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Robotics NEWS: NEW CTO FOR AGILITY ROBOTICS

May 23, 2023

Fetch founder Melonee Wise joins Agility Robotics as CTO. Agility is building a two legged robot, called Digit, for the logistics market. Back in April, the Agility announced a $150 million Series B, bringing its total funding to $180 million to date.

Robotics NEWS: TESLA BOT UPDATE

May 22, 2023

Tesla seems to be making progress on their humanoid robot. In the video below multiple fully Tesla-made bots are walking around & learning about the real world. Apparently, Tesla plans on deploying these robots in Tesla factories first, and then sell them to other factories and warehouses. Later, they will venture into less structured environments, like homes.

Robotics NEWS: Adorable robot lawn mower can help save the bees

May 18, 2023

(Thanks Ashley Mead)

Husqvarna, a Swedish company that makes landscaping tools, adds a feature to their lawn-mowing robots that use guard wires and GPS to automatically mow your lawn. The new feature finds a compromise between the homeowner associations that like a nicely-mowed lawn and the bees' need for flowers that the mowed lawn cannot provide - the robot will now mow most of your lawn for you except for one patch. You can select the location of this patch on the virtual map that the robot uses to navigate.

The article stated the following environmental benefits to using the new feature: "combat climate change, by capturing more carbon in the air; create a chain of habitat zones for animals to use as they navigate changing climate and environments; help restore local biodiversity; and provide cleaner water, better protection against flood, and healthier soil."

Robotics NEWS: Stanford exoskeleton walks out into the real world

May 11, 2023

(Thanks Sylvia Wang)

The Stanford Biomechatronics Laboratory has been working on an exoskeleton that personalizes assistance as people walk normally through the real world. It results in exceptional improvements in walking speed and energy economy. This “robotic boot” has a motor that works with calf muscles to give the wearer an extra push with every step. But, unlike other exoskeletons out there, this push is personalized using a machine-learning-based model that was trained through years of work using emulators.

The ultimate aim is to help people with mobility impairments, particularly older people, move throughout the world as they like. With this latest breakthrough, the research team believes the technology is ready for commercialization in the coming few years.

The exoskeleton makes walking easier and can increase speed by applying torque at the ankle, replacing some of the function of the calf muscle. As users take a step, just before their toes are about to leave the ground the device helps them push off. When a person is first using the exoskeleton, it provides a slightly different pattern of assistance each time the person walks. By measuring the resulting motion, the machine learning model determines how to better assist the person the next time they walk. It takes only about one hour of walking for the exoskeleton to customize to a new user.

The next step for the exoskeleton is to see what it can do for the target demographic: older adults and people who are beginning to experience mobility decline due to disability. The researchers also plan to design variations that improve balance and reduce joint pain, and to work with commercial partners to turn the device into a product.

Robotics NEWS: Massive autonomous robot is 3 to 5 times faster than a human construction crew

May 11, 2023

(Thanks Ashley Mead)

Built Robotics, a startup in California, is working on automating construction sites. This involves attaching a computer, sensors, and mechanical parts (e.g. storage bins and arms) to existing construction machines so they can do the work themselves.

Adding automation to construction can make construction more efficient, with the machines moving faster and working more time than construction workers could, as well as lifting heavier objects. This also keeps the workers from having to endure the loud and unsafe environments. With the automation in place, the human construction workers would then be able to oversee multiple machines and focus more on the creative aspects rather than having to focus on a single repetitive task at a time.

Robotics NEWS: Matician Brings a Service Model to Home-Cleaning Robots

May 11, 2023

Matic will take care of your floors for $125 a month.

Read more on IEEE Spectrum

Robotics NEWS: Neato Robotics, a Robotic Vacuum Pioneer, Shuts Down

May 11, 2023

Once, the company's “laserified” vacuums made their robots the ones to beat

Read more on IEEE Spectrum

Robotics NEWS: YOUR ROBOTIC AVATAR IS ALMOST READY

May 10, 2023

What the Avatar XPrize revealed about the future of telepresence robots.

Read more on IEEE Spectrum

Robotics NEWS: Speedy Robo-gripper reflexively organizes cluttered spaces

April 27, 2023

(Thanks Markus Schiffer)

Found an article about a robot gripper which quickly grabs items from spaces which normal humans create, which are often organized in a cluttered way. My understanding of the algorithm is that it relies less on vision than other approaches, instead using a new design of an hand like claw to reflexively feel for adjustments it needs to make to pick up items. This means that it can be more robust to unseen objects. The algorithm also uses this sensitive gripper to be more adaptive to failed grasps, being able to adapt in a human like way, rather than needing to restart the grasp attempt completely. Also the algorithm is very quick. See the video embedded within the article to see it in action!

Robotics NEWS: Jelly-like robots can one day clean up the ocean

April 26, 2023

(Thanks Francesca Wang)

It talks about a jellylike robot in its prototyping stage. Its functionality is to trap waste under its body by creating a current. The project's goal is to deploy the jellyfish robots to the seabed to collect waste and then later recycle the waste when it arrives at the sea surface. It is made of soft and insulating material so it is not going to cause damage to the sea environment. The jellyfish robot has six hands where four of them are propeller and two of them are grippers. The cool thing about the robot is that even though it is unable to collect heavy waste alone with two grippers. With two or more such robots, it can transport heavier waste easily. The only drawback of the prototype is that it has to operate with a wire and the team is looking for a wireless solution for the jellyfish to be truly successful in the sea.

Robotics NEWS: Making mind-controlled robots a reality

April 20, 2023

(Thanks Sylvia Wang)

Researchers from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) have developed biosensor technology that will allow people to operate devices such as robots and machines solely through thought control.

The user wears a head-mounted augmented reality lens which displays white flickering squares. By concentrating on a particular square, the brainwaves of the operator are picked up by the biosensor, and a decoder translates the signal into commands.

The technology was recently demonstrated by the Australian Army, where soldiers operated a Ghost Robotics quadruped robot using the brain-machine interface. The device allowed hands-free command of the robotic dog with up to 94% accuracy.

Robotics NEWS: A NEW PET COMPANION ROBOT

April 19, 2023

A new pet companion robot, named companion, was announced recently. Apparently, it's the product of comprehensive human (and dog)-centered design.

https://joincompanion.com/

Robotics NEWS: AI Is Running Circles Around Robotics

April 18, 2023

An interesting article about why we have not seen revolutionary advances in robotics (yet), similar to the way large/foundational models have enabled big leaps in natural language understanding or computer vision.

Read more on The Atlantic (email Maya to request the article if you run into paywall)

Robotics NEWS: Los Angeles-based Flyby Robotics launching food delivery via drone in East Valley

April 13, 2023

(Thanks Markus Schiffer)

It appears salads, sushi, and smoothies are available for delivery in a neighborhood outside of Phoenix Arizona. But not just any delivery - a drone will fly it to your doorstep.

The company that developed these drones is LA-based Flyby Robotics. This has the potential to mark a paradigm shift for food delivery services such as DoorDash and Uber Eats. In the long term, if this project is successful, costs of food delivery could be greatly lowered.

Currently, the drones are monitored by professional FAA certified drone pilots, and even have a parachute as an emergency safety mechanism.

Robotics NEWS: Hulking, 400-lb robots will start patrolling NYC

April 12, 2023

The New York Police Department is bringing back the idea of policing the city with robots. The department experimented with Boston Dynamics' Spot in 2021 and shut the project down after a public outcry from civil liberties groups. The idea is being brought back by NYC's new mayor, Eric Adams, who was elected in 2022 and described himself multiple times during the announcement as a "computer geek." Mayor says new surveillance bots are "only the beginning" of police force revamp.

Robotics NEWS: robotic trash cans IN NYC

April 11, 2023

A team of Cornell Tech researchers studying how people interact with roboticized objects designed remote controlled trash cans so they could roam New York's Astor Place. The compiled footage shows a wide range of reactions.

Robotics NEWS: Cruise Robotaxi vs Bus Crash Caused By Confusion Over Articulated Bus

April 11, 2023

Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt has released an explanation of the cause, or proximate cause, of their crash last week with a San Francisco Muni bus. They say the issue is fixed now.

Robotics NEWS: META AI'S Robots that learn from videos of human activities and simulated interactions

April 7, 2023

Meta AI announced two advancements toward general-purpose robots:

An artificial visual cortex (called VC-1): a single perception model that, for the first time, supports a diverse range of sensorimotor skills, environments, and embodiments.
A new approach called adaptive (sensorimotor) skill coordination (ASC), which achieves near-perfect performance (98 percent success) on the challenging task of robotic mobile manipulation (navigating to an object, picking it up, navigating to another location, placing the object, repeating) in physical environments.

Robotics NEWS: 1X Raises $23.5M in Series A2 Funding led by OpenAI

April 3, 2023

Humanoid robotics company 1X Technologies announces Series A2 fundraise led by OpenAI to pursue producing androids at commercial scale. Their robot looks pretty creepy!

Robotics NEWS: A COMPILATION OF ASSISTIVE ROBOTS

March 30, 2023

Organizers of the ICRA 2023 workshop on "Emerging paradigms for assistive robotic manipulation: from research labs to the real world" made a trailer video about ongoing research in assistive robotic manipulation, featuring work with Henry Evans on the Stretch mobile manipulator used in this class.

Robotics NEWS: Robots Using Legs as Arms to Climb and Push Buttons

March 29, 2023

Roboticists at CMU and UC Berkeley are training robot dogs to use their legs for manipulation, not just locomotion, demonstrating skills that include climbing walls, pressing buttons, and even kicking a soccer ball.

Read more on IEEE Spectrum

OLDER ARTICLES

Robotics NEWS: A HEALTHY AGING COMPANION ROBOT

The robot ElliQ made an appearance on the Today show this past week! (see first 18 seconds of video below)

https://elliq.com/

Robotics NEWS: Can Robots Save Nursing Homes?

The pandemic has given a new urgency to the development of robots and ‘virtual assisted living’ that can help care for aging adults, physically and emotionally.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/21/realestate/nursing-home-robots.html

Robotics NEWS: NATURE ARTICLE ON ROBOTS FOR ELDERCARE

Robots rise to meet the challenge of caring for old people. Robotics technology is improving, but its routine use in the home, hospital and care settings could be a long way off.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00072-z

Robotics NEWS: AMAZON INVESTS $1B IN ROBOTS

Amazon is investing $1 billion to spur supply chain, fulfillment, and logistics innovation and further improve the customer and employee experience.

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/innovation-at-amazon/introducing-the-1-billion-amazon-industrial-innovation-fund

Robotics NEWS: AMAZON'S ROBIN

An advanced perception system, that detects and learns from its own mistakes, enables Robin robots to select individual objects from jumbled packages — at production scale.

https://www.amazon.science/latest-news/robin-deals-with-a-world-where-things-are-changing-all-around-it

Robotics NEWS: AGILITY ROBOTICS

Agility Robotics raises $150M from Amazon and others to build human-like robots used in warehouses.

https://www.geekwire.com/2022/agility-robotics-raises-150m-from-amazon-and-others-to-build-robots-used-in-the-workplace/

Robotics NEWS: BIONICHIVE GETS INVESTMENT FROM AMAZON

The startup's SqUID robotics solution is deployed in a wide range of supply chain facilities utilizing existing shelving racks and boxes and is capable of pick and put-away from floor to ceiling.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/r1qg2lkbq

Robotics NEWS: DILIGENT ROBOTICS RAISES $30M

Diligent Robotics, the nurse assisting robotics firm from Austin, TX recently raised $30M in Series B funding.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/12/nurse-assisting-robotics-firm-diligent-raises-30m/

Robotics NEWS: NEW DESKTOP SOCIAL ROBOT

Looks cute.. but will it survive?

https://energizelab.com/

Robotics NEWS: FLIPPY ROBOT

A local celebrity.

https://www.king5.com/article/tech/flippy-miso-robotics-robot-cooking-caliburger-shoreline-washington/281-099d85c4-efb0-43cb-a7d0-f7cd33e157bc

Robotics NEWS: UPDATE ON TESLA'S HUMANOID

Elon Musk says people might download their personalities onto a humanoid robot Tesla is making, which he says could be in 'moderate volume production' next year.

https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-people-may-download-memory-personality-onto-tesla-robot-2022-3

Robotics NEWS: STRETCH ROBOTS SOLD OUT

Boston Dynamics’s “Stretch” robot hits production, and it’s already sold out.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/04/boston-dynamics-stretch-robot-hits-production-and-its-already-sold-out/

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