Robotics & Automation News

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Sonatus unveils platform for building software-defined vehicles

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Sonatus, a developer of software defined vehicle technology, has released the next generation of its Sonatus Digital Dynamics Vehicle Platform, which “lives both in-vehicle and in the cloud”, says the company.

Following a successful debut in the Genesis GV60, Sonatus has further enhanced the cloud-side of its platform to bolster automakers’ ability to build software-defined vehicles that can be updated with new features and functionality throughout their entire lifetimes – without requiring new software development.

Given the time and resources required to develop new software, removing this barrier significantly accelerates innovation and bolsters agility, claims Sonatus. [Read more…] about Sonatus unveils platform for building software-defined vehicles

UAE scientists figure out way to get swarm robots to split up tasks efficiently

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Researchers at the Technology Innovation Institute in the UAE are developing a new paradigm for teaching robot swarms how to allocate themselves to tasks efficiently. 

The ideas – published in the paper, Group-Size Regulation in Self-organized Aggregation in Robot Swarms – could spark interest in better ways of controlling lots of simple robots to do more complicated tasks independently, with little or no outside communication.

Much prior work has been done to organizing swarms of drones to perform impressive tasks, such as a coordinated light show. But these approaches often relied on centralized coordination, expensive equipment in each drone, or both. [Read more…] about UAE scientists figure out way to get swarm robots to split up tasks efficiently

How KYC Automation is Transforming Client Onboarding

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Back in the day, onboarding was a process that had to be done face-to-face, at a brick-and-mortar location that had a computer system hooked up to a program that could be monitored and checked for compliance.

The Know Your Customer (KYC) platforms have changed that old traditional system in some substantial ways. Changes that are the best for companies and consumers alike.

When you combine an automated system to the KYC platforms you gain a winning combination that will speed up all the processes involved in every transaction. [Read more…] about How KYC Automation is Transforming Client Onboarding

Will Car Manufacturing Ever Be Fully Automated?

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The other day, I got an email asking me to participate in a survey regarding robots in hotels. Basically, the people behind the study wanted to gauge how comfortable respondents were about letting robots and AI systems take care of different aspects of their stay.

Would they be happy to check in without ever speaking to a human? What about having a robot clean their rooms?

The reason this survey stuck with me is that it posited the possibility that hotels would be staffed by robots in the near future. I wondered if it would be people coming to stay in hotels who would delay this from happening due to technophobia. This is in spite of the fact that mechanisation itself is not fully automated in many industries. [Read more…] about Will Car Manufacturing Ever Be Fully Automated?

Walmart to roll out inventory analytics function to fleet of robotic floor cleaners

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Walmart business unit Sam’s Club – a membership warehouse club – is planning the national, chain-wide roll out of “Inventory Scan”, a new inventory analytics function which will be added to the its existing fleet of robotic scrubbers.

The implementation will be undertaken in partnership with software company Brain Corp and Tennant Company, the manufacturer of the vehicle.

The rollout marks the largest and fastest technology deployment undertaken by Brain Corp – which provides the operating system for the robotic floor cleaners – and the first commercial application of its inventory scanning technology anywhere in the world. [Read more…] about Walmart to roll out inventory analytics function to fleet of robotic floor cleaners

Starship Technologies launches robot delivery service at Dallas university

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Starship Technologies has rolled out its robot food delivery service at SMU, a Dallas-based private university.

Starship’s fleet of 16 autonomous, on-demand robots will deliver from 10 campus eateries.

The University’s students, faculty and staff can now use the Starship Food Delivery app (iOS and Android) to order food and drinks from Cinco Taco, Einstein Bros Bagels, Lawyers Inn, Mac’s Place, Panera Bread, Rollin’ & Bowlin’ Acai Bowls, Starbucks, Sushic, and The Market to be delivered anywhere on campus, within minutes. [Read more…] about Starship Technologies launches robot delivery service at Dallas university

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

Automatica event right back on track, say organisers

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Organisers of Automatica, one of the world’s largest industrial robotics and automation trade shows, say the event is “right back on track” after a terrible pandemic which virtually destroyed the entire events sector.

In a press release, Automatica organisers say: “The indicators for automatica 2022, which will be held at the Munich exhibition grounds from June 21 to 24, are very positive. All industry leaders have already applied half a year before the event.”

Companies such as ABB, Denso, Doosan Robotics, Epson, Fanuc, Hanwha, igus, Kawasaki, Kuka, Omron, Stäubli, Universal Robots, Yamaha, and Yaskawa will represent the robotics sector. [Read more…] about Automatica event right back on track, say organisers

Opinion: How to double up grocery logistics productivity with autonomous mobile robots

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With growing labour availability issues, how can grocery logistics operations significantly boost performance? Vincent Jacquemart, CEO at French autonomous mobile robot designer and manufacturer iFollow, offers a solution.

Faced with the likelihood of long term staff shortages and resulting rises in pay rates, warehouse and distribution centre operators in grocery and many other sectors are turning sometimes belatedly to automation. This is certainly an option but not all solutions deliver really significant productivity improvements.

Labour shortages in logistics have been building for some years, by no means just because of Brexit, and the inability to fulfil orders reliably is becoming an existential threat for many firms.

Logistics UK in October claimed that “13 percent of traders are reporting severe warehouse staff shortages”; in November the Cold Chain Federation noted “10 percent to 20 percent shortage rates” among its members. [Read more…] about Opinion: How to double up grocery logistics productivity with autonomous mobile robots

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