How impressed has Walmart been with its last-mile delivery tests with Cruise? So impressed that Walmart just invested in the San Francisco-based developer of autonomous vehicles. Walmart, and several institutional investors, added $750 million to Cruise’s recent funding round, extending it to $2.75 billion. In November 2020, Cruise and Walmart announced a self-driving delivery pilot […]

The KUKA iiQKA.OS is designed to simple and easy to use. | Image credit: KUKA Robotics KUKA Robotics introduced a new operating system for its collaborative and industrial robot arms at Hannover Messe 2021. The new KUKA iiQKA.OS operating system is designed to be “as easy to use as a cellphone”. The primary goal of […]

Cruise becomes the first AV to be permitted to operate in California. | Image credit: Cruise Cruise scored a huge win when it became the first “driverless” autonomous vehicle (AV) passenger service to be authorized to operate in California. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) authorized Cruise, LLC to participate in California’s first pilot program. […]

Deepmap builds high-definition maps for autonomous vehicles. | Image credit: Nvidia NVIDIA adds high-resolution mapping capabilities to its autonomous driving arsenal with the announcement this week of its intention to acquire DeepMap. DeepMap, founded in 2016, is a startup dedicated to building high-definition maps for autonomous vehicles to navigate the world safely. Chipmaker Nvidia deepens […]

Universal Robots (UR), PickNik, and Forschungszentrum Informatik (FZI) released the beta version of the ROS 2 driver they’ve been working on for UR’s collaborative robot arms. The driver works across UR’s entire cobot line, including the newer e-Series cobots. The post Beta version of ROS 2 driver for UR cobots now available appeared first on […]

The famous German autobahn highway system is governed by German laws. | Image credit: Pixabay The German Bundestag (German federal parliament) is adopting a new law governing the future of autonomous driving in Germany. In the future, autonomous vehicles should be able to drive nationwide without a physically present driver in specified operating areas of […]

A Level 4 Motional Chrysler Pacifica Minivan being tested in Las Vegas. | Credit: Motional Tremendous progress has been made on many fronts when it comes to autonomous vehicles. But it remains to be seen when, or if, Level 5 fully autonomous vehicles will become commonplace. Many believe smart infrastructure, such as sensors in roads […]

Pickle Robot Company’s Dill wants to unload “messy trailers.” | Credit: Pickle Robot Company There seems to be a renewed focus on automating the grueling task of unloading trailers. Boston Dynamics revealed its Stretch mobile manipulator at the end of March, while Memphis-based robotics startup Dextrous Robotics recently emerged from stealth with its Chopstick system. […]

A submersible robot snake could assist the Department of Defense inspect ships, submarines and other underwater infrastructure. | Credit: CMU Carnegie Mellon University’s acclaimed snake-like robot can now slither its way underwater, allowing the modular robotics platform to inspect ships, submarines and infrastructure for damage. The post CMU’s snake robot can now swim underwater appeared […]

A virtual Atlante exoskeleton moving from sitting to standing position. | Credit: University of Michigan Exoskeleton users can now go from sitting to standing safely and without assistance based on the work of University of Michigan researchers, who developed an approach to create and test solutions to such problems virtually. “We now have a way […]