Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.18
…and “prosumers” to build fully functional robots such as vacuum cleaners and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), said the company. Large customers such as Amazon.com Inc. can also use the board for sensor evaluation instead of development, noted Yeganegi. “It's not just another development board; it's so much more,” he said. “Depending on the SKU purchased, it comes with all the hardware, plus software libraries and ROS 1 and ROS 2 drivers in open-source format.” TDK's software also supports obstacle detection, floor and cliff detection, heading computation, and motor control application progamming interfaces (APIs), as well immediate responses to voice commands…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.16
…past few years, more and more consumer products have adapted to implement depth-sensing cameras. From our phones to autonomous vacuum cleaners, many everyday electronics have depth cameras inside them as a response to consumer demand for more advanced features. This trend will continue to grow across almost every field, but two of the biggest areas of growth will be in the application of mobile devices and AR/VR solutions.
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.06
…model, inside the Space Simulator, a 25-ft.-wide (7.62 m) vacuum chamber at JPL on Feb. 1, 2019. Source: NASA JPL-Caltech First extraterrestrial flight Ingenuity first became airborne at 12:33 Local Mean Solar Time (Mars time)—when the JPL team determined that the solar-powered helicopter would have optimal energy and flight conditions. Its altimeter indicated that the autonomous drone climbed to its prescribed maximum altitude of 10 feet (3 meters) and maintained a stable hover for 30 seconds. It then descended, touching back down on the surface of Mars after logging a total of 39.1 seconds of flight. JPL said it expects…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.99
…save time and simplify future maintenance, look for electric vacuum grippers with built-in air instead and free yourself from unnecessary complexity. OnRobot said its cobot palletizer combines power and flexibility without sacrificing ease of use. Source: OnRobot To future-proof your investment, choose a gripper that offers compatibility with all leading lightweight industrial and collaborative robot arms. Ideally, choose a gripper that can, in addition to all of the above, automatically handle slip sheets without the need for a gripper change. The hardware is not confined to your robot arm. Some collaborative palletizing systems come with high-payload lifts that can be…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.96
…rapid prototyping, such as 3D printers, thermoforming machines, ovens, vacuum chamber, and small fabrication equipment A planning and control zone, which will allow experiments with robots from companies such as iRobot and Boston Dynamics for the application of small computing and control platforms An AI zone, which will provide access to a Robot Operating System (ROS) infrastructure, which uses physics-based simulation, as well as experimentation with hardware to test and deploy robotic devices Investment will help BU admit more graduate students in robotics The Massachusetts infrastructure investment will expand and enhance BU’s existing R&D facilities while enriching the robotics courses…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.72
…flow of order fulfillment moving, day and night. Using vacuum grippers, the robot grabs hold of individual shoe boxes from shelves, sorts them correctly, and concurrently replaces the void that it created with more inventory. Bearing the burden of warehouse workers Picking robots, as well as collaborative robots, not only help make fulfillment centers more efficient, but they also take the load off warehouse workers so they may attend to more important tasks and overarching objectives. Workers are less burdened with mundane tasks that can now be performed by fetch robots. Employees can keep tabs on the AMRs and event…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.67
…the anecdote of a Pepsi commercial with a non-iRobot vacuum that acclimated consumers to the possibility of home cleaning robots. “What can we do now with the technology?” she asked. “If you can’t get a product-market fit at a reasonable price, don’t bother.” Companies should also have discipline, said Peter Ashe, vice president of operations at mobile robot provider Locus Robotics. He observed that the robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) model is not just for shifting capital expenditures to operational expenses, but it’s also helpful for maintaining customer engagement. RaaS is good for getting recurring revenue, but the return on investment (ROI) still…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.32
…disconnect features… is you can have a self contained vacuum pickup, or you can have a gripper, so this can be flexible wherever it needs to be deployed,” McEntyre said. Unlike the custom-made end-of-arm tooling used by Baxter and Sawyer, Rethink Robotics’ new Reacher cobot arms are compatible with a wider range of common attachments. Source: Rethink Robotics Applications that can benefit from interchangeable EOAT include picking and packaging. “Pick and pack is not usually a static workflow. You're not packing the same stuff into the same box every hour of every day,” Harbert said. “There's changeover of different products.…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.31
…of you who are not familiar, looks like a vacuum cleaner hose. It is a tube that has a fixed diameter, resists torsion and bending and is hollow inside. Cables and hoses are inserted inside and left free to mingle, abrade and twist against each other. This Process Engineer, we’ll call him Jim, studied the methods the maintenance staff were undertaking to reactively “replace” a damaged cable. He learned that they were adding a replacement cable to the outside of the tube and securing it to the tube with tie wraps. This quick turnaround maintenance typically resulted in 15-20 minutes…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.30
…automation is becoming part of our daily lives, from vacuum cleaners to fast fulfillment of e-commerce orders. How close are adaptable robots to reality? Apptronik Inc. is developing humanoid models and is watching how the rest of the robotics industry is advancing. “We're really at an exciting inflection point where robots are becoming more and more useful and expanding the number of people who can gain value,” said Jeff Cardenas, CEO of Apptronik. “They're becoming easier to use and more accessible, doing more and costing less to implement.” “Public perception is changing—COVID-19 drove a lot of that with job shortages,”…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.24
…comes with a compact, high-performance Air Control Unit for vacuum and air flow control. Its control interface is intended to adapt easily to robot control systems. The gripper comes with mounting rigs out of the box for all major robot arm brands, said The Gripper Co. It recommended using arms that feature a hollow wrist tool flange for the best cable and hose management. Hjørnet said The Gripper Co. is working with major industrial and collaborative robotics suppliers, e-commerce retailers, and motion-planning firms. Digital twins and submission form available “We are very excited to have gotten to the point where…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.09
…the onion, the robot can recognize that although the vacuum successfully engaged, it was not a successful pick. Once an individual robot learns this, it can wirelessly transmit the lesson to other robots in the facility or anywhere in the world. In this way, the software can continuously grow a database of successful gripping techniques. Ross Halket, executive director of automated system design sales at Schaefer Systems International, says the technology will only get better, so early adopters will have an advantage as the percentage of unpickable items shrinks. “Those companies will have the upper hand when it all plays…