UPS Ventures, the venture capital arm of UPS, has made a minority investment in autonomous trucking company TuSimple. The companies are testing self-driving semi-trucks in Arizona to determine whether the vehicles can improve UPS’ service and efficiency. This is an extension of the ongoing commercial relationship between UPS and TuSimple in which UPS has purchased…

Ekso Bionics, the Richmond, Calif.-based developer of medical and industrial exoskeletons, today unveiled EksoNR, the next-generation version of its EksoGT. The EksoNR is designed to help patients who are recovering from stroke or other conditions learn to walk again with a more natural gait. The EksoNR includes new features to help physical therapists and patients…

StretchTech is suing shuttered consumer robot maker Anki for allegedly infringing on three of its patents.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge will use self-healing materials and machine learning to develop soft robotics as part of a new collaborative project. The goal of the €3 million Self-healing soft robot (SHERO) project, funded by the European Commission, is to create a next-generation robot made from self-healing materials (flexible plastics) that can detect…

Blue Frog Robotics, a social robotics company founded in 2014 in Paris, has opened a subsidiary in the United States called Blue Frog Robotics Inc. Located in MassRobotics‘ office in Boston, the new subsidiary will manage sales and operations of Buddy the social robot for the US, as well as global branding, partnerships and business…

Optimus Ride, a self-driving vehicle technology startup that spun out of MIT in 2015, today launched its driverless shuttle service inside a geo-fenced area at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The 300-acre shipyard and industrial complex has more than 400 manufacturing businesses and 10,000 employees onsite. Six Optimus Ride driverless shuttles are now transporting passengers inside…

It was a busy first half of the year acquisition-wise for robotics companies. The Robot Report tracked 30 mergers and acquisitions through the first half of 2019. Robotics companies also raised more than $15.6 billion during the first half of 2019. As part of our first-half-of-the-year recap, we have already shared the biggest stories and…

Fetch Robotics raised $46 million in Series C funding for its autonomous mobile robots. Fetch Robotics has now raised $94 million to date.

After its second call for projects, RobotUnion awarded 20 projects funding and mentoring for the next phase of the competition.

The future of the robotics industry is in good hands. Meet 10-year-old Michael Wimmer, a robotics prodigy who lives just outside Charlotte, North Carolina. We caught up with Wimmer at the Robotics Summit & Expo 2019 If you don’t know Wimmer, the video above offers a chance to learn a little about him. What an…

Intuitive Surgical, the pioneer of robotic-assisted, minimally invasive surgery, has acquired Denzlingen, Germany-based Schölly Fiberoptic‘s robotic endoscope business. The financial terms of the acquisition were not detailed. Intuitive said the acquisition will integrate Schölly’s robotic endoscope manufacturing line and two Schölly sites into Intuitive operations: The robotic-related manufacturing line from Denzlingen, Germany The manufacturing site…

You’ve probably already seen, or even participated in, the Bottle Cap Challenge. It’s the viral challenge of the week where people try to unscrew a bottle cap with a 360-degree kick. MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) didn’t want to be left out. So it got in on the fun using its RoboRaise…

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Luminar raised $100 million in funding that will help it scale production of LiDAR sensors for autonomous vehicles. This raises Luminar’s total amount of funding raised to more than $250 million. Luminar also unveiled a sensing and perception platform called Iris that has been in stealth development for the last three years.…

Exyn Technologies, a Philadelphia-based developer of aerial autonomy software for drones, has raised $16 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Centricus, with Yamaha Motors Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Corecam Family Office, and Red and Blue Ventures newly participating, and IP Group Plc reinvesting. Exyn’s total funding to date is now over $20 million.…

We’re more than halfway through 2019, and there’s been a lot to talk about. Here are The Robot Report‘s picks for the top 10 robotics stories during the first half of 2019. Please share your thoughts below via the survey or the comments section. 1. Consumer robotics company Anki shuts down The struggles of consumer…

Waymo has been testing its self-driving cars in California for years. Now Alphabet’s self-driving car division has been granted a permit to carry passengers in the Golden State. Waymo is now part of California’s Autonomous Vehicle Passenger Service pilot program, joining Autox Technologies, Pony.ai and Zoox. The permit, which was granted by the California Public…

San Diego-based Brain Corp, the Softbank-backed developer of autonomous navigation systems, has opened its European headquarters in Amsterdam. The reason for the expansion is two-fold: it helps Brain better support partners who do business in Europe, and it helps Brain find additional engineering talent. “Amsterdam is a fantastic gateway to Europe and has one of…

The news just broke that Anki Co-Founder and CEO Boris Sofman is now leading Waymo’s autonomous trucking efforts. Sofman wrote a blog on LinkedIn announcing the move and said 12 other former Anki employees have already joined him at Waymo. In his blog, Sofman also finally addressed Anki shutting down. Sofman’s blog is reprinted in…

In what is likely the final nail in the coffin, Waymo has hired 13 former Anki employees, including Co-Founder and CEO Boris Sofman. According to Sofman’s LinkedIn profile, he is now Director of Engineering, Head of Trucking, Waymo. Sofman wrote about the news in a LinkedIn post called “A New Adventure with Waymo.” Here’s part…

The global motion control and motor market saw a 0.2% decline in shipments in the first quarter of 2019 compared to the same period in 2018, down to $952.3 million. However, according to the Motion Control & Motor Association, part of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), shipments were up 0.6% ($6 million) compared to…

It’s crazy to think about, but we’re just about halfway through 2019. And there’s been a lot to talk about. There’s been some bad news, of course. Companies such as Anki, Aria Insights (CyPhy Works) and others have closed their doors. But other companies such as Robust AI, which was founded in part by Rodney…

iRobot, best known for its robotic vacuum cleaners, has added to its educational product line with its acquisition of Root Robotics.

North American sales of machine vision (MV) components and systems that provide vision intelligence to robots and other machines declined 4.5 percent Q1 2019 when compared to the same period in 2018. According to statistics from the AIA, the industry’s trade group part of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), financial transactions for the entire…

For everyone wondering about a potential Anki comeback, don’t get your hopes up. Starting today and running through June 20, the assets inside Anki’s 40,000-square-foot office in San Francisco are being auctioned off. This is one of many signs that indicate there likely is no future for the consumer robotics company. Anki’s demise has been,…

Mobile Industrial Robots has launched a leasing program for its autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). The robots as a service (RaaS) program lets companies of all sizes deploy mobile robots with low (or no) upfront costs and low monthly payments. This lowers financial barriers for investing in AMRs and gives customers a near immediate return on…