A dozen trucks arrived in Rotterdam after traveling across Europe in the European Truck Platooning Challenge. Six different truck makers participated: Scania, Daimler, Volvo, IVECO, MAN and DAF. Truck platooning involves a convoy of connected trucks that drive and react as a single unit. Acceleration and braking are linked and controlled by computers and WiFi,…
Industrial robot sales for 2015 set a new record
In a flurry of press releases, the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) revealed details of 2015 industrial robot sales of 240,000 units. This set a new sales record and reflected an 8% increase over 2014. Sales rose by 16% in China and extended China’s leading position as the number one sales market worldwide with unit sales reaching…
Japanese Drone Delivers Wine to Nearby Park
Drone delivery tests have begun the coastal city of Chiba, 25 miles west of Tokyo, marking the first drone deliveries in an urban area of Japan.
AutomationDirect extends productivity series controllers’ capabilities
AutomationDirect has introduced additional modules to the Productivity series of programmable controller products. Additionally, updated Productivity Suite programming software is now available. For the Productivity3000 series, the P3-550E high-performance CPU is equipped with multiple communications ports, including two USB, two Ethernet, one RS-232 and one RS-485. The system can be expanded with the P3-RS, P3-RX […]
Podcast: Meet the NFL’s Biggest STEM Advocate
Off the field, Jacksonville Jaguars offensive lineman Kelvin Beachum Jr. is a global ambassador for STEM education. He joins the Robotics Trends Show to discuss how to bring a quality STEM education to all children.
Fastec Imaging’s TS5 high-speed camera
Fastec Imaging’s TS5 handheld High-Speed Camera enables you to record any rotating machinery or equipment moving at high-speed and susceptible to vibration problems for performance analysis or troubleshooting using slow motion replay. This handheld, portable, battery operated camera with a large built-in LCD touch screen and an intuitive on-screen menu system puts the power of […]
Understanding the Notion of Positioning
One of the most difficult challenges to machine builders is understanding the notion of positioning and how it is reflected in component selection in their equipment design. Positioning an object based on a rotary or linear input can be really simple or really complicated. Everything you need to know is based on the work statement […]
SCHAFT Bipedal Robot Climbs, Vacuums Stairs
After being quiet for some time, Google-owned SCHAFT unveiled a new bipedal robot that can walk up and down stairs, carry heavy objects, and even vacuum stairs.
AI, deep learning and 3D printing have produced The Next Rembrandt
From the Smithsonian comes news – and a must-see fascinating and instructive video – about a painting created using data from more than 168,000 fragments of Rembrandt's work, then trained to paint in Rembrandt's signature style. The following video shows how a team used scanning, 3D printing, deep learning and inventiveness to create a painting…
Facebook AI Describes Photos to Blind Users
Facebook’s automatic alternative text uses artificial intelligence to generate verbal descriptions of images for blind users.
Yaskawa and Clearpath partner to develop mobile manipulation solution
Yaskawa and Clearpath have partnered to develop a mobile machine tending and material movement solution ideal for shop floor environments. This fully integrated solution will feature a Motoman MH12 robot equipped with end-of-arm tool and vision system, mounted on Clearpath’s OTTO 1500 self-driving vehicle. This project is currently under development and supported under the advanced research […]
Drone Funding Provides Lift for Specific Applications
Vineyard monitoring business SkySquirrel, drone software firm Airware, and offshore monitoring provider Cyberhawk are among the latest companies in the competitive drone space to get investment funding.
Yaskawa Motoman’s Strategy for Robotics Education is Strategy for the Economy
Successful workforce development and sustainable economic growth depend on alignment of robotics education, STEM education, certification and training with the needs and expertise of industry leaders. Organizations must provide the right products, technology and education to fill the gap between what the industry wants and what educational institutions can provide. Yaskawa Motoman is addressing these […]
47 reports dissect and examine the robot industry
The robotics industry has graduated to be big business — at least for research firms. 47 different reports on subjects ranging from broad to very drilled-down views of the industry are analyzed and projected upon with widely differing forecasts. Below are short profiles of each of those 47 reports. Many of the reports duplicate the coverage of others…
Drone Wars
Research into unmanned aircraft has been going on for some time. Called UAVs for Unmanned Airborne Vehicles, systems of various types have been under development since the 1908’s. The 1982 war between Syria and Israel was heavily impacted by Israel’s use of UAVs to sustain a major military advantage over Syrian armed forces. As with […]
Robots Replacing Dartmouth College Football Players
Dartmouth College’s Mobile Virtual Player (MVP) robot will replace all 11 human players during football games this upcoming season.
Tesla Model 3 Electric Car Comes with Autopilot
The hardware and safety features of Tesla Autopilot come standard in Tesla’s new Model 3 electric car, but “convenience features” such as self-parking and automatic lane changing, will cost owners extra.
Crappy US Roads Major Roadblock for Self-Driving Cars
Poor lane markings and uneven signage on the three million miles of paved roads in the United States are becoming a serious problem for the development of self-driving cars.
AutoLap Aids Surgery With Image-Guided Laparoscope
Israel-based Medical Surgery Technologies Ltd. has received Chinese investment and FDA approval for its AutoLap system, an image-guided laparoscope positioning tool to provide robotic surgical assistance.
Dartmouth humanoid robots to revolutionize football
Dartmouth College announced today that its Mobile Virtual Player (MVP) robots will replace all human players during its football games this upcoming season. Dartmouth’s development of the MVP, a mechanized humanoid tackling dummy, has put it at the forefront of the nationwide effort to prevent football injuries in practice. But starting this fall, the Big Green will take this […]
March fundings, acquisitions, IPOs and failures
Funding to robotics startup companies rose dramatically in 2015 reaching record highs in deals and dollars. CB Insights graphed similar findings as seen in their quarterly financing chart. Here's what happened in March, 2016. Listed below are the results for March including two billion-dollar acquisitions. UPDATED 5/2/2016: Adds Delair-Tech funding March Fundings: 6 River Systems raised $6…