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Lumotive claims ‘industry-first’ LiDAR using liquid its Crystal Metasurfaces and CMOS manufacturing

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Lumotive, a developer of scalable solid-state LiDAR systems, has launched the first two in a series of 3D-sensing products that utilize its innovative Liquid Crystal Metasurfaces (LCMs) manufactured in CMOS semiconductor processes.

The company says the new systems are designed to meet performance, cost and size requirements across a range of industries.

With samples available in the fourth quarter of this year, the Lumotive X20 and Lumotive Z20 LiDAR systems target the automotive and industrial automation markets, respectively. [Read more…] about Lumotive claims ‘industry-first’ LiDAR using liquid its Crystal Metasurfaces and CMOS manufacturing

9,000 elephants: Heaviest things ever moved on land

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People travel all over the globe to see the many great wonders of our world, but does it ever cross your mind of how they got there in the first place?

Transporting impossibly large items has been a mechanical and logistical challenge for thousands of years, becoming even more tricky when shifting things overseas with ships.

Famous sites such as the Statue of Liberty were disassembled in Paris and then packed into 214 wooden crates and shipped across the Atlantic in 1885. [Read more…] about 9,000 elephants: Heaviest things ever moved on land

Old Versus New Robotics: How Things Are Changing

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The history of robotics is a long one, with roots in ancient Egypt as far back as 1500 BC. While the “robots” of those days are far from being able to exhibit the intelligence of robots today, it is still worth mentioning.

However, the beginning of the evolution of modern robotics as we know it can be traced to France with the innovation of a robot duck. The duck could flap its wings, quack, and do some other basic duck-ly things.

And today, we have robots working in every sector of human society, making contributions in the smart and efficient manner that only robots can manage. [Read more…] about Old Versus New Robotics: How Things Are Changing

Agricultural robots and AI: A question of when and not if

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Robotics and artificial intelligence will drive a deep and transformative change in the agricultural world during the coming decades, according to a new report by IDTechEx.

Seeing, localising, and taking plant-specific intelligent action are no longer the exclusive realm of humans, says the research company.

Machines have demonstrated the technical viability and the emphasis has long shifted to the finer details of return on investment, reliability, business model, and so on. [Read more…] about Agricultural robots and AI: A question of when and not if

Boston Dynamics canine robot Spot gets a job as a terrifying alien sheepdog

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Sheep are often herded using a real sheepdog, clever canines which run around directing the animals into a pen on a farm. 

But a clever software company is conducting a test by replacing the dog with Boston Dynamics’ terrifying canine robot, Spot.

New Zealand is at the very edge of human civilisation on Earth, and the sheep there probably see the robot as an alien. [Read more…] about Boston Dynamics canine robot Spot gets a job as a terrifying alien sheepdog

Tech giants and driverless cars: Racing against the automakers

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Modern tech conglomerate Amazon – whose interests range from online shopping, through computing devices such as the Kindle and Amazon Echo, to cloud computing and even space exploration – is in advanced talks to acquire self-driving startup Zoox, according to a report on the Financial Times website. 

It’s not the first time Amazon has shown interest in the automotive sector. The company was the lead investor in Aurora Innovation’s $530 million funding round last year.

Aurora is seen as a rival to Waymo, the driverless car company set up by Google, another tech giant. [Read more…] about Tech giants and driverless cars: Racing against the automakers

FLIR releases European thermal imaging dataset for automotive driver assistance development

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FLIR Systems has made available its first European thermal imaging regional dataset and the third in a series of thermal imaging datasets for machine vision testing.

The company says the dataset is designed to help researchers, developers and auto manufacturers enhance and accelerate work on safety, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), automatic emergency braking (AEB) and autonomous vehicle systems.

The dataset features thousands of annotated thermal images of daytime, nighttime and various weather scenarios from six cities across Europe. [Read more…] about FLIR releases European thermal imaging dataset for automotive driver assistance development

Universal Robots launches ‘world’s largest’ virtual conference for collaborative robots

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Universal Robots has launched what it describes as “the world’s largest virtual conference and exhibition for collaborative robots”.

Named “WeAreCobots”, the event will take place June 16-18, 2020, targeting a European audience with automation trend keynotes and an extensive range of product news and demonstrations in five different languages.

With Europe’s trade fair scene being turned upside down because of coronavirus and the resulting lockdowns, Universal Robots says it is breaking new ground. [Read more…] about Universal Robots launches ‘world’s largest’ virtual conference for collaborative robots

Support for Universal Basic Income growing as economies look to recover from coronavirus devastation

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A couple of years ago, RoboticsAndAutomationNews.com published a story about Finland introducing a “Universal Basic Income” for a small number of its citizens as an experiment.

The Finnish government’s idea was that it would study the possibility of using UBI as a way to offset the unemployment caused by automation.

Although it was well worth reporting, we were somewhat flippant about UBI, suggesting it was a communist idea that would never take off. Finland, of course, was within the sphere of influence of the old Communist or Eastern Bloc, and the now-gone USSR. [Read more…] about Support for Universal Basic Income growing as economies look to recover from coronavirus devastation

Mitsubishi Electric launches ‘Melfa Assista’ series of collaborative robots

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Mitsubishi Electric has launched what is believed to be its first series of collaborative robots, which the company has named “Melfa Assista” (main picture).

The “RV-5AS-D” model of the cobot has a 5 kg load capacity and 6-axis movement.

The company says the robots can work collaboratively with humans based on safety features such as collision detection and strict compliance with the international safety and robotic standards ISO 10218-1 and ISO/TS15066.

The series also will introduce an intuitive engineering software, RT VisualBox, for “quick, easy system deployment”, says Mitsubishi. [Read more…] about Mitsubishi Electric launches ‘Melfa Assista’ series of collaborative robots