Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

David Edwards

Basil Street partners with Celestica to meet ‘strong demand’ for its automated pizza kiosks

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Basil Street Pizza, a startup which has built an automated pizza kiosk, is partnering with Celestica, an engineering company.

The companies will work together to meet what Basil Street says is “strong demand” for its automated pizza kiosks as well as “growing consumer interest for automated pizza kitchens”.

In anticipation of its nationwide rollout slated for Fall 2021, Basil Street says Celestica is a leader in design, manufacturing and supply chain solutions for the world’s most innovative companies. [Read more…] about Basil Street partners with Celestica to meet ‘strong demand’ for its automated pizza kiosks

Blendid closes second oversubscribed crowdfunding campaign, raising total of $20 million

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Blendid, a food automation and robotics company which has built a robotic kiosk (see video below), has closed its latest oversubscribed round of crowdfunding. 

Hitting its $2 million target via 1,475 individual investors during a four-month campaign on StartEngine, Blendid has now raised a total of $20 million in investment through a combination of traditional venture capital, strategic investors and crowdfunding.

During its crowdfunding effort, Blendid signed a commercial agreement with a major commercial food service operator, which also made a strategic investment in the company, to help scale its manufacturing and operations so Blendid can achieve its mission of making healthy food more personalized and accessible nationwide. [Read more…] about Blendid closes second oversubscribed crowdfunding campaign, raising total of $20 million

SafeAI releases ‘first operating system purpose-built for autonomous heavy equipment’

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SafeAI, a developer of software for autonomous heavy equipment, has released its SafeAI Autonomous Framework, which the company claims is “the first operating system built specifically for autonomous heavy equipment”.

The company says that, with the SAF, companies can use both SafeAI’s infrastructure and industry expertise to accelerate their autonomous application development and create safer, more productive job sites faster than ever.

Off-road heavy industries know they need to deploy autonomous solutions to remain competitive. However, many do not have the time, resources or in-house expertise to build the solutions they need from the ground up. [Read more…] about SafeAI releases ‘first operating system purpose-built for autonomous heavy equipment’

Geek+ and FDL implement robotic e-commerce operations for Athinaiki

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Geek+, a manufacturer of autonomous mobile robots, has installed smart sorting robots in the warehouse of Athinaiki, a logistics and transport service provider specializing in last-mile delivery in Greece.

The solution was implemented in partnership with FDL Group, a leading integrator for supply chain solutions and the exclusive distributor of Geek+ AMR solutions in Greece and Cyprus. It marks the company’s second project in the region.

Jackson Zhang, VP of Geek+ Europe, says: “We are very excited to see our sorting robots provide Athinaiki with the speed and accuracy needed for excellent last-mile delivery services. With Geek+ and FDL, intelligent automation is easily accessible to Greek companies.” [Read more…] about Geek+ and FDL implement robotic e-commerce operations for Athinaiki

ABB launches ‘FlexBuffer’ robotic work cell for e-commerce supply chain operations

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ABB is responding to the growing consumer demand for choice and fast delivery with the launch of its FlexBuffer application cell.

FlexBuffer brings new levels of flexibility for logistics, food and beverage, healthcare, consumer packaged goods, restaurants and retailers, offering a highly adaptable multi-functional solution for handling a variety of tasks such as sequencing, buffering, storage and order consolidation.

Marc Segura, group senior vice president managing director consumer segments and service robotics at ABB, says: “The constantly changing nature of today’s consumer landscape and the explosion of e-commerce is challenging the conventional systems used for processing and delivering orders. [Read more…] about ABB launches ‘FlexBuffer’ robotic work cell for e-commerce supply chain operations

Picking the way to a better asparagus future with robotic harvesting

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A robotic asparagus harvester project led by growers and supported by the Government is set to reinvigorate the New Zealand asparagus industry by alleviating ongoing labour challenges.

The New Zealand Asparagus Council and Tauranga-based Robotics Plus will work alongside New Zealand asparagus growers to develop a world-first commercial-scale autonomous robotic asparagus harvester to help address ongoing labour shortages in the industry and support growers to tap into high-value export markets.

The Government’s Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund is contributing $2.6 million to the $5.83 million project. [Read more…] about Picking the way to a better asparagus future with robotic harvesting

High-energy shape memory polymer could enable robots ‘flex their muscles’

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A high-energy shape memory polymer could someday enable robots to “flex their muscles”, according its developers.

When stretched or deformed, shape memory polymers return to their original shapes after heat or light is applied.

These materials show great promise for soft robotics, smart biomedical devices and deployable space structures, but until now they haven’t been able to store enough energy. [Read more…] about High-energy shape memory polymer could enable robots ‘flex their muscles’

Decathlon to implement PAL Robotics’ StockBot in facilities worldwide

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Sports goods giant Decathlon and PAL Robotics have launched a global partnership after PAL Robotics’ StockBot inventory tracking and data collection solution was selected for rollout across Decathlon stores in multiple countries, assisting the team and elevating in-store experience.

The retailer has implemented the solution in order to improve in-store operations and efficiencies so that teammates are able to dedicate more time helping customers for a better customer experience, as well as helping improve product availability rates.

PAL Robotics’ StockBot solution was first implemented in Decathlon Singapore, as well as more recently in France, The Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Ireland, Italy, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Australia. Discussions are also ongoing on further deployment opportunities in other countries. [Read more…] about Decathlon to implement PAL Robotics’ StockBot in facilities worldwide

Nasa awards Geisel Software grant to develop multi-robot perception

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Geisel Software, a Massachusetts-based custom software development firm, has partnered with Fayetteville State University to perform research funded by NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Project Space Technology Artemis Research grant.

The grant will fund Active and On-demand Multi Robot Perception research designed to develop multi-robot perception, a technology that utilizes highly specialized image sensors, to support NASA’s use of autonomous multi-robot systems performing scouting missions on the surface of the Moon or other planets. [Read more…] about Nasa awards Geisel Software grant to develop multi-robot perception

Fuzzy Logic Robotics raises €2.5 million to ‘put robots in the hands of operators’

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The Franco-American start-up Fuzzy Logic Robotics announces a €2.5 million seed round of financing from two European “deeptech” funds: 42CAP, an industry-specialized German fund based in Munich, and Karista (via the Paris Region Venture Fund), an early-stage VC firm based in Paris.

Fuzzy Logic, which originated in the French start-up ecosystem (Agoranov and Wilco), is developing an “all-in-one” software platform that dramatically simplifies every step of robotization, from robotic cell design to daily reprogramming in the factory by operators.

It reproduces a virtual environment in which the robot in the factory can be controlled “on the fly” and as simply as a video game. [Read more…] about Fuzzy Logic Robotics raises €2.5 million to ‘put robots in the hands of operators’