Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 34.22
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 34.03
Business Insider’s scoop on Amazon creating an Uber for Trucking app isn’t a surprise. LogTech venture capital investments have been growing rapidly these past years, as recently reported by CB Insights. What’s more, Alibaba founder Jack Ma announced earlier this year that the Chinese giant would invest nearly $16 billion dollars in logistics over the 5 to 8 years, while a Chinese logistics provider in which it invested $256 million dollars is contemplating an IPO. To top it off, Uber’s own Uber for Trucking app was soft launched just weeks ago. The takeaway is clear - companies that have focused…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 33.41
Practical collaborative robot developer Collaborative Robotics (Cobot) recently announced it has raised $100 million in Series B funding led by General Catalyst and joined by Bison Ventures, Industry Ventures, and Lux Capital. Existing investors Sequoia Capital, Khosla Ventures, Mayo Clinic, Neo, 1984 Ventures, MVP Ventures, and Calibrate Ventures participated as well, bringing the total funding raised to over $140 million in less than two years. “Getting our first robots in the field earlier this year, coupled with today's investment, are major milestones as we bring cobots with human-level capability into the industries of today,” said Brad Porter, CEO and founder…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 33.25
Consumer cleaning robot manufacturer iRobot and e-commerce retailer Amazon recently announced they mutually agreed to forgo Amazon’s planned acquisition of iRobot. In a release, the companies announced they signed a termination agreement that resolves all outstanding transactional matters, including Amazon paying iRobot a previously agreed upon $94 million termination fee. The original $1.7 billion acquisition proposal was announced in August 2022. “Amazon and iRobot were excited to see what our teams could build together, and we're deeply grateful to everyone who worked tirelessly to try and make this collaboration a reality,” said David Zapolsky, Amazon SVP and general counsel. “This…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 32.73
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 32.55
National Robotics Week is intended to inspire students to prepare for careeers in robotics and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM. One initiative is Amazon.com Inc.'s Mechatronics and Robotics Apprenticeship program, which offers paid training to prepare its employees for electromechanical technician roles. Despite fears that robots and artificial intelligence will eliminate jobs, U.S. unemployment has remained low over the past several years as automation has increased, and researchers have found that it could increase employment opportunities. While 85 million jobs could be replaced, new technologies could create 97 million jobs, according to The World Economic Forum. But first,…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 31.34
Autonomous Drone Technology When Amazon announced earlier this year that they were evolving their Prime two-day shipping offer in the U.S. to a one-day program, the response was terrific. But they (Amazon) know customers are always looking for something better, more convenient, and there may be times when one-day delivery may not be the right choice. Can Amazon Deliver Packages to Customers Even Faster? They think the answer is yes, and one way they’re pursuing that goal is by pioneering autonomous drone technology. Today at Amazon’s MARS Conference (Machine Learning, Automation, Robotics, and Space) in Las Vegas, they unveiled their…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 30.96
The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation is partnering to bring Native American and Indigenous teams together for the 4th annual Southwest Native American Showcase. The event, which took place earlier this November, offers a unique opportunity for students to showcase their robotics skills and earn coveted spots at the 2024 VEX Robotics World Championship, the world's largest robotics competition. This collaboration with Amazon, Indigitize, an organization that makes computer science more accessible to Indigenous communities, and Google, demonstrates a shared commitment to foster STEM-related learning and workforce development among Native American and Indigenous students. The 4th annual Southwest Native…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 29.88
Amazon Prime Air as an “Air Carrier” As reported by Bloomberg, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) designated Amazon Prime Air as an “air carrier,” the company said Monday. That allows Amazon to begin its first commercial deliveries in the U.S. under a trial program, using the high-tech devices it unveiled for that purpose last year. Amazon and its competitors must still clear some imposing regulatory and technical hurdles before small packages holding the likes of cat food or toothpaste can routinely be dropped at people’s homes. But the action shows that they’ve convinced the government they’re ready to operate in…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 29.22
The last-mile problem Despite tremendous advances in route optimization over the past few decades, there remains an important gap between theoretical route planning and real-life route execution: in real-life operations, the quality of a route is not exclusively defined by its theoretical length, duration, or cost. Experienced delivery drivers have tacit knowledge about the complex operational environment in which they serve customers on a daily basis. To allow for safer, more efficient, and sustainable last-mile delivery, it is critical to leveraging this tacit information for improved route planning. The last-mile objective The primary goal of the Last Mile Routing Research…
Found in Robotics Companies & Businesses, with a score of 29.21
Fizyr designs, builds, and installs standardized computer-vision software that detects unknown objects varying in shape, size, color, material, or stacking. Prof. Martijn Wisse at TU Delft founded the company as Delft Robotics in 2014 as a systems integrator building robotic picking cells. In 2016, the company applied its expertise in deep learning to win the Amazon Picking Challenge. Fizyr rebranded in 2017 as it focused on software. Fizyr says it is trusted as a strategic partner by global leading integrators, thanks to its fully scalable and proven software-only product. The company provides full insight and control to install, manage, update,…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 29.08
People and Robots When Gregory Moss walks into work at a California-based fulfillment center and approaches his work station for the day, 15 robots are by his side, delivering bins of items for him to sort, stow, or count. Moss is also one of 25-30 people in his shift who wear a robotics tech vest, allowing him to send a signal to the robots on the floor so he can safely move around the building. The vest uses advanced sciences, like AI and sensors, to draw an access path around Moss, so the robots automatically slow down or update their…