Three robots, including two collaborative robots systems, were honored as Edison Awards winners this week at the annual event  that honors innovative products that “will change the world.”
The Sophia Robot, created by Hanson Robotics, took the gold medal in the robotics category. Epson’s Flexion N-Series 6-Axis robot took the silver medal; and the Collaborative Robot Panda by German company Franka Emika GmbH took bronze.
The Sophia robot is a humanoid robot that simulates more than 60 facial expressions, can track and recognize faces, look humans in the eye and hold natural conversations with them. Judges said “she is constantly evolving in terms of her knowledge, personality, and technology.”
The Flexion robot includes a folding arm design incorporated into the six-axis robot design, “the most groundbreaking improvement to 6-Axis robot technology in the last several decades,” the awards site stated.
The Robot Panda is a collaborative lightweight robotic system that can assist humans with work processes.
The Edison Universe, a non-profit organization dedicated to honoring and fostering innovation, created the Edison Awards, named after the famous inventor Thomas Alva Edison. A list of all the other winners and categories can be found here.
“The 2018 winners illustrate how important the advancement of STEM is to imagining the once unimaginable,” said Frank Bonafilia, co-founder and executive director of the Edison Awards, in a news statement. “Every team honored has developed their breakthrough ideas into new market segments, products and services that vastly improve the way we live, work and play.”
