Eugene Demaitre

Russia’s Skybot F-850 robot highlighted the ambitions and shortcomings around humanoid robots in space and for other applications.

Rather than wait for fully autonomous vehicles to hit the roads today, Voyage Auto is developing self-driving shuttles for retirement communities.

Toyota AI Ventures has invested in Cartica AI, which is developing a perception platform for autonomous vehicles, and Moodify, which applies scents to affect drivers’ moods.

Blue Workforce is a Danish startup that wants to make open software development for industrial robotics easier.

XAIN is applying FedML, or federated machine learning, to its ANDY system for protecting privacy while analyzing data from vehicles including self-driving cars.

One of the most promising uses of 5G networking technology is in robotic remote surgery. China has led the way with several demonstrations, adding to U.S. concerns about international competitiveness.

Automation transactions in August 2019 included a major surgical robotics acquisitions, as well as funding for welding robots, cleaning drones, AI, and autonomous trucks.

6 River Systems, which makes the Chuck AMRs and Mobile Sort smart kiosks, and Soft Robotics, which makes compliant grippers and the SuperPick system, have integrated their offerings for mobile picking.

Labor and automation aren’t forces in opposition, notes KUKA CRO Joe Gemma. He says that industry needs to understand the benefits of robotics, and academia and government need to work more closely together.

Seegrid, which makes autonomous mobile robots for materials handling in dynamic environments, celebrated 2 million miles driven without personnel safety incidents.

Blue Ocean Robotics has continued its evolution to being an international provider of service robots with its purchase of the Beam telepresence robot from Suitable Technologies.

ModalAI’s VOXL platform used 4G connectivity to communicate between a drone and Uber Elevate Cloud Service, enabling a BVLOS food delivery.

DoorDash, a leader in on-demand food deliveries, is acquiring Scotty Labs, which is working on teleoperation of vehicles as a combination of human judgement and self-driving cars.

Self-driving cars are not yet a common sight in New York City, but CARMERA, a company building centimeter-level street maps, is part of autonomous vehicle trials in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Attabotics, which recently raised Series B funding, applies biologically inspired models to AS/RS for modern commerce fulfillment.

Harvard and University of Nebraska Omaha researchers have developed a lightweight exosuit that assists both walking and running, highlighting the potential for wearable robots outside the lab.

Phillips Corp. and Universal Robots are working together to help small and midsize manufacturers apply UR collaborative robots to tending Haas Automation CNC machines.

OnRobot, which nakes grippers for cobots and industrial robots, is opening a new R&D office in LA. We spoke with the former CEO of Perception Robotics about OnRobot’s strategy.

Even as the enabling technologies for exoskeletons have improved, there is much work yet to be done, says maxon’s Otto Oneichen.

In this month’s issue of The Robot Report, a special print insert in Design World, we examine exoskeleton design, development, and uses in healthcare and industry.

FoldiMate has turned to equity crowdfunding as a bridge between initial trials of its laundry-folding robot and Series A fundraising.

Robot operations, especially in industries that are just starting to automate or must manage multiple robots, can be a hurdle to adoption, says the CEO of InOrbit, which offers a cloud-based service.

In July 2019, investments in robotics, autonomous vehicles, and drones increased, despite a decline in the number of transactions.

The key to social and service robots isn’t making them more humanoid, but making them useful and inspiring customer trust, explains SoftBank Robotics’ HRI lead.

XYZ Robotics offers standalone vision systems for integrators in addition to turnkey solutions in addition to a compliant tool head for end users.