Robotics

In February 2022, the White House issued an updated list of critical and emerging technologies that the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), and National Security Council (NSC) have identified as being important for US national security. Numerous technology areas have been featured, including advanced manufacturing, hypersonics, biotechnologies, and artificial intelligence. Of these, IDTechEx has highlighted which areas to watch and why exactly the White House has shortlisted them as critical technologies.

Researchers have developed self-healing, biodegradable, 3D-printed materials that could be used in the development of realistic artificial hands and other soft robotics applications.

Underwater robots - applications, challenges and key enabling technologies

What are underwater robots, why are they gaining attention these days, and what are the unique challenges for them?

In 2021, it was reported that over 100 employees at Amazon Prime Air, Amazon's drone delivery program, had lost their jobs and dozens of other roles were moving to other projects. This was not exciting news and made some people reflect on the feasibility of drone delivery in the near future.

A first-of-its-kind study using haptic/touch sensation feedback, electromyogram control and an innovative wearable soft robotic armband could just be a game changer for users of prosthetic hands who have long awaited advances in dexterity. Findings from the study could catalyze a paradigm shift in the way current and future artificial hands are controlled by limb-absent people.

Yujin Robot is a Korean company specializing in factory autonomation and service robotics manufacturing.

Researchers have developed the first fully autonomous biohybrid fish from human stem-cell derived cardiac muscle cells. The artificial fish swims by recreating the muscle contractions of a pumping heart, bringing researchers one step closer to developing a more complex artificial muscular pump and providing a platform to study heart disease like arrhythmia.

GoBe Robots is a Danish company founded via the acquisition of Suitable Technologies' Beam Robot business.

With the advancement of technologies and robotics, as well as the increasing challenges facing the agricultural industry (e.g., labor shortage, high labor costs, etc.), robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) are widely considered as an approach to revolutionize farming. Robots have several advantages over human labor including higher accuracy and efficiency, better consistency and reliability, lower operational costs, and many others. As such, more and more farmers decide to adopt robots (also commonly known as Agbots) and automation to make their businesses more sustainable and efficient.

Empowering small, humanoid-sensing robots to take a patient's blood pressure—using only a simple touch—is a researcher's health care technology development.

Comau and IUVO are developing an innovative wearable robotics solution to improve the ergonomics of operators engaged in manually moving loads at Esselunga, a leading large-scale retail trade company.

Imagine a small autonomous vehicle that could drive over land, stop, and flatten itself into a quadcopter. The rotors start spinning, and the vehicle flies away. Looking at it more closely, what do you think you would see? What mechanisms have caused it to morph from a land vehicle into a flying quadcopter?

ALIAS is a flexible, extensible automation architecture for existing manned aircraft that enables safe reduced crew operations, which facilitates the addition of high levels of automation into existing aircraft. It also provides a platform for integrating additional automation or autonomy capabilities tailored for specific missions.

Researchers are developing a drone-based, machine learning system to detect and identify marine debris along the coast. Marine debris, also known as marine litter, is a global problem that threatens the environment, navigation safety, coastal economies, and, potentially, human health. Detecting and identifying debris quickly and accurately is key to cleanup and response actions that can prevent these impacts. Unmanned Aerial Systems, or drones, offer this capability.

Milvus Robotics was founded in 2011 in Turkey. It has mobile robots for disinfection and research, but the company is focused primarily on autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for intralogistics. Apart from robotic hardware, they also provide a proprietary software platform for fleet management, and a wide range of on-top attachments that can be installed on the mobile robot for different tasks. Milvus now is active in some countries in North America, EMEA and Asia, and has 20 solution partners in these regions. Now the company employs over 50 people.

An intelligent charging robot that will make filling up with electricity much easier and more convenient in the future. Volume production of the system is planned for 2024 and will take place in Germany.

Thursday 24 February 2022 - Mobile Robotics in Logistics: Hundreds of Billion Dollar Market in 20 Years? An introduction to mobile robots and how they can be used in logistics; What makes mobile robots an attractive solution to logistics automation; Discussion of key enabling technologies and components; and much more.

The ability to make, say, a flexible screen or a new solar panel, starts with discovering a new combination of materials with unusual properties at the atomic scale. But in the field of 2D materials, which is considered one of the most exciting areas for future electronics, scientists still have to laboriously hand-make each new potential material before they can test its capabilities.

Through this alliance, Wingcopter will work with UAV del Peru, a subsidiary of UAV LATAM, deploying the Wingcopter 198, Wingcopter's new flagship Unmanned Aircraft System, to carry out drone delivery operations for local clients. With the partnership, Wingcopter, UAV LATAM and UAV del Peru become leaders in the drone delivery space in Peru.