Global Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

The Robotic Print and Apply Palletizer is designed to help meet new labeling requirements. Source: Dexterity Dexterity Inc. today launched its Robotic Print and Apply Palletizer, which it claimed “provides a one-robot workflow to ensure Amazon Routing, SSCC, or SKU barcodes are applied to each case in a pallet before shipment.” The company is targeting third-party logistics, retail, and consumer packaged goods operations that need case-level labeling. “We’ve seen the manual labeling workflow quickly turn into a bottleneck for our customers, compounding pallet operations challenges such as injury and turnover,” stated Cary Vadenavond, chief revenue officer at Dexterity, in a release . “ Dexterity  designed the Robotic Print and Apply Palletizer to help customers ensure their shipments go out on time and meet labeling requirements without further burdening their existing warehouse team.” Dexterity said its “full-stack” robots and artificial intelligence provide robots with human...

Unitree Robotics released a new version of its industrial quadruped called the Unitree B2 quadruped . This is an upgrade from the Unitree B1 quadruped and is designed for industrial inspection applications. The Unitree B2 quadruped features an enhanced lidar for obstacle detection and navigation. The B2 is also equipped with a quick-change battery with 45 Ah (2250 Wh) capacity. This provides the robot with a battery life of 4-6 hours. Unitree said this translates into operations when walking without a load greater than 5 hours and a mileage range of greater than 20km. When walking with a 20kg load, the battery life is greater than 4 hours and a mileage range greater than 15km. The Unitree B2 quadruped can be equipped with additional payloads to perform remote sensing. | Credit: Unitree Compared to the Unitree B1, the company said this is a 100% increase in sustained load and a 200% increase in endurance. There is also a 100% increase in continuous walking with a load greater tha...

A Cruise robotaxi failed to brake quickly enough behind a city bus in San Francisco in March 2023. | Source: Cruise Shortly after Kyle Vogt resigned as CEO of robotaxi company Cruise on November 19, General Motors released a statement that said it “made a bold commitment to autonomous vehicle technology” and that its “commitment to Cruise with the goal of commercialization remains steadfast.” That commitment is, understandably, starting to waver after serious safety incidents. General Motors , which acquired the company for $1 billion in 2016, said this week that it plans to cut spending on Cruise by “hundreds of millions of dollars in 2024.” San Francisco-based Cruise employs nearly 4,000 people. The slash in spending will result in additional layoffs and other cutbacks that will likely halt Cruise’s progress. GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra and CFO Paul Jacobson shared the grim details during a financial update yesterday. The conference call also discussed a new labor deal with...

ABB said the IRB 930 with OmniCore motion control can deliver a cycle time of 0.38 sec. Source: ABB ABB Robotics this month added the IRB 930 to its industrial SCARA robot portfolio. The company said it designed the new robot to meet the demands of new growth opportunities in traditional and new markets. The IRB 930 has three variants capable of handling payloads weighing 12 and 22 kg (26.4 and 48.5 lb., respectively). “Our latest SCARA addition broadens our portfolio, offering our customers even more automation choices,” said Marc Segura, president of ABB Robotics, in a release . “Whether 3C [computer, communication, and consumer electronics], automotive electronics, electric vehicle battery cells, or solar panels, our new IRB 930’s higher payload and longer reach brings the performance advantages of our wider SCARA range to new and traditional segments alike,” he said. “With the global SCARA market predicted to grow to $15.54 billion by 2027 at a compound annual growth rate of ...

Following a slowdown in revenues in 2023, the global warehouse automation market could experience some growth in 2024 and return to high growth in 2025. | Credit: Interact Analysis According to a recent study conducted by market intelligence firm Interact Analysis, the demand for warehouse automation will start to increase again in 2024 following a challenging year in 2023, albeit at a minimal growth rate. Interact Analysis also projected that revenues from warehouse automation will rise in 2024 and subsequently experience a resurgence in double-digit growth rates starting in 2025. Due to the pandemic and historically low interest rates in 2019 and 2020, there was a notable rise in e-commerce orders, it said. This, in turn, resulted in a surge in the construction of warehouses and a upswing in sales of warehouse automation. Warehouses to overcome post-pandemic e-commerce slump Since then, a deceleration of e-commerce sales and the increase in interest rates has led to a decreas...

The new UR30 cobot arm from Universal Robots. Universal Robots has long been the leading developer of collaborative robot arms. Earlier in November 2023, the Danish company upped the production capacity of its UR20 cobot arm to keep up with customer demand. And today at iREX in Tokyo, Universal Robots unveiled its latest product: the UR30 cobot arm . Built on the same architecture as the UR20 , the UR30 cobot arm offers more payload capacity in a compact footprint. With a 30 kg (66.13 lb.) lifting capacity, 1,300 mm (51.2 in.) reach, and weight of 63.5 kg (139.9 lb.), the company said the UR30 can tend larger machines, palletize heavy products and support high-torque screwdriving. Anders Billesø Beck, vice president of strategy and innovation at Universal Robots, told The Robot Report that the UR30 has been in development for more than a year. He said that, despite the popularity of the UR20, some customers wanted a robot with a smaller footprint and a higher payload capacity. ...

COBRA is among the Institute for Experiential Robotics. Credit: Matthew Modoono, Northeastern University BOSTON — Robots in Northeastern University’s new EXP building wield chopsticks, rotate platforms and look like snakes. Roboticists at the Institute for Experiential Robotics’ lab said they are conducting transformative research. The robots are handling chopsticks for precise manipulation. Research continues with a snake-like robot created for NASA’s BIG Idea Challenge that can navigate in sandy environments like the moon. And the lab has fabrication rooms for electronics, 3D printing, and laser cutting. The new space takes up the majority of the first level of the eight-story science and engineering complex on the university ‘s Boston campus. Its high bay area is about the size of a basketball court. It is decked out with robotics systems spanning the technological gamut, including collaborative robots, industrial robot arms, mobile robots, drones, virtual reality systems, and ...

SCHUNK said its pneumatic positioning device makes pneumatic grippers more flexible through free positioning, gripping force and speed adjustment. | Credit: SCHUNK SCHUNK released a pneumatic positioning device (PPD) that it said allows free pneumatic positioning with pneumatic grippers. SCHUNK said this solution is designed for any gripper application that requires flexibility, including robot applications that move workpieces of different sizes or in close proximity to each other. Developed as an accessory for pneumatic grippers, the PPD is controlled via IO-Link. Together with a position sensor, any position of the gripper fingers can be approached. SCHUNK said this overcomes the gripper open/gripper closed principle. The system set-up consists of just three components: the PPD, a positioning sensor and a standard gripper. According to SCHUNK, the setup means neither modifications nor special variants of the gripper are necessary. With the PPD, this new dimension of gripping c...

An edited image showing an iRobot roomba with Amazon branding. | Source: iRobot, Amazon The European Commission shared an update on its investigation into Amazon.com Inc.’s $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot Corp. The EC informed Amazon yesterday that its preliminary view is that the acquisition may restrict competition in the market for robot vacuum cleaners.  iRobot shares have had a volatile week. On Friday, its shares were up 34% when Reuters reported that the EC was set to give unconditional approval for the acquisition. Reuters cited three people familiar with the matter in its reporting.  However, the company’s shares dropped 17% on Monday when the EC made its preliminary statement . The commission first opened its investigation into the acquisition in July and is expected to rule on the deal by Feb. 14. Amazon first announced its plans to purchase iRobot in August 2022. The deal was quickly put on hold in September 2022, when the U.S. Federal Trade Commission...

For more than 10 years now, the RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards have recognized the most innovative and influential organizations in the robotics industry. WTWH Media’s Robotics Group is seeking nominations for the prestigious 2024 RBR50 list. Innovation may be difficult to quantify, but developers and startups are constantly striving to design and build new robots to serve commercial applications. The most successful innovations can rapidly influence a shifting and maturing industry. Each year, a team of experts selects the most interesting and important robotics innovations from around the world. The deadline for submissions is Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. Submit your nomination below. All the 2024 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award winners will be celebrated at a gala dinner at the Robotics Summit & Expo , which will be held on May 1-2 in Boston. Innovation categories to consider As in past years, the RBR50 Innovation Awards is looking for submissions in the following categori...