SoftBank and Huawei jointly demonstrated various use cases for their forthcoming 5G network. 5G commercial services, which will provide ultra-high throughput robot control of over 800 Mbps with ultra-low latency transmission of less than 2ms, will begin being rolled out in 2020 in Japan and Korea and 2021-2023 in China, Europe and the U.S. 5G…
Omron’s ping-pong bot wants to soften the robot-human interaction
Japanese robotics company Omron has developed a robotic ping-pong system that looks to approach the human-robot interaction on a gentler level, according to a report from The Verge. The Forpheus robot, in its 4th generation, was recently shown at the CEATAC trade show with updates that include a companion arm to serve balls in the…
MIT researchers develop VR teleoperation robot control system
Researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have developed a virtual-reality system to allow remote operation of complex robotic machinery through the use of an Oculus Rift headset, according to a report from MIT. The platform functions around a VR control room that allows the operator to control the robot by taking the…
Robotic hair transplant dev Restoration Robotics raises $25m in IPO
Robotic hair restoration company Restoration Robotics raised $25 million in an initial public offering and saw its shares rise nearly 40% after its debut, according to a Silicone Valley Business Journal report. The 91-person company, co-founded by surgical robotics pioneer Fred Moll, sold 3.6 million shares at $7 each, then proceeded to open at $8.55…
Industrial cleaning equipment maker Nilfisk goes public
Danish Nilfisk Holding A/S began being listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange under symbol NLFSK after being spun off from NKT A/S, a Danish conglomerate. Nilfisk is one of the world’s leading suppliers of professional cleaning equipment with a strong brand and a vision for growth in robotics.
Flirtey Wants Drones to Deliver Defibrillators in Nevada
Flirtey and REMSA have partnered to use drones to delivery automated external defibrillators to victims of cardiac arrest in Nevada. Before the partnership can take off, however, the companies need to get regulatory approval.
Robotic rehab-focused exoskeleton dev Wandercraft raises $18m Series B
Robotic exoskeleton developer Wandercraft has raised $17.8 million in a Series B funding round, according to a ZDNet report. Funds from the round are slated to support certifications and regulatory clearances necessary to bring the exoskeleton to market, according to the report. The Paris-based company claims that its exoskeleton is the 1st to have managed…
How Many Robots Does it Take to Screw in a Light Bulb?
Watch a Fetch robot with a custom soft robotic gripper use a screwdriver, screw in a lightbulb, remove a bottle cap and more.
Robotic food-prep biz Zume raises $48m in Series B
Robotic food-preparation business Zume has raised $48 million in a Series B round of financing, according to an SEC filing posted by the company. The Mountain View, Calif.-based start-up is looking to raise a total of $50 million to support its robotics platform, according to a TechCrunch report. “We’ve recently closed a round from leading…
GM picks up lidar dev Strobe
General Motors last week purchased Pasadena, Calif.-based startup Strobe and its laser-based lidar imaging technology, according to an LA Times report. Lidar technology is an essential part of autonomous vehicle’s navigation platforms, and allow for identifying objects and avoiding collisions, but has been costly and kept self-driving cars from seeing larger deployment, according to GM…
Un-man the Decks: How autonomous shipping vessels could reshape the waterways
Autonomous transportation isn’t only hitting the roads and airways, but the vast oceans and seas of the world – and its bringing with it the potential to significantly lower costs and improve safety for the nearly $350 billion shipping industry, according to a CBInsights report. Industrious entrepreneurs, large corporations and government bodies are beginning to…
Sony backs Acutronic Robotics’ hardware robot operating system
Sony is investing in Acutronic Robotics‘ Series A round, via its Sony Innovation Fund. Sony will also adopt Acutronic’s Hardware Robot Operating System (H-ROS), for use in its own robotics division, the company says. This funding follows investment by DARPA in Acutronic’s platform, which aims to become an industry standard for robotics components from across…
Automation in Everyday Life
Specifically, 2% of Americans report that they have ever personally lost a job because their employers replaced their positions with a machine or computer program. Another 5% report that they have ever had their pay or hours reduced for the same reason. Taken together, that works out to 6% of U.S. adults who report having…
Sterilizable motors available for arthroscopic, ear nose and throat (ENT), and orthopedic applications
Portescap’s newest surgical motor for large-bone orthopedic powered hand tools is a size 12 (31.5 mm diameter) mini motor available in 9.6-V, 12-V and 14.4-V. With cannulated and non-cannulated options, these motors can deliver peak torques of up to 1,720 mNm in a compact envelope. These drives are suitable for various applications such as orthopedic…
The robot converts surgeons’ hand motions into super precise, steady movements.
Surgeons in the Netherlands recently performed a procedure requiring immense precision as it’s carried out on super tiny blood and lymphatic vessels. The surgery is extremely difficult to do and only a handful of surgeons are willing to do it. But for this particular procedure, Maastricht University Medical Center+ surgeons utilized a robot that was…
Voodoo Manufacturing triples 3D printing production with collaborative robots
Challenge: Voodoo Manufacturing in Brooklyn, New York, runs a rapidly growing 3D printing farm scaling up to handle large production runs to compete with injection molding. The startup urgently needed to automate the manual loading and unloading of plates in their printers and looked at several different collaborative robot options. Their challenge was to find…
Google and Rolls-Royce Partner on Autonomous Ships
Rolls-Royce has signed a deal with Google to develop Rolls-Royce’s intelligent awareness software, which is already in use on ships today and will play a central role in the company’s drive towards autonomous vessels. The agreement allows Rolls-Royce to use Google’s Cloud Machine Learning Engine to train Rolls-Royce’s artificial intelligence (AI)-based object classification system –…
NVIDIA: Drive PX Pegasus AI Computer Powers Level 5 Autonomous Vehicles
NVIDIA introduced its Drive PX Pegasus AI computer that it claims can power Level 5 autonomous vehicles. Will Pegasus help show a path to production for the automakers and tech companies working on fully autonomous vehicles?
Intuitive Surgical can’t slip shareholder suit
Intuitive Surgical (NSDQ:ISRG) wasn’t able to dodge a proposed class action suit against it claiming it misrepresented the safety of its robotic surgical equipment and caused stock price to drop after a California federal judge kept the motion alive late last month. US District Judge Edward Davila said that investors in the case had sufficiently plead…
Mazor Robotics ticks up on Q3 prelims
Mazor Robotics (NSDQ:MZOR) shares ticked up today after the Israeli robot-assisted surgery company reported its preliminary sales numbers for the third quarter. Caesarea, Israel-based Mazor, which last month closed a third, $40 million tranche as part of its deal with Medtronic (NYSE:MDT), said it expects to post sales of $17.2 million for the 3 months ended…
TransEnterix escapes shareholders lawsuit
TransEnterix (NYSE:TRXC) last week won the dismissal of a shareholders lawsuit brought over the collapse of its SurgiBot program, with a federal judge ruling that the company and its management and investors didn’t mislead shareholders about the robot-assisted surgery platform’s prospects with the FDA. The case dates back to the spring of 2016, when Research Triangle Park,…
Robotics Summit heads to Boston next year
Business-to-Business publisher WTWH Media, LLC today announced the selection of Boston for the inaugural Robotics Summit & Expo 2018. The Robotics Summit & Expo will feature an in-depth technology conference and exposition along with a unique Investor Forum to provide insight and forecasting for investor opportunities in robotics. The Summit is a brand extension of The Robot…