Robotics News
Radio frequency perception helps robot grasp hidden objects
MIT’s RF Grasp system uses both a camera and an RF reader to find and grab tagged objects, even when they’re fully blocked from the camera’s view. | Photo Credit: MIT MIT researchers have developed a robot that uses radio waves, which can pass through walls, to sense...
The Future of Robotics: Collaboration Between Man and Machine
When IoT technologies, robots and humans interoperate, advanced robotic capabilities are enabled, along with novel applications, and by extension, new business opportunities. Interoperability challenges remain, but solutions are available to overcome them. The post...
BMW’s IdealWorks Validates (and Challenges) AMR Sector
BMW Group’s IDEALworks (IW) subsidiary stated goal is for IW to become a leading supplier of autonomous mobile robotics (AMRs) solutions in the logistics sector. BMW’s new initiative validates the AMR market, but also challenges existing AMR players. The post BMW’s...
Motional testing fully driverless vehicles in Las Vegas
A Level 4 Motional Chrysler Pacifica Minivan being tested in Las Vegas. | Credit: Motional Motional is now testing Level 4 fully driverless vehicles on public roads in Las Vegas. The Hyundai-Aptiv joint venture said the testing, which began earlier in February,...
Universal Robots’ ActiNav handles challenging bin-picking task
ActiNav’s high-resolution sensor and CAD matching enable high accuracy picks. | Credit: Universal Robots Founded in 1958, Allied Moulded is a full-service molding operation manufacturing non-metallic electrical boxes and enclosures for residential, commercial and...
Inside Boston Dynamics’ robotics facility
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Boston Dynamics’ Stretch robot handles truck unloading & palletizing
The Stretch robot unloading a container. | Photo Credit: Boston Dynamics Using robots to unload freight on receiving docks isn’t a novel idea. A quick YouTube search will return a slew of results. But many of these previous approaches have been stifled by high costs...
Using tactile-based reinforcement learning for insertion tasks
Collaborative robots (cobots) are designed to operate around humans in a factory environment and to execute tasks in a human-like fashion. Interestingly, assembly tasks that are simple for humans to perform such as gripping, grasping, turning and rotating items...
NASA preparing for Ingenuity Helicopter launch on Mars
The Ingenuity Helicopter sits exposed under the Perseverance Rover on Mars. Perseverance released the debris shield that protected Ingenuity during landing. | Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech NASA is preparing to launch its Ingenuity Helicopter on Mars. Ingenuity is a...
Drones team up to carry heavy packages
Multiple drones move a single box | Image Credit: Georgia Tech Many parcel delivery drones of the future are expected to handle packages weighing five pounds or less, a restriction that would allow small, standardized UAVs to handle a large percentage of the...
Innovation latency in industrial automation
Many of the world’s great technologies realize their full potential only 50-100 years after invention. Consider the printing press. During the first century after the Gutenberg press was invented, books were printed in impressive quantities but lacked their current...
Deep learning optimizes sensor placement for soft robots
MIT built a deep learning neural network to aid the design of soft robots, such as these iterations of a robotic elephant. | Photo Credit: MIT There are some tasks traditional robots – the rigid and metallic kind – simply aren’t cut out for. Soft-bodied robots, on the...