Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

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Researchers develop robot fingertips for grasping and releasing objects in dry and wet conditions

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A team of researchers at Kanazawa University has developed a robot control system – or fingertips – for grasping and releasing objects in dry and wet conditions.

The researchers say that the study was able to verify that “object grasping by soft surface fluid fingertips with high friction was controllable by applying a suitable lubricant”.

However, they added that it was necessary to do more experiments under various conditions in order to apply the current controlling technology to manufacturing environments. [Read more…] about Researchers develop robot fingertips for grasping and releasing objects in dry and wet conditions

Scurrying cockroaches help researchers steady staggering robots

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Ew, a cockroach! But it zips off before the swatter appears. Now, researchers have leveraged the bug’s superb scurrying skills to create a cleverly simple method to assess and improve locomotion in robots.

Normally, tedious modeling of mechanics, electronics, and information science is required to understand how insects’ or robots’ moving parts coordinate smoothly to take them places.

But in a new study, biomechanics researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology boiled down the sprints of cockroaches to handy principles and equations they then used to make a test robot amble about better. [Read more…] about Scurrying cockroaches help researchers steady staggering robots

Columbia university develops robotic neck brace that ‘dramatically improves’ movement

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Columbia university has developed a robotic neck brace that it says “dramatically improves functions in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients. (See video below.)

The brace incorporates both sensors and actuators to “restore roughly 70 percent of the active range of motion”.

The novel neck brace, which supports the neck during its natural motion, was designed by Columbia university engineers. [Read more…] about Columbia university develops robotic neck brace that ‘dramatically improves’ movement

Columbia university demonstrates robotic cane to ‘improve stability in walking’

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Columbia University has demonstrated a robotic cane which it claims can “improve stability in walking”.

The developers say the device acts as a cane-like mobile assistant to provide “light-touch” operation to help the elderly and others with impaired mobility.

By adding electronics and computation technology to a simple cane that has been around since ancient times, a team of researchers at Columbia Engineering have transformed it into a 21st-century robotic device that can provide light-touch assistance in walking to the aged and others with impaired mobility. [Read more…] about Columbia university demonstrates robotic cane to ‘improve stability in walking’

Connected devices, industrial control systems expose manufacturers to cyber threats, say Deloitte and Mapi

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Intellectual property theft tops manufacturers’ concerns, says new report, which identifies measures to control cyber risks associated with advanced manufacturing

Nearly half of surveyed manufacturing executives lack confidence their assets are protected from external threats, according to a new study from Deloitte and the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (Mapi) on Cyber risk in advanced manufacturing. 

Study results indicate nearly 40 percent of surveyed manufacturing companies were affected by cyber incidents in the past 12 months, and 38 percent of those impacted indicated cyber breaches resulted in damages in excess of $1 million.

Trina Huelsman, vice chairman, Deloitte & Touche and US industrial products and services leader, says: “Manufacturers are innovating at an unprecedented rate, integrating cutting-edge technologies in products, automating the shop floor, connecting supply chains, and increasingly investing in valuable intellectual property.  [Read more…] about Connected devices, industrial control systems expose manufacturers to cyber threats, say Deloitte and Mapi