Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

Archives for March 19, 2016

Bosch combines Industrie 4.0 and Industrial Internet Consortium standards in ‘truly global approach’

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bosch automatic production assistant robot arm
At a Bosch plant in Germany, an associate works together with an automatic production assistant, or APAS. Its robot arm is furnished with a sensor skin that detects human operatives in the close vicinity. If someone comes too close, the assistant stops immediately, without touching the operative

Bosch has combined what it calls its ‘Industrie 4.0 platform’ with Industrial Internet Consortium standards for the first time, calling it ‘an international breakthrough for connected industry’

Connected industry is now becoming an international reality. In a new project, Bosch is working together with partners to combine the technical standards of Germany’s “Industrie 4.0” platform and of the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) for the first time. This combination of the two approaches allows the exchange of data between central areas of connected industry.

“Industry 4.0 is not so much a national as an international issue. Only a truly global approach – without competing company standards or differing national regulations – will allow it to develop to its full potential,” said Dr Werner Struth, a member of the Bosch management board, at the Bosch ConnectedWorld IoT conference in Berlin. [Read more…] about Bosch combines Industrie 4.0 and Industrial Internet Consortium standards in ‘truly global approach’

Intuitive Surgical receives all-clear from US government on robotic surgery system

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Intuitive Surgical, a maker of robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery, says the United States Food and Drug Administration has provided clearance for the company’s da Vinci Xi  Single-Site instruments and accessories.

Intuitive Surgical’s Single-Site technology enables surgeons to operate through a single incision in the patient’s umbilicus during cholecystectomy, benign hysterectomy and salpingo-oophorectomy procedures.

“The da Vinci Xi was designed to seamlessly integrate advanced and future technologies and we are extremely pleased to further expand our line of product offerings with the clearance of Single-Site instruments and accessories,” said Sal Brogna, executive vice president, product operations, Intuitive Surgical. “Single-Site technology adds great versatility to the da Vinci Xi by enabling both single port and multi-port surgery on a single system.”  [Read more…] about Intuitive Surgical receives all-clear from US government on robotic surgery system

Schunk to unveil new robotic arm for autonomous assistance robots

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Schunk has launched the LWA 4P Powerball Lightweight Arm
Schunk has launched the LWA 4P Powerball Lightweight Arm that features app-based or manual programming. The lightweight arm can optionally be equipped with an electric collision control, says the company

Schunk is about to launch a new robotic arm for autonomous assistance robots which the company is apparently finding difficult to explain. 

“How could one describe a multi-functional handling solution that operates autonomously in a human environment?” asks Schunk in a statement revealing the new product.

Schunk, which claims to be “the competence leader for clamping technology and gripping systems”, presented the anthropomorphic gripper arm and said it is designed for intuitive virtual programming and widely differing successive gripping operations; it can also optionally be equipped to react to collisions.

The overall application will be programmed on the basis of Robot Operating System (ROS).  [Read more…] about Schunk to unveil new robotic arm for autonomous assistance robots

Carnegie Mellon robotics unit wins $11m in contracts

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Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) has been selected as a prime contractor or subcontractor on four major new federal research projects totaling more than $11 million over the next three years. The projects range from research on a wheel that can transform into a track to automated stress testing for critical software.

Herman Herman, NREC director, said the center has hired 10 new technical staff members in the past six months and anticipates hiring another five-to-10 staff members in the coming months to augment its existing staff of about 100.

“For the past 20 years, NREC has been an important national resource, combining unique technical skills and testing capabilities to solve problems that other groups can’t,” said Martial Hebert, director of CMU’s Robotics Institute, which includes the NREC. “These new projects are a reminder that NREC continues to advance the art and science of robotics and that it remains a vital part of Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute.”  [Read more…] about Carnegie Mellon robotics unit wins $11m in contracts

DoE awards Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute $3m to train students in nuclear clean-up operations

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Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, DoE deputy secretary, seen here with Nathan Michael, CMU assistant research professor of robotics
Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, DoE deputy secretary, seen here with Nathan Michael, CMU assistant research professor of robotics

The US Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has selected Carnegie Mellon University to provide specialized training for graduate students in robotics to support environmental remediation of nuclear sites.

Deputy DoE Secretary Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall announced the selection during an appearance at Carnegie Mellon recently.

The five-year agreement for the Robotics Traineeship program is valued at up to $3 million and will provide full or partial support for as many as 20 PhD and master’s degree students in robotics, said Martial Hebert, director of Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute.  [Read more…] about DoE awards Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute $3m to train students in nuclear clean-up operations

ESA and Russians send robots to sniff out alien methane on Mars

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Launch of seven-month mission to Mars
Launch of multi-year mission to find methane-releasing aliens on Mars

Two robotic spacecraft have blasted off from the spaceport in Kazakhstan on their seven-month journey to Mars.

A scientist close to the project says one of the craft will be “like a big nose in space”, looking to sniff out the locations of aliens by detecting methane, according to a report on IOL.

The joint-mission is the result of collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Russia’s Roscosmos.

This is the first of two joint ESA-Roscosmos missions. Another similar mission to the “Red Planet” is planned for 2018.  [Read more…] about ESA and Russians send robots to sniff out alien methane on Mars

Kuka to build global deep learning AI network for industrial robots

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Kuka, one of the world’s biggest industrial robotics companies, is to develop a smart manufacturing platform in collaboration with Chinese communications giant Huawei. 

Kuka and Huawei signed a deal to develop what could be a global network – built on the industrial internet of things – to enable the connection of robots across many factories. The companies say they plan to integrate artificial intelligence and deep learning into the system.

In the new manufacturing era, robots will play an increasingly important role in helping manufacturing businesses remain agile and drive growth, say the two companies.

Under the new agreement, Huawei and Kuka will collaborate in the areas of cloud computing, big data, mobile technology, and industrial robots to help manufacturing customers transform and embrace smart manufacturing. [Read more…] about Kuka to build global deep learning AI network for industrial robots

Google to sell robotics business

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Google appears to be looking to leave the robotics business if a report on the Bloomberg website is anything to go by. 

The search giant created Alphabet as a sort of parent company that manages all of its many business units and diverse interests. It is Alphabet’s management which seems to have made the decision to sell.

Boston Dynamics, which created some of the most impressive robots seen so far, in the form of the humanoid Atlas and the four-legged machine that walks like a dog or other small animal.

Bloomberg reports that the reason for the sale is that Boston Dynamics product, however fascinating, are not commercially viable, in that there is apparently no customers for them.

Full story at Bloomberg.com. 

More than a Go game to Demis

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demis hassabis and lee seedol

The creator of the artificial intelligence AlphaGo computer software, which beat the world’s best Go player – Lee Seedol – 4-1 last week, has spoken of what the development means to him, saying that trouncing humanity is more than just a game. 

Demis Hassabis, CEO and founder of DeepMind, says the “man versus machine showdown” was a vindication of the years spent developing a virtual robot which would be superior to humans, so they can take over the world and solve all known and unknown problems.

Writing on Google’s blog, Hassabis says: “Our public test of AlphaGo … was about more than winning at Go. We founded DeepMind in 2010 to create general-purpose artificial intelligence (AI) that can learn on its own – and, eventually, be used as a tool to help society solve some of its biggest and most pressing problems, from climate change to disease diagnosis.”

Read the full blog post by Demis Hassabis. 

NASA to send robots in search of aliens under Antarctica

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stone aerospace spindle antarctica
Are aliens hiding underneath the ice in Antarctica? Photo: Christopher Michael

NASA has awarded almost $3m to a team comprising scientists from Stone Aerospace and Louisiana State University to look for aliens beneath the Antarctic 

Stone Aerospace founder and explorer Dr Bill Stone and Louisiana State University geologist Dr Peter Doran have assembled a diverse team of polar and planetary scientists to develop a state-of-the-art cryobot (an ice-penetrating robotic vehicle) to search for life in lakes and oceans under miles-thick ice in Antarctica.

With nearly $3 million from Nasa, the team will develop, integrate and field test Spindle (Sub-glacial Polar ice Navigation, Descent, and Lake Exploration), an autonomous cryobot that will melt through some of the thickest ice on Earth to access the pristine water beneath. And look for aliens. Spindle will be the first cryobot system to carry a second stage hovering autonomous underwater vehicle (HAUV). The HAUV will conduct reconnaissance, life search, and sample collection then return to the cryobot for subsequent data uplink and possible sample return to the surface.  [Read more…] about NASA to send robots in search of aliens under Antarctica