Dan Kara

As this case study from Boston Engineering attests, the process of developing and testing exoskeleton technologies for military applications requires a capabilities alignment across all program participants, including military, industry and academic contributors. Direct feedback from soldiers, including their insights into the effect of exos on cognitive function, is also critical.

With ongoing supply chain disruptions, how can robotics companies bring new technologies and products to market? In this RoboBusiness Direct session, Nate Evans, Co-Founder of Fictiv, will describe how Digital Manufacturing Ecosystems provide a cost-efficient and low-risk solution to this challenge.

Agricultural weeding is a costly and labor-intensive task, and chemical methods, while effective, are expensive and often have negative environmental consequences associated with them. Sensing a business opportunity and a chance for promoting social good, a number of companies offering robotic weeding systems have entered the market. Compared to traditional approaches, their solutions reduce the cost and environmental impact of weeding operations.

Dave Evans, CEO of Fictiv, reviews robotics manufacturability and the benefits of digital manufacturing. Also, Marc Alba, Senior Vice President, NTT, discusses Jibo’s future.

Autonodyne provides a HW and SW ‘platform’ for commercial, civil and defense unmanned aerial systems (UASs) including a control station, on-board mission computer, and advanced autonomy behaviors. Recent partnership deals are a capabilities signifier.

By leveraging a combination of sensing / digitalization and AI / ML, Omnirobotic provides “high-mix” manufacturers a spray, coating and finishing solution, delivered as a service, that reduces robot programming costs while increasing productivity.

In this informative RoboBusiness Direct session based on accrued experience with five surgical robotics startups, Dwight Meglan, Co-founder and CTO of HeartLander Surgical, will describe the challenges to building a successful surgical robotics company, along with the critical success factors and strategies for overcoming them.

Thanks to engineering partnerships with maxon and Solvay, Flybotix goes to market with a highly capable drone-based industrial inspection solution that addresses a real business need. For maxon and Solvay, their Flybotix work deepens their sector and technological expertise, extends their IP portfolio, and enhances their reputation in the commercial drone space. But is there more?

Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) deployments are up substantially, with more to come. As the technology has proven to deliver business value, many new adopters are skipping long term pilot projects and moving directly to partial or full roll-outs.

The Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute’s Suzy Teele recently interviewed Yaskawa Motoman ‘s Roger Christian about the strategic advantages of partnering with ARM, and how the relationship benefits Yaskawa and advances the role of robotics in manufacturing.

Greater sensing, data collection and deep learning that exploit farmers’ collective wisdom can enable closed-loop control systems that deliver on the promise of true autonomy on the farm. Such autonomy, including autonomous plowing, would free up precious time for the farmer, and deliver greater agricultural yield and consistency of outcome.

Before deploying autonomous driving systems (ADS), we must know how, when, and whether they will work. There is no excuse for allowing the attention of drivers to stray during automated operation – if a system is really semi- and not fully autonomous.

Inspecting and repairing industrial piping systems is difficult, time consuming and costly. FLX Solutions provides a unique, cost effective solution in the form of a snake-like robot.

For small-to-medium manufacturers (SMMs), especially those with high-mix, low-volume production loads, collaborative robots provide many benefits over traditional industrial robots for certain tasks. But deploying cobots can be challenging. Thankfully, the US’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) can help.

Pilot purgatory and industrial tourism has hindered the adoption of Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies in the manufacturing sector, and can be especially damaging to solution provider start-ups. Early diagnosis of the threat is key.

Industrial Robot’s Joanne Pransky interviews Hugh Herr, head of the Biomechatronics Research Group and Center for Extreme Bionics at MIT, about the challenges and joys of developing and commercializing robotic prostheses.

The FAA’s approval for Prime Air drone delivery is a promising step forward, but the FAA needs to streamline the process and update its rules to better reflect current technology.

RBR’s offers hot takes on ONRobot’s sanding solution, Brain Corporation’s new CTO, the US DoD seeking sensing solutions, and the Dive Technologies / Virginia Tech partnership.

Market research and consultancy firm Interact Analysis estimates that worldwide revenues for mobile robots will reach US $2.4B in 2020, representing a 45% increase for AMRs and 11% for AGVs over 2019. But that is only the beginning.

The Covid-19 pandemic has broadened the use case for food and grocery delivery services, and enhanced their value proposition. The same can be said for autonomous food and grocery delivery, but significant, business, technological, social and political challenges remain which the accelerative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic do not ameliorate.

At the September 22nd RoboBusiness Direct session, manufacturing expert Jean Olivieri, COO at Fictiv, will discuss how new digital manufacturing ecosystems can help deliver digital transformation without the high price tag, disruption and complexity.

Purchasing robots, CNC machines and other industrial equipment for manufacturing operations can be a difficult process, and one fraught with uncertainty, especially for small-to-medium manufacturers. The US’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) has some suggestions and best practices designed to support decision making and reduce the risk.

Trade conflicts, geopolitical tensions, and now the COVID-19 crisis, is putting global supply chain at risk, and as a result companies are expected to reverse the multi-decade trend of offshoring. As robotics and automation becomes more capable, cheaper, and easier to implement, the technology is likely to accelerate reshoring initiatives.

For many applications, traditional cellular communications, including 5G, are suboptimal for data-intense autonomous vehicles, UAVs, and robotics systems. What is required is new cellular communications solutions that provide seamless connectivity and unlimited range for vehicles, and ensure all data is transmitted and received to and from related parties from any location.

Farming is a major emitter of greenhouse emissions. But a whole host of companies are working on methods of reducing the environmental impact of farming by altering farming methods, and employing new technologies, including robotics systems.