Where Innovation Meets Imagination
The European Coordination Hub for Open Robotics Development has been showcasing its innovation facilities through a new video.
The organisation likes to be known as Echord++ and offers funding to develop robotics technology for real use-cases.
The new video provides an insight of the group’s robotics innovation facilities, their technical equipment, application domains and services. [Read more…] about Echord++ produces new video showcasing its robotics research and development facilities
Newly appointed US transport secretary Elaine Chao is being asked to go out and “do better” than the previous administration and “explain in plain language” her recipe for success.
In particular, Chao is being asked to give the testing and regulation of autonomous cars a national framework rather than allow the technology to be introduced in a haphazard way, with each state making its own rules as it goes along.
This is the suggestion of many experts from the world of business and academia, including one particularly outspoken expert Timothy Carone, an associate teaching professor in the Department of IT, Analytics, and Operations in the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. [Read more…] about Transport secretary Elaine Chao needs to update DoT policy, says automation expert
ABB has acquired Spanish startup Nub3D, which specialises in 3D inspection and quality-control solutions.
The company says the acquisition expands the group’s portfolio of ABB Ability solutions that connect customers to the industrial Internet of Things.
ABB Ability builds on the intelligent cloud, using connected devices to generate actionable digital information for a broad range of customers.
The financial value of the transaction has not been disclosed. [Read more…] about ABB buys digital inspection specialist Nub3D
Scientists have developed sensor technology for a robotic prosthetic arm that detects signals from nerves in the spinal cord.
To control the prosthetic, the patient has to think like they are controlling a phantom arm and imagine some simple manoeuvres, such as pinching two fingers together.
The sensor technology interprets the electrical signals sent from spinal motor neurons and uses them as commands.
A motor neuron is a nerve cell that is located in the spinal cord. Its fibres, called axons, project outside the spinal cord to directly control muscles in the body. [Read more…] about Prosthetic arm technology that detects spinal nerve signals developed by scientists
Mobile Industrial Robots, a developer and manufacturer of autonomous mobile robots, claims it has seen “an astounding 500 percent growth in sales” in 2016, with over 200 MiR100 robots and accessories installed in more than 30 countries.
The company says it has an “ambitious” plan, and has recently expanded its global presence, establishing regional offices in New York and Shanghai.
With substantial increases in hiring in 2016, MiR also tripled the size of its Denmark headquarters, relocating to a new location that will support its ongoing expansion.
In 2017, the front-runner expects to further consolidate its leadership position with a new product that will be launched in Chicago on April 3, 2017 at Automate, North America’s largest automation trade show. [Read more…] about MiR reports 500 per cent growth in sales of logistics robots
The ongoing global trend towards greater industrial automation is being reflected in an increase in the number of industrial robots into the US.
According to a report by Panjiva, a global trade platform, the upswing is likely to continue.
Chris Rogers, Panjiva research analyst, says industrial robot manufacturer has been one of the leading beneficiaries. [Read more…] about Fanuc leads rising tide of industrial automation in the US
ST Robotics has launched what it says is a high speed version of their five-axis vertically articulated R17 robot arm.
The company says its new machine compares favourably to the Universal Robots UR5 model.
ST claims its new ST R17HS is one of the industry’s fastest robots. Standard tool speed is “over four times as fast as the nearest competitor”, yet it’s less than half the price, says the company. [Read more…] about ST Robotics launches new ‘super-fast’ industrial robot arm for $18,000
Switch drives supply of nerve cells to hands and feet – findings highlight complexity and diversity of cells in the central nervous system that are required for movement
Researchers have identified a genetic signature found exclusively in the nerve cells that supply, or innervate, the muscles of an organism’s outermost extremities: the hands and feet.
This signature, observed in both mice and chicks, involves the coordinated activity of multiple genes, and is fundamentally distinct from cells innervating nearby anatomical regions, such as more proximal muscles in the limb.
The findings suggest that the evolution of the extremities may be related to the emergence of fine motor control, such as grasping – one of biology’s most essential adaptations.
The study, led by neuroscientists at Columbia University’s Mortimer Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute and New York University, was published today in the journal Neuron. [Read more…] about Genetic ‘switch’ in animals offers clues to evolutionary origins of fine motor skills
Researchers measured the coordinates of more than 23,000 atoms in a technologically important material.
The results demonstrate that the positions of tens of thousands of atoms can be precisely identified and then fed into quantum mechanics calculations to correlate imperfections and defects with material properties at the single-atom level.
This research will be published February 2 in the journal Nature. [Read more…] about UCLA physicists map the atomic structure of an alloy
IBS study proves that CRISPR-Cas9 can be delivered directly into the eye of living animals to treat age-related macular degeneration efficiently and safely
It is estimated that almost one in every ten people over 65 has some signs of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and its prevalence is likely to increase as a consequence of the aging population. AMD is a form of blindness, common in Caucasians, which causes distorted vision and blind spots.
Scientists at the Center for Genome Engineering, within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) report the use of CRISPR-Cas9 in performing “gene surgery” in the layer of tissue that supports the retina of living mice. Published in Genome Research, this study combines basic research and mouse model applications.
The most common retinopathies causing blindness are “retinopathy of prematurity” in children, “diabetic retinopathy” and “AMD” in older adults. In these diseases, abnormally high levels of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) are secreted. [Read more…] about Genome surgery with CRISPR-Cas9 to prevent blindness
