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From the Editor
How Blue Ocean Robotics is Managing Demand Surge, Component Shortages
The handsome guy on the left is not me – it’s Claus Risager, CEO of Denmark’s Blue Ocean Robotics. He recently spoke with Robotics World about how his company, which includes the UVD Robots division, is handling a surge in customer demand for its disinfection robots following the COVID-19 surge, which also included shortages in components for the robots. Risager is very upfront about the challenges his company faced over the past few years and the challenges from an onslaught of new competitors in the space. The flexibility of the company has paid off – the company inked a deal with global distributor Ecolab and received a $51M investment from A.P. Møller. Check out the Q&A for some key insights. – Keith Shaw, Managing Editor. |
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Sponsored Content
Robots Handle Large Axial, Radial and Moment Loads Simultaneously with Crossed Roller Bearings.
IKO’s Crossed Roller Bearings enable complex motion and effective load handling making it possible for robots and cobots to move, position or rotate heavy objects. The Crossed Roller design allows the bearing to handle heavy or complex loads from any direction at the same time and delivers precise, repeatable motion that can handle large axial, radial and moment loads simultaneously.
Read Tech Paper. |
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Carbon Robotics Launches Autonomous LaserWeeder to Eradicate Weeds
Agricultural robotics firm Carbon Robotics has unveiled its 2022 LaserWeeder implement, an autonomous laser-weeding pull-behind robot that can seamlessly attach to the back of a tractor. The system is aimed at weed control for large-scale specialty row crops. In addition to an updated build, the 2022 LaserWeeder includes 30 industrial CO2 lasers, more than three times the lasers in Carbon’s self-driving autonomous LaserWeeding, to create an average weeding capacity of two acres per hour. |
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Aeva Launches 4D Lidar with Camera-Level Resolution
Aeva, which designs next-generation sensing and perception systems, has unveiled its Aeries II, a 4D lidar sensor built with automotive-grade reliability to enable autonomy across applications in automotive, industrial and other markets. Leveraging the company’s unique Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) technology and a lidar-on-chip module design, the sensor can detect the fourth dimension of instantaneous velocity for each point in addition to its 3D position. |
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Piab Launches New Soft Gripper for Food Automation Tasks
Piab has announced the new and largest piSOFTGRIP 100-4, developed with food industry automation tasks, but also with the capability of handling odd-shaped machine parts or to remove injection molded parts. The gripper has four gripping fingers and a vacuum cavity that allows it to hold objects up to 100 mm (3.93-inch) in width. Like other members of the piSOFTGRIP family, the gripper is made in one piece, which results in a simpler and robust product.
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Firgelli Says New Micro Actuator is the World’s Smallest
Firgelli Automations has announced developing what it believes is the world’s smallest Diameter Micro Actuator with Positional feedback control, capable of controlling positions to within 1 micron. The technology would revolutionize industries that include robotics, automotive, industrial and medical. Robots that require precise movement usually use electric linear actuators. The Firgelli Micro Actuator features a small footprint – 16 mm diameter – with a built-in Hall sensor that offers 1-micron positional control capabilities. |
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Product Profile: Oriental Motor's BLV Series R Brushless DC Motors
The new BLV Series R type of motors were specifically designed for battery-powered input type applications, such as automated guided vehicles, autonomous mobile robots and conveyors suited for brushless performance. |
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How a Team Benefited From CAD Software to Build its BattleBot
Season 6 of BattleBots is currently running on the Discovery Channel, where robot creators build machines meant to destroy each other. Giving a behind-the-scenes look at how some of these robots are created, a blog post at Onshape gives additional details of how Team Ghost Raptor utilized the company’s CAD software to help build its robot. |
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In Case You Missed It
North American Robot Sales Break Record in 2021
The number of robots sold in North America set a new record in 2021, driven by a surge in non-automotive sectors, according to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3). The group said 39,708 units were sold at a value of $2 billion, a 14% increase over the previous record in 2017. The number of robots sold in 2021 also rose 28% compared with 2020 (31,044 units), the A3 said. For the fourth quarter of 2021, robot sales were up 9% over Q4 2020, with 10,829 units sold. The A3 said the robot sales demonstrated strong momentum already seen through the previous nine months of 2021, as more industries look to automation to help increase productivity and alleviate their ongoing labor shortages. Read More |
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Featured Article
Q&A: Blue Ocean’s Claus Risager on Managing Growth Amidst Demand Surge and Supply Shortages
Over the past two years, Blue Ocean Robotics has been very busy, meeting surging demand from customers looking to deploy disinfection robots from the company’s UVD Robots division. The Denmark company acts as a “venture factory” for its robot company divisions, which includes UVD Robots, PTR Robots (mobile patient transfer and rehabilitation), and GoBe Robots (mobile telepresence). Robotics World recently spoke with Claus Risager, CEO of Blue Ocean, about how the company is handling the surging demand, issues with component shortages, and whether future robots will be able to handle multiple tasks. Read More |
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Sponsored Content
Put Your Robotics Project Development Schedule on Steroids
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Sign up for a free trial. |
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Industry News
- Novanta, MassRobotics Partner to Help Scale Robot Startups
Novanta, which operates business units Celera Motion and ATI Industrial Automation, has announced a new partnership with MassRobotics to help create and scale the next generation of robotics startups. Through the partnership, the company will collaborate with MassRobotics to develop advanced innovations in medical/surgical robotics and to improve robotic productivity.
- Locus Says its Robots Picked 120M Units during Holiday 2021
Locus Robotics, which develops autonomous mobile robots for fulfillment warehouses, has announced that its robots picked a record-breaking 120 million units globally on behalf of its retail and third-party logistics (3PL) partners. The company said this represents a 71% increase over the number picked during the 2020 holiday season. On average, the company’s LocusBots picked more than 2.1 million units daily amidst supply chain delays, labor shortages, and possible product outages.
- Cyngn, Greenland Technologies Team up to Create Autonomous Forklifts
Cyngn, which develops autonomous vehicle systems for industrial fleets, has announced a strategic partnership with Greenland Technologies, a manufacturer of electric industrial vehicles. The two companies will develop self-driving capabilities to Greenland’s forklifts through Cyngn’s Enterprise Autonomy Suite, with the goal of having the forklifts switch between fully autonomous, manual, and remote-controlled modes.
- TuSimple to Haul No-Driver Loads on Arizona Route
Autonomous trucking firm TuSimple has announced that It will begin moving freight for Union Pacific Railroad on a fully automated trucking route between the Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona metro areas. Starting this spring, TuSimple said it will carry Driver Out freight for Union Pacific with its autonomous vehicle technology to deliver goods to their destination faster and more cost-effectively.
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Robotics Funding
STIHL Acquires 23% of Denmark’s TinyMobileRobots
German industrial group STIHL has announced it acquired 23.8% of Danish robotics company TinyMobileRobots, which uses GPS to autonomously mark lines for sports fields around the world. STIHL said its robotic lawn mowers share a strong technical kinship with the line marking robots produced by TinyMobileRobots, which can be used in other sectors such as road construction and agriculture. Read More |
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Anduril Acquires Dive Technologies for Subsea Robotics Systems
Defense technology company Anduril Industries has acquired Boston-based Dive Technologies, which develops and manufactures subsea robotics. Dive’s autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) prioritize payload flexibility, low-cost operations and long endurance, coupled with advanced autonomy technologies. Read More |
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Robotics News
H3 Dynamics Launches Autonomous Drone Stations for Solar Farm Monitoring
H3 Dynamics has announced a new robots-as-a-service (RaaS) offering for autonomous solar farm monitoring, in partnership with Belgium’s Sitemark, which specializes in AI analytics. The new partnership combines H3’s drone-in-a-box (DBX) with visual and thermal analytics from Sitemark to automate and scale remote monitoring operations in large solar farm installations. Designed to be the eyes and ears for solar farm operators, the DBX robot can be deployed permanently at the solar farms to track construction progress, identify solar panel degradation and provide on-site security. Read More |
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Toyota Demonstrates Autonomous Drifting in Latest Milestone
The Toyota Research Institute (TRI) has announced a new research milestone in autonomy, which the company said provides a glimpse into the future of safer mobility for everyone. In a demonstration, TRI researchers successfully programmed a vehicle to autonomously drift around obstacles on a closed track. By combining a deep knowledge of vehicle dynamics and control design, TRI’s Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) approach extends the vehicle’s operational domain to the limits of its performance. The idea behind the research, TRI said, is to utilize controlled, autonomous drifting to avoid accidents by navigating sudden obstacles or hazardous road conditions like black ice. Read More |
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Germany's Magazino Launches Pilot for SOTO Robot at ZF
The pilot project started at the Friedrichshafen site for the transmission assembly of commercial vehicles, and offers both companies the opportunity to gain experience with the robot for live operations. The project began in September 2021 and is expected to run for about a year. Read More |
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