Robotics & Automation News

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universities

UK’s Universities and Colleges Admission Service renews contract with Infosys to drive automation

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The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) has renewed its contract with Infosys for another three years in an attempt to increase automation and the efficiency of its services for students.

According to Sander Kristel, UCAS’s chief operations officer, the deal marks a very real move forward in the partnership between the two organizations that has existed since 2015.

“UCAS is seeing an increase in student demand across all areas. A demographic uplift and a growing demand from mature students and overseas applicants means we are anticipating a million undergraduate applicants by 2025. [Read more…] about UK’s Universities and Colleges Admission Service renews contract with Infosys to drive automation

Kiwibot and Sodexo launch robotic food delivery services to three university campuses

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Kiwibot, a robotic last-mile delivery company, is partnering with Sodexo, a food services and facilities management company, to expand its robotic fleet to “drive the future of smart university campuses”.

This August, the two companies will make robot deliveries available at three campuses in the US:

  • New Mexico State University;
  • Loyola Marymount University, California; and
  • Gonzaga University, Washington.

Kiwibot says it offers full remote and in-field customer support to businesses and integrates with any business’s point-of-sale to distribute their food products via “powerful, cute-looking robots”. [Read more…] about Kiwibot and Sodexo launch robotic food delivery services to three university campuses

Micron launches robot design challenge

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Micron Technology, a provider of memory and storage solutions, has launched its UV Robot Design Challenge.

The company says the competition is designed to address the growing need for reliable, low-cost ultraviolet light robotic solutions that can help automate disinfection and potentially combat the spread of Covid-19 and other diseases.

UV germicidal irradiation has been shown to destroy the RNA in viruses and can help mitigate the transmission of microbes, which can remain active on surfaces for prolonged periods of time. [Read more…] about Micron launches robot design challenge

MIT reveals robot to inspect pipes, while Stanford shows ‘vine-like growing robot’

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Universities are doing a lot of interesting work in the area of robotics, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford are two of the most active in the field. 

Both universities showed similar robots this week, MIT’s being a bottle-shaped device which checks pipes and Stanford’s one a machine which is said to grow like a vine.

According to DigitalTrends.com, MIT’s PipeGuard team recently won $10,000 in the university’s competition and swims through pipes to detect any problems.

The YouTube video for the device (above) describes as a “leak detection robot for city water distribution systems”.

Stanford, which also made a video (below) of its strange plant- or worm-like organic robot, if it can be called that, said its invention “could be useful in search and rescue and medical applications”.

Commercial customers for the robots are probably already lined up and perhaps the two teams could spin out into startup companies.