Robotics & Automation News

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Clearpath Robotics launches latest version of TurtleBot

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Clearpath Robotics, a manufacturer of mobile robotic platforms for research and development, and Open Robotics, primary maintainers of the Robot Operating System (ROS) and Gazebo simulator, have launched TurtleBot 4 – the next generation of the open-source robotics platform.

TurtleBot 4 is described as a “low-cost, fully expandable mobile robotics platform with improved sensing, increased payload capacity, ROS 2 support, and auto-docking capabilities” aimed at educators, researchers, and developers.

Bryan Webb, president of Clearpath Robotics, says: “This year marks ten years since we started working with the Open Robotics’ founding team on the Turtlebot 2. [Read more…] about Clearpath Robotics launches latest version of TurtleBot

Cogniteam’s Nimbus supports cloud-enabled robot management powered by Nvidia Jetson

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Cogniteam is supporting the Nvidia Jetson edge AI platform into its cloud-based robotics development and deployment platform, allowing cloud-enabled deployments to use Nvidia technology for the first time.

More customers are moving over to Nvidia’s GPU-accelerated technologies that can be developed and deployed through the cloud.

This is made possible by Nimbus’s packaging of field-tested software, such as sensors and AI capabilities, based on over a decade of Cogniteam’s work with enterprise businesses. [Read more…] about Cogniteam’s Nimbus supports cloud-enabled robot management powered by Nvidia Jetson

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

Hexagon NovAtel delivers ROS 2 compatible drivers to the OEM7 receiver

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Hexagon NovAtel has released its second purpose-built driver, powered by the latest series of the Robot Operating System, ROS 2.

The NovAtel OEM7 drivers are developed and managed by NovAtel engineers to provide an optimised interface for autonomy projects.

The drivers allow for quick incorporation of NovAtel’s OEM7 receivers into custom ROS 2 based applications. [Read more…] about Hexagon NovAtel delivers ROS 2 compatible drivers to the OEM7 receiver

US DoD selects Stratom to migrate robotic systems from ROS-1 to ROS-2

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Stratom, a developer of autonomous ground vehicles and robotic systems for logistics and operational applications, has been selected as part of an exclusive team to deliver the US Department of Defense’s Stage II of the Modular Autonomy and Robotic Software program, which involves the collaborative migration of Robotic Technology Kernel software modules from the first version of the Robot Operating System to ROS 2. 

For nearly a decade, the US government has been developing ROS-M (Robotic Operating System-Military), an ecosystem of software architectures, reusable components and supporting infrastructure to enable rapid development and fielding of robotic and autonomous systems.

Built on ROS 1, ROS-M enables the DoD to benefit from open-source development practices while maintaining tight control over the community-developed code. However, ROS 1’s current revision, Noetic, is set to be the last version, with support ending in 2025. [Read more…] about US DoD selects Stratom to migrate robotic systems from ROS-1 to ROS-2

Doosan Robotics introduces ‘industry’s first’ ROS package for its machines

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Doosan Robotics has released the Doosan ROS 2 package, compatible with the latest ROS 2 Foxy Fitzroy.

By releasing the package in early 2021, Doosan Robotics says it has positioned itself as “the first to operate collaborative robots driven by the newest version of ROS 2”.

Doosan Robotics strategically designed its ROS 2 Foxy package to provide both convenience and accessibility. [Read more…] about Doosan Robotics introduces ‘industry’s first’ ROS package for its machines

PI USA adds ROS drivers to its hexapod robotic positioners

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PI USA has added Robot Operating System (ROS) drivers to its hexapod 6-axis robotic positioners.

ROS, managed by ROS.org, is a flexible framework for robotics software development, and PI has released ROS drivers for its full compact H-811 hexapod range.

These miniature 6 degrees-of-freedom robotic positioning systems provide sub-micron precision for applications including Silicon Photonics array alignment, medical robotics, camera lens optimization, and microscopy. [Read more…] about PI USA adds ROS drivers to its hexapod robotic positioners

Otto Motors integrates its warehouse robots with Boston Dynamics’ robot dog

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Otto Motors, a maker of autonomous mobile robots for warehouses and part of Clearpath Robotics, has integrated its warehouse robots with Boston Dynamics’ robot dog, Spot, as part of a demonstration. (See video below.)

The company says it combined its separate areas of expertise – from Clearpath and Otto – into “a dynamic real-world application using Boston Dynamics’ Spot”.

At the end of last year, Clearpath released a ROS software package for Spot which allows researchers to take full advantage of ROS capabilities out-of-the-box and leverage widely available open-source libraries and tools with Spot. [Read more…] about Otto Motors integrates its warehouse robots with Boston Dynamics’ robot dog

RTI introduces enhanced ROS 2 support to software framework

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Real-Time Innovations (RTI), a software framework provider for robots and smart machines, has launched its Connext 6 ROS Middleware Wrapper (RMW) Layer, bringing the strength of RTI Connext 6 to the latest release of the Robot Operating System (ROS 2).

Robotics software developers can now leverage the ROS 2 ecosystem together with RTI Connext Tools to more rapidly develop, test and debug distributed robotics systems. RTI will showcase the new Connext RMW layer at ROS World on November 12.

ROS 2 offers an open-source framework for building robotic systems. RTI is the leading supplier of software compliant with the Data Distribution Service (DDS) standard, which provides the connectivity backbone for ROS 2. [Read more…] about RTI introduces enhanced ROS 2 support to software framework

ADLINK teams up with Intel to launch ROS-based robotics technology

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ADLINK Technology, a provider of edge computing systems, has launched the ROScube-I with Intel, providing a real-time ROS 2 robot controller for advanced robotic applications.

The ADLINK ROScube-I Series is a ROS 2-enabled robotic controller based on Intel Xeon E, 9th Gen Intel Core i7/i3 and 8th Gen Intel Core i5 processors, and features exceptional I/O connectivity supporting a wide variety of sensors and actuators to meet the needs of a wide range of robotic applications.

The ROScube-I supports an extension box for convenient functional and performance expansion with Intel VPU cards and the Intel Distribution of OpenVINO toolkit for computation of AI algorithms and inference. [Read more…] about ADLINK teams up with Intel to launch ROS-based robotics technology