Robotics & Automation News

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Merger of Velodyne and Ouster creates $550 million lidar giant

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Velodyne and Ouster have merged to create what could be described as a “lidar giant” at a time when interest in lidar – light detection and ranging – sensors are at an all-time high because of their applications in so many robotic and automated machines. 

Ouster and Velodyne describe their successful deal as a “merger of equals”. The combined company will keep the name Ouster and continue to trade on New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “OUST”. The two companies have a combined market capitalization of more than $550 million.

The merger creates a lidar powerhouse with over 850 customers spanning the automotive, industrial, robotics, and smart infrastructure industries supported by a robust product portfolio of innovative hardware and software solutions in addition to top-tier engineering and commercial teams. [Read more…] about Merger of Velodyne and Ouster creates $550 million lidar giant

Addverb and Velociti Alliance partner to automate grocery intralogistics

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Automation solutions provider Addverb has agreed a new partnership with leading technology solutions provider Velociti Alliance to “bring innovative futuristic warehouse automation and robotics to the convenience store and grocery supply chain”.

Addverb’s comprehensive portfolio of Mobile Robots, ASRS, Picking Technologies, and Software, integrated with Velociti Alliance’s solutions, will enable wholesale distribution centers and warehouses to increase storage capacity and pick throughput.

As businesses continue to navigate labor and staff shortages, integrated automation solutions with Quadron, Addverb’s Carton Shuttle, and Medius, Addverb’s Multi-Level Shuttle, combined with goods-to-person stations powered by Concinity, Addverb’s WES software, can bring efficiencies up to three times more than conventional mechanized and manually operated warehouses. [Read more…] about Addverb and Velociti Alliance partner to automate grocery intralogistics

Opinion: How to double up grocery logistics productivity with autonomous mobile robots

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With growing labour availability issues, how can grocery logistics operations significantly boost performance? Vincent Jacquemart, CEO at French autonomous mobile robot designer and manufacturer iFollow, offers a solution.

Faced with the likelihood of long term staff shortages and resulting rises in pay rates, warehouse and distribution centre operators in grocery and many other sectors are turning sometimes belatedly to automation. This is certainly an option but not all solutions deliver really significant productivity improvements.

Labour shortages in logistics have been building for some years, by no means just because of Brexit, and the inability to fulfil orders reliably is becoming an existential threat for many firms.

Logistics UK in October claimed that “13 percent of traders are reporting severe warehouse staff shortages”; in November the Cold Chain Federation noted “10 percent to 20 percent shortage rates” among its members. [Read more…] about Opinion: How to double up grocery logistics productivity with autonomous mobile robots

Nauticus Robotics valued at more than $500 million as it becomes publicly traded company via merger with CleanTech

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Nauticus Robotics, a Houston-based developer of cloud-based surface and subsea robots, software, and associated services, and CleanTech Acquisition, a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company, have entered into a definitive business combination agreement that will result in Nauticus becoming a publicly listed company.

Upon closing of the transaction, CleanTech Acquisition (CLAQ) will be renamed Nauticus Robotics and is expected to remain listed on Nasdaq under the new ticker symbol “KITT”. Nauticus is being valued at more than $500 million.

Nauticus develops revolutionary cloud-based autonomy software to enable a smarter and more sustainable ocean industry using its fleet of autonomous robots from the surface to the seabed. [Read more…] about Nauticus Robotics valued at more than $500 million as it becomes publicly traded company via merger with CleanTech

Lucas Systems and Fetch Robotics partner to optimize robot-and-worker collaboration in warehouses

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Lucas Systems, a provider of voice and warehouse optimization software for fulfillment and distribution centers, has entered a partnership with Silicon Valley-based Fetch Robotics to enable the next generation of smart warehouses.

Through the partnership, Lucas and Fetch will offer tailored solutions to orchestrate and optimize how warehouse workers interact in harmony with Fetch’s autonomous mobile robots.

Fulfillment and distribution centers are under tremendous pressure due to growth in e-commerce combined with a shrinking labor market. [Read more…] about Lucas Systems and Fetch Robotics partner to optimize robot-and-worker collaboration in warehouses

GreyOrange and Vicarious launch autonomous vertical pick-and-pack solution for apparel

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GreyOrange, a provider of AI-enabled software and robotics for fulfillment automation, is partnering with Vicarious, an AI robotic integrator that automates tasks too versatile and complex to be handled by traditional, hard-coded automation systems.

Together Vicarious and GreyOrange have launched what they say is “the industry’s first and only autonomous vertical picking solution for automated pick-n-pack operations in omnichannel fulfillment”.

Autonomous Vertical Picking from Vicarious interfaces smoothly into a global workflow orchestrated by GreyOrange’s GreyMatter Fulfillment Operating System (FOS), which uses advanced science to continuously evaluate order fulfillment performance and prioritize decisions and workflows. [Read more…] about GreyOrange and Vicarious launch autonomous vertical pick-and-pack solution for apparel

Fanuc and Plus One Robotics develop automation solutions for e-commerce fulfillment

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Fanuc America, the world’s largest industrial robotics company, is partnering with Plus One Robotics, a machine vision specialist, to combine their technologies to meet the needs of their mutual customers in e-commerce.

The new flexible fulfillment solution incorporates a Fanuc robot and Plus One’s artificial intelligence-powered PickOne perception system to identify, singulate, and sort a wide range of conveyable items without the need for traditional vision training.

Powered by AI, the system can adapt to variations in product material, size and shape, as well as intermixed, random delivery. [Read more…] about Fanuc and Plus One Robotics develop automation solutions for e-commerce fulfillment

Plastic-eating bacteria could help recycle waste ‘six times faster’

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The University of Portsmouth scientists who re-engineered the plastic-eating enzyme PETase have now created an enzyme “cocktail” which can digest plastic up to six times faster.

A second enzyme, found in the same rubbish dwelling bacterium that lives on a diet of plastic bottles, has been combined with PETase to speed up the breakdown of plastic.

PETase breaks down polyethylene terephthalate (PET) back into its building blocks, creating an opportunity to recycle plastic infinitely and reduce plastic pollution and the greenhouse gases driving climate change. [Read more…] about Plastic-eating bacteria could help recycle waste ‘six times faster’

The EV market continues to grow at an electrifying rate

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It wasn’t all that long ago that we thought Doc Brown powering his DeLorean with banana peels and apple cores was the stuff of science fiction.

And while we haven’t quite gone the way of biofuel, the best electric cars on the market today show that the future is a lot closer than we thought.

We have already moved away from simple hybridization towards vehicles that run on electrons alone, but plug-and-play cars are just a stepping stone on the way to the future. [Read more…] about The EV market continues to grow at an electrifying rate

Festo presents BionicSoftHand and BionicSoftArm

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Festo has presented the latest innovations in its BionicSoftHand and BionicSoftArm technologies.

Combined with the BionicSoftArm, a pneumatic lightweight robot, the Future Concepts are “suitable for human-robot collaboration”, says Festo.

Whether its grabbing, holding or turning, touching, typing or pressing – in everyday life, we use our hands as a matter of course for the most diverse tasks. [Read more…] about Festo presents BionicSoftHand and BionicSoftArm