Robotics & Automation News

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NTT Data and Automation Anywhere partner to offer digital workforce platform

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NTT Data Services has expanded agreement with Automation Anywhere to include its robotic process automation, cognitive and analytics solutions in NTT Data’s end-to-end automation ecosystem, Solutions for Intelligent Automation.

By leveraging advanced analytics and machine learning, NTT Data delivers and maintains automation solutions to allow humans, autonomics, and virtual assistants to automate repetitive tasks and fuel enterprise innovation and business growth. 

Dan Thomas, vice president of automation, integration and alliances, NTT Data Services, says: “Our expanded collaboration with Automation Anywhere adds to our robust portfolio of robotic process automation related services and outcome-driven solutions for our clients.  [Read more…] about NTT Data and Automation Anywhere partner to offer digital workforce platform

Honeybee Robotics acquired by Ensign-Bickford Industries

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Specialist robotic spacecraft developer will maintain its course through the galaxy, say new owners

Honeybee Robotics has been acquired by Ensign-Bickford Industries, a 181-year-old privately held corporation with headquarters in Simsbury, Connecticut. 

Honeybee builds robotic spacecraft for Nasa and has delivered systems for the past three Mars landers, and is developing a mining robot which could extract precious resources from asteroids.

Following the acquisition, Honeybee Robotics will be a stand-alone, wholly-owned subsidiary of EBI and will complement EBI’s current aerospace and defense subsidiary, Eba-d.

Honeybee will continue to operate from its current facilities in Brooklyn, New York, Longmont, Colorado, and Pasadena, California.  [Read more…] about Honeybee Robotics acquired by Ensign-Bickford Industries

Interest and fascination grows about robots’ artistic talents

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Captives #B04 from Quayola on Vimeo.

Industrial robots which are normally seen in factories making cars or some other heavy industrial object are increasingly shown as drawing or painting like artists. 

These days, with ever-more powerful artificial intelligence software driving the robots, it’s difficult to say if there’s anything left that robots cannot do.

The big question is probably, “Is there anything that humans can do that robots cannot?”

[Read more…] about Interest and fascination grows about robots’ artistic talents

Carnegie Mellon names one of its rooms after Leybold

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leybold carnegie mellon

University marks inauguration of a Leybold Conference and Reception Room at Carnegie Mellon University Nanofabrication Facility

Being at the forefront of university research is very important for innovating next generation vacuum technology products.

As a local partner with Pittsburgh based Carnegie Mellon University, Leybold has been not only a supplier, but also a generous and benevolent sponsor for years.

As an acknowledgement for this close cooperation, the CMU community named one of the new conference center and reception rooms “Leybold” and celebrated this inauguration with a presentation and reception held at the CMU Nanofabrication Facility recently.  [Read more…] about Carnegie Mellon names one of its rooms after Leybold

Robots now ‘essential’ to clinical diagnostic labs, says new report

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fl smith lab automation
Picture courtesy FL Automation

There is an $8.8 billion market for robotic laboratory automation systems, according to Kalorama Information.

The healthcare research firm just completed a report on lab robots, and notes the imbalance between the high demand for diagnostics and the lack of supply of qualified technicians.

Bruce Carlson, publisher of Kalorama, says: “More than two-thirds of clinical decisions are based on laboratory test results, and new tests are developed constantly.

“But a shrinking field of qualified laboratory personnel, while demand grows requires something to handle the tasks created.”  [Read more…] about Robots now ‘essential’ to clinical diagnostic labs, says new report

UNSW scientists unveil a giant leap for anti-aging

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researchers

University of New South Wales researchers have made a discovery that could lead to a revolutionary drug that actually reverses ageing, improves DNA repair and could even help NASA get its astronauts to Mars.

In a paper published in Science today, the team identifies a critical step in the molecular process that allows cells to repair damaged DNA.

Their experiments in mice suggest a treatment is possible for DNA damage from ageing and radiation. It is so promising it has attracted the attention of NASA, which believes the treatment can help its Mars mission.  [Read more…] about UNSW scientists unveil a giant leap for anti-aging

Physicists design a device inspired by sonic screwdriver

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physics researchers

Physicists have designed a handheld device inspired by the sonic screwdriver in Doctor Who and the tricorder in Star Trek that will use the power of MRI and mass spectrometry to perform a chemical analysis of objects.

The sonic screwdriver is a tool used in Doctor Who to scan and identify matter, among other functions, while the multi-purpose tricorder in Star Trek can provide a detailed analysis of living things.

Lead researcher Dr Marcus Doherty from The Australian National University (ANU) said the team had proven the concept of a diamond-based quantum device to perform similar functions to these science fiction tools and would now develop a prototype. [Read more…] about Physicists design a device inspired by sonic screwdriver

Scientists create new form of matter, a time crystal

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time crystal

Salt, snowflakes and diamonds are all crystals, meaning their atoms are arranged in 3-D patterns that repeat. Today scientists are reporting in the journal Nature on the creation of a phase of matter, dubbed a time crystal, in which atoms move in a pattern that repeats in time rather than in space.

The atoms in a time crystal never settle down into what’s known as thermal equilibrium, a state in which they all have the same amount of heat. It’s one of the first examples of a broad new class of matter, called nonequilibrium phases, that have been predicted but until now have remained out of reach. Like explorers stepping onto an uncharted continent, physicists are eager to explore this exotic new realm.

“This opens the door to a whole new world of nonequilibrium phases,” says Andrew Potter, an assistant professor of physics at The University of Texas at Austin. “We’ve taken these theoretical ideas that we’ve been poking around for the last couple of years and actually built it in the laboratory. Hopefully, this is just the first example of these, with many more to come.” [Read more…] about Scientists create new form of matter, a time crystal

Large Hadron Collider gets new upgrade

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hadron collider

CERN physicists and engineers have carried out a highly complex operation right at the heart of one of the four main experiments of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC): the CMS detector, located 100 m below ground under French territory, at one of the LHC’s collision points.

CMS is one of the four main detectors on the 27km LHC accelerator., and one of the two experiments which found the Higgs boson in 2012. The heart of the CMS experiment is the pixel detector, the innermost instrument in the very heart of the CMS apparatus, the very point where new particles, such as the Higgs boson, are produced by the energy of the proton proton collisions of the LHC accelerator.

With thousands of silicon sensors, the new Pixel Tracker is now being upgraded to improve the particle-tracking capabilities of CMS. This operation, started on Tuesday February 28 when the first components of the new instrument were descended into the experiment’s cavern, is one of the most significant milestones ahead of the LHC restart this spring. [Read more…] about Large Hadron Collider gets new upgrade

Most complex nanoparticle crystal ever made by design

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complex crystal

The most complex crystal designed and built from nanoparticles has been reported by researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Michigan. The work demonstrates that some of nature’s most complicated structures can be deliberately assembled if researchers can control the shapes of the particles and the way they connect using DNA.

“This is a tour de force demonstration of what is possible when one harnesses the chemistry of DNA and combines it with nanoparticles whose shapes encourage a particular crystal structure,” said Chad A. Mirkin, the George B. Rathmann Professor of Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern.

Nanotechnology promises to bring materials together in new ways, forging new capabilities by design. One potential application for crystals built of nanoparticles, such as these newly reported ones, is the control of light — nanoparticles interact well with light waves because they are similar in size. This could lead to materials that can change colors or patterns on command or block certain wavelengths of light, while transmitting or amplifying others. New types of lenses, lasers and even Star Trek-like cloaking materials are possible. [Read more…] about Most complex nanoparticle crystal ever made by design