Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

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Is Autonomy a Threat to Supercars?

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The notion that autonomy could be a threat to supercars has been around for some time now. The fear is that the emerging technology will change the way people use vehicles and, therefore, have a knock-on impact on the biggest brands in the space, like Ferrari and Lamborghini.

But whether this risk is existential remains to be seen. While autonomy is likely to affect the car industry in numerous ways, it is unclear if its effect will be moderate, large, or small. [Read more…] about Is Autonomy a Threat to Supercars?

Decoding Transportation Synergy: 
Distinguishing Routing and Scheduling While Maximizing their Integration

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The transportation and logistics sector thrives on efficient resource allocation and exceptional service quality. Central to these objectives are two distinct yet interconnected concepts – routing and scheduling.

Comprehending their individual roles, while embracing their combined power, is the key to unlocking the full potential of transportation operations. [Read more…] about Decoding Transportation Synergy: 
Distinguishing Routing and Scheduling While Maximizing their Integration

Ethics and robotics: A match made in heaven for risk management?

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By Lee Bristow, CTO of Phinity

If your business uses third parties to support core operations (and most do, from SMEs to corporates), you’ll know they need to access essential data. Without this, they can’t deliver the services you require.

Therefore, alongside this new relationship between you and your third party suppliers, comes a new responsibility for you.

You now have an ethical and legal onus to protect the customer information entrusted to you. [Read more…] about Ethics and robotics: A match made in heaven for risk management?

FactoryFix raises $10 million in funding

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FactoryFix, a recruiting platform that helps manufacturing companies hire skilled workers, has announced a $10 million Series A financing.

Grotech Ventures led the round with participation from Capital Midwest, Great North Ventures, Hyde Park Venture Partners, Revolution Rise of the Rest, and JFF Labs. The company has raised $16 million to date.

This funding caps off a year in which the company saw revenue grow by more than 400 percent. FactoryFix now helps hundreds of industrial companies in sectors like automotive, food and beverage, packaging, and warehousing. [Read more…] about FactoryFix raises $10 million in funding

SVT Robotics raises $25 million in Series A funding round led by Tiger Global

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SVT Robotics, whose software accelerates and simplifies the integration and implementation of robotics, has closed a $25 Million Series A funding round.

The investment was led by Tiger Global, with participation from Prologis Ventures.

Griffin Schroeder, partner at Tiger Global, says: “With no ‘plug-and-play’ integration solution for industrial robotics, warehouses and manufacturers have been prevented from quickly deploying the automation they need to keep pace with the dramatic shifts in labor dynamics we’ve seen over the past year. [Read more…] about SVT Robotics raises $25 million in Series A funding round led by Tiger Global

TerraClear raises $25 million to commercialize Robotic Rock Picker

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TerraClear, an applied AI and robotics company, announced Series A funding of $25 million led by Madrona Venture Group, bringing the company’s total funding to $38 million. Rocks in fields break machinery, slow precision farming, and take up valuable time that modern farms do not have.

TerraClear’s Rock Picker picks an average of 400 rocks per hour and can pick up rocks of up to 300 pounds each.

In the past year, TerraClear has deployed early versions of their solution that both map and clear fields of rocks. These rocks not only break the backs of those picking them up, but break increasingly expensive precision machinery that is in common use by farmers for planting, irrigating and harvesting. [Read more…] about TerraClear raises $25 million to commercialize Robotic Rock Picker

Texas university students win $10,000 SICK challenge

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For the third year, SICK invited students from universities around the country to participate in the TiM$10K Challenge. The challenge started in 2018 to support innovation and student achievement in automation and technology.

Teams were supplied with a 270° SICK LiDAR sensor (TiM) and accessories and challenged to solve a problem, create a solution, or bring a new application to any industry that utilizes the SICK LiDAR. [Read more…] about Texas university students win $10,000 SICK challenge

MIT startup unveils robot that unloads trailer ‘blazingly fast’

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MIT startup Pickle has unveiled a new robot that works with people to get online orders delivered sooner by unloading trailers “blazingly fast”. (See video below.)

The secret, says the company, is to “keep people in the picture”.

How has a team of 15 solved one of the biggest challenges in logistics automation in only 18 months and with limited funding? [Read more…] about MIT startup unveils robot that unloads trailer ‘blazingly fast’

How Modernization of Our World Reflects in Our Well-Being

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Modernization of our world is an inevitable process as our everyday needs drive innovation in every field out there.

The thing is, progress is never a straightforward process. It is without a doubt that it improves our lives, but some drawbacks are inevitable. In some cases, new problems arise as well. That being said, what does the full picture say?

Well, it’s hard to say. The consensus on this topic has not been reached, and it is a source of constant debate – among scientists and regular people as well. [Read more…] about How Modernization of Our World Reflects in Our Well-Being

Interview: Startup Reflect developing new solution to ‘a real industrial problem’

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Interview with George Papanikolopoulos, CEO of CASP, which is developing a software solution to what he describes as ‘a real industrial problem’

Reflect is one of the experiments that successfully passed to Phase II of the first Open Call in ESMERA, the EU agency that has a multimillion-euro budget to help robotic startups. 

Being one of the 12 experiments that started in ESMERA in the summer of 2019, Reflect proved its concept to external evaluators and has been selected as one of the currently five final experiments in Phase II. [Read more…] about Interview: Startup Reflect developing new solution to ‘a real industrial problem’