Robotics & Automation News

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How Can Robots Help to Improve Efficiency in Logistics Operations?

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This is a big question for the logistics industry, is it possible to improve efficiency with robotics in the logistics industry?

Well, the answer to this question is not simple because logistics is different from other industries, and unlike other industries, it is not always clear how robots can offer their services in the logistics process.

But we are seeing an increase in the number of robots being used in the logistics industry which means that after all, robots can offer their services in this industry. [Read more…] about How Can Robots Help to Improve Efficiency in Logistics Operations?

What Are the Benefits of Collaborative Robot Screwdriving?

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Many people think that robotic screwdriving isn’t a good idea because automated screw driving seems like a difficult, costly, and expensive thing to manage and achieve.

They think that these automated screw driving machines are huge machines that can manage only a small set of operations and are suitable only for high-volume manufacturing businesses and not for small to medium-sized businesses, however, that is not the case.

Robotics screwdriving provides a way through which any business can automate the task of screwdriving and the best thing is that collaborative robots can be used for different processes and situations, even for high-mix, low-volume manufacturing. [Read more…] about What Are the Benefits of Collaborative Robot Screwdriving?

How the MIT mini cheetah learns to run

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By Rachel Gordon, MIT CSAIL

CSAIL scientists came up with a learning pipeline for the four-legged robot that learns to run entirely by trial and error in simulation (see video below)

It’s been roughly 23 years since one of the first robotic animals trotted on the scene, defying classical notions of our cuddly four-legged friends.

Since then, a barrage of the walking, dancing, and door-opening machines have commanded their presence, a sleek mixture of batteries, sensors, metal, and motors. [Read more…] about How the MIT mini cheetah learns to run

Robotic Resources: How Autonomous Technologies Enhance Human Capabilities

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By Jeff Weiland, LG Business Solutions USA

Ever since the first modern robots were developed in the 1950s, the public’s fascination with autonomous machines has varied from excitement and hope to hesitance and fear, and everything in between.

In the following decades, single-purpose robots began showing up on factory floors and in mailrooms, and average citizens grew more comfortable and familiar with digital technologies forming a central part of home life.

While the dancing, jumping, self-navigating robots of today were still decades away, the controversy then was much the same: workers worried that machines might eliminate their jobs. [Read more…] about Robotic Resources: How Autonomous Technologies Enhance Human Capabilities

With Human Controls Abolished, Only a Few Hurdles Remain in Making Automation Legally Secure

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One of the greatest barriers to the true stress testing of automated devices is the need for human control.

According to Reuters, however, US regulators have now eliminated the need for human control in automated devices, such as cars, paving the way for significant future developments.

But the removal of human control does not remove total legal liability, and there are a few legal hurdles yet left that will need to be addressed before automation innovation can start to progress quickly. [Read more…] about With Human Controls Abolished, Only a Few Hurdles Remain in Making Automation Legally Secure

Motiv Space Systems wins contract to supply NASA with new type of actuation system

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Motiv Space Systems is has won a key contract with NASA that will continue to power the future of space exploration and innovation, with eyes set on NASA’s Artemis program.

Motiv was recently awarded a $5 million contract to begin development of the Distributed Extreme Environments Drive System (DEEDS) under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Sequential Phase II Program.

This revolutionary technology has applications across a broad spectrum of missions, including in-situ resource utilization systems, robotics, payload offloading systems and mobility systems on the Lunar and Martian surfaces. [Read more…] about Motiv Space Systems wins contract to supply NASA with new type of actuation system

How Robotic Process Automation is Impacting Key Industries

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Necessity is considered one of the major reasons for invention. But the IT world does not compromise in coming up with innovations that are revolutionary. It all started with reducing the manpower, cutting off the cost and having reached the sole aim of pacing up.  [Read more…] about How Robotic Process Automation is Impacting Key Industries

Purdue scientists build a chip that makes connections like a human brain

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An electronic chip that can be reprogrammed on demand may enable artificial intelligence to learn more continuously like the human brain does, researchers have discovered.

When the human brain learns something new, it adapts. But when artificial intelligence learns something new, it tends to forget information it already learned.

As companies use more and more data to improve how AI recognizes images, learns languages and carries out other complex tasks, a paper published in Science this week shows a way that computer chips could dynamically rewire themselves to take in new data like the brain does, helping AI to keep learning over time. [Read more…] about Purdue scientists build a chip that makes connections like a human brain

Will Car Manufacturing Ever Be Fully Automated?

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The other day, I got an email asking me to participate in a survey regarding robots in hotels. Basically, the people behind the study wanted to gauge how comfortable respondents were about letting robots and AI systems take care of different aspects of their stay.

Would they be happy to check in without ever speaking to a human? What about having a robot clean their rooms?

The reason this survey stuck with me is that it posited the possibility that hotels would be staffed by robots in the near future. I wondered if it would be people coming to stay in hotels who would delay this from happening due to technophobia. This is in spite of the fact that mechanisation itself is not fully automated in many industries. [Read more…] about Will Car Manufacturing Ever Be Fully Automated?

Scientists unveil robotic grippers ‘delicate enough to lift egg yolks and precise enough to lift a human hair’

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Engineering researchers from North Carolina State University have demonstrated a new type of flexible, robotic grippers that they say “are able to lift delicate egg yolks without breaking them, and that are precise enough to lift a human hair”. (See video below.)

The work has applications for both soft robotics and biomedical technologies.

The work draws on the art of kirigami, which involves both cutting and folding two-dimensional (2D) sheets of material to form three-dimensional (3D) shapes. [Read more…] about Scientists unveil robotic grippers ‘delicate enough to lift egg yolks and precise enough to lift a human hair’