The Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing, or ARM Institute today announced that Dr. Jared Glover, CEO of CapSen Robotics, has been selected as the institute’s first fellow. As an ARM Institute Fellow, Glover will execute a technical project to address key challenges hindering the adoption of robotics in manufacturing. The new fellowship program supports the Artificial Intelligence in Metals and Manufacturing (AIM) Higher Consortium. That group is led by the Catalyst Connection and is intended to help small and midsize manufacturers that supply or are pursuing opportunities with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). First ARM Institute Fellow Glover is co-founder…
Last week, AutoX Inc. marked the first 100 days of its fully autonomous robotic taxicab service in Shenzhen, China. The company was among the first to get permission from municipal authorities in China and California for ride-hailing operations without safety drivers. Most testing of self-driving cars to date has included safety drivers, who can take the steering wheel in the case of an intervention to deal with unexpected road conditions, unpredictable human drivers, or pedestrians and cyclists. As progress gradually continues toward SAE Level 5 autonomous vehicles, including trucks, safety drivers are starting to be phased out in favor of…
Ride-hailing services are an active area for autonomous vehicle development and testing, as seen in AutoX's announcement of its first 100 days of robotic taxicab service. Today, Pony.ai Inc. introduced a new sensing platform designed in collaboration with Luminar Technologies Inc. Pony.ai also said it has driven more than 5 million kilometers (3.1 million mi.) across an operational coverage area of over 850 km² (528 sq. mi.) and has provided more than 220,000 robotaxi rides. “Partnering with Luminar is a critical enabling milestone for Pony.ai as we build our next-generation system and prepare for large-scale series production,” stated James Peng,…
Autonomous truck technology startup Plus, formerly known as Plus.ai, today said it will be merging with special-purpose acquisition company Hennessy Capital Investment Corp. V. Upon closure of the transaction, Plus said it expects to be a publicly traded company with a post-combination market capitalization of approximately $3.3 billion. “All of us at Plus are inspired each day to help make heavy trucks safer and more comfortable, reduce operational costs for fleets, and make our world greener. We are on track to start mass production of autonomous trucks this year,” stated David Liu, co-founder and CEO of Plus. “This transaction enables…
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…
Oculii, which has developed artificial intelligence software for for radar perception, this week said it had raised $55 million in Series B funding. The Dayton, Ohio-based company said its AI-powered Virtual Aperture Imaging platform dynamically sends out an adaptive, phase-modulated waveform that changes in real time with the environment. It then encodes that data over time, increasing the resolution of any radar hardware by up to 100X, claimed Oculii. “Our vision is to make radar a vital component of any autonomy solution, leveraging its inherent strengths with unparalleled resolution, and the market is responding,” stated Steven Hong, co-founder and CEO…
Academic interest in soft robotics has grown in the past decade, as researchers examine the technology's potential usefulness in search and rescue operations, scientific exploration, and healthcare and medicine. However, one professor wants to ensure that such interest leads to a thriving discipline as well as commercially viable applications. “Some new, rapidly growing fields never take root, while others become thriving disciplines,” said Elliot Hawkes, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His own robots have garnered interest for their bioinspired and novel locomotion and for the new possibilities they present. To help guarantee the longevity…
ViaBot, which has designed autonomous mobile robots for property maintenance and management, today announced its public launch with $6.1 million in funding. As part of the launch, it also disclosed a key strategic partnership with commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield, which has deployed ViaBot's RUNO robots to properties in the Bay Area for sweeping and security services. Gregg Ratanaphanyarat and Andre Ding founded Mountain View, Calif.-based ViaBot in 2016, while both were undergraduate students at Penn State. They observed that outdoor maintenance for consumers and commercial property managers alike was a yearlong problem — one that would seemingly…
Youai Zhihe Robot, or Youibot, today announced that it has received financing of RMB 100 million ($15.5 million U.S.). The Shenzhen, China-based company was founded in 2017 and provides mobile robots, software, and services for indoor and outdoor applications. In addition to research and development for its robots, Youibot said it focuses on supporting customer's actual needs with its automation. Autonomous systems are only part of what industry needs, it said. The company's robots are used for materials handling, inspection, and disinfection. “It's just the first step of factory upgrading and transformation to realize unmanned operation via mobile robots,” stated…
In December 2020, AutoX Inc. launched its fully driverless robotic taxicab service, making it the second company in the world (after Baidu's Apollo Go) to do so without a safety driver in the vehicle. “The first 100 days have been a huge step forward for us and for the entire industry in China,” stated Prof. Jianxiong Xiao, founder and CEO of AutoX. “We have learned so much from the feedback from our passengers about how to continuously improve our service to make the driverless journeys a fantastic experience.” Dr. Xiao has more than 10 years of research and engineering experience…
FANUC America last month announced the LR Mate 200iD/14L, the tenth model variation of its LR Mate series of tabletop industrial robots. The Rochester Hills, Mich.-based company said that since the LR Mate was launched nearly 30 years ago, it has become one of FANUC's biggest sellers, with more than 70,000 units installed worldwide. FANUC attributed the popularity of the robot series to its reliability, as well as to features including its light weight and tabletop size, which is often compared to the size of a person’s arm. In addition, the LR Mate can process or handle parts weighing up…
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