Global Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

Doodle Labs’ Sense technology helps robotic systems like drones remain connected when they encounter signal interference in the field. | Source: Doodle Labs Doodle Labs has released Sense, a new feature set for the company’s multi-band Mesh Rider Radios that addresses the challenges of interference for long-range, mission-critical robotics, and connected teams applications for a more resilient datalink.  Sense aims to help dismounted connected teams and advanced robotic systems like drones and uncrewed ground vehicles stay connected when they encounter signal interference in the field. This interference can threaten connectivity and hinder performance and can include anything from interference from WiFi devices in urban areas or active jamming attempts in the field of battle. These lapses in connectivity can interrupt the transmission of critical payloads, like video or scan data, or even command-and-control of a robotic system. Sense is engineered to actively monitor in-band...

Gecko Robotics , a robotics company that helps organizations operate and maintain their physical assets, announced the official launch of the company’s Cantilever product. The solution integrates data from Gecko’s various robotic, fixed-sensor, and partner systems into a software platform that enables unparalleled analysis and decision-making about asset health. By bringing together data layers that were not previously possible, Cantilever drives important decisions for customers that increase uptime, decrease costs, and eliminate safety issues. “Cantilever is designed to become the primary operating system for the physical world,” Jake Loosararian, CEO and Co-Founder of Gecko Robotics, said. “Every day, at hundreds of customer sites around the world, our robots are keeping power plants online, military assets ready, and factory doors open. That’s only possible because our robots and fixed sensor networks are collecting data at a quantity and quality that’s never been seen before. C...

The Icefin underwater robot has sonar, chemical, and biological sensors that help researchers learn more about sub-ice environments. | Source: Cornell University A research team led by Cornell University is using an underwater robot, called Icefin, to gain a better understanding of ice shelf crevasses.  Crevasses in ice play an important role in helping to circulate seawater beneath Antarctic ice shelves. This circulation can potentially influence the stability of the shelves, according to the research team. In particular, the team studied the Ross Ice Shelf, the largest ice shelf in Antarctica.  Icefin is a tube-shaped robot roughly 12 feet long and less than 10 inches around. It is equipped with thrusters, cameras, sonar, and sensors for measuring water temperature, pressure, and salinity. First deployed in 2019, the robot can climb up and down crevasses in the base of ice shelves. The robot revealed a new circulation pattern, a jet funneling water sideways through th...

Oliver Mitchell (left) with Amit Morat speaking at the Israel Robotics Meetup in Ramat Gan, Israel in June 2023. One could hear in the hallways of RoboBusiness murmurings of shock and disgust with the Hamas terrorist attacks still smoldering. Just eleven days prior, a sunny morning in Israel was marred by bloodshed and the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians. Consequently, the startup nation’s economy quickly spiraled. Almost overnight, some of the world’s most promising venture-backed companies lost on average 15% of their workforce to military reserve duty. At the same time, these founders displayed a resilience that illustrates the promise of a post-war valuation bump, doubling down efforts to increase sales and overseas staffing. To understand the full impact on the robotics industry, I spoke with Amit Moran, co-founder of Indoor Robotics  and the Israeli Robotics Meetup community (with 2500+ subscribers). Amit recently moved to Sunnyvale, California, far from the w...

The MARS surgical robot system. | Source: Levita Magnetics Levita Magnetics  announced the world’s first commercial use for its MARS magnetic-assisted robotic surgery platform. Dr. Matthew Kroh and Dr. Andrew Strong performed the first minimally invasive procedures with the system at the Cleveland Clinic. The procedures took place last month, just over a month after  the FDA cleared the MARS system . In a news release, Kroh said MARS could potentially “play a pivotal role in reshaping the landscape of abdominal procedures.” “MARS represents a noteworthy advancement and is part of the pathway to enhance minimally invasive surgery for healthcare institutions, surgeons, and most importantly, for patients,” said Kroh, the vice chair of innovation and technology at the Cleveland Clinic. “It’s also remarkably easy to use.” More about the Levita Magnetics MARS system Mountain View, California-based Levita designed the MARS platform for the high-volume abdominal surgery market...

Mecalux has unveiled a state-of-the-art technological solution to optimize order picking: an innovative collaborative robotic picking system based on the latest artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Mecalux’s new automated solution incorporates  Siemens ’ SIMATIC Robot Pick AI technology, a vision software that employs deep learning algorithms to significantly streamline picking in warehouses. With AI integrated into the programmable logic controller (SIMATIC S7-1500), the collaborative robot (cobot) performs order picking with total autonomy and maximum accuracy. This robotic picking system is the result of a solid alliance between Mecalux and Siemens, which merge their knowledge and experience in industrial automation technologies. The two companies have a long-standing collaboration in implementing technological solutions that respond to the challenges faced by the logistics industry. Mecalux has launched two collaborative picking solutions: a cobot programmed ...

Intel introduced its D456 depth camera at RoboBusiness , which took place last week in Santa Clara, Calif. The D456 is the second IP65-rated camera in Intel’s D400 stereo product line, adding a USB interface option for easier out-of-the-box integration. Intel said the RealSense D456 is based on its longest-range D455 USB camera with three global shutter sensors and IMU. The camera integrates an IMU to allow robots to refine their depth awareness in any situation where the camera moves. This allows for improved environmental awareness for robots and drones. The D456 has an IP65-rated enclosure, which is dust-tight and protected from projected water. According to Intel, the D456 is designed to address challenges for robot applications in outdoor and ruggedized environments. It features an ideal range of .6 meters to 6 meters with depth accuracy of <2% at 4 meters. Other specs of the RealSense D456 depth camera include: Depth Field of View: 87° × 58° Depth Stream Output Resol...

USA-based Skydio recently introduced the Skydio X10 drone featuring a customized Teledyne FLIR Boson+ thermal camera module at its Ascend Conference on September 20. Thanks to the Thermal by FLIR collaboration, professional public safety and critical infrastructure inspection pilots can now access the most advanced uncooled thermal imaging technology on the market. Earlier this year, Skydio pivoted from selling its drones to both consumers and enterprise markets to solely focusing on the needs of enterprise use cases such as inspection, surveying, etc. The Thermal by FLIR program is a cooperative product development and marketing program. It supports original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), such as Skydio, to integrate Teledyne FLIR thermal camera modules into products, along with go-to-market support for ensuing product innovations. The Skydio X10 includes a first-of-its-kind thermal imaging payload using a customized radiometric Boson+ thermal camera module, providing unmatched...

Microsoft and Rockwell Automation have announced an expanded partnership to leverage Generative AI capabilities for enhanced productivity and faster time-to-market. The first outcome of this collaboration will be adding Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service into FactoryTalk Design Studio to accelerate time-to-market for their customers building industrial automation systems.  Adding Azure OpenAI Service into FactoryTalk Design Studio helps engineers generate code using natural language prompts, automate routine tasks, and improve design efficiency. The collaboration will also empower seasoned engineers to accelerate development to more easily mentor newcomers on a learning path.  Additionally, the collaboration will help developers more easily find relevant help from vast collections of information.  “The explosive growth and interest in artificial intelligence is driving organizations to partner with Microsoft as a trusted cloud and AI provider,” Judson Althoff, executi...

Boston Dynamics’ Stretch robot can now pick multiple boxes simultaneously. This new ability, which the company calls Multipick, will help to improve the robot’s productivity to keep up with busy warehouses.  When approaching a trailer to unload, Stretch will decide how many boxes it might Multipick. It makes these decisions on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration the size, individual properties, and placement of the boxes. Stretch also considers the properties of groups of boxes, like how well-aligned they are. The robot will then determine if it would be best to pick one, two, or even three boxes at once.  To ensure that Stretch can securely acquire each individual box, Boston Dynamics has to ensure that the grip is exactly right on all of the boxes and that all the suction cups on Stretch’s gripper are engaged. Once the robot determines a grasp plan based on which boxes it wants to pick, that information is passed to the gripper control so it knows which sucti...

Electric Sheep is a provider of autonomous large-scale outdoor maintenance. | Source: Electric Sheep In today’s fundraising environment with its intense focus on cash flow positive business models, robotics entrepreneurs are left navigating some thorny challenges: high CapEx costs, workflow and change management, and long enterprise deployment cycles to name a few. This is further exacerbated by the choice of a business model such as RaaS (Robotics as a Service), which on paper looks promising, but ends up forcing software-like expectations on what is fundamentally a very different business opportunity. However, in industries such as maintenance services that heavily depend on labor and are already mechanized, an alternative approach exists – if we can reframe the opportunity and promise of automation. Rethinking GTM: get paid to deliver outcomes, and use your profits to build robots to improve your own margins By acquiring established service-based companies or entering into se...

By Jorge Heraud, Vice President of Automation & Autonomy, John Deere Computer vision is extending the human senses. Whether it’s allowing cars to drive themselves, automating production lines for safety and efficiency, or allowing us to unlock our phones with our faces, computer vision can help make human work more productive and accurate. For centuries, farmers have used their senses to understand and work the land to grow the crops we depend on. But today, farmers must extend their senses even further to provide the food, fuel, and fiber needed for a growing population that’s expected to exceed 10 billion by 2050, increasing global food demand by 50%. Adding to the challenge, less than 2% of the U.S. population works in agriculture, and overall employment of agricultural workers is projected to grow just by 1% from 2019 to 2029. This means farmers have less help and more work to do in the coming years. Imagine taking care of an entire football field worth of plants — that is ...

The new American National Standard for Industrial Mobile Robots – Safety Requirements Part 2: Requirements for IMR system(s) and IMR application(s) is now available. This document is part 2 of a planned 3-part document series on the safety of industrial mobile robots (IMR). Part 1 defines what an IMR is, along with a number of terms and definitions that are useful in creating a common terminology for the industry.  It is also the first time that there is a definition of the safety considerations for mobile manipulators, or robotic systems in which an arm and gripper are mounted on a movable base. This document outlines the safety requirements that are specific to the adaptation of IMR systems for particular applications and their subsequent deployment at specific sites. Part 3, which will also be published independently, will outline the user requirements of the safe operation of IMRs and IMR systems.  The manufacturer and integrator each should furnish the user of the IMR...

NVIDIA has announced major expansions to two frameworks on its NVIDIA Jetson Platform for edge AI and robotics. These updates include NVIDIA’s new Jetson Generative AI Lab for developers to use with the latest open-source generative AI models, and that the NVIDIA Isaac ROS 2.0 robotics framework has entered general availability.  Currently, more than 10,000 companies are building robots on the NVIDIA Jetson platform, and those companies can now use generative AI, APIs, and microservices to accelerate industrial digitization. NVIDIA hopes that this new AI Lab will accelerate AI application development and deployments at the edge.  More and more, AI is being used to address increasingly complicated scenarios robots might find themselves in, and developers are being pushed to build AI applications for the edge. Reprogramming robots and AI systems on the fly to meet changing environments, manufacturing lines, and automation needs of customers can be time-consuming and requires...

California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) on Tuesday morning suspended immediately Cruise’s autonomous vehicle deployment and driverless testing permits. The DMV said the Cruise vehicles are a risk to the public based on a string of recent incidents and that the company “misrepresented” the safety of its robotaxis. California officials said Cruise, a division of General Motors, didn’t show regulators complete footage of an Oct. 2 incident in downtown San Francisco where a Cruise robotaxi dragged a woman after she was hit by a different car being driven by a human. The Cruise robotaxi was braking but couldn’t avoid striking the pedestrian who was struck by a hit-and-run driver. According to the DMV , Cruise withheld footage of the incident in which its robotaxi attempted to pull over while the pedestrian was under the vehicle, dragging her for around 20 feet at a speed of 7 MPH before stopping. “Footage of the subsequent movement of the AV to perform a pullover maneuver was n...

Cruise co-developed its Origin vehicle with GM and Honda. | Source: Cruise Cruise is working with GM and Honda to bring its autonomous robotaxi service to Japan. The companies have entered into a memorandum of understanding to establish a new joint venture to provide a driverless ride-hail service in Japan starting in early 2026.  In particular, Cruise plans to deploy its Cruise Origin vehicle. Co-developed with GM and Honda, the Cruise Origin is a purpose-built autonomous vehicle that can carry up to six passengers. It includes comfortable camp-fire seating and doesn’t have a steering wheel or pedals. GM will manufacture around 500 Origins for the launch of this new JV at Factory ZERO Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly plant in Michigan.  “GM has always been invested in defining the future of transportation and that’s more true today than ever,” GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra said. “The benefits of AVs — from safety to accessibility — are too profound to ignore and through this im...