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From the Editor
Robot, Drone and Driverless Deliveries are Hot, Hot Hot
As a parent of teen-agers, I often feel like I’m just their personal chauffeur, or better yet, their “Dad Uber” and pizza delivery driver for all of their food deliveries and drop-offs/pick-ups that I do for them (hence my hat). But the future looks more and more driverless as delivery firms, ride-sharing services and retailers get into the delivery game. Recent weeks have seen new deployments, major investments (Nuro adding another $600 million to its coffers), and announcements “fully driverless” vehicles on the road or coming soon. For many companies, it seems like it’s time to take off the training wheels (aka the safety driver) as we move to a world of robot taxis and deliveries. Granted, many of these deployments are in limited areas and scope – we’re not yet in a science-fiction world where anyone can jump into a robot taxi to flee their enemies (like in Total Recall). Rollouts will likely be slow given many factors, including location, region, weather and governmental regulations. Still, it’s nice to think we’re getting closer to a day where I can just sit back and write about robotics rather than jump in the car to make another drop-off or pickup. Enjoy this week’s news!
– Keith Shaw, Managing Editor
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NVIDIA Introduces AI Supercomputer for Robotics, Edge Devices
NVIDIA has announced the new Jetson AGX Orin, a small, powerful and energy-efficient AI supercomputer aimed for robotics, autonomous machines, medical devices and other embedded computers at the edge. Built on NVIDIA’s Ampere architecture, Jetson AGX Orin provides 6x the processing power and maintains the form factor and pin compatibility with its predecessor, the Jetson AGX Xavier, the company said. Orin can deliver 200 trillion operations per second, similar to that of a GPU-enabled server, but in a size that fits in the palm of your hand.
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ModalAI Launches Products to Spur Development of Smaller Robots and Drones
ModalAI has announced the release of two products to help developers create smaller, smarter and safer robots and drones. The VOXL CAM perception engine and the Seeker micro-development drone are optimized for the development of indoor and outdoor autonomous navigation. The companies are now available for sale at the ModalAI website. The VOXL Cam is an all-in-one compute and perception engine that makes it easier to create smaller, safer and smarter drones, robots and Internet of Things (IoT) devices with GPS-denied navigation, depth mapping, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) flight control and cellular connectivity. The credit-card-sized VOXL CAM powers the Seeker micro-development drone, the company’s newest and smallest drone to date.
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GelSight, Meta AI Team up to Democratize Digital Tactile Sensing
GelSight, which develops tactile imaging and sensing technologies, has announced a partnership with Meta AI to commercialize and manufacture the DIGIT tactile sensor and expand the field of tactile sensing research. The DIGIT is a reliable, low-cost, compact, high-resolution tactile sensor designed for robotic in-hand manipulation, designed and open-sourced in 2020 by Meta (then Facebook) AI researchers to enable AI and robotics researchers to work with touch. GelSight will manufacture and sell DIGIT as part of the company’s offering of digital tactile sensors, making this sensor even more accessible to the global research community.
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Ouster Launches Digital Flash Lidar for Automotive Applications
Ouster, which develops high-resolution digital lidar sensors, has announced the DF series, a flexible and scalable high-performance solid-state digital lidar platform aimed at the automotive industry. The DF series is a suite of short, mid, and long-range solid-state digital lidar sensors that provide uniform precision imaging without motion blur across an entire field of view. With absolutely no moving parts, the DF series is built for best-in-class reliability, durability, and affordability, Ouster said. The DF series is designed to meet automaker requirements for advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) and automated driving, while integrating into the vehicle’s architecture and design. Ouster
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Berkshire Grey Launches Robotic Shuttle Product Sortation System
Berkshire Grey, which develops artificial intelligence-enabled robotic solutions to help automate supply chain processes, has announced general availability of its Robotic Shuttle Product Sortation (RSPS) solution for order fulfillment. The system supports filling e-commerce orders through stores and in-person shopping by automating store replenishment, allocation order processing, split-case cross docking, sortation and packing. The company said RSPS can increase processing capacity and throughput for existing operations without adding labor, helps to right-size store inventories, and enables e-commerce fulfillment from stores to scale. Following a series of successful installations at major U.S. retailers, the solution is now generally available for global deployments,
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Miso Robotics Launches Flippy 2 Food Preparation Robot
Miso Robotics, which develops intelligent automation for the food service industry, has unveiled the newest model of Flippy, its flagship product. Flippy 2 is based on key learnings and feedback from its partner, White Castle, which deployed the original Flippy system in the Chicagoland area in September 2020, and plans to expand to additional locations once the pilot is over. Flippy 2 takes over the work for an entire fry station, and performs more than twice as many food preparation tasks compared to the previous version, including basket filling, emptying and returning.
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Video of the Week
Walmart, Gatik Announce Fully Driverless Delivery Success
Gatik and Walmart have announced that Gatik is operating daily without a safety driver behind the wheel for delivery routes in Bentonville, Ark., moving customer orders between a Walmart dark store and a Neighborhood Market with its fleet of multi-temperature autonomous box trucks. Gatik said it represents the first time that an autonomous trucking company has removed the safety driver from a commercial delivery route on the middle mile anywhere in the world. The fully driverless operations began in August 2021, and involve consistent, repeated delivery runs multiple times per day, seven days per week on public roads. Walmart said this unlocks the full advantages of autonomous delivery for Walmart’s customers – increased speed and responsiveness when fulfilling e-commerce orders, increased asset utilization and enhanced safety for all road users.
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Watch the video HERE.
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In Case You Missed It
Service Robots Hit Double-Digit Growth, Says IFR
The International Federation of Robotics has reported that the market of professional service robots worldwide has reached $6.7 billion, up 12% compared with 2020. At the same time, sales of new consumer service robots grew 16% to $4.4 billion. The figures are part of the IFR’s World Robotics 2021 report. “Service robots continued on a successful path proving the tremendous market potential worldwide,” said Milton Guerry, president of the IFR. “Sales of professional service robots rose an impressive 41% to 131,800 units in 2020.”
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Featured Article
Teaching Industrial Robots New Tricks: A Q&A With Mujin
Japan-based Mujin recently established a U.S.-based division north of Atlanta to expand its offerings to a North American audience. The industrial robotics company is looking to expand the use of its flagship product, the Mujin Controller, an all-purpose intelligent robotic control system that uses real-time perception, motion planning and universal control to create robots that can handle complex logistical tasks. The controller aims to manage any robotic application by guiding the movement of any robot arm via machine intelligence, automatically managing potential downtime scenarios through autonomous motion planning and perception without the need for human intervention. At the recent Pack Expo, the company demonstrated a Mujin robot and gripper that handled cases, slip sheets and pallets to build multiple pallets in a single stack, which then transferred the pallet to an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) to move to a breakdown area. Robotics World recently chatted with Josh Cloer, director of sales for Mujin Corp., about the need for better training methods around industrial robots, the state of industrial robots within logistics, and the challenges of entering the U.S. robotics market.
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News for Robot Makers
- MIT Researchers Aim to Give Robots Better Social Skills
Robots can deliver food on a college campus and hit a hole in one on the golf course, but even the most sophisticated robot can’t perform basic social interactions that are critical to everyday human life. MIT researchers have now incorporated certain social interactions into a framework for robotics, enabling machines to understand what it means to help or hinder one another, and to learn to perform these social behaviors on their own. In a simulated environment, a robot watches its companion, guesses what task it wants to accomplish, and then helps or hinders this other robot based on its own goals. The researchers also showed that their model creates realistic and predictable social interactions.
- Ottobock Acquires suitX to Advance Exoskeleton Market
Ottobock, which develops prosthetics, orthotics and exoskeletons, has announced the acquisition of 100% of the shares of suitX, a U.S.-based company that spun out of the Robotics and Human Engineering Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, and was developing occupational and medical exoskeletons. The combination of the companies will look to advance the exoskeleton market to foster the worldwide adoption of exoskeletons, the companies said in a statement.
- Brain Says its Robotic Fleet has Covered 100 Billion Square Feet Autonomously
Brain Corp, which develops artificial intelligence technology for robotics, has announced that its BrainOS-powered fleet of autonomous mobile robots have officially reached 100 billion square feet of coverage. The company said this has given back 6.8 million of hours back to employees and operations managers, allowing them to focus on other high-value tasks such as customer experience.
- OMRON invests in Taiwan’s Techman Robot to Expand Cobot Offerings
OMRON has announced the signing of an agreement to invest capital in Taiwan’s Techman Robot, which manufactures collaborative robots that work with people at manufacturing sites. OMRON will hold a stake of approximately 10% in Techman, with the investment expected to be completed by December 2021. The companies said there is a growing demand for collaborative robots that can safely work side by side with humans at manufacturing sites without safety barriers, as well as those that can flexibly handle multiple tasks. At the same time, in order to accelerate co-existence and coordination between humans and machines, safety and productivity must be assured.
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Robotics Funding
Nuro Raises $600M to Expand Self-Driving Delivery Vehicles
Nuro, which develops autonomous vehicles used in last-mile delivery applications, has announced raising $600 million in a new round of financing. The round was led by Tiger Global Management, and the new financing will support the development and deployment of Nuro’s autonomous delivery service in communities across the country. The company said the funding will enable Nuro to continue its commercialization of zero-occupant autonomous delivery vehicles. The rethinking of autonomous vehicles and the opportunity to transform local commerce has garnered attention from prominent commercial partners in several industries, Nuro said. The latest funding round will assist Nuro in addressing long-standing pain points and shifting consumer trends, accelerated by COVID-19.
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Point One Navigation Emerges from Stealth, Raises $10M
Point One Navigation, which is developing precision location technology, has announced it has emerged from stealth mode and closed a $10 million Series A round of funding. The round was led by UP.Partners, with participation from existing investors BOLT, IA Ventures and Ludlow Ventures. The company’s API is helping automotive OEMs, trucking companies, drone manufacturers, heavy equipment makers, delivery services and consumer electronics companies that rely on precise location for safe and effective operation. The company’s technology enables centimeter-level global accuracy by combining augmented GNSS, computer vision, and sensor fusion in a powerful API compatible with several existing platforms.
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Industry News
Motional, Lyft Pick Las Vegas as First Driverless Service Site in 2023
Motional and Lyft have announced the planned launch of a fully driverless public ride-hail service in Las Vegas, the first city in a planned multimarket deployment. The next generation of Motional’s robotaxis, the all-electric Hyundai IONIQ 5-based robotaxi, will be available on the Lyft app in Las Vegas starting in 2023. The two companies have been operating a public self-driving service in Las Vegas for more than three years (when Motional was known as Aptiv), but the rides have included a human safety driver. The 2023 deployment will be the first time fully driverless cars for use in a ride-hailing service will be available to the public in Nevada.
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Allied Motion Acquires ALIO Industry for Motion Control Systems
Allied Motion Technologies, which designs and manufactures precision and specialty controlled motion products, has announced it acquired ALIO Industries, which manufactures advanced linear and rotary motion systems for nano-precision applications. The $20 million purchase price includes $15 million in cash and $5 million in Allied common stock. In addition, there are potential earn-out payments over the next three years based upon ALIO achieving certain annual EBITDA targets.
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Iron Ox Launches Mobile Support Robot for Farming System
Iron Ox, which is developing farming innovations utilizing plant science, robotics, and artificial intelligence, has announced a mobile support robot named Grover. The mobile robot can lift more than 1,000 pounds and assists in the monitoring, watering, and harvesting of several crops, from leafy greens to strawberries. Iron Ox said Grover is a key component to its broader farming ecosystem, a closed-loop system that optimizes plant yield, reduces growth cycle time and maximizes crop quality.
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Magazino Expands Robot Fleet for Europe’s Zalando
German-based robotics firm Magazino recently announced it has extended the robot fleet for Europe’s leading fashion platform Zalando. The existing fleet of eight robots at Zalando’s logistics site in Lahr, Germany, will be expanded by an additional 20 robots, some of which will support the picking of shoes ordered online during Cyber Week 2021. Ten of the robots were delivered by Magazino in September, which will support the existing robot fleet. The remaining robots will be delivered to Lahr by the end of the year, and put into operation next year, Magazino said. The working area of the robots within the Zalando logistics center will also increase from 4,000 to 16,000 square meters.
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Product Info
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Robotic Delivery
Near Earth Autonomy, L3Harris Demonstrate Blood Delivery via Drones
Near Earth Autonomy and L3Harris Technologies have announced a successful demonstration of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) that can autonomously deliver life-saving blood and other medical supplies hundreds of miles away from operational bases to medics in the field. The U.S. Army’s Medical Research and Development Command’s (USAMRDC) Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) sponsored the demonstration to identify ways to save soldiers’ lives in situations where access to whole blood in the field can be challenging.
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Ottonomy Launches Delivery Robot with Crave Mobile Ordering App
Ottonomy has announced it is now enabling contactless food delivery with Los Angeles-based mobile ordering app, Crave, focusing on the restaurant and hospitality sectors. Ottonomy said it has been piloting both indoor and outdoor delivery in markets across the country in multiple industries and sectors, including airport and retail environments. Ottonomy said its robot leverages a proprietary contextual mobility navigation software, which enables the robot to navigate in both indoor and outdoor environments, unlike other robots in the space. In addition, the robot is fully autonomous from day one, as it comes programmed with multi-layered safety protocols that facilitate safe navigation in crowded environments such as curbside, sidewalks and airports.
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Serve Robotics Expands Partnership with Uber for Robotic Delivery
Serve Robotics, which develops autonomous sidewalk delivery robots, has announced a partnership with Uber Technologies that expands its on-demand robotic delivery service to Uber Eats customers starting in Los Angeles early next year. Founded in 2017 as the robotics division of Postmates, Serve Robotics is now an independent company with a mission to make delivery more affordable, sustainable and accessible for everyone. The company said its robots have successfully completed tens of thousands of contactless deliveries in major U.S. cities. Serve is backed by Uber and other leading investors.
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Starship Reveals Environmental Impact of its Delivery Robots
Starship Technologies, in conjunction with the U.K. MIlton Keynes Council, has announced the initial findings of an internal study to review the early impact of its zero-emission robots in the city over the last three and a half years. The company said that since launching its autonomous delivery service in Milton Keynes in April 2018, it calculated that 280,000 car journeys have been avoided, equating to more than 500,000 miles. This in turn saved approximately 137 tons of CO2 (carbon dioxide) and 22 kg of NOx (nitrous oxide), with a reduction of 23 kg of PM10 and 12 kg of PM2.5 in the volume of micro-particles in the air. Starship said the latter is known to have a significant impact on human health, including premature mortality and cardiovascular diseases.
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