In MassRobotics’ early days, when Executive Director Tom Ryden was going around speaking to industry and government leaders about his plan to build an innovation and networking robotics hub in Boston, one question got brought up constantly. “The No. 1 question I got was, ‘Why do you support this technology? It takes jobs, right?’” he said. That was around 2015. Seven years later, the robotics industry has certainly grown. The global market for industrial robots, which is just one of many types of automation, was valued at $43.8 billion in 2021, according to Statista.com. MassRobotics, an public-private nonprofit dedicated to…
GeekPlus Technology Co. and Bosch Rexroth AG yesterday said they have signed a channel agreement for North America. The partners have already augmented Geek+'s MP1000R mobile robot with Bosch Rexroth's ROKIT Locator laser localization software. “The signing of this North American strategic channel agreement with Geek+ is another milestone in the cooperation between our two companies,” stated Armando Gonzalez, business leader for autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and robotics at Bosch Rexroth. “From cooperation in product development to cooperation in the channel market, we firmly believe that our two companies' innovativeness and expansion strength will be increased.” Lohr am Main, Germany-based…
Toyota Ventures yesterday launched its third global “call for innovation” to search for early-stage companies that can help make the “factory of the future” a reality sooner. Qualified entrepreneurs can apply for an opportunity to receive between $500,000 and $2 million in funding from Toyota Ventures. “We take a founder-first approach to investing, partnering with entrepreneurs to help them bring disruptive technologies and business models to market more quickly,” said Jim Adler, founding managing director of Toyota Ventures. “With the 2022 call for innovation, we are looking to support talented startup teams that are developing smarter and more sustainable factories…
Plus One Robotics Inc. this week said it will host live demonstrations of its PickOne vision software and Yonder supervisory software for logistics robots at MODEX 2022. In addition, Erik Nieves, CEO of Plus One, will host a seminar at the conference titled, “Humans Are the Loop – Workforce Development in the Age of Automation Hypergrowth.” “Supply chains and warehouses have changed drastically over the last few years,” said Nieves. “There is higher demand for goods in shorter amounts of time, and warehouses and supply chains continue facing critical labor shortages.” “Our software helps deliver precise hand-eye coordination, enabling robots…
API stands for application programming interface. Application programming interfaces are the links that allow pieces of software to communicate with each other. They are designed to only show programmers the essential details they need to send instructions to another program or device. They are helpful because they allow developers to build new features on top of existing applications. When working on robots, developers can take advantage of APIs to help expand their functionality and capabilities.
The food robotics market is getting hotter, as Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. yesterday announced that it is working with Miso Robotics Inc. to create Chippy, an automated tortilla maker. The companies said they have integrated culinary expertise with artificial intelligence and robotics to cook and season Chipotle's tortilla chips. “We are always exploring opportunities to enhance our employee and guest experience,” stated Curt Garner, chief technology officer at Chipotle. Our goal is to drive efficiencies through collaborative robotics that will enable Chipotle’s crew members to focus on other tasks in the restaurant.” Founded in 1993, Chipotle is a leading brand…
Engineer
Bear Robotics Inc. today announced the completion of a $81 million Series B funding round. The Redwood City, Calif.-based company provides robots for the restaurant and hospitality industries. Founded in 2017, Bear Robotics described its flagship product, Servi, as an “all-in-one,” fully autonomous mobile robot (AMR) that can perform food bussing and waiting duties such as delivering food to customers and picking up dirty dishes. The company released the robot in 2020 in partnership with SoftBank Robotics Group. The AMR uses artifical intellgence and self-driving technology to help it navigate environments, according to Bear Robotics. Mobile waiter at your service…
Addverb Technologies
Addverb Technologies Pvt. Ltd. this week announced that it has partnered with software developer and systems integrator Numina Group. The Noida, India-based company plans to expand deployment of its mobile robots for North American warehouses and provide Numina Group's software customers with access to order-fulfillment automation. “Addverb Technologies offers a variety of solutions to fit any customer's needs, including fixed and flexible automation solutions running on our end-to-end, AI-powered software platform,” stated Sriram Sridhar, chief revenue officer of Addverb Technologies USA Inc. “Together, we create a powerful offering that provides the best service and solutions to clients in the Americas…
Miso Robotics
Researchers at MIT's Improbable AI Lab and the Institute of AI and Fundamental Interactions have been working on ways to improve a robotic mini-cheetah's strides. Their model-free reinforcement learning system helped the legged robot break the record for the fastest run recorded. The mini-cheetah has an indoor sprint of 3.9 meters per second (8.7 miles per hour), an outdoor 10-meter dash of 3.4 m/s (7.6 mph), and an indoor spin of 5.7 radians per second, according to the project's website. MIT News spoke to Gabriel Margolis, a Ph.D. student at MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), and Ge…