Global Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

Motional’s all-electric IONIQ 5-based autonomous vehicle has hit the streets in Las Vegas. | Source: Motional Motional and Lyft launched an autonomous ride-hailing service in Las Vegas last week. Motional rolled out its all-electric IONIQ 5-based autonomous vehicle (AV) for public use for the first time. The companies plan to begin fully driverless ride-hailing services in Las Vegas in 2023 before scaling to other cities.  Motional’s IONIQ 5 AV is the first all-electric AV in Lyft’s network. The company worked directly with its parent company, Hyundai, to design the IONIQ 5 specifically as a driverless ride-hail vehicle. The all-electric mid-size crossover is powered by a 77.4 kWh battery system.  The vehicles can be hailed using the Lyft app, which riders can use to unlock the vehicle’s doors when it pulls up. Riders can take their time getting settled, and press a button on the app to tell the car they’re ready to start the trip.  The IONIQ 5 AV is equipped with ...

Boston Dynamics’ Spot quadruped is designed to move across a facility to gather real-time information about different assets. | Source: Boston Dynamics Boston Dynamics announced the latest update for its Spot quadruped. Boston Dynamics said Spot 3.2 includes built-in data processing and review, an improved data collection pipeline and a better operator experience, among other updates. Spot 3.2 equips the quadruped with out-of-the-box processing capabilities for thermal inspection. Spot CAM+IR allows users to get more data on the health of their assets, see inspection results, create alerts for when assets go out of bounds and see data trendlines on the Scout API. With new built-in tablet controls, users can set minimum and maximum temperatures on specific regions of interest. If Scout picks up on anything outside of those temperatures, it will trigger an alarm. Users can also select email or mobile alerts for when equipment goes out of the set bounds. They can also adjust span an...

The Yaskawa GP8L robot. | Source: Yaskawa The versatile, extended-reach Yaskawa GP8L robot is designed to offer extremely fast performance in a compact footprint, maximizing floorspace utilization for greater production efficiency. Built to be ideal for logistics processes, this six-axis robot is well-suited for high-speed bin picking, induction and packaging tasks. Applications for assembly, dispensing, material handling and machine tending are also supported. The long-reach, slim-body design provides a broad working envelope and the ability to delve deeply into tight workspaces, and a wide wrist motion range eliminates interference. This, combined with exceptionally fast axis speeds and acceleration capabilities, improves application flexibility for a wide variety of industrial tasks. Highly reliable, the space-efficient GP8L allows for minimum installation space, greatly reducing interference with peripheral devices. This enables the six-axis robot to be placed in close proxim...

Researchers were able to use DayDreamer to teach a quadruped to walk in just an hour, and even taught it to withstand pushes and roll back onto its feet quickly. | Source DayDreamer, a reinforcement-learning (RL) artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm created by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley , can teach a quadruped to walk in just one hour. The algorithm helps robots quickly learn tasks like picking, navigating or walking by using a world model. The world model allows the AI algorithm to learn more quickly than using RL alone without needing to interact with an AI simulator. It was successfully used to train a Unitree Robotics A1 Quadruped to roll off its back and walk in just an hour, a Universal Robot UR5 manipulator and a UFACTORY xArm 6 to complete a pick-and-place task in around 10 hours, and a Sphero Ollie mobile robot a navigation task in two hours. DayDreamer uses neural networks to interact with the environment. It uses this information to le...

Dexterity robots performing parcel handling operations. | Source: Dexterity Dexterity announced it’s establishing a strategic partnership with Dematic. Through the partnership, Dematic will offer Dexterity’s full-task robots as part of its intelligent automation solutions. Dematic will sell and deploy Dexterity’s robots globally and facilitate its entry into the European market. Dexterity offers a software-as-a-service (SaaS) robotic platform that turns standard industrial robot arms into full-task robots with a sense of touch and vision, and the ability to learn and multitask. To date, its robots have picked over 37 million goods in warehouses across the United States. The partnership brings together Dexterity’s robotics technology and Dematic’s expertise in advanced supply chain solutions to provide fully integrated, autonomous and scalable solutions to the market. Dematic will offer everything from specific subsystems to complete operations. “Dexterity-powered robots have inc...

Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) are one of the most exciting technologies in the robotics and automation sector. AMR deployments in warehouse and industrial operations are surging, and this growth is expected to continue to increase for the foreseeable future.  In 2021, more than 100,000 mobile robots, including automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), were shipped globally , according to a recent report from  Interact Analysis . Overall, the number of robots shipped in 2021 rose 70% from the year before, which resulted in a 36% increase in revenue.  While AMRs are experiencing significant acceptance in warehouses and manufacturing facilities, the technology is far from mainstream. In addition, new classes of AMRs and enabling technologies continue to come to market, often at a bewildering pace. For companies that are evaluating AMRs, as well as firms that have deployed AMRs previously, the selection and implementation of AMR solutions can...

Dr. Maximilian Kückelhaus presenting the Symani Surgical System in a dry-run training session. The operations robot on the right is networked with the robotic microscope on the left. | Source: University of Münster Researchers at the University of Münster’s Center for Musculoskeletal Medicine have completed five surgeries over the course of two months using their Symani Surgical System. The system performs completely robot-supported microsurgical operations on humans.  The system uses a unique operations robot specially designed for microsurgery, which is networked with a robotic microscope. These two robots make it possible for the surgeon to be completely taken out of the operating area.  “This new method for operations enables us to work with a much higher degree of delicacy and precision than is possible with conventional operating techniques,” Maximilian Kückelhaus, a scientist who led the team, said. “As a result, less tissue is destroyed and patients recover faste...