIA Isaac Sim to help close the sim to real gap for a handful of robotic gripping applications. One area is perfecting gripping for pick and placement of foods for packaging.  Food packaging and processing companies are using the startup’s mGripAI system which combines soft grasping with 3D Vision and AI to grasp delicate foods such as proteins, produce, and bakery items without damage. “We’re selling the hands, the eyes and the brains of the picking solution,” said David Weatherwax...

The goal of Ottonomy.io is to innovate and open the way for effective and environmentally friendly delivery operations. Ottonomy successfully demonstrated autonomous deliveries using its worldwide pilots in 2022 over a variety of terrain and in a variety of adverse weather situations in order to offer long-term solutions for automating deliveries for several use cases at scale. “During the validation processes we ran pilots with airports, retailers and postal services which gave us the deep insights we needed on the most effective use cases and scalability,” says Ritukar Vijay, CEO and co-founder of Ottonomy.IO. “With our strategic partnerships, we are in the prime position to fill the gap that companies like Amazon and Fedex were not able to. As demand and the use cases for autonomous unassisted delivery continue to grow, we are positioned to provide robots-as-a-service for restaurants, retailers and beyond.” Ottobot Yeti making an unattended delivery. | Credit: Ottonomy.io Lau...

Sean Wallingford, the new President and CEO of Swisslog America. | Source: Swisslog Swisslog, a provider of warehouse automation and software and KUKA subsidiary, has named Sean Wallingford as its new President and CEO of Swisslog Logistics. The company hopes that Wallingford will help to take advantage of additional growth opportunities in the Americas and expand the company’s market position in the region.  “Swisslog’s portfolio is well positioned for growth in the Americas. We see the most potential for this growth and customer value in three main areas. First is our integrated solutions, including robot-based applications like our ACPaQ mixed case palletizer. Second is standardized ASRS applications, including our CarryPick order picking solution and AutoStore. Third is intelligent software, such as our SynQ management software,” Wallingford said. “I’m excited to support our customers with the advanced automation solutions and software they need to keep their supply chains ...