As companies continue to grow, innovate and deploy their robotics and autonomous technologies, certain milestones are met. This week, two companies made announcements regarding achieving new goals – sidewalk delivery firm Serve Robotics said it was the first autonomous vehicle company to complete commercial deliveries at Level 4 autonomy; and WeRide announced it reached 10 million kilometers (6.2 million+ miles) of autonomous driving on public roads, with 2.5 million km in fully driverless mode.
Read more: Serve, WeRide Proclaim Robotics Milestones: Do...
CES is always one of the biggest trade shows of the year, where companies from all different sectors come to Las Vegas to show off their latest innovations. Companies that make robots, drones and self-driving cars are among those that have attended in recent years, and this year was no different. While several big companies pulled out of the show due to COVID-related concerns, there were still enough announcements in the space to make people talk about what’s coming next in technology.
Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are quickly becoming a must-have technology for warehouses, especially those that perform e-commerce fulfillment operations. Research firm Interact Analysis predicts that by 2025, 2.1 million mobile robots will have been shipped worldwide. Many that assume this growth is being driven by the ever-present desire to reduce operational costs are often overlooking other drivers. While operational cost reduction is important and measurable, there are far more impactful issues driving the investments of AMR technologies today.
Read more: The 3 Big Market Forces Driving Investments in...
The rise of e-commerce from consumers has also placed demand on retailers to fill orders faster. Here's why many are turning to third-party logistics providers, and why those companies are turning to robots and automation.
Robotics World recently chatted with Josh Cloer, director of sales for Mujin Corp., about the need for better training methods around industrial robots, the state of industrial robots within logistics, and the challenges of entering the U.S. robotics market.
Fleet management and supply chain company Ryder System has announced a data-driven study on the impact of autonomous trucking. The company worked with researchers in transportation and mobility at the H. Milton School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) at Georgia Tech to understand how to approach autonomy, and the potential return on investment. Ryder said the result is a roadmap to commercialization based on real-world data – and a significant cost savings.
Robotics World chatted with Patrice Roulet Fontani, the co-founder and vice president of technology at Immervision, about the future of humanoid robots and machine perception.
A recent article from Business Insider weighed in on the future of drones, suggesting that “whether these unmanned aircrafts [drones] are controlled by a remote or accessed via a smartphone app, they possess the capability of reaching the most remote areas with little to no manpower needed, and require the least amount of effort, time, and energy."
STMicroelectronics (STM), which develops semiconductors across the spectrum of electronics applications, has announced a design win for its STM32WLE5, a long-range (LoRa) system-on-chip (SoC). A customer application developed by rubber-tapping specialist CIHEVEA uses low-power networking to help automate the process of extracting latex from rubber trees.
Read more: How a SoC Improved Rubber-Tree Farming Production
The robots-as-a-service (RaaS) pricing model reduces the heavy, upfront investment for co-working robots. Traditional business models required a warehouse to make a cost-intensive capital expenditure for robot hardware upfront. RaaS, on the other hand, enables companies to switch to a monthly payment and realize a return on investment on day one.
Neurala, which develops vision-based artificial intelligence software, has announced the launch of its European subsidiary, Neurala Europe. Based in Italy, the subsidiary will advance the company’s efforts in the industrial space, adding on-the-ground expertise and support for European partners, value-added resellers, and manufacturing customers as companies prioritize AI and automation as part of Industry 4.0 initiatives, the company said in a statement.
Read more: Q&A: Neurala’s Max Versace on European Expansion...
For many people, cameras in public spaces imply surveillance due to how they have been used traditionally (e.g., traffic cameras, retail security cameras, etc.). But for companies in the autonomous mobile robotics industry, cameras are used for the purpose of helping self-driving robots navigate the world around them in a safe and efficient manner. For these technology providers, an ongoing challenge is to build public trust and help reshape preconceived notions regarding the use of camera images.
Read more: Defining Privacy Standards for Autonomous Mobile...
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA), about 25% of forklift deaths are caused by forklift overturns, with other deaths or injuries stemming from forklifts accidentally driving off loading docks; lifts falling between docks and unsecured trailers, or workers being struck by distracted operators. While moving materials seems a fairly straightforward process, it can be risky business. The safe implementation of advanced automation such as autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) to transport materials not only presents opportunities for increased productivity and faster ROI, but they also provide safer working conditions.
Material transport workflows for production and assembly lines is a time-consuming, non-value adding task for most manufacturers. Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are a simple, efficient and cost-effective way to automate material handling and in-house transportation tasks in nearly any situation where employees would previously have been required to push carts around the facility.
Read more: From the Warehouse to Assembly Line: 5 Ways AMRs...
Helen Greiner, one of the original founders of iRobot, has had a long career in robotics in several different companies and endeavors. Late in 2020, she was named CEO of Tertill, makers of a consumer-grade weeding robot for vegetable gardens. She recently discussed some of the trends she is looking at for 2021 in the consumer robotics and related fields with Robotics-world.com