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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.
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France-based Exotec, which builds warehouse robotic automation systems, has announced raising $335 million in Series D funding at a $2 billion valuation. The company said it plans to use the funding to continue large-scale deployments of its technology in North America, Europe, and Asia for global brands, as well as hire 500 new research & development engineers by 2025 to accelerate the development of its high-performance warehouse automation technology.
Read more: Exotec Raises $335M to Expand Warehouse Robotics...
Nuro, which develops autonomous zero-occupant delivery vehicles, has announced the third generation of its vehicle. The new flagship model, called Nuro, is part of the company’s plans to scale its autonomous delivery services to millions of consumers across the U.S.
Vecow, which develops embedded AIoT systems, has announced a collaboration with MOV.AI, which helps assist designers with autonomous mobile robot (AMR) development. The partnership will provide an integrated AMR solution that includes Vecow’s ECX-1000 Series Workstation-grade Fanless System with MOV.AI’s Robotics Engine Platform. The combination will help customers develop industrial AMRs to meet a demand of more than 2.1 million mobile robots by the end of 2023, the companies said.
Team PoliMOVE, with participants from Politecnico di Milano (Italy) and the University of Alabama has won the Autonomous Challenge @ CES, a continuation of last year’s Indy Autonomous Challenge that pitted autonomous race cars in a head-to-head competition. Held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a field of five teams from five countries representing seven universities, PoliMOVE took home the $150,000 grand prize.
Zenith AeroTech, which develops heavy-lift tethered aerial vehicles (TAVs), has announced a strategic partnership with VIRTEX Enterprises, an Austin, Texas-based electronics manufacturing service provider. The partnership will help the companies meet increasing demand for more TAVs in shorter timeframes and for the platforms to be NDAA compliant.
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company has announced it developed and is testing a custom-engineered non-pneumatic (airless) tire (NPT) to support delivery robots for Starship Technologies. The two companies are currently conducting in-field testing at Bowling Green State University in Ohio to evaluate vehicle and tire dependencies.
U.S. drone manufacturer Skydio has announced a new autonomous flight capability, Skydio KeyFrame, that uses artificial intelligence to let users design and capture smooth, complex camera moves with just a few taps. Aimed at cinematographers, the KeyFrame capability can create camera motion that is smooth, precise, and repeatable.
John Deere has announced a fully autonomous tractor that is ready for large-scale production. The new system combines Deere’s 8R Tractor, TruSet-enabled chisel plow, GPS guidance system and other advanced technologies. The company said the tractor will be available to farmers later this year.
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Labrador Systems, which is developing a new generation of assistive robots to help individuals live more independently, has announced the Labrador Retriever, a personal robot that provides practical, physical assistance with everyday activities in the home. The mobile robot provides users with “an extra pair of hands” to help move large loads from place to place, as well as bring critical items within reach. The company also announced raising an additional $3.1 million in seed funding, led by Amazon’s Alexa Fund and iRobot Ventures.
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Udelv has announced the launch of the Transporter, a cabless autonomous electric delivery vehicle aimed at multi-stop delivery tasks. The vehicle will be on display at this week’s CES 2022 event in Las Vegas.
TuSimple, which develops autonomous driving technology, has announced it successfully completed the world’s first fully autonomous semi-truck run on open public roads without a human in the vehicle, and without human intervention. Taking place on December 22, the run involved a TuSimple upfitted autonomous semi-truck leaving a railyard in Tucson, Ariz., and traveling more than 80 miles on surface streets and highways at night, safely arriving at a high-volume distribution center in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
DroneSense, which develops operational and management platforms for unmanned aircraft systems, has announced its new Magic Video Link feature, which provides easier sharing of critical, real-time information regarding drone operations.
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The International Federation of Robotics said the use of industrial robots in factories around the world is accelerating at a high rate – 126 robots per 10,000 employees is the new global average for robot density in manufacturing. This is nearly double the number from five years ago (66 units per 10,000 in 2015).
ABB has announced the addition of two new members of its OmniCore controller family to help meet the demand for faster, more efficient production. Available for a range of robots across the company’s portfolio, the E10 and V250XT controllers offer best-in-class motion control, as well as 20% energy savings and future-proofing through built-in digital connectivity and more than 1,000 additional functions to meet changing requirements. ABB said the new controllers extend the possibilities for enhanced robot control in several industries, ranging from electronics assembly to automotive, logistics, and general manufacturing usages.
Birmingham, U.K.-based HausBots, in partnership with WMG at the University of Warwick, has announced the availability of its wall-climbing robot. The robot can climb vertical surfaces and be used for inspection and maintenance tasks, such as building and infrastructure inspection, surveying, painting or removing graffiti.