Robotics

Volkswagen provides a glimpse into the future in which the search for charging stations for electric cars comes to an end. Volkswagen Group Components' mobile charging robot takes over this task - and drives to the electric car completely autonomously.

In March 2018, Auris Health also became a threat to Intuitive Surgical when its catheter-based Monarch Platform gained FDA clearance.

A key turning point in the surgical robot space came in October 2017 when TransEnterix received FDA clearance for its Senhance Surgical Robotic System, which is used in minimally invasive gynaecologic, colorectal, hernia repair, and cholecystectomy procedures.

While most companies provide training software and equipment with the purchase of their system, some focus entirely on developing training platforms for surgeons learning how to operate surgical robots.

Corindus Vascular Robotics developed the CorPath System, a FDA cleared and CE marked system for peripheral and coronary vascular interventions.

Medtech - founded in 2002 in Montpellier, France - designs surgical robots for a range of procedures.

Intuitive Surgical was founded in 1995 by Frederic Moll and John Freund and is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

Surgical robots are robotic systems designed to execute surgical procedures. These systems are not designed to replace surgeons, but rather to collaborate with them in order to enhance their capabilities.

NASA's next Mars rover has passed its first driving test. A preliminary assessment of its activities found that the rover checked all the necessary boxes as it rolled forward and backward and pirouetted in a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The next time the Mars 2020 rover drives, it will be rolling over Martian soil.

In the latest stage of British Airways' investment in airport automation, the airline has announced that from 2020 it will trial AI-powered autonomous robots at its home at Heathrow Terminal 5 to help some of the 90,000 customers who travel through the terminal each day navigate through the airport, freeing up the airlines' hosts to help customers with more complex queries.

In a step forward, a team of researchers has developed a new approach to teaching a robot, or a team of robots, a high-risk, complex task—a framework that could be applied to a host of tasks. In a paper published in Science Robotics, the team demonstrated this framework with a proof-of-concept task by teaching two robots to cook, assemble and serve hot dogs together.

Last mile delivery is the most expensive part of the delivery chain, often representing more than 50% of the overall cost. This is mainly because it is the least productive and automated step. As such, many are seeking to bring automation into the last mile.

Students have developed a smart glove for astronauts that can be used while exploring other planets. NASA partners recently conducted successful testing of the glove at the Haughton Mars Project research station.

Few of the giant car makers have shown urgency in transitioning away from the internal combustion engine. What's more, the automotive market is set to decline once again in 2019 whilst electrifying newcomers made huge gains in front of sleeping incumbents' noses. Although a large fraction of this is orders (not deliveries), if OEMs do not wake up now, they never will.

OR Productivity designs and manufactures robotic systems that hold and manipulate a camera during laparoscopic abdominal surgical procedures. The company has developed two robotic arm systems, Freehand Vista and Freehand Panorama.

Researchers have developed an ultra-light robotic insect that uses its soft artificial muscles to move at 3 cm per second across different types of terrain. It can be folded or crushed and yet continue to move.

Many technologies that are essential for daily life — from communications to GPS navigation to weather forecasting — rely on the thousands of satellites that are orbiting Earth. When those satellites run out of gas and stop working, there's not much that can currently be done to fix them.

Curexo operates in two very different fields: medical and trades. The medical field includes surgical robots, rehabilitation robots, robot supplies and services, and artificial joint supplies (implants). Its trades business include food, food additives and livestock products.

Stretchy and squeezy soft sensors that can fit around body parts or squeezed in hands could be used for applications including sports and rehabilitation after injury or stroke. For example, soft electrical force sensors in the form for a squeeze ball could monitor the rehabilitation of patients with hand injuries or neurological disorders.

Background: Baylo was established in 2005 in France with the objective to use autonomous material handling robots thanks to autonomous navigation technology becoming available.