In Episode 183 of The Robot Report Podcast, co-host Mike Oitzman interviews Chris Painter, the director of technical product management at CNH Industrial. They discuss the advancements in precision farming, the critical role of connectivity, and the challenges faced by farmers in rural areas.
They discuss the importance of real-time data for operational efficiency, the future of autonomy in precision farming, and the impact of AI on agricultural technology. Painter explains the need for continuous connectivity to support autonomous vehicles and the ongoing challenges of labor in the agricultural sector.
Show timeline
- 10:00 – News of the week
- 28:08 – Interview with Chris Painter, director of technical product management at CNH Industrial
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News of the week
Apple laboratories create an animated lamp
Apple researchers Yuhan Hu, Peide Huang, Mouli Sivapurapu, and Jian Zhang published their work on a project called “ELEGNT: Expressive and Functional Movement Design for Non-Anthropomorphic Robot” on the Apple Machine Learning blog post.
The research explored how an everyday object might interact with expressive movements in response to a human interaction. The researchers brought an articulating light fixture to life in motions that are reminiscent of Luxo Jr., the Pixar mascot. Watch the video to see the output of the project.
Teradyne Robotics group lays off 10% of global staff
Teradyne’s robotics group, which includes Universal Robots (UR) and Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR), laid off 10% of its global workforce late last week. While the exact number of affected employees was unclear, Teradyne Robotics’ website stated that it had more than 1,400 employees worldwide.
The reduction included a 6% layoff in Denmark, the headquarters for both UR and MiR. Group president Ujjwal Kumar told The Robot Report that UR saw a 3% year-over-year decline, while MiR experienced a 1% year-over-year growth.
Teradyne reported total robotics revenue of $365 million for 2024, with $293 million attributed to UR and $72 million to MiR, compared to $375 million in 2023. Kumar attributed the downturn to an unprecedented pullback in core low-mix, high-volume manufacturing. This aligns with FANUC’s recent report of a 16% drop in robotics for 2024.
Teradyne also announced a restructuring of its sales, marketing, and services. 2025 is a crucial year for UR, as it recently opened uts first overseas manufacturing center in China, the world’s leading robotics market for over a decade, where it is selling two cobots exclusively.
Giraffe from Brightpick extends autonomous mobile picking in warehouses
Brightpick, which won the 2024 RBR50 application of the year for its Autopicker mobile manipulators, has expanded its product line with the introduction of Brightpick Giraffe. This new robot boasts a vertical reach of up to 20 ft. (6 m), tripling warehouse storage density compared to manual operations and doubling it compared with the original Autopicker.
The Brightpick Giraffe features a telescopic lift that retracts to 8.5 ft. (2.6 m) for transport, easing deployment issues. Sharing the same 31.4-in. (80 cm) width footprint as the Autopicker, the Giraffe uses a new withdrawer mechanism to retrieve storage totes from upper-level shelves and bring them to lower levels, where the Autopicker can then access them for picking at heights up to 11 ft. (3.4 m).
Cruise cuts nearly half of the staff as GM focuses on consumer AVs
Cruise LLC has confirmed to The Robot Report that it is conducting another round of layoffs, impacting nearly half its workforce, which could mean over 1,000 employees. These layoffs likely come as no surprise, as Cruise’s parent company, General Motors Co., announced in December that it would cease funding the startup’s robotaxi deployment.
Instead, GM is consolidating the Cruise and GM technical teams into a unified effort centered on Super Cruise, GM’s hands-free driver assistance system, signaling a shift in focus towards personal autonomous vehicles rather than robotaxis.
- Cruise’s most recent layoffs extend to the CEO and several other top executives, according to TechCrunch. Big names among those laid off included:
- Marc Whitten, CEO
- Nilka Thomas, chief human resources officer
- Steve Kenner chief safety officer
- Rob Grant, global head of public policy
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