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Nidec to open new factories and launch business in Serbia

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Nidec is to open new factories in the city of Novi Sad in Serbia, and held an event today to mark the beginning of the project. 

At today’s event, held at the office of president, Serbia, and attended by President Aleksandar Vučić, Mayor Miloš Vučević of Novi Sad, and Japanese Ambassador to Serbia Takahiko Katsumata, among others, the company announced its plan to launch business in Serbia.

Yesterday, on April 8, the company held a ceremony to open a new business office in Novi Sad to start preparations to start up the factories in full scale. [Read more…] about Nidec to open new factories and launch business in Serbia

Mecademic to launch tiny new SCARA robot

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Mecademic, a maker of tiny industrial robot arms, is planning to launch a very small new SCARA robot.

The company describes the MCS500 as “with the world’s most compact SCARA robot” and says it is coming soon.

Mecademic says its new SCARA robot is designed and built using the same principles as Meca500 and is “a tiny, highly precise, and easy-to-integrate automation component”. [Read more…] about Mecademic to launch tiny new SCARA robot

Cost reduction in aerospace through additive manufacturing

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Spacecraft are developed on Earth, tested, fully assembled and transported in one piece by a launch vehicle to their respective places of operation. Each component must be designed to withstand the high loads of the launch phase.

In most cases, in addition to complex test procedures, this leads to an oversized structure of the spacecraft components, because in orbit they experience only a fraction of the stresses they must endure during rocket launch.

The maximum take-off mass required for transport with the launch vehicle and the volume of satellites, for example, thus cause high space transport costs. [Read more…] about Cost reduction in aerospace through additive manufacturing

Motional and Lyft to launch fully driverless rideshare service

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Motional, a driverless technology developer, and rideshare service provider Lyft have agreed joint plans to launch a multimarket robotaxi service in major US cities, beginning in 2023.

Motional says its next generation, fully driverless vehicles will be integrated, operationalized, and implemented on the Lyft network.

The two companies claim this agreement marks the largest robotaxi partnership for a major ridesharing network. It follows an ongoing and successful three-year partnership, in which Motional and Lyft operate the world’s longest-standing commercial robotaxi service in Las Vegas. [Read more…] about Motional and Lyft to launch fully driverless rideshare service

Seoul Robotics launches ‘breakthrough’ perception software platform

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​Seoul Robotics​, a 3D computer vision company using AI and machine learning to power the future of mobility, has made its formal debut in the US market with the launch of its first commercial product, Discovery.

The company, which has been developing sensor agnostic perception software for 3D sensors for the past three years, provides large-scale companies, institutions, and governments with access to LiDAR solutions to support a range of functions and increase efficiency and safety.

The LiDAR market is currently on track to reach more than $3 billion by 2025, fueled over the last decade by companies focused on the development of autonomous vehicles. [Read more…] about Seoul Robotics launches ‘breakthrough’ perception software platform

Relativity Space raises astronomical amount of $500 million for 3D printed rockets idea

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Relativity Space, which is said to be the first company to 3D print an entire rocket and build the largest metal 3D printers in the world, has raised $500 million Series D equity funding.

The investment round was led by Tiger Global Management with participation from new investors Fidelity Management & Research Company, Baillie Gifford, Iconiq Capital, General Catalyst, XN, Senator Investment Group, and Elad Gil.

Existing investors participating in the round include Bond, Tribe Capital, K5 Global, 3L, Playground Global, Mark Cuban, Spencer Rascoff, and Allen & Company, among others. [Read more…] about Relativity Space raises astronomical amount of $500 million for 3D printed rockets idea

Motional and Via partner to launch platform for public, on-demand shared robotaxi rides

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Motional, a driverless technology developer, and Via, a public mobility solutions provider, have agreed a partnership that they say will “serve as a blueprint for the future of on-demand, shared robotaxis”.

Motional and Via seek to use learnings from the partnership to inform how driverless vehicles can be integrated into mass transit networks, and optimized for pooled rides.

The partnership’s first service – shared robotaxi rides, available to the public – is expected to launch in one of Motional’s existing US markets in the first half of 2021. The initial launch market will be announced at a later date. [Read more…] about Motional and Via partner to launch platform for public, on-demand shared robotaxi rides

Brainy alien hunter obsessed with finding life on Mars

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A brainy alien-hunter is apparently obsessed with finding life on Mars. The Purdue scientist is playing a critical role in the 2020 NASA Mars rover mission.

Briony Horgan (main picture), associate professor of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at Purdue University, is working to determine whether we are alone in the universe or if life once existed on other planets such as Mars.

When the NASA Mars rover Perseverance launches in the next few weeks, it will travel to Jezero Crater, which preserves evidence of a time when rivers flowed on Mars. [Read more…] about Brainy alien hunter obsessed with finding life on Mars

Toadi smashes its fundraising goal in 14 minutes flat to raise $1.3 million for lawn robot

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Toadi, an AI-powered yard robot technology with object recognition and security features, has surpassed the goals of its Kickstarter campaign only 14 minutes after the launch.

Being featured on the platform this June 25th, the campaign reached $1,200,000 on the first day and ended up getting featured in the “Projects We Love” section of the Kickstarter platform.

The Toadi self-driving lawn robot works by integrating a camera with artificial intelligence to recognize and avoid objects in front of it, such as trees, animals, and other people. [Read more…] about Toadi smashes its fundraising goal in 14 minutes flat to raise $1.3 million for lawn robot

Airbus and Xenesis to demo 10 Gbps networking on ISS for robotics and other applications

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Airbus and Xenesis have signed a contract for a payload slot on the International Space Station Bartolomeo platform for the demonstration of their Xen-Hub optical communication space terminal.

The Xen-Hub is a greater than 10 gigabyte per second optical communications terminal. The terminal was enabled with a technology transfer from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and is designed to increase satellite communications bandwidth.

The Airbus-built Bartolomeo platform offers external science and payload hosting capabilities on the ISS, providing new opportunities for science and research. [Read more…] about Airbus and Xenesis to demo 10 Gbps networking on ISS for robotics and other applications