Robotics

Fraunhofer IMS have developed a 3D flash lidar demo module (Owl), which is based on their patented CMOS SPAD photodetectors with on-chip ROIC.

Aeva offer lidar modules that contain a camera and motion sensor.

Carnavicom offer car navigation and communication products; lidar modules are one of four major product groups.

Blackmore Sensors and Analytics offer lidar modules. Blackmore were acquired by autonomous vehicle company Aurora (USA) in 2019, which was co-founded by Dr. Chris Urmson, who was previously the CTO of Google's autonomous vehicle division.

Benewake offer lidar modules. Benewake-Horn-X prototype was launched in 2019 as the company's first lidar dedicated to ADAS applications.

Beamagine are developing a lidar module. The company were founded as a spin out of Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC, Spain) with the aim of commercialising lidar technology.

Fujitsu have developed lidar technology.

Analog Photonics are developing a lidar module, and are a spin out from MIT (USA).

Scientists have made a new material that is both liquid and magnetic, opening the door to a new area of science in magnetic soft matter. Their findings could lead to a revolutionary class of printable liquid devices for a variety of applications from artificial cells that deliver targeted cancer therapies to flexible liquid robots that can change their shape to adapt to their surroundings.

This article provides an analysis of lidar and 3D sensor technologies for applications in machine autonomy, which includes advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). Insights from interviews IDTechEx recently conducted with lidar players are also included.

Robots and prosthetic devices may soon have a sense of touch equivalent to, or better than, the human skin with the Asynchronous Coded Electronic Skin, an artificial nervous system developed by a team of researchers.

Over the last 15 years, researchers have invented several types of strong, powerful artificial muscles using materials ranging from high-tech carbon nanotubes to ordinary fishing line.

As a cucumber plant grows, it sprouts tightly coiled tendrils that seek out supports in order to pull the plant upward. This ensures the plant receives as much sunlight exposure as possible. Now, researchers have found a way to imitate this coiling-and-pulling mechanism to produce contracting fibers that could be used as artificial muscles for robots, prosthetic limbs, or other mechanical and biomedical applications.

For a robot to be able to "learn" sign language, it is necessary to combine different areas of engineering such as artificial intelligence, neural networks and artificial vision, as well as underactuated robotic hands.

Robotics researchers have for the first time used a commercial 3D printer to embed complex sensors inside robotic limbs and grippers. But they found that materials commercially available for 3D printing still need to be improved before the robots can be fully functional.

Swedish EV manufacturer NEVS and the Autonomous Vehicle start-up AutoX have entered into an exclusive strategic partnership to integrate AutoX ́s Autonomous Drive technology in NEVS' next-generation vehicle architecture.

Robots can drive on the plains and craters of Mars, but what if we could explore cliffs, polar caps and other hard-to-reach places on the Red Planet and beyond?

A team of researchers has developed tiny 10-gram robots that are inspired by ants: they can communicate with each other, assign roles among themselves and complete complex tasks together. These reconfigurable robots are simple in structure, yet they can jump and crawl to explore uneven surfaces.

On the 11th of June 2019 IDTechEx attended the Startup Exhibition at the 7th EcoMotion Main Event in Tel Aviv Israel. There is increasing global recognition of the huge potential of Israeli mobility-tech startups, with Tel Aviv now recognised as one of the world's top tech hubs. The following deck contains a brief profile for each of the exciting companies we spoke to at the event. Companies interviewed include: Arbe, AdaSky, Foresight, OPSYS, Newsight Imaging, VAYAVISION, Cartica, Ottopia, Phantom Auto, AutoTalks, Tactile Mobility, Argus Cyber Security, Regulus, and Cognata.

A vegetable-picking robot that uses machine learning to identify and harvest a commonplace, but challenging, agricultural crop has been developed by engineers.