In this Robot Report podcast, Aaron Prather, Senior Advisor for Technology, Research, and Planning at FedEx discusses emerging logistics technologies, robotics start-ups and more.

As application opportunities increase, the mobile robotics sector continues to expand rapidly, with funding to start-ups continuing, and larger established technology companies, including AGV suppliers, entering the market with solutions developed in-house or acquired. As standardization and commoditization looms, companies emphasize SW, RaaS and specialization as differentiators.

In this informative and wide ranging RoboBusiness Direct session, MassRobotics’ Executive Director Tom Ryden leads an all-star panel of robotics researchers and industry thought leaders to discuss that latest robotics and automation research and R&D initiatives, and the ways the resulting breakthroughs make their way into the commercial sphere.

Target Arm offers Tular, a unique solution for launch and recovery operations from moving vehicles for both rotary and fixed wing drones.

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.

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.

In her RoboBusiness Direct session at 2:00 PM on Thursday, October 8th, Apeksha Kumavat, co-founder and chief engineer of Gatik, will explain how constraining the operational design domain can help autonomous vehicles hasten time to market for retailers and logistics providers.

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.

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.

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.

Despite the ongoing pandemic, robotics investment and acquisition activity did not slow down in August 2020, with funding flowing to autonomous vehicles, industrial automation, and drones.

Building on the success of the inaugural series, the RoboBusiness Direct Fall program will once again have robotics industry experts addressing critical robotics business development issues through an integrated series of online presentations and continuing media coverage and analysis.

AMR developer Waypoint Robotics and fulfillment and distribution services provider Advanced Handling Systems (AHS) recently announced new systems integrator partnership. Tim McCabe, Director of Business Development for Waypoint Robotics, and Dave Tavel, EVP for AHS, discuss what led to the alliance and the capabilities AMRs provide for fulfillment and distribution operations.

As retailers continue to adopt and roll out omni-channel distribution models, new logistical challenges arise, along with industrial automation technologies and techniques, including autonomous mobile robots, that can overcome them.

The future of manufacturing is dynamic, flexible human-machine collaboration. Veo Robotics provides a 3D sensing and control system that makes standard industrial robots responsive to humans so they can work safely side-by-side.

Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) have proven to increase the productivity and reduce the cost of warehouse automation operations. While the costs of AMRs continue to drop, even as their capabilities increase, there are often hidden, and sizable, costs associated with their deployment. Here’s what to look for, and how to mitigate their impact.

Even before the advent of the Covid-19, autonomous mobile robot companies, notably those producing robots for use in e-commerce fulfillment centers, factories and warehousing, were experiencing a boom in investment. The pandemic is only accelerating investments in the AMR market.

In June 2020, investment and acquisition activity picked up a bit for autonomous vehicles, mobile robots, healthcare systems, and industrial automation.

Interact Analysis’ Rueben Scriven reviews the grocery warehouse automation market in the context of Ocado, and discusses the likely impact of COVID-19 on the growth potential of the company and the sector overall.

6 River Systems’ CEO Chris Cacioppo discusses creating a culture of innovation, along with the sale of 6 River to Shopify. In addition, Gautam Narang, Co-founder and CEO of Gatik, reviews how Gatik is solving middle-mile logistics using Level 4 autonomous vehicles.

The novel coronavirus pandemic slowed global manufacturing as investors look to the future of transportation.

Despite strong economic headwinds from global shutdowns in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, some funding and merger activity continued in April 2020, particularly in healthcare, transportation, and manufacturing.

LogisticsIQ expects the overall revenues from the Warehouse Automation Market to increase from US $13 billion in 2018 to reach US $27 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 11.7% (2019 to 2025).

Contract manufacturer GMI Solutions evaluated mobile robotics implementation solutions using a formal 8-step process only to determine that their best option was to develop their own affordable, practical system, and launch a new company to commercialize it.

In 2019, overall robot market revenues experienced negative growth for the first time in many years affected by the global manufacturing downturn and reduced demand in major end industries such as automotive and electronics. However, the collaborative robot market still maintains a high growth rate of more than 30% (32.1% in revenue term and 31.3%…