Chilean mining company Enaex Group launched the first versions of its RoboMiner and Mine-iTruck, developed to protect human employees of the mining industry. “These projects were specially created to continue enhancing the mining operation and its resources, but taking care of our greatest value, which are the people,” Enaex CEO Juan Andrés Errázuriz said in…
Intuitive Surgical to integrate GE Healthcare tech in Korea
Intuitive Surgical Korea signed a memorandum of understanding with GE Healthcare Korea aimed at improving the clinical applications of robotic-assisted surgery. Under the agreement, GE Healthcare Korea will provide its CS600 anesthesia machine, which supports multiple ventilation modes tailored to patients, and its patient monitoring technologies as well as needed training and services assistance to Intuitive…
Baidu announces $1.5B autonomous vehicle tech fund to drive development
Chinese internet search provider Baidu created a 10 billion yuan ($1.52 billion) fund to invest in autonomous vehicle projects and released the latest version of its open-source autonomous vehicle software, the company announced yesterday. The goal of the Apollo Fund, named for the software and NASA’s moon-landing program, is to fund 100 projects over the…
GE to sell industrial solutions unit to ABB
General Electric is close to a deal to sell its industrial solutions unit to ABB Ltd at a value of $2.5 billion to $3 billion, Bloomberg reported. The companies are expected to announce the final agreement next week, though neither has publicly commented on the deal. However, the agreement could still be delayed or fall…
Vorwerk acquires autonomous vacuum maker Neato Robotics
German appliance maker Vorwerk Group this week acquired Neato Robotics, a California company developing smart home-based robots. “Today marks a significant milestone for Neato, and I am honored to be leading this team,” Neato Robotics chairman and CEO Giacomo Marini said in a press release. “We are bringing together a powerful combination of technology and talent uniquely positioned…
Competition in South Korea’s collaborative robots industry heats up
In 2016, the South Korean government planned to put 500 billion won, or about $445 million, toward expanding the country’s robotics industry. And in 2017, the country claimed the highest robot concentration globally with 531 multipurpose industrial robots per 10,000 employees in the manufacturing industry. Now with new developments and market entries, the competition among…
Powerhouse Ventures to sell a quarter of Invert Robotics holdings for $1.3m
Technology investor Powerhouse Ventures plans to sell about a quarter of its Invert Robotics shares for $1.3 million, the company announced. Powerhouse currently holds 34.6% of Invert Robotics, but the sale would decrease that holding to between 23.6% and 28.2%. “Generally, Powerhouse Ventures aims to own between 20 to 40 percent of its investee companies…
Startup working in human-robot collaboration software receives $18m
Boston-area startup Humatics, which is developing “microlocation” systems, secured $18 million in Series A funding. “We now are piloting our breakthrough microlocation system with key industrial automation and manufacturing partners,” co-founder, president and chief operating officer Gary Cohen said in a press release. “For our partners and others, millimeter-scale precision can dramatically improve safety, efficiency…
Researchers develop sucker allowing robots to attach to fish, explore ocean
A newly developed suctioning device could help robots explore the depths of the ocean by attaching to sea creatures. According to the study published in Science Robotics, the adhesive disk — which was created using 3D printing, laser cutting and soft robotics — can lift almost 100 pounds and withstand pull-off forces more than 340…
Robot fits woman with 2 teeth in first autonomous implant surgery
A robot in China carried out the first autonomous dental implant surgery, fitting two 3D-printed teeth into a woman’s mouth. Medical staff were on hand during the procedure and were responsible for fitting orientation equipment to the patient; programming the robot’s position, movements, angle and depth necessary to insert the teeth and administering a local…
Companies race to increase foothold in China as robotics industry grows
Right now, robotics companies are setting their sights on China as its robotics industry and the number of robots installed in the country continue to grow. Through official initiatives, such as the “Made in China 2025 program,” the Chinese government is helping drive this industry growth. The program’s five-year plan aims to automate sectors like…
Bonsai claims AI concept networking technique helps robot work 45X faster
After testing its concept networking technique, the Bonsai found its artificial intelligence platform can enable robots to perform tasks at 45 times the speed of comparable machine learning techniques, the company announced. The concept networking approach speeds up the training process by breaking tasks down into multiple sub-tasks, each of which the machine learns to…
New Panasonic sensor lets robots detect direction, distance and floor
Panasonic created a 3D sensor that can detect direction, distance and the floor to help mobile robots move autonomously. The 3D LiDAR sensor uses laser-scanning at an angle of up to 60 degree vertically and 270 degrees horizontally that senses moving objects like people to help the robot avoid them as well as detects the…
WATCH: Matternet Station lets delivery drones refuel and reload autonomously
Delivery drone startup Matternet released its new Matternet Station, which lets its drones refuel and reload autonomously. As the third component in Matternet’s drone delivery platform, the station works with the M2 Drone and Matternet Cloud platform to carry out deliveries. A drawer in the station holds packages ready for the drone to pick up,…
Unity Technologies unveils AI toolkit for training machine learning ‘agents’
Unity Technologies released the open beta version of its Unity Machine Learning Agents, an artificial intelligence toolkit developers and researchers can use to virtually train agents —whether video game characters, autonomous vehicles or robots. “Machine learning is a disruptive technology that is important to all types of developers and researchers to make their games or…
Endeavor Robotics wins government contract for 75 FirstLook robots
Endeavor Robotics secured a contract with the U.S government for 75 of its FirstLook robots, its third major contract with the government in six weeks. “FirstLook is the most preferred lightweight reconnaissance robot in its class because of how easily and quickly it can be deployed while withstanding the abuse of ground operations,” president Tom…
Googly-eyed educational robot launches own Kickstarter
The six-legged educational robot Vorpal Combat Hexapod from Vorpal Robotics used one of its appendages to launch its own Kickstarter campaign. “We gave the honor to the oldest surviving prototype hexapod,” founder and product developer Steve Pendergrast said in a press release. “Its name is Scrum. Every Vorpal Combat Hexapod has an individual name.” The campaign…
Lockheed Martin invests in autonomous vehicle developer
Lockheed Martin Ventures is investing in Ocean Aero, a company focused on autonomous vehicle development that created the Submaran unmanned maritime vehicle. The decision is part of Lockheed Martin’s larger efforts around unmanned systems. “Ocean Aero represents the next generation of environmentally powered, autonomous ocean systems,” Chris Moran, executive director and general manager of Lockheed…
Synthetic muscle step forward for soft robotics
A research team from Columbia Engineering’s Creative Machines lab developed a synthetic muscle that has a strain density 15 times larger than natural muscle and can lift 1,000 times its own weight that could propel soft robotics creation forward. According to the study “Soft Material for Soft Actuators” published in Nature Communications, the material solves…
Titan Medical SPORT installed for validation studies
Titan Medical announced the installation of its SPORT Surgical System, a single-port robotic surgical system, at the Florida Hospital Nicholson Center training facility. It’s the first installation for the company’s pre-clinical feasibility and validation studies on the device. “We are thrilled to announce the first of three installations planned in U.S. and European Centers of…
Brookings: Automation concentrated around auto industry
An August report from the Brookings Institution found that industrial robots are largely concentrated in midwestern and southern states, where the automotive industry dominates. Specifically, more than half of the 233,305 industrial robots in the U.S. are clustered in 10 states in these regions with Michigan deploying 12% of the nation’s total. Ohio hosts 8.7%,…
DNA robots transport molecules, could transport medicine in future
A team of researchers at the California Institute of Technology developed DNA robots that could move molecules or deliver medicine in the body, according to a new study published in Science. These cargo-sorting DNA robots are made from a single strand of DNA with three modules: one with a leg and two feet to walk,…