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Ava Robotics to provide its Tyco robot for security patrols at buildings managed by Johnson Controls

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Johnson Controls has chosen Ava Robotics, a developer of robots for workplace applications, to provide its new Tyco Security Robot for patrols in the buildings it manages.

Tyco debuted recently in the Tyco Demo Room and Innovation Center at the Global Security Exchange (GSX) Conference in Orlando.

Taking a unified approach to solve existing and emerging challenges within the workplace, including for specific and evolving building and facility security needs, this robot is designed to bring access control, video surveillance and security robotics together for a more comprehensive and efficient solution. [Read more…] about Ava Robotics to provide its Tyco robot for security patrols at buildings managed by Johnson Controls

Robotics4EU project is response to ‘unprecedented importance of robotics in modern economy’

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The European Commission, the administrative arm of the European Union, says its Robotics4EU project is its answer to the “unprecedented importance of robotics in the modern economy”.

Launched officially in January 2021 under the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme, Robotics4EU aims to take concrete steps to ensure a more widespread adoption of (AI-based) robots in the EU, particularly in the areas of Healthcare, Inspection and Maintenance of Infrastructure, Agri-Food, and Agile Production.

The project’s goal also includes raising awareness about non-technological aspects of robotics, such as ethics, legal, socioeconomic, data, privacy and gender issues. [Read more…] about Robotics4EU project is response to ‘unprecedented importance of robotics in modern economy’

MassRobotics partners with Abu Dhabi organization for $3 million prize competition

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MassRobotics is partnering with a group from Abu Dhabi to organize another biennial edition of the MBZIRC Maritime Grand Challenge, also known as the Mohammed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge.

The organizers say it is a global competition “designed to push the boundaries of autonomous robotics” and features a total prize purse of over $3 million.

The challenge, open to universities, research centers, companies, and individual innovators, calls for collaboration between unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned surface vehicles to perform complex navigation and manipulation tasks in a GNSS-denied environment at sea to detect unfriendly vessels and move or capture cargo. [Read more…] about MassRobotics partners with Abu Dhabi organization for $3 million prize competition

Cleo Robotics launches doughnut-shaped drone for indoor industrial inspection

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Cleo Robotics, which claims to be the first company to successfully develop a stable and highly maneuverable ducted bi-rotor drone, has launched its Dronut X1 for law-enforcement, industrial inspection, construction and defense markets.

Cleo’s patented thrust vectoring technology has, for the first time ever, made the hyper-efficient ducted fan design stable in flight. The Dronut’s completely enclosed propellers enable the X1 to safely bounce off objects and people and is a fraction of the size of similarly featured drones.

For industrial and commercial applications, the Dronut X1 now enables unmanned inspections of dangerous and confined spaces (tanks, pressure vessels, crawl spaces, and so on) where no drone or robot could previously go. [Read more…] about Cleo Robotics launches doughnut-shaped drone for indoor industrial inspection

Leica Geosystems nominated for robotics award at CES

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Leica Geosystems, a provider of measurement technology, has been named a CES 2022 Innovation Awards Honoree for the Leica BLK ARC, a four-legged canine type of robot.

This year’s CES Innovation Awards program received a record high number of over 1,800 submissions. The announcement was made ahead of CES 2022, the world’s most influential technology event, happening January 5-8 in Las Vegas, Nevada and digitally.

The Leica BLK ARC is an autonomous laser scanning module for robotics applications. It provides a safe and autonomous way to perform reality capture of images and 3D data of areas that are difficult or dangerous for humans to reach. [Read more…] about Leica Geosystems nominated for robotics award at CES

6 Tips to Get Manufacturing Automation Right

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The demand for industrial products keeps increasing daily. Besides industrial products, manufacturing industries constantly seek the best way to improve their services and provide customers with the desired satisfaction.

It’s not enough to employ automation processes – many factors have to be considered to get the best. Mistakes and errors are common in setting up manufacturing automation processes. There are also technical slips and lapses, even when using cloud-based manufacturing software. [Read more…] about 6 Tips to Get Manufacturing Automation Right

STMicroelectronics teams up with REV Robotics’ battlebot

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Semiconductor company STMicroelectronics is contributing multiple STM32 microcontrollers (MCUs) to REV Robotics’ “Switchback” battlebot.

The 250-pound battlebot, which uses a dual-motor drum spinner mounted on a fully-ambidextrous arm, is designed for durability and serviceability – as well as to win robot battles by hitting opponent robots really, really hard, and breaking them apart with the drum spinner.

The Switchback battlebot, premiering in battle on the Discovery Channel on January 6th, 2022 and on display in ST’s private suite at CES 2022, uses five heavy-duty electronic speed controllers with open-source firmware, implemented with STM32 MCUs. [Read more…] about STMicroelectronics teams up with REV Robotics’ battlebot

Fugro’s robotic space operations complex to be located in Perth, Australia

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Fugro has confirmed that its Australian Space Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Control Complex (SpAARC) will be located in the heart of downtown Perth’s central business district.

Housed in Western Australia’s largest telecommunications exchange, and thanks to an ongoing partnership with Telstra, Fugro’s world-class facility will manage robotics and remote operations in Australia, around the world and in space.

SpAARC will support the translation of terrestrial capabilities into space, while also providing innovative remote solutions here on earth. [Read more…] about Fugro’s robotic space operations complex to be located in Perth, Australia

Nvidia brings AI perception to ROS developers

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Nvidia has unveiled initiatives to deliver a suite of perception technologies to the Robot Operating System (ROS) developer community.

The chipmaker says these initiatives will “reduce development time and improve performance for developers seeking to incorporate cutting-edge computer vision and AI/ML functionality into their ROS-based robotics applications”.

Nvidia and Open Robotics, the organisation which maintains ROS, have entered into an agreement to accelerate ROS 2 performance on Nvidia’s Jetson edge AI platform and GPU-based systems and to enable seamless simulation interoperability between Open Robotics’s Ignition Gazebo and Nvidia Isaac Sim on Omniverse. [Read more…] about Nvidia brings AI perception to ROS developers

Amazon looks to accelerate emergence of innovative robotics startups

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By Grace Reed, product marketing manager for AWS RoboMaker, and Pulkit Kapur, business development manager for robotics and autonomous systems at AWS

Helping startups succeed, from inception to IPO, has been an integral part of Amazon Web Services since its beginning. Today, more startups build on AWS than any other cloud provider, and many of its customers started using AWS at an early stage to help scale their business and drive innovation.

For example, Lunar Outpost, a pioneer in lunar surface robotics, uses AWS RoboMaker to test and validate robotics software in a simulated lunar environment, enabling them to speed up robot delivery and reduce software bugs in deployment.

In this blog post, we discuss how AWS Robotics is helping robotics startups use cloud technology to establish a scalable infrastructure for building, testing, and managing robots. [Read more…] about Amazon looks to accelerate emergence of innovative robotics startups