Equipped with snow jackets, gloves, and luggage containing a host of cameras and sensors, Professor Hanumant Singh and a team of Northeastern University robotics researchers recently traveled to the Arctic with the goal of helping to address the climate crisis. Using a robot boat, known as an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV), Singh’s team created 3D models of two glaciers to determine if they could track them melting in the span of hours and days. That timeframe will help shed new light on how fast they are dissolving, Singh noted. In addition, the robot provided the researchers with the opportunity to…
PITTSBURGH—Spun out of Carnegie Robotics as part of an agreement with Nilfisk in 2020, Thoro.ai has spent the past three years forming new relationships and upgrading its services and technology for mobile robots. Earlier this year, it announced that it worked with Big Joe Forklifts to develop the Big Joe Pallet Mover. This summer, Robotics 24/7 visited Thoro.ai's headquarters in Pittsburgh, which is across the railroad tracks from Carnegie Robotics, to check out what the company has been working on. “Our real focus as a company has been on taking some world-class technology and using it to apply to indoor…
Since 2020, Rapid Robotics Inc. has been using Markforged Inc.'s 3D printers to help it manufacture end-of-arm tools for its robotic workcells, which it offers to customers through a robotics-as-a-service model. Recently, Markforged released a video case study highlighting that relationship (see below). Robotics 24/7 spoke with Tripp Burd, Markforged's director of new platforms, to talk about the company's partnership with Rapid Robotics and its efforts to help customers enhance their “manufacturing resiliency.” In addition, Burd talked about Markforged's new 120,000 sq. ft. global headquarters in Waltham, Mass. The goal of the new facility is to unify the company's growing…
At Automatica this week, Micropsi Industries announced that MIRAI, its AI-powered robot controller that trains robots through human demonstration, will soon be hardware agnostic. The company has partnered with KUKA to demo the new version of the system at the German trade show in Messe Müchen. Visitors to Micropsi Industries' exhibit (Hall B4 Booth 401) will see a MIRAI-controlled KUKA robot inserting industrial connectors into outlets, which Micropsi Industries noted in a press release is “one of myriad complex automation tasks that are too difficult or costly to automate with traditional programming.” “With innovative technologies like MIRAI, our customers benefit…
Florian Pestoni, CEO of InOrbit Inc., said he has noticed a change in the past year. Large users of autonomous mobile robots, or AMRs, are increasingly mandating that their systems must be interoperable with other robots. Warehouses often have challenges integrating robots into their warehouse management systems (WMS), and it doesn't help that each robot vendor has its own software package. The dream of interoperability is that it will streamline the setup and monitoring process for customers. “I think all of a sudden, everyone is highly incentivized to figure out how to make their robot play nice with other systems,”…
The manufacturing industry continues to be the hottest market for companies offering their systems through a robotics-as-a-service, or RaaS, model. That was one of the key takeaways from Formant's “2023 State of RaaS Report” it released today. For the report, the robot operations company surveyed more than 300 robotics professionals around the globe to gauge how widely adopted the RaaS model has become. “A majority of the survey respondents work at RaaS companies, but we also received responses from professionals that work at non-RaaS robotics companies, as well as integrators,” a spokesperson for the company told Robotics 24/7. Robot makers…
Maynooth University will soon open a robotics lab designed for students thanks in part to a donation from Intel Corp.'s Ireland division. The new lab, which will cost €150,000, or $163,752 U.S., will feature robots used by Intel and will be offered to students pursuing degrees in robotics and intelligent devices, electronic engineering, and computer science. “The new robotics lab is set to become a hub of innovation, where students can explore and experiment with robotics, pushing the boundaries of technology and unlocking new possibilities,” the Maynooth, Ireland-based university said in a press release. The robotics lab will feature Universal…
ATI Industrial Automation yesterday announced the availability of its CGV-900, a compliant angle grinder. The robotic end-of-arm tool is designed to be used for grinding and finishing processes and eliminate the need for humans to do those tasks manually. An end-of-arm tool is installed onto a robot arm to extend its capabilities. In a video demonstration, the company highlighted the CGV-900 while it was installed on a FANUC CRX collaborative robot. The company noted it is going after the metal fabrication, automotive, and aerospace industries with the new tool. Apex, N.C.-based ATI highlighted that the device can be used to…
Amazon's purchase of Kiva Systems in 2012 has had a ripple effect on the entire robotics industry. In the wake of the purchase, numerous robotics companies emerged, and interest and investment in warehouse robotics began to grow. Quiet Logistics, which had been a customer of Kiva's, decided to start making its own autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and would go on to found Locus Robotics in 2014. A number of former Kiva Systems employees banded together to start 6 River Systems in 2015. Other AMR makers that were founded around that time include Geek+, Fetch Robotics, and IAM Robotics. But how…
