Locus Robotics, an RBR50 company and developer of autonomous mobile robots, closed a $150 million Series E round of funding today. The round was led by Tiger Global Management and BOND, and included support from existing investors. With a new $1 billion valuation, Locus becomes a unicorn company. There are several autonomous vehicle unicorns, but…
Universal Robots’ ActiNav handles challenging bin-picking task
Founded in 1958, Allied Moulded is a full-service molding operation manufacturing non-metallic electrical boxes and enclosures for residential, commercial and industrial markets. Facing significant challenges due to labor shortages, the Ohio-based company chose Universal Robots’ new ActiNav system to automate an important bin-picking application. The deployment enabled Allied Moulded to reduce overtime expenses, move existing…
Celera Motion releases Capitan Series servo drives
Celera Motion today announced its Capitan Series of premium Ingenia servo drives. The Capitan Series is designed for surgical robots, exoskeletons, robotic joints, flat actuators, end-effectors, haptics and more. The Capitan Series offers three servo drives – the XCR, NET and CORE. The XCR is a ready-to-use version, while NET and CORE are pluggable module…
Verizon acquiring mobile robot software provider incubed IT
Verizon is continuing to expand its role in the robotics industry. Verizon is acquiring incubed IT, an Austria-based startup that develops autonomous navigation and fleet management software for autonomous mobile robots (AMR). Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the first half of the year, were not disclosed. Founded in 2011, incubed…
Universal Robots names Kim Povlsen president
Universal Robots (UR) has named Kim Povlsen its new president. He will begin his role at UR on March 1, leading the cobot arm pioneer into its next stage of growth. Povlsen, a Danish native, held various executive business and technology leadership roles at Schneider Electric, a global energy management and automation company. He most…
Tertill CEO Helen Greiner; Can Aurora catch Waymo?
Welcome to Episode 34 of The Robot Report Podcast, which brings conversations with robotics innovators straight to you. Join us each week for discussions with leading roboticists, innovative robotics companies, and other key members of the robotics community. You can subscribe to The Robot Report Podcast on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify and more. Please subscribe to the podcast and leave us…
Odense robotics cluster flourishing despite pandemic
2020 was a challenging year for the robotics, automation and drone industry, both globally and for companies in Denmark, which is one of the strongest robotics clusters in the world. Nevertheless, robotic and automation companies on Funen increased the number of colleagues abroad by 26% to a total of 1,200 abroad and maintaining the status…
igus releases e-spool flex cable reel for industrial robots
igus has developed the e-spool flex 2.0, a new cable reel designed for industrial robots that has no slip ring. This allows for management of robot teach pendants. The system even supplies bus signals without interruptions, which can be typical with slip rings. The solution can extend cables up to 50 ft. Installation into a…
How Wilder Systems is automating rapid COVID-19 tests
A lack of testing has been one of the biggest challenges to combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Testing facilities often have a shortage of personnel to analyze samples and provide results. Throughout 2020, Americans were turned away from testing centers. Rapid testing is becoming vital to mitigating the spread of the novel coronavirus. Austin, Texas-based Wilder…
Cruise, Waymo lead way in Calif. autonomous vehicle testing
California’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) yesterday released its annual Disengagement Report, which breaks down the number of times a human driver takes over control of an autonomous driving system being tested on the state’s public roads. The DMV released reports for 29 companies for the period from December 2019 to November 2020. Waymo (29,944.69)…
WiBotic Commander offers energy management for robot fleets
WiBotic, a Seattle-based developer of wireless charging and power-optimization systems for robots, today launched fleet energy management software called Commander. It can help robotics users visualize, configure, and optimize delivery of energy throughout their fleet of robots or drones. Commander offers a visual display of charger availability and status, and historical information about which chargers…
PickNik developing ROS 2 driver for UR cobots
PickNik is collaborating with Universal Robots (UR) and Forschungszentrum Informatik (FZI) on developing the official ROS 2 driver for UR’s collaborative robot arms. PickNik is developing the UR ROS 2 driver as a test platform for ros2_control, the popular control framework for the Robot Operating System (ROS) that is in the final stages of porting…
Plus raises $200M for autonomous truck technology
Plus, a developer of autonomous truck technology, raised $200 million in funding. The round was led by new investors Guotai Junan International, CPE, and Wanxiang International Investment. Existing investors also participated. Plus told The Robot Report it has now raised about $400 million since it was founded in 2016. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company just raised…
Aurora partners with Denso, Toyota on robotaxi development
We posed the following question on a recent episode of The Robot Report Podcast: why did Aurora buy Uber’s Advanced Technology Group (ATG)? Well, it appears access to Uber’s existing investors and partners was a big reason why. Aurora today announced a partnership with Toyota and Denso. The companies will develop a fleet of autonomous…
How shadows can help robots understand human touch
Cornell University researchers created a low-cost method for soft robots to detect a range of physical interactions, from pats to punches to hugs, without relying on touch at all. Instead, a USB camera located inside the robot captures the shadow movements of hand gestures on the robot’s skin and classifies them with machine-learning software. The…
DoorDash acquiring robotics startup Chowbotics
DoorDash, the popular food delivery service, is acquiring Chowbotics, a Calif.-based robotics startup best known for Sally, a vending machine-like robot that can make salads and other fresh meals. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The move indicates DoorDash is interested in automating food production. According to The Wall Street Journal, which was first…
3 ABB robots help belt manufacturer increase production 33%
BJ Minson didn’t like the imperfect fit and sloppy profile of the standard belts he could find on the market, with the buckle and excess strap end awkwardly protruding from under his untucked shirt. So while working on a master’s degree in microfluidics, he began playing around with the design for a sleeker belt with…
EndoWays, developer of disposable robot for cathlab, acquired by Ascendum
EndoWays, an Israeli developer of a disposable robotic system for the cathlab, has been acquired by Ascendum Capital, a healthcare-focused investment platform founded in 2020. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. EndoWays, founded in 2018, developed a fully disposable robotic system to support navigation and operation within blood vessels in neurovascular, peripheral and…
Renowned economist Beaulieu offers positive outlook on 2021
WTWH Media, parent company of The Robot Report, hosted a webinar with renowned economist Alan Beaulieu of ITR Economics. The event, which you can watch on demand here, offered an interesting look at the economy over the coming months and years. And the outlook Beaulieu gave was quite positive in nature, something we all could…
DroneDeploy raises $50M in Series E funding
Enterprise drone data company DroneDeploy raised $50 million in Series E financing. The round was led by existing investors Energize Ventures and AirTree, with participation from Bessemer, Scale, Emergence, Angelpad, Uncork and Frontline Ventures. This funding brings DroneDeploy’s total fundraising to date to $142 million. The investment will be used to expand the company’s products…
Researchers developing self-propelled robots for U.S. Army
Army-funded researchers discovered how to make materials capable of self-propulsion, allowing materials to move without motors or hands. Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst discovered how to make materials that snap and reset themselves, only relying upon energy flow from their environment. This research could enable future military robots to move from their own energy. “This…
SLAMcore extends ROS integration in software update
The Robot Operating System (ROS) has played a fundamental role in the development of robots as solutions to real-world challenges in many different sectors. From warehouses and logistics, to agriculture and healthcare, ROS-based designs are delivering real value. Since its birth at Willow Garage in 2007, this flexible framework has helped thousands of robotics developers.…