Talking robots with Ford
efore we get too far into this week’s roundup, I want to kick things off with an interview we haven’t published anywhere else. Earlier this week, we noted that Ford will be deploying some 100 researchers and engineers to the new $75 million facility at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
COVID-19 and Robotics: How the Past Year Transformed Automation
Robots have gained traction in many forms over the past decade, offering unique solutions to complex challenges and driving efficiencies in our daily lives. While these innovations have evolved year after year, the emergence of COVID-19 has been a new awakening for the robotics and automation industry.
Adversarial training reduces safety of neural networks in robots: Research
There’s a growing interest in employing autonomous mobile robots in open work environments such as warehouses, especially with the constraints posed by the global pandemic.
The next generation of robots
How did Michael Crichton, Sean Connery, and Wesley Snipes factor into the creation of a preeminent robotics firm?
The story begins on the movie set of the 1993 action thriller “Rising Sun,” starring Connery and Snipes and based off the Crichton novel of the same name.
AI And Robotics Are Finally Ready For Your Home (and I Don’t Mean The Roomba)
For decades, a certain order structured the world of automation. Robots, most recently those powered by AI and Big Data, worked in factories, while humans enjoyed the benefits of their labor where we live and work.
Space startup Gitai raises $17.1M to help build the robotic workforce of commercial space
Japanese space startup Gitai has raised a $17.1 million funding round, a Series B financing for the robotics startup. This new funding will be used for hiring, as well as funding the development and execution of an on-orbit demonstration mission for the company’s robotic technology, which will show its efficacy in performing in-space satellite servicing work. That mission is currently set to take place in 2023.
The current pandemic highlights how remote healthcare robots could be beneficial in the future
Robots that could take on basic healthcare tasks to support the work of doctors and nurses may be the way of the future. Who knows, maybe a medical robot can prescribe your medicine someday?
How humans can build better teamwork with robots
As human interaction with robots and artificial intelligence increases exponentially in areas like healthcare, manufacturing, transportation, space exploration, defense technologies, information about how humans and autonomous systems work within teams remains scarce.
Soft robots use camera and shadows to sense human touch
Cornell University researchers have created a low-cost method for soft, deformable robots to detect a range of physical interactions, from pats to punches to hugs, without relying on touch at all. Instead, a USB camera located inside the robot captures the shadow movements of hand gestures on the robot’s skin and classifies them with machine-learning software.
A new framework for robotics applications that merges reservoir computing with origami
Reservoir computing is a highly promising computational framework based on artificial recurrent neural networks (RNNs). Over the past few years, this framework was successfully applied to a variety of tasks, ranging from time-series predictions (i.e., stock market or weather forecasting), to robotic motion planning and speech recognition.
Smooth touchdown: Novel camera-based system for automated landing of drone on a fixed spot
Initially earmarked for covert military operations, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones have since gained tremendous popularity, which has broadened the scope of their use. In fact, “remote pilot” drones have been largely replaced by “autonomous” drones for applications in various fields. One such application is their usage in rescue missions following a natural or man-made disaster.
Robot Advancement Requires Operational Data And Stakeholder Alliances
During the pandemic, large-scale group infections occurred in churches, elderly care hospitals, dense high rise buildings, and other high occupancy facilities. Recognizing the importance of disinfection to prevent infectious diseases is a crucial part of maintaining a safe living space.
How to keep drones flying when a motor fails
As anxious passengers are often reassured, commercial aircrafts can easily continue to fly even if one of the engines stops working. But for drones with four propellers—also known as quadcopters—the failure of one motor is a bigger problem. With only three rotors working, the drone loses stability and inevitably crashes unless an emergency control strategy sets in.
Fish-inspired robots coordinate movements without any outside control
Schools of fish exhibit complex, synchronized behaviors that help them find food, migrate and evade predators. No one fish or team of fish coordinates these movements nor do fish communicate with each other about what to do next. Rather, these collective behaviors emerge from so-called implicit coordination—individual fish making decisions based on what they see their neighbors doing.
Robots with rhythm: Boston Dynamics' dancing androids a hit
Boston Dynamics released scary robot videos, but this one is clearly a playful attempt to close the books on 2020. “Our whole crew got together to celebrate the start of what we hope will be a happier year,” the Waltham, Massachusetts, company says in the caption.