Tesla this week showcased an electric truck that will have some self-driving capabilities. Elon Musk unveiled a prototype for a battery-powered, nearly self-driving semi truck that the company said would prove more efficient and less costly to operate than the diesel trucks that now haul goods across the country. Quoting from The NY Times: The truck…
Titan Medical touts 1st Sport use in feasibility, validation study
Titan Medical (TSX:TMD) today touted the 1st use of its Sport robotic surgical platform in a preclinical feasibility and validation trial at Columbia University Medical Center’s surgical simulation center in New York. The Toronto-based company said the device had completed “critical surgical tasks integral to successful performance in gynecologic procedures” using the prototype Sport system. The demonstration…
Jibo personal robot tops Time’s Best Innovations of 2017
Jibo is a personal robot with a difference. It is unlike the stationary Amazon Alexa or Google Home. It attempts to offer the same repertoire of features while adding its physical presence and mobility to the mix. Quoting Time Magazine, “Jibo looks like something straight out of a Pixar movie, with a big, round head and…
Researchers aim to create touch-sensitive, nerve-connected robotic prosthetic hand
Researchers at two academic facilities are aiming to create a first-of-its-kind bioengineered robotic hand that can grow and adapt to its environment, equipped with a living pathway to translate the robots touch sensation to the user’s brain. Teams from both Florida Atlantic University and the University of Utah School of Medicine said they have received…
Titan Medical prices $12m offering
Titan Medical (TSX:TMD) today priced a previously announced offering of units, looking to raise between $10.2 million (CDN $13 million) and $11.7 million (CDN $15 million) by floating units at 39¢ (CDN 50¢) each. Each unit in the offering is comprised of one common share of the company and the purchase warrant for an additional…
Another two Chinese acquisitions of international robotics companies
Huachangda Intelligent Equipment, a Chinese industrial robot integrator primarily servicing China’s auto industry, has acquired Swedish Robot System Products (RSP), a 2003 spin-off from ABB with 70 employees in Sweden, Germany and China, for an undisclosed amount. RSP manufactures grippers, welding equipment, tool changers and other peripheral products for robots. Last month HTI Cybernetics, a Michigan industrial robotics…
Smith & Nephew launch Navio bi-cruciate retaining TKR application
Smith & Nephew (NYSE:SNN) said yesterday it launched a bi-cruciate retaining total knee replacement application for its Navio handheld robot-assisted platform. With the launch, the UK-based orthopedics giant will now offer both partial and total knee options for the Navio, including what it touts as the 1st and only robotics-assisted bi-cruciate retaining knee procedure commercially available.…
Bossa Nova raises $17.5 million for shelf-scanning mobile robots
Bossa Nova Robotics, a Silicon Valley developer of autonomous service robots for the retail industry, announced the close of a $17.5 million Series B funding round led by Paxion Capital Partners and participation by Intel Capital, WRV Capital, Lucas Venture Group (LVG), and Cota Capital. This round brings Bossa Nova’s total funding to date to $41.7 million. Bossa Nova…
Titan Medical touts milestone achievements in 3rd quarter earnings release
Titan Medical (TSX:TMD) late last week reported its third quarter financial results, touting that the the company met all its published milestones for the fiscal quarter. The Toronto-based medical robotics company said it already has two facilities using its Sport platform for preclinical feasibility and validation studies and that it plans to launch additional studies…
Automated linear-transfer tool trays: LazerArc commentary
Until recently, getting high precision and repeatability from production lines was difficult. But now new systems for automation are eliminating barriers associated with manual handling and assembly of high-quality product. Here we review one such option — the offering known as linear tool tray-transfer systems. By Benedict Talan, President | LazerArc Linear tool tray-transfer systems…
Robots two-pronged role in Alibaba’s $25.3 billion Singles’ Day sale
The Singles’ Day Shopping Festival held each year on November 11th is just like Black Friday, Mothers’ Day or any other sales-oriented psuedo-holiday, but bigger and more extravagant. Starting in 2009 in China as a university campus event, Singles Day has now reached all over China and to more than 180 countries. After 24 hours…
TransEnterix logs first U.S. sale, meets Q3 earnings expectations
TransEnterix (NYSE:TRXC) shares jumped today after the medical device company said it sold its first Senhance robot-assisted surgery platform in the U.S., exactly a month after winning FDA clearance. The sale, to Florida Hospital in Orlando, follows another sale in Taiwan made during the third quarter, president & CEO Todd Pope said during a conference call…
Mixed Reality Research at NYU Brings Robots Under Control With a Smartphone Swipe
Mixed reality offers untrained users an easier way to control multiple robots with precision, according to a researcher at NYU. He describes the challenges that still remain as robots reach into our everyday lives.
Intuitive Surgical opens Korean innovation, training center
Robotic surgical giant Intuitive Surgical (NSDQ:ISRG) opened the doors this week on a new $8.9 million surgical innovation training center on South Korea, according to a Korea Herald report. The new 39,008-square-foot center is located inside the Sangam DMC High-Tech Industry Center in Seoul and features five training stations with a total of seven da…
Mazor Robotics crushes expectations with Q3 results
Mazor Robotics (NSDQ:MZOR) today reported third-quarter results that blew past the consensus forecast on Wall Street, more than doubling sales and paring its losses by more than 30%. The Caesarea, Israel-based robot-assisted surgery company posted losses of -$3.7 million, or -7¢ per share, on sales of $17.2 million for the three months ended Sept. 30, cutting…
Enterprise hardware, software for robotic automation from READY Robotics
READY Robotics has announced an enterprise hardware and software platform that makes it dramatically easier for large scale factories to deploy robotic automation in one day. Previously, industrial robot deployment required weeks, if not months of time, a lot of upfront capital and robotic expertise, and even then the robot is only programmed to perform…
Funding trends: self-driving dreams coming true
Participants and startups in the emerging self-driving vehicles industry (components, systems, trucks, cars and buses) have been at it for over almost 60 years. The pace accelerated in 2004, 2005 and 2007 when DARPA sponsored long-distance competitions for driverless cars, and then again in 2009 when Uber began its ride-hailing system. As the prospects that…
Intuitive Surgical touts safety, effectiveness in 1st trial of flexible robotics platform
Intuitive Surgical (NSDQ:ISRG) today presented results from the first clinical trial of its new flexible robotics platform, touting that the system was found to be safe and effective at sampling lung tissue. Findings were presented at the American College of Chest Physicians CHEST annual meeting this week and published in the CHEST Journal. The new robotic-assisted,…
FarmBot used by micro farming technology to reduce manufacturing complexities
The influence of today’s on-demand economy has uprooted traditional food production processes. No longer are environmentally conscious consumers content with purchasing items from large distributors or supermarkets. Instead, consumer pressure to track food from farm to fork has led to fully traceable food production and micro-farming. Seeking to influence the next generation of food production,…
October 2017 fundings, acquisitions and IPOs
Twenty-eight different startups were funded in October cumulatively raising $862 million, up from $507 million in September. Three of the top four fundings were for startups involved in the self-driving process. An additional five lower-amount startups were also funded for self-driving applications or components along with two of the six acquisitions. Six acquisitions were reported…