Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 10.22
…spaces around us, such as our homes and workplaces. Amazon Alexa is a great example of this—an on-demand AI assistant that exists in the cloud but that we can access with our voices to control the lighting in our homes, run our sprinklers, and lock our doors. This is the embodiment of our physical environment evolving due to enhancements provided by digital technologies. The natural language processing, machine learning models, speech synthesis, and all of the other complexity is performed in a digital system that sits beyond the walls of your home but is able to connect to that door…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 3.98
…joined with leading robot manufacturers; end users such as Amazon, Ford, GM, Honda, P&G, Nissan; and other government and non-government organizations such as the National Institute of Standads and Technology (NIST), UL, TUV, and academia to develop ANSI RIA 15.08-1. “As the AMR market has grown, so too has the need for accompanying safety standards in the U.S. and abroad,” said Jeff Burnstein, president of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3). “OTTO Motors’ participation on our standards committee and leadership on this issue has helped to raise the bar for worker safety.” OTTO claimed that its fleet meets or exceeds…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 16.36
According to several news sources, Amazon.com Inc. is in talks to buy a stake in artificial intelligence truck-driving startup Plus and has placed an order for 1,000 autonomous driving systems. The deal would give Amazon the right to buy preferred shares of Plus via a warrant at a price of $0.46647 per share, an anonymous source told Bloomberg. That would amount to a 20% stake based on the company's shares outstanding before its planned merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Hennessy Capital Investment Corp. V. A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission confirmed Bloomberg’s report. Plus said…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 3.93
…Yanovsky, CRO & EVP, Caja Robotics “Then there's the 'Amazon effect,' as the industry pioneer acquired Kiva Systems in 2012 and helped create a category and expectations,” she told Robotics 24/7. “People now expect same-day delivery, and micro-fulfillment centers can help operators maximize real estate.” “The third trend is a shortage of labor, especially in the U.S., Israel, Europe, and Australia,” Yanovsky said. “Warehouse workers walk 10 miles per day and lift heavy boxes. Those [tasks] are better for robots to do, and we want to put people in other tasks.” “All of these trends brought customers to understand that…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.73
…delivery solutions like autonomous drones.” “Customers are used to Amazon Prime-like experiences, where they can schedule and track their deliveries in real time,” he added. “We are excited to take this market-first offering to retailers in partnership with Telegrid and transform modern-day retail deliveries.” Drone Express offers retailers agility As e-commerce demand rapidly increases, retailers are under pressure to apply last-mile innovations to meet the growing demand while providing a positive customer experience, said Drone Express. These expectations have led to driver shortages, complexities in carrier partnerships, and a focus on order fulfillment. Autonomous drones are a viable, more sustainable,…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 2.60
…has lead to a hiring frenzy by companies like Amazon and FedEx, while they have also turned to deploying robotics and automation into their operations. Why? Because the boom in e-commerce is growing faster than firms can hire. Source: FedEx 2. More manufacturing to reshore As the pandemic closed borders and factories around the world, supply chains took a major pounding and continue to do so. This has caused many business executives to rethink their supply chains, and some are even reshoring manufacturing back to the U.S. The Biden administration is also actively encouraging the reshoring efforts through new programs…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 3.63
…with the need for increased efficiency.” Automation for workforce, 'Amazon effect' challenges Before the pandemic, factors like record-low unemployment and rising wage rates had already made robotic lift trucks attractive to some operations, said Kevin Paramore, emerging technology commercialization manager at Yale Materials Handling Corp. The labor situation is different now, but due to social distancing measures and health and safety policies requiring workers who are feeling ill to stay home, distribution centers may still have difficulty maintaining their workforce. The end effect is that more operations will see automation as part of the answer to labor shortages. “When you…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 7.74
…also received support from major software vendors. Last month, Amazon Web Services Inc. announced support for ROS 2 Foxy Fitzroy, the latest long-term support release for ROS 2, as well as the Gazebo 11 simulation engine and the Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa) operating system. Seattle-based Amazon Web Services (AWS) said that “ROS 2 Foxy is the most secure and reliable ROS distribution to date for production robotics application development.” While AWS RoboMaker no longer supports ROS Kinetic, its support of ROS 2 Foxy Fitzroy for simulation and development does include Navigation2 (Nav2). Nav2 “is the second generation of the ROS…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 17.11
Last week, local news outlets reported new Amazon.com Inc. distribution and fulfillment centers in Shreveport, La., and Savannah, Ga. The Seattle-based company has continued to open such facilities across the U.S. as e-commerce demand rises, and it said that each one will employ about 1,000 people. In addition, Amazon's centers will include robots from its Amazon Robotics unit in North Reading, Mass. Last year, Amazon had more than 185 fulfillment centers across the U.S., according to CNBC. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said that construction of the $200 million, 650,000-sq.-ft. Shreveport center, the first one in his state, will begin…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.02
…robotics and AI companies. 6 River Systems Alert Innovation Amazon Robotics Autodyne LLC Cleo Robotics GreenSight iRobot Locus Robotics MORSE Corp NeXtera Robotics Optimus Ride Pison Technology Ras Labs Realtime Robotics ThayerMahan Toyota Research Institute Vecna Robotics Vicarious Surgical Massachusetts technology hub fosters innovation “Talent is the No. 1 reason tech companies locate in Massachusetts, and the inability to source enough skilled workers is the No. 1 constraint to growth in the white-hot robotics and AI space,” stated Tom Hopcroft, CEO of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council (MassTLC). “We're excited to partner with MassRobotics to help increase opportunities for talented…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 7.44
…2 on various platforms such as Microsoft Windows and Amazon AWS RoboMaker starting in the second half of 2021. It added that it anticipates more robot applications incorporating the cloud and artificial intelligence to be deployed. To familiarize users to ROS 2 and expose its new features to operators, Doosan said it will supply tutorial packages on creating robot functions via its partner supporting site, Doosan Robot LAB. Video tutorials on ROS application will also be available on the site. Doosan Robotics has been supporting ROS Kinetic and ROS Melodic since 2019, and additionally distributed the ROS Noetic package in…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 3.61
…Motors had a $1.5 billion initial public offering, and Amazon.com bought Zoox for $1.2 billion. Lyft ride-hailing rival Uber Inc. sold its Advanced Technologies Group to Aurora Innovation Inc. for $4 billion in equity in December 2020. Recent partnership examples include AutoX and Honda China collaborating on testing in China, Aurora and Volvo partnering on autonomous trucks, and Siemens Digital Industries Software working with the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto. Race to autonomous driving is a marathon, not a sprint Toyota has said that it plans to offer next-generation mobility services rather than fully autonomous vehicles. Both Woven Planet and…