COVID-19

Omron Asia Pacific said its partnership with Techmetics Robotics has produced an autonomous mobile robot designed for safe and automated disinfection of public spaces indoors.

The SmartGuardUV robot uses pulsed xenon UV technology to neutralize harmful viruses and bacteria in high-traffic areas, and the autonomous mobile robot provides real-time disinfection reporting.

Lavender and Jasmin are being offered worldwide to autonomously disinfect a wide range of spaces amid the ongoing novel coronavirus crisis.

Using ultraviolet light, a UVC robot developed by MIT and Ava Robotics can disinfect a warehouse floor in half an hour. It could one day be used in grocery stores, schools, and other public spaces

China-based Pudu Technology has raised $15 million to continuing developing and deploying its service robots for the restaurant and hospitality industries.

The Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing, or ARM Institute has issued a call for projects to be reviewed, developed, and executed against performance metrics to develop technologies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Roybi has developed social robots to entertain and educate children and met the challenges of keeping the price point down and addressing the pandemic head on.

Violet, a new disinfection robot rapidly developed by Akara Robotics, uses Intel Movidius technology to detect humans and avoid exposure to UV radiation.

The great lyric poet Billy Idol once sung, “Eyes without a face, got no human grace, you’re eyes without a face.” This profound statement has been ringing loudly during this period of social distancing and masked encounters. As I professed on several webinars to understand the mechanics of reopening with robots, I have been challenged…

Misty Robotics has added a new skill, or robot application, to its Misty II development platform. The Temp Screening Assistant is a contactless way of checking people’s temperatures.

Cheetah Mobile and OrionStar quickly repurposed more than 100 service robots as Smart Epidemic Prevention and Control Robots and said they have performed well in Chinese hospitals.

The expectations for e-commerce order fulfillment are accelerating expectations for supply chain insights, robustness, and flexibility, says Attabotics CEO Scott Gravelle.

Build With Robots has built the Breezy One autonomous disinfection robot on Fetch Robotics’ mobile platform and cloud software. It can decontaminates a 100,000-sq.-ft. space in 1.5 hours using a patented chemical spray.

A consumer survey supports predictions that online grocery orders will increase to 10% of total sales this year, reported micro-fulfillment provider Fabric. The novel coronavirus outbreak has accelerated this increase, it said.

Exyn Technologies, which provides a full stack of software and drones for GPS-denied environments, shared the results of a feasibility study on the use of UAVs for disinfecting large areas with UV-C light.

Industrial and robotics R&D policies vary by nation, and the International Federation of Robotics has released a report compiling statistics from leaders including Japan, China, South Korea, Germany, and the U.S.

Demand for cleaning robots in retail will likely continue beyond coronavirus closures, said Brain Corp executives. They also noted the importance of understanding one’s customers, gathering valuable data, and the evolving technology stack.

As roboticists join the fight to flatten the COVID-19 curve with contact tracing, privacy advocates caution against following these invasive examples.

OTO Mtors said it will use its $29 million Series C round to meet growing global demand and deploy larger numbers of its autonomous mobile robots.

Optimus Ride is expanding its partnership with Brookfield Properties by providing autonomous vehicles to deliver food to families in need with The Yards, a development in Southeast D.C.

Lifeline Robotics, a Danish startup co-founded by Esben Østergaard, created an autonomous throat swabbing robot that tests for COVID-19.

Dishcraft Robotics, which offers its Dishcraft Daily cleaning robots-as-a-service to cafeterias and restaurants, plans to use its new funding to expand to takeout dishes and serve more facilities.