Robotics News
Nuro R2 autonomously delivering Domino’s pizza in Houston
Nuro’s R2 will be delivering Domino’s pizzas to select customers in Houston. | Credit: Nuro Nuro, a 2020 RBR50 Innovation Award winner, is launching autonomous pizza delivery in Houston this week with Domino’s. Select customers who place an online order – on certain...
Walmart invests in Cruise for last-mile delivery
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...
KUKA iiQKA.OS promises to be easy to use
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...
Cruise becomes first company authorized to test robotaxi service in California
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...
Nvidia to acquire high-definition map maker DeepMap
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...
Beta version of ROS 2 driver for UR cobots now available
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...
German Bundestag adopts autonomous driving law
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...
Motional autonomous vehicles get a bird’s-eye view in Las Vegas
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...
Pickle Robot’s Dill wants to unload ‘messy trailers’
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...
CMU’s snake robot can now swim underwater
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...
ANSI/RIA R15.08 Standard Redefines Industrial Mobile Robots – What’s New and Why It Matters
The new ANSI/RIA R15.08-1-2020 (R15.08) standard for mobile robots provides updated, and formalized, definitions for AGVs, AMRs and other mobile robotics types. The revised definitions are critical for the proper application of R15.08, and as such it is critical that...
Designing sit-to-stand motions for lower-limb exoskeletons
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...