Market trends and business perspectives
A company called Nuro has raised a massive $92 million to develop its autonomous delivery vehicle for commercial applications.
Speaking to IEEE Spectrum, co-founder says the company’s vehicle is “poised to change the way that businesses interact with their local customers”.
The vehicle itself is about half the size of small car and is designed for short journeys. [Read more…] about Nuro raises $92 million to develop autonomous delivery vehicle
Unex Manufacturing, a provider of order picking solutions, is celebrating its second consecutive year of record business growth in 2017.
The company says it has added dozens of new products and solution patents, major industry awards and global sales throughout North America, Central America, Europe and Asia.
Unex now employs over 100 people, making the company one of the largest employers in Ocean County in New Jersey. [Read more…] about Unex Manufacturing marks second year of record growth
Harvard University boffins have demonstrated what must be the world’s smallest Delta robot.
The university says the tiny machine opens up new possibilities for applications in microsurgery, microassembly and micromanipulation.
Not only is the robot – called “milliDelta” – tiny, it’s also extremely fast. It’s too fast for the human eye to see what it’s doing. (See video below.) [Read more…] about Harvard researchers demonstrate tiny, super-fast delta robot
It’s only a few centimetres long and looks about as complex as a paperclip mechanically, but a tiny “robot” developed by Seoul University boffins is apparently able to power itself.
The miniature robot uses moisture from its environment to generate the power it needs to move itself forward, which it does, like a caterpillar.
The team which designed the creepy little thing is led by Ho-Young Kim, who says they used nature as the inspiration for their “microbot”. [Read more…] about Seoul University designs tiny robot that powers itself
Dr Hiroshi Ishiguro, one of the world’s leading humanoid roboticists, has unveiled his latest creation, a news-reading android.
Innocuously named “Erica”, the terrifying robot will be reading the news to the Japanese nation from April this year, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In comments reported by the Mirror, Dr Ishiguro says Erica is “the most beautiful and most human-like autonomous android in this world”. [Read more…] about Humanoid roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro unveils news-reading android
New tax rules introduced by the US government would allow companies to immediately deduct all of the costs of investing in robotics and automation equipment, according to a report on Wall Street Journal.
In fact, the tax break could extend to other types of equipment as well.
Previously, companies were only allowed to write down investments and not have to pay tax on them slowly over the course of a year. [Read more…] about New tax rules allow total and immediate deduction of costs of robotics and automation equipment
Exchange-traded funds which concentrate on robotics and artificial intelligence investments have raised a total of $870 million in January alone.
This is according to a report on CNBC, which says one fund – called the Global X Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Thematic ETF, or BOTZ for short – attracted $650 million from investors in January.
There’s still one more day of January to go, but meanwhile, Robo Global Robotics and Automation Index ETF – or ROBO – has taken in almost $220 million. [Read more…] about Investment funds linked to robotics and AI raise hundreds of millions of dollars in January
A solution could be at hand for a technology barrier that experts say has been the primary problem limiting the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT): the need to provide batteries for IoT sensors.
The solution is a patented energy-harvesting technology – the Evercell power cell – that is capable of powering wireless IoT sensors without batteries.
BRIDG, an industry-led public-private partnership for advanced technologies and manufacturing processes, is collaborating with Face International Corporation in the development and integration of the power cell.
[Read more…] about Energy-harvesting power cells set to solve IoT sensor battery problem
