Robotics startups have a tough time right now, with venture capital firms tightening their belts and looking for sure bets, writes Rags Gupta, a serial entrepreneur.

GAM released its new GSL series of strain wave gearboxes. The new gearboxes provide zero-backlash and high torque in a small gearbox for robotic and motion control applications. The GSL gearbox uses harmonic gearing for a very compact design that easily integrates into applications requiring high ratios and high precision in a small form factor.…

We reported last June Anki already had a prototype of its next consumer robot prior to shutting down. The Robot Report has learned there were multiple products in the works, and none of them are what you’d expect. First, meet Bingo, a security robot with a German Shepherd-inspired design. Anki was working on two versions…

As I pen this article, Walmart is already ushering in the holiday season by launching online its “Early Deals” five weeks before Black Friday. Since more than half of US consumers prefer e-commerce over brick-and-mortar stores, close to 40% plan to start checking off Santa’s list by Halloween, according to Deloitte. A big driver for…

Cambridge, U.K.-based CMR Surgical raised a $240 million Series C round for its Versius surgical robot. CMR Surgical said it will use the funding to launch the Versius surgical robot “imminently” in Europe and Asia, with “further international expansion expected thereafter.” The Series C round included existing backers LGT Lightstone, Escala Capital Investments, Cambridge Innovation…

In this contributed piece, Kollmorgen engineers describe environmental factors to watch for that could affect the performance of robot motors, gears, and sensors.

Genesis Robotics’ LiveDrive direct drive motors will be incorporated into Demaurex’s high-speed Delta pick-and-place robots.

SlothBot, a project shown at ICRA by Georgia Institute of Technology researchers, is designed to conserve energy and could be useful for environmental monitoring, infrastructure maintenance, and other long-term applications.

CHICAGO — Of the 1,350-plus exhibitors at Automate and ProMat 2019 in Chicago, there was one or two robotics startups scattered among the big corporate booths. The Robot Report shared its major takeaways from Automate/ProMat, now here are eight robotics startups from the event that are worth keeping an eye on. If you want to…

Productive Robotics is displaying its expanded line of OB7 collaborative robots at Automate this week. It says they are cheaper and easier to use than other cobots.

Steering design for advanced logistics vehicles and mobile robots starts with understanding design requirements; deciding if custom is critical; and choosing the best solution for specific application. By Will Hellinger • Engineering Manager | Allied Motion Logistics vehicles include stackers, forklifts, side loaders, pushers and tuggers, and even mobile robots. These move items from point…

Motus Labs, a Dallas, Texas-based startup that builds robot joint actuators and drives, came out of stealth mode today and unveiled what has been in the works for five-plus years. The Motus M-DRIVE, which features a gearless drive design, uses mating blocks instead of traditional gear teeth. The M-DRIVE will be available in the second…

2019: the Year of Legged Robots 2019 will be the year of commercial class legged robots. That was the message delivered by Agility Robotics and Boston Dynamics during their respective opening and closing keynotes at the inaugural Robotics Summit & Showcase, produced by The Robot Report and WTWH Media May 23-24 in Boston. Agility Robotics…

2019 will be the year of commercial class legged robots. That was the message delivered by Agility Robotics and Boston Dynamics during their respective opening and closing keynotes at the inaugural Robotics Summit & Showcase, produced by The Robot Report and WTWH Media in Boston. Agility Robotics CEO and co-founder Damion Shelton updated attendees on…

Plastic-motion-component maker igus could advance the collaborative-robotics industry when it unveils its low-cost ReBeL robotics joint at Hannover Messe 2018. The maintenance-free joint works in residential and commercial applications. The ReBeL gives a sixth rotation axis to modular robolink arms to let them reach myriad positions. According to igus, the new ReBeL will also make robots serving…

The trucking industry is heading for an autonomous future. Self-driving trucks have been in the works for several years – Daimler introduced in 2014 the Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025 – but developments within the last year show the transformation is moving full steam ahead. The tests being done currently are limited to semi-autonomous systems that…

What is SpotMini’s level of autonomy? That was the first question that came to mind last week when Boston Dynamics released a video of its SpotMini robot dog opening a door. Now we have a little more insight into that question. Boston Dynamics released a new video (watch below) testing SpotMini’s robustness or ability to…

The very purpose of using a robot to automate a process relies on the robot being accurate and repeatable. As robots move from environments where they were traditionally used behind cages to open environments, it is important that their power solutions keep up. Here, Michele Windsor, global marketing manager at global battery specialist Ultralife Corporation,…

In a recent interview, Lisa Eitel of The Robot Report chatted with Mike Hilton, CEO of startup Genesis Robotics. This spinoff of Genesis Advanced Technology focuses on R&D in robotics, oil and gas, medical, human performance, and clean-energy industries. The company recently announced an actuator that’s particularly suitable for powering the joints in SCARA robot…

February fundings for 16 robotics-related startups totaled over $313 million – another solid month for the new year. Acquisitions also continued to be substantial with Ford's acquisition of Argo and Midea Group's purchase of Servotronix. Plus there were two IPOs. Fundings CloudMinds, a Chinese startup developing cloud-intelligence-based services for robotics and other application areas, raised $100…

Engineering of complex systems can sometimes be represented as a series of simplified approximations based on the performance of known subsystems.  In the case of wind turbines, there are 4 subsystems, aerodynamic, gearing, generator and power conversion.  In order to simplify the evaluation process of competing technologies in each category, they can be assigned an […]

KEB America, Inc. has announced the launch of their System Integrator Program for the North American market. The program will partner talented system integrators with KEB engineers and application specialists. The goal is to pair KEB’s extensive automation product line with trusted local integrators. “Historically, KEB has worked with machine builder OEM’s in our target […]