Researchers at Stanford University have developed a new way of controlling autonomous cars that integrates prior driving experiences – a system that will help the cars perform more safely in extreme and unknown circumstances. Tested at the limits of friction on a racetrack using Niki, Stanford’s autonomous Volkswagen GTI, and Shelley, Stanford’s autonomous Audi TTS,…
V3 of shoulderX exoskeleton from suitX includes new features to reduce worker strain
BERKELEY, Calif. — US Bionics Inc., doing business as suitX, this week announced the official launch of shoulderX V3, its third-generation wearable exoskeleton. The company said it is the world’s most advanced shoulder-supporting exoskeleton for use by automotive, construction, and shipbuilding workers. shoulderX augments its wearer by reducing forces at the shoulder complex, substantially reducing…
Machine vision market grows 10% in North America
North American sales of machine vision components and systems that provide vision intelligence to robots and other machines reached $2.874 billion in 2018, an increase of 9.2% over 2017 and a new record for the market. According to statistics from the AIA, the industry trade group and part of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3),…
AddLab partners continue collaboration to increase capacity in 3D printing for series production
In 2013 AddLab was one of the first open innovation centers for 3D metal printing in Eindhoven. The partners KMWE, NTS-Group, Machinefabriek De Valk and K3D announced they plan to take their collaboration to the next level and scale their shared facility for true series production for applications in high-tech equipment and aerospace while changing […]
HP propelling industry to 3D production
Next week at the world’s largest 3D printing user event, the Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) conference, HP Inc. will showcase new customers, applications, and technology as it continues leading the industry toward 3D production. HP’s advanced portfolio of 3D printing technology continues to expand and is helping customers accelerate their digital manufacturing journey. “More […]
Authentise to integrate its workflow management system into Microsoft Flow
Authentise, a leader in data-driven workflow tools for additive manufacturing, has agreed to a multi-year collaboration with Microsoft to use Microsoft Azure and integrate Authentise’s workflow management system into Microsoft Flow. The integration with Flow, which goes live this week on the Microsoft Flow Gallery, gives operators directly involved in additive manufacturing quoting, production and […]
New PA Series NFPA Pneumatic Actuator
By Sheila Campbell, Product Marketing Manager Machine designers often search out cylinder solutions that provide consistent and reliable performance, yet are simple to mount, operate and maintain. PA Series actuators are ideal for everyday pneumatic linear motion applications where versatility and modularity are valued. The PA Series is new to Bimba’s extensive NFPA product line…
End of arm tooling: The secret sauce of collaborative applications
Smarter and more versatile end-of-arm tooling, or EOAT — sensors, grippers, and quick changers — empower robots to take over repetitive tasks. This can free them to handle adaptive, higher-precision, and more intelligent applications that in the past were too complex to automate. More importantly, these advanced tools enable collaborative applications that allow human workers…
CNC Machining with Protolabs
CNC machining keeps improving and advancing every year, and, therefore, gets a bit more complex each year. As a result, it can be challenging to keep pace with the dos and don’ts of part design. But lowering the cost of machined parts while improving functionality can still be achieved by a few relatively simple adjustments…
Schunk EGL-C is first long-stroke robot gripper for collaborative uses
Schunk GmbH last week released its EGL-C long-stroke gripper, which it said “represents a milestone in the road to achieving comprehensive human-robot collaboration.” The gripper is designed to achieve high gripping forces while complying with global safety standards. The company claimed that the EGL-C is the world’s first long-stroke gripper for collaborative operation. It achieves…
Protolabs and Wohlers Associates team up for course on Design for Additive Manufacturing
Digital manufacturer Protolabs has teamed with additive manufacturing (AM) consultants Wohlers Associates in a joint effort to accelerate design for manufacturing knowledge around 3D printing. The two organizations will develop an immersive course created to help engineers and designers develop practical methods and strategies to get the most from different 3D printing technologies. “Designing for […]
LoRaWAN + BLE sensor offers long-range temperature and humidity sensing
Laird Connectivity has developed a new sensor that features integrated antennas, an external temperature probe and rugged IP65 enclosure. The Sentrius RS1xx External Series probe allows customers to mount the sensor outside of a device and measure the temperature inside via the cabled sensor. Designed for a wide range of cold chain management applications like […]
GE Additive to help GA-ASI implement metal additive processes
GE Additive announced that it has been selected to provide its AddWorks consultancy services to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) – a leading manufacturer of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) systems, radars, electro-optic and related mission systems. Following a competitive tender, AddWorks will work closely with GA-ASI to accelerate and strengthen the qualification and implementation […]
Titan Medical closes $25M public offering for surgical robotics
Robotic surgical platform developer Titan Medical Inc. said today it closed a $25 million public offering. Titan Medical said that it floated approximately 7.4 million units in the offering at a price of $3.40 per unit. Each unit offered included a single common share of the Toronto-based company and a warrant for an additional common share…
Cognitive robotics, intelligent machines take center stage at Robotics Summit & Expo 2019
CLEVELAND and BOSTON — Business-to-business publisher WTWH Media has announced a series of keynotes, sessions, and workshops at this year’s Robotics Summit & Expo dedicated to educating the robotics engineering community about how artificial intelligence and machine learning are making commercial and cognitive robots smarter and more useful. Topics include decision making, object identification, vision…
March 2019 Special Edition: Motion System Trends
An apocalypse that wasn’t – The rare earth mineral shortage Scan the news pages from about eight years ago and you will likely notice a lot of hand-wringing about shortages of “critical materials” crucial for high-tech motors. The materials in question were rare-earth metals used for, among other things, making magnets with a super-high energy…
NVIDIA’s Isaac SDK brings modern AI to autonomous machines
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Robotics developers are off to the races creating autonomous machines of the future, said NVIDIA Corp. this week. The company said it’s fueling their efforts with the NVIDIA Isaac software development kit, which will be publicly available soon as a free robotics developer toolbox for accelerating innovation and deployment. NVIDIA founder…
gym-gazebo2 toolkit uses ROS 2 and Gazebo for reinforcement learning
Quick demonstration of a converged policy using ROS2Learn framework and the gym-gazebo2 toolkit. We execute a deterministic run and also use settings that replicate a real behavior of the robot. The first gym-gazebo was a successful proof of concept, which is being used by multiple research laboratories and many users of the robotics community.…
ArcShell offers modular automation development with Bash
ArcShell is an open-source modular development framework for building automation solutions using Bash. It runs on most Unix and Linux hosts. It’s easy to install, easy to distribute, and easy to build upon. New capabilities are added every week, and the project is actively maintained. I am the founder of Arclogic Software and the developer…
Sarcos wins another U.S. contract for Guardian XO full-body exoskeleton
SALT LAKE CITY and BELLEVUE, Wash. — Today, Sarcos Robotics announced that it has been awarded a contract by the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) to deliver a pre-production version of its Guardian XO full-body, autonomously powered robotic exoskeleton. Sarcos‘ exoskeleton is capable of operating for up to eight hours per battery charge while…
MIT CSAIL robot manipulates unknown objects using 3D keypoints
Imagine that you’re in your kitchen, and you’re trying to explain to a friend where to return a coffee cup. If you tell them to “hang the mug on the hook by its handle,” they have to make that happen by doing a fairly extensive series of actions in a very precise order: noticing the…
3D sensors: new applications & approaches to robot safety
Editor’s Note: This is a guest post republished with permission from Veo Robotics. The views expressed here are solely those of Veo Robotics. For more information, follow Veo Robotics’ blog. In a number of previous blog posts we’ve discussed why human-robot collaboration is superior to fully-automated or fully-manual solutions in terms of flexibility, cost, and…
Intuitive Surgical da Vinci SP robot wins clearance for new procedures
Intuitive Surgical won another indication from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its da Vinci SP robot-assisted surgery device. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said the FDA added single-port radical tonsillectomy and tongue base resection procedures to the mix. Initially cleared in April 2014 for urological procedures, in June 2018 the federal safety watchdog added a clearance…
Restoration Robotics merging with Venus Concept
Restoration Robotics, maker of the ARTAS and ARTAS ix robotic hair restoration systems, and Venus Concept, a privately-held global aesthetic technology company, have entered into a definitive merger agreement to combine the two companies in an all-stock transaction. The merger, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the third quarter…
PHD and YRG to exhibit actuators, UR5 and UR5e capabilities at Automate
PHD Inc. and YRG Inc. will be exhibiting at Automate 2019. Automate takes place April 8-11, 2019, at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago. Please visit us in Booth 7320. In addition to its traditional pneumatic, hydraulic, and electric actuators designed for industrial automation, PHD will show both the UR5e and the UR5 from Universal…