This week we saw a few FDA 510(k) clearances and one of the 1st uses of a next-generation surgical robot in Asia. Here are 7 medtech stories we missed this week but thought were still worth mentioning: 1. Corindus touts first Asian use of next-generation robot Corindus Vascular Robotics announced in a March 31 press…
NASA tests robotic tools for drilling and manipulating ice
Want to go ice fishing on Jupiter’s moon Europa? There’s no promising you’ll catch anything, but a new set of robotic prototypes could help. Since 2015, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, has been developing new technologies for use on future missions to ocean worlds. That includes a subsurface probe that could burrow through […]
A3 to kick off Automate 2017 with white paper on jobs in the automation age
Today the Association for Advancing Automation (A3) announced that it will release its newest white paper titled “Work in the Automation Age: Sustainable Careers Today and Into the Future” at Automate 2017, North America’s premier event devoted to leading-edge automation technology and business innovation to be held at Chicago’s McCormick Place April 3-6. The white […]
DESTACO features new Accelerate Vision Virtual Reality digital design solutions tool at Automate 2017
DESTACO, the industry’s leading global provider of high-performance automation, workholding and containment solutions, is proud to announce the launch of its new Accelerate® Vision Virtual Reality (VR) digital design solutions tool. The Accelerate Vision VR tool will be on display for attendees in Booth No. 1436 at the upcoming Automate 2017 Trade Show, which will […]
42 companies empowering robots and humans to work side-by-side
There is growing demand for more flexibility in factories and shops. Collaborative robotics, a sub-set of service robotics in labs, manufacturing and material handling, is where the action is today because co-bots are meeting these new demands, while caged legacy robots are not. Service and assistance robotics, with and without mobility, are an emerging and somewhat futuristic field, albeit one…
Pick and Place Robot Ready as RightHand Robotics Raises $8M
Pick and place for e-commerce order fulfillment has a new option, with RightHand Robotics’ RightPick system. The newly funded company combines gripper and sensor technology with machine learning to handle a wide range of items.
Each picking April 3-6 at the Automate and ProMat trade shows in Chicago
It's only a few days until April 3 when the ProMat and Automate shows begin at McCormick Place in Chicago. ProMat is an expo for material handling and logistics equipment and technologies and Automate showcases robotics and automation technologies and solutions for manufacturing. The two shows together enable one to thoroughly explore robotics and automation…
Best Robot Videos of the Week: Automatic Bullseye Dartboard
A look at the week’s best robotics videos for your weekend viewing pleasure, including Mark Rober’s Automatic Bullseye Dartboard and Amazon’s MARS Conference.
Liquid-Handling Lego Robot Automates Lab Experiments
A liquid-handling Lego robot from Stanford University helps students and teachers create inexpensive automated systems to do biology experiments. Modern biology labs often use robotic assemblies to drop precise amounts of fluids into experimental containers.
Rudy Assistive Robot Helps Elderly Age in Place
The Rudy assistive robot from INF Robotics wants to help the elderly, war veterans and people with disabilities age in place. Rudy will cost $5,000 when it hits the market in 2017, but the company hopes to get reimbursement through Medicare and Medicaid so the robot “will be little to no cost to the user.”
AI Rules Are Necessary, Say European Regulators
AI rules will be needed to standardize safeguards and liability, just as global regulations have developed for drones and self-driving cars. Even if sentient robots won’t be around anytime soon, policy makers need to consider human-robot interactions.
TransEnterix adds hernia repair to Senhance robotic surgical platform
TransEnterix (NYSE:TRXC) said today it is looking to expand the use of its Senhance robotic surgical system to include hernia repair surgeries, touting that the system has been used in for the 1st time in such procedures in Germany. Research Triangle Park, N.C.-based Transenterix said that Dr. Dietmar Stephan and Dr. Frank Willeke performed up to 3 hernia surgeries…
igus to showcase complete series of cost-effective robotic solutions at Automate 2017
Components, advanced cable retraction systems, and modular, cost-effective robotic joints will be on display in booth 2221 in Chicago’s McCormick Place April 3-6. Motion plastics specialist igus will be showing a wide range of components and solutions for automation and robotics at the upcoming Automate 2017 Trade Show in booth 2221. Product experts will be […]
Europe Tries to Get Ahead on Robot Rules and Taxes
The EU legal affairs committee has proposed new robot rules around the legal status and safe operation of autonomous machines. Why Europe, and why now?
Baidu AI Leader Andrew Ng Resigns
Baidu’s AI ambitions were dealt a major blow with the news that its chief scientist Andrew Ng is stepping down. Ng will continue his AI work to bring about societal change.
Baidu loses A.I. star Andrew Ng
In a surprise move which shook Baidu's stock, Andrew Ng, Baidu's Chief Scientist and partner with Baidu's founder Robin Li Yanhong in expanding Baidu's AI activities into machine learning, driverless vehicles, and to power AI usage in advertising, maps, takeout delivery, and voice-activated search, resigned. Baidu's AI group has expanded to over 1,300 people in China…
5 Giant Robots Jeff Bezos Will Love
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos tested the giant $8 million Method-2 Robot at the MARS conference. Here are five other giant robots Bezos would love to get his hands on, if he hasn’t already.
ROSIN project to work toward an EU digital industrial platform for robotics
Open-Source Software for robots is a de-facto practice in academia, and its advantages can also benefit industrial applications. The worldwide ROS-Industrial initiative has been using ROS, the Robot Operating System, to this end. To consolidate Europe’s dominance in advanced manufacturing, ROSIN with Fraunhofer IPA as one of the partners will push the role of the […]
AutoX Self-Driving Car Uses $50 Off-the-Shelf Cameras
AutoX is a self-driving car startup that has flown under the radar. Until now. AutoX released the first video of its self-driving Lincoln MKZ that uses $50 off-the-shelf cameras from Best Buy to navigate the streets of California.
Top 50 Robotics Companies of 2017
Robotics Business Review unveils its sixth annual RBR50 list of the most influential robotics companies in the world. Consumer robotics companies on the RBR50 include DJI, iRobot, LEGO, Softbank and more.
Popup AGV robot from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory may catch rover ride
The next AGV robot rovers to explore another planet might bring along a scout. The Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot (PUFFER) in development at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, was inspired by origami. Its lightweight design is capable of flattening itself, tucking in its wheels and crawling into places rovers can’t fit. Over […]
Jeff Bezos Tests Giant $8M Method-2 Robot
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos got behind the joysticks of Method-2, a 13-foot-tall mechanical robot that appeared at Amazon’s private MARS conference.