Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 1.31
…box up a flight of stairs, said the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. You might spread your fingers out and lift that box with both hands, then hold it on top of your forearms and balance it against your chest, using your whole body to manipulate the box. Humans are generally good at whole-body manipulation, but robots struggle with such tasks. To the robot, each spot where the box could touch any point on the carrier’s fingers, arms, and torso represents a contact event that it must reason about. With billions of potential contact events, planning for this task quickly becomes…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 1.27
…welding, but it's hoping to invest in a robotic arm or two to help with welding and cutting. Helfrich Brothers Boiler Works, like many small and medium-sized enterprises, is looking to automation to help increase productivity and throughput and to address labor challenges. And like other smaller companies, it's looking to outside sources to help pay for them. Helfrich looks to state to help fund robot project Helfrich Brothers Boiler Works is one of many of Massachusetts companies that applied for a Massachusetts Manufacturing Accelerate Program grant (MMAP). The program is funded by the state and is managed by the…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 1.26
…keeps moving Boston Dynamics spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992 and has developed a number of legged and humanoid robots, including BigDog, Atlas, and Spot. The mobile robots were tested for military and civilian uses and became popular on YouTube. Google X, now part of Alphabet Inc., acquired Boston Dynamics in 2013. In 2017, SoftBank bought Boston Dynamics, which itself acquired vision provider Kinema Systems in 2019. SoftBank Robotics makes other humanoid and service robots. Hyundai announced its intention to pick up the company in December 2020. Boston Dynamics began selling the quadruped Spot robot in…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 1.16
…such as biotech and healthcare. Initiatives such as the ARM Institute’s efforts around workforce development are addressing these shortfalls. U.S. unemployment remains low in spite of recessionary fears and increasing automation. Or is increasing automation actually a cause of higher employment? According to attendees of our webcasts, there was strong interest in robots that worked well with people, including cobot arms in welding, goods-to-person systems paired with automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS), and collaborative mobile robots such as those from 6 River Systems or Locus Robotics. Emerging teleoperation tools and software to manage growing robot fleets also did well.…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 1.16
…Ira Moskowitz, CEO of the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute; and Elisabeth Reynolds, special assistant to the president for manufacturing and economic development at the National Economic Council. U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh Walsh recalled being approached about MassRobotics wanting to build a facility at 12 Channel St. in Boston back in 2015. He said he thought it was the perfect opportunity to show Boston’s commitment to technology and innovation. In the years since, the robotics space has only become more important. “It’s really clear to me and society, that technology, robotics, and advanced manufacturing are really important…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 1.15
…Our first post explained that collaborative robots are robot arms designed to work near humans in industrial settings. They are also designed so that workers who are not robotics experts can more easily program them. Cobot safety standards Cobot safety standards are governed by ISO/TS 15066. This standard is very deliberate in differentiating between a robot and a robot system. In simple terms, a robot is the industrial arm and its controller. While the robot arm itself can move around in a workspace, there is no workpiece or gripper or auxiliary equipment. A cobot system may include the arm, controller,…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 1.14
…of the ongoing research in the field. The Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, or AI2, last week announced Ali Farhadi as its new CEO. He is an AI researcher, executive, and Forbes Top 5 AI entrepreneur, said the organization. It also presented the Phone2Proc robot training approach. “As we face unprecedented changes in the development and usage of AI, I could not think of a better time to return to AI2 as CEO,” stated Farhadi in a blog post. “Today more than ever, the world needs truly open and transparent AI research that is grounded in science and a place…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 1.12
…with the humanoid robot Asimo while at Honda Research Institute. Drumwright was a university professor and then a senior research scientist at the Toyota Research Institute. Drumwright has been granted three patents and has co-authored over 40 research articles on robotics with experts from institutions including MIT, Cornell University, and the University of Michigan. Backed by multiple venture capital firms, Dextrous Robotics received a competitive grant from the National Science Foundation in 2021. Dextrous Robotics designs for precision The job of loading and unloading trucks is one of the most challenging to fill in the logistics industry, according to Dextrous…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 1.01
In June, the Eastern Kentucky Advanced Manufacturing Institute, or eKAMI, opened a new Robotics Center to offer hands-on retraining with robot arms and mobile robots used in industry. The Paintsville, Ky.-based institute was founded in 2017 and is dedicated to addressing the skills gap in U.S. manufacturing. Among the technologies at the event was an Ohmni telepresence robot from OhmniLabs Inc. Demand for telepresence robots has grown during the COVID-19 pandemic, noted Thuc Vu, CEO of San Jose, Calif.-based OhmniLabs. “One area with a huge increase in demand was manufacturing,” he told Robotics 24/7. “Especially with restrictions on travel and…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 0.95
…A funding round in August 2021. Lockheed Martin is also a member organization of the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute in Pittsburgh.
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 0.93
…Micropsi Industries recently announced a partnership with the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation (IFF) to open a new use-case research laboratory in Magdeburg, Germany. Additionally, Micropsi will demonstrate applications of its AI-based MIRAI machine vision system, including reflective disc picking and hook hanging, at ATX West in Anaheim, CA February 6-9 at booth 4566. Micropsi said U.S. companies can work with a local team during and after the show to workshop use cases for the new lab. Robot arms to demonstrate MIRAI variance adaptation Micropsi said applications such as reflective disk picking and hook hanging are too complex…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 0.92
A new report by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University describes how cognitive science and psychology could help humans collaborate with robots more effectively. The researchers examined 35 research papers that focused on humans teaching robots new behaviors. In their analysis, the researchers kept in mind two theories—“the analogical transfer theory” and “the variation of theory of learning.” The “analogical transfer theory” suggests that humans learn by analogy. When humans interact with a new domain or concept, they implicitly look for something familiar they can use to understand the new entity. The “variation theory of learning,”…