Robotic companions are spreading in healthcare settings, according to Research Nester. Credit: Adobe Stock

Back in 1985, a robot named PUMA 560 conducted a stereotactic brain biopsy with 0.05 mm accuracy. This began the introduction of robots in the healthcare system for performing various functions.

The demand for healthcare robots mushroomed since the COVID-19 pandemic. Research Nester has estimated that the market for medical robots increased by 36.5% to around 6,100 units in 2023.

In addition, sales of rehabilitation and non-invasive therapy robots grew by almost 128%. The robots have become companions for healthcare staffers, and the market is booming with opportunities. Let’s examine why numerous companies are willing to invest in this market.

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Healthcare robots already on duty in hospitals

Robotics has an array of applications in hospitals. For instance, the robotic-assisted surgery market could reach more than $14 billion (U.S.) by 2026. Here are some of the prominent tasks for which robots are being used in hospitals:

Telepresence: The Sanbot Elf robot was designed to provide a remote presence for visiting families, co-workers, hospital patients and efficaciously. During the pandemic, Ava Robotics‘ systems helped doctors see more patients while avoiding infections.

Surgical assistants: Millions of procedures are carried out each year with robotic assistance, and over the past 20 years, over 12 million were performed with Intuitive Surgical‘s da Vinci systems alone. Some of the prominent surgeries that can be done with the help of robots are:

• Colorectal
• General surgery
• Gastric bypass
• Robotic-assisted laparoscopy
• Cholecystectomy
• Kidney transplantation

In addition, by 2030, more than 700,100 robotic-assisted knee reconstruction procedures could be performed globally.

Medical transportation: Unlimited Robotics offers Gary, which it designed to address numerous logistical challenges faced by modern hospitals. Mobile robots can improve operations in the following ways:

• Improved efficiency: 26% to 30% reduction in wait times for supply deliveries and patient transfers
• Time savings: 100 to 180 staff hours could be saved daily
• Cost savings: A facility’s labor costs could be reduced by $876,100 to $1 million annually
• Staff satisfaction: 5% to 10% reduction in turnover rates due to decreased non-clinical workload

Sanitation and disinfection robots: With the rise in antibiotic resistance, healthcare facilities are using robots to clean surfaces. Ultraviolet disinfection robots are widely used to enhance manual cleaning.

Robots enter nursing homes and elder-care centers

The PARO robotic seal is an example of an interactive care robot particularly fabricated for older individuals suffering from dementia. These therapeutic robots provide emotional support and companionship to alleviate loneliness and anxiety.

Some of the prominent activities performed by robots such as PARO, Tombot’s Jennie, and Intuition Robotics’ ElliQ are:

• Assisting with daily activities
• Increasing mobility and independence for older adults
• Preventing accidents and detecting falls
• Rehabilitation and cognitive training
• Medication reminders

According to the National Institutes of Health, the average implementation cost of a robot is almost $85,000 per year, but the cost of hiring human caregivers is higher than this.

Surveying the landscape for healthcare companion robots

Research Nester estimates that the companion robot market will garner $1 billion by the end of 2024, and it could reach $11 billion by the end of 2037. Some of the growth-propelling factors for the market are:

• Increasing demand for home assistance for the aging population
• Rising inculcation of automation
• Rising need to help the differently-abled population
• Increasing initiatives from the government supporting healthcare robots
• Robot companions aiding the cognitive and emotional development of children

However, factors such as the high cost of production and privacy challenges are some of the growth restraining factors for the growth of the healthcare companion robots market.

Some of the companies making a positive impact are Aeolus Robotics, Andromeda, ASUSTeK Computer, Blue Frog Robotics, inGen Dynamics, Luvozo, PAL Robotics, and UBTECH.

We project that North America will experience the most promising growth rate, with rising demand for humanoid robots in hospitals. For instance, Aethon’s Zena RX can securely deliver pharmacy and other clinical materials day or night.

The healthcare companion robotics market is expected to grow from 2024 to 2037. Source: Research Nester

The above discussion shows that the healthcare robotics market is offering lucrative growth opportunities. Entrepreneurs and practitioners are willing to make investments to serve this market.

However, getting appropriate knowledge of the market parameters is of utmost importance with cutting-edge technologies in a competitive world. Market research reports offer detailed analyses of growth drivers and constraints, regional differences, etc. These factors can help you make judicious business decisions.

About the author

Aashi Mishra is an experienced research writer, strategist, and marketer with a demonstrated history of research in a myriad of industries. She said she loves to distill complex industrial terminologies of market space into simpler terms. 

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A ‘humanoid for hospitals,’ Moxi has an arm for opening doors and operating elevators. Source: Diligent Robotics

As development continues on humanoid robots, one mobile robot is already at work in hospitals. Diligent Robotics Inc. today announced that its Moxi robot has completed 110,000 autonomous elevator rides at health systems across the U.S.

The mobile manipulator has a single arm for opening doors and pushing buttons to operate elevators. Moxi’s achievement marks a milestone in artificial intelligence-driven automation for unstructured healthcare environments, said the Austin, Texas-based company.

“Achieving autonomy in robotics, particularly in health care environments, is an incredible challenge,” stated Andrea Thomaz, CEO of Diligent Robotics and a 20-year AI veteran. “Navigating elevators seems simple, but the unpredictable nature of shared spaces, real-time changes, and the need for accuracy make it one of many hard tasks that humanoids deployed in human environments need to solve.”

“With Moxi, we’ve demonstrated the ability to integrate AI into environments where collaboration between people and robots is vital for success,” she added. “As of today, we are completing over 20,000 fully autonomous elevator rides each month, something none of our competitors are doing.”

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Moxi moves to greater autonomy

Founded in 2017, Diligent Robotics noted that it has integrated Moxi into existing healthcare workflows, such as delivering supplies and transporting laboratory specimens around the clock. The company said its robot has helped improve operational efficiency and enabled busy staffers to focus on patient care rather than routine transport tasks.

Diligent CEO Andrea Thomaz with Moxi. Source: Diligent Robotics

Diligent Robotics used “humans in the loop” to develop Moxi’s autonomy and ability to interact with elevators.

“There are two approaches: Waymo, which used its own drivers and did R&D until its product was fully autonomous, and Tesla, which got its product out in the wild with real customers and has increased autonomy with supervision over time,” Thomaz told The Robot Report. “We took the latter approach.”

“This milestone means we no longer need close human supervision, which is a significant one for mobile manipulation,” she said. “The number of rides per day really shows that we’ve gotten past R&D and are working in production.”

When it first deployed its robots, Diligent staffers supervised operations on site. They obtained labeled data for AI models, explained Thomaz. The company can now supervise its fleet of 100 robots in 20 sites remotely.

“A lot of our early partner hospitals got used to our staffers being around to do everything the robots would need,” Thomaz said. “In fact, it has been easier for hospitals taken live in the past few months, because they had fully autonomous robots from the start. For sites that were previously under human supervision, we went through a data-collection phase and asked the staff not to do anything.”

Moxi opens doors, a model for other actions 

How hard was it to get Moxi to operate elevators?

“They became a roadmap for autonomy,” replied Thomaz. “Nearly every delivery pass involves an elevator req, from the pharmacy or lab in the basement up to the patient wards. For the simplest elevator, you push a button and get on.”

“The most complex one in operation today, you have to scan a badge to activate the buttons and then push them,” she told The Robot Report. “There are a lot of patient floors that are secure. It’s a complex manipulation skill for a dual device, primarily because of the speed of swiping.”

By solving the problems of manipulating a variety of doors and elevators, Diligent Robotics is developing end-to-end action models.

“Our ability to develop models that are specific to these small skills is creating an infrastructure of training models that could then be applied to other skills,” Thomaz said. “They’re not large, general-purpose models, but we’re excited to have a fleet we can leverage to build foundation models.”

Complex environments still pose challenges

Moxi can communicate with people around it through its screen, shown here in idle mode. Source: Diligent Robotics

As environments with trained but busy personnel, a high degree of safety regulations, and the general public — some of whom are not well — hospitals are particularly challenging for robots.

“That’s why we treated this with white gloves; we’re not just dropping robots in to learn on their own,” noted Thomaz. “We spent two years deploying robots with people because of the sensitive environment and to get the robots to operate efficiently.”

For instance, she cited interventions where healthcare staffers push the emergency stop button and can manually move a robot out of the way for something like an urgent gurney. They sometimes forget to turn the robot back on so it can continue its mission.

“We’ve released a feature where the robot can ask on its screen for someone to un-e-stop it,” Thomaz said. “There are other environments, such as an elevator bay with six different cars and patients coming in and out, that are still complex.”

“Moxi also uses data to avoid routes or elevators that are always busy,” she said. “We collect that data and have preferred elevator bays for at night versus during the day.”

Diligent Robotics works to normalize robots 

With aging populations and workforce challenges, demand for automation is likely to grow, said Diligent Robotics. Moxi provides an example of how robots can address human needs, it said.

“I’ve been talking about Moxi as a ‘humanoid for healthcare.’ We’re doing the things that people are talking about what humanoids could do,” Thomaz said. “Bipedal locomotion isn’t the hardest part — it’s applicability of mobile manipulation. Most humanoids are still proofs of concept.”

“When I walk through hospitals where Moxi is deployed, it’s the first robot that many people have encountered,” she added. “Patients are getting used to seeing a future with robots.”

“Achieving full autonomy to enable hospital-wide transport tasks is just scratching the surface of what humanoid robots like Moxi will do in hospitals and beyond,” said Thomaz. “The knowledge and trust that we gain from healthcare settings will inform future product developments. We look forward to building humanoid social robots to collaborate and assist with caring for people in many different settings.”

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Digit 360 uses GelSight’s tactile sensing technology for high sensitivity and micron-level resolution. | Source: Meta AI

GelSight, a developer of tactile technology, and Meta AI announced Digit 360, a tactile sensor for robotic fingers. This signifies the next stage of the partnership between the companies, which was established in 2021 with the launch of the Digit tactile sensor.

Digit 360 is equipped with more than 18 sensing features. The companies said these will enable advancements in touch perception research and allow researchers to either combine its various sensing technologies or isolate individual signals for in-depth analysis of each modality.

This new tactile-specific optical lens can see the imprints all around the artificial fingertip, capturing more sensitive details about the surface touching the object.

“GelSight and Meta AI share the same vision to make tactile sensing more ubiquitous and accessible,” said Youssef Benmokhtar, CEO, GelSight. “Digit 360 will advance the digitization of touch and unlock new applications in robotics with its ability to capture omnidirectional deformations on the fingertip surface.”

GelSight is a developer of imaging-based tactile intelligence. The company’s proprietary technology was invented at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It provides detailed and rapid surface characterization, enabling several surface measurement applications and robotic sensing capabilities. 

GelSight said its elastomeric 3D imaging systems are currently used in aerospace, automotive, forensics, and robotics research labs worldwide.

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Digit 360 uses optics for a sense of touch

Digit 360 can see the imprints all around the artificial fingertip, the teams said, capturing more sensitive details about the surface touching the object. Over time, researchers can use Digit 360 to develop AI that can better understand and model the real world, including the physicality of objects, human-object interaction, and contact physics. Digit 360 can detect miniature changes in spatial details and capture forces as small as 1 millinewton.

GelSight’s elastomeric and imaging-based tactile sensing digitizes the sense of touch, enabling robotic engineers to develop solutions for the analysis of any surface regardless of material type or reflectivity, complex object manipulation, and many other dexterous tasks.

Beyond advancing robot dexterity, GelSight said Digit 360 has potential applications in medicine, prosthetics, virtual reality, telepresence, and more. For virtual worlds, Digit 360 can help better ground virtual interactions with the environment to more realistic representations of object properties beyond their visual appearances. Meta AI said it will open-source all code and designs developed using Digit 360.

Meta AI integrates sensors and AI

Meta AI also partnered with South Korea-based Wonik Robotics to develop the Allegro Hand. The company said this will be a fully integrated robotic hand with tactile sensors. 

Building on the Meta Digit Plexus platform, the next generation of Allegro Hand could help advance robotics research by making it easier for researchers to conduct experiments. Wonik Robotics will manufacture and distribute the Allegro Hand, which will be made available next year. 

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Researchers at Duke University have developed a system called SonicSense that gives robots a sense of touch by “listening” to vibrations. The researchers said this allows the robots to identify materials, understand shapes and recognize objects.

SonicSense is a four-fingered robotic hand that has a contact microphone embedded in each fingertip. These sensors detect and record vibrations generated when the robot taps, grasps or shakes an object. And because the microphones are in contact with the object, it allows the robot to tune out ambient noises.

“Robots today mostly rely on vision to interpret the world,” explained Jiaxun Liu, lead author of the paper and a first-year Ph.D. student in the laboratory of Boyuan Chen, professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Duke. “We wanted to create a solution that could work with complex and diverse objects found on a daily basis, giving robots a much richer ability to ‘feel’ and understand the world.”

Based on the interactions and detected signals, SonicSense extracts frequency features and uses its previous knowledge, paired with recent advancements in AI, to figure out what material the object is made out of and its 3D shape. The researchers said if it’s an object the system has never seen before, it might take 20 different interactions for the system to come to a conclusion. But if it’s an object already in its database, it can correctly identify it in as little as four.

“SonicSense gives robots a new way to hear and feel, much like humans, which can transform how current robots perceive and interact with objects,” said Chen, who also has appointments and students from electrical and computer engineering and computer science. “While vision is essential, sound adds layers of information that can reveal things the eye might miss.”

Chen and his laboratory showcase a number of capabilities enabled by SonicSense. By turning or shaking a box filled with dice, it can count the number held within as well as their shape. By doing the same with a bottle of water, it can tell how much liquid is contained inside. And by tapping around the outside of an object, much like how humans explore objects in the dark, it can build a 3D reconstruction of the object’s shape and determine what material it’s made from.

“While most datasets are collected in controlled lab settings or with human intervention, we needed our robot to interact with objects independently in an open lab environment,” said Liu. “It’s difficult to replicate that level of complexity in simulations. This gap between controlled and real-world data is critical, and SonicSense bridges that by enabling robots to interact directly with the diverse, messy realities of the physical world.”

The team said these abilities make SonicSense a robust foundation for training robots to perceive objects in dynamic, unstructured environments. So does its cost; using the same contact microphones that musicians use to record sound from guitars, 3D printing and other commercially available components keeps the construction costs to just over $200, according to Duke University.

The researchers are working to enhance the system’s ability to interact with multiple objects. By integrating object-tracking algorithms, robots will be able to handle dynamic, cluttered environments — bringing them closer to human-like adaptability in real-world tasks.

Another key development lies in the design of the robot hand itself. “This is only the beginning. In the future, we envision SonicSense being used in more advanced robotic hands with dexterous manipulation skills, allowing robots to perform tasks that require a nuanced sense of touch,” Chen said. “We’re excited to explore how this technology can be further developed to integrate multiple sensory modalities, such as pressure and temperature, for even more complex interactions.”

The SonicSense robot hand includes four fingers where each fingertip is equipped with one contact microphone. | Credit: Duke University

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From left to right: Joyce Sidopoulos, co-founder at MassRobotics, Cynthia Breazeal, a professor of media arts and sciences at MIT, and Ingmar Posner, a professor of engineering science at Oxford. | Source: MassRobotics

MassRobotics, a robotics innovation organization, recently announced Dr. Cynthia Breazeal as the 2024 recipient of its Robotics Medal. The organization said Breazeal won for her significant contributions to the field of robotics, notably for her work in the field of social robotics and human-robot interaction. The award is sponsored by Amazon Robotics. The award includes a $50,000 prize. 

With the Robotics Medal, MassRobotics seeks to not only celebrate individual achievements, but also to inspire and encourage women and other underrepresented groups to participate in shaping the future of the world through robotics.

Breazeal is currently a professor of media arts and sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she founded and directs the Personal Robots group at the Media Lab. She is also the MIT dean for digital learning, where she leads Open Learning’s business and research and engagement units. 

A history with social robots

Breazeal work at MIT, however, is really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to her accomplishments. She is a pioneer of social robotics and human-robot interaction. Her work balances technical innovation in AI, user experience (UX) design, and understanding the psychology of engagement to design personified AI technologies that promote human flourishing and personal growth.

In 2012, Breazeal founded Jibo, a social robotics company named after its flagship product. Jibo could see with two hi-res cameras, which allowed it to recognize and track faces, take pictures, and enable video calling.

Despite raising nearly $72 million in venture capital and raising more than $3.5 million in a 2014 Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, the company shut down in 2018.

Breazeal’s more recent work focuses on the idea of “living with AI” and understanding the long-term potential for social robots to build relationships and provide personalized support as companions in daily life. Her research group actively investigates social robots applied to education, pediatrics, health and wellness, and aging.

“I really just see myself as this year’s representative of all the amazing women. It’s a combination of their brilliance and their originality, but also their humanity and in so many ways their deep sense of service that they bring to their work,” Breazeal told The Robot Report. “I am thrilled to be this year’s representative, but I really do see myself as just a part of a world of incredible women.”

Editor’s note: There will be a ticketed Women in Robotics luncheon as part of RoboBusiness 2024 this week in Santa Clara, Calif.

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Breazeal sees award as a call to service

Not only is there still a gender gap within robotics, but Breazeal said there’s also a visibility gap for the women already within the industry. There are many trailblazing women in robotics, she said, but they’re often not chosen to keynote events or thought of as the face of robotics. 

“When you’re a woman in this field, you have to recognize there are so many amazing women doing incredible work,” Breazeal said. “And I really do applaud this particular award, because I do feel so many of the women in the field, we can be very prominent, but in a lot of ways we’re kind of the best-kept secret.”

While the award is an honor, Breazeal said that she also sees it as a call to service. This means using her position to elevate other women and other people from underrepresented groups in the industry. 

“How can I think about this award in terms of service to my community and to the world?” Breazeal asked.

She also noted that she wouldn’t be where she is without the wonderful people she has worked with throughout her career, including the students she teaches and mentors at MIT. 

“MIT is a world-class research university,” Breazeal said. “The work that you see is the product of brilliant students. You give them these opportunities to immerse themselves in these questions.”

“So, not only are we creating these amazing robot systems, but we’re also helping to foster, and nurture, incredible, brilliant young talent who have come out of this program,” she said. 

A validating moment for the social robotics field

In addition to being a milestone in her career, Breazeal said she also sees the award as a validating moment for the entire field of social robotics, which has now existed for 25 years. As a pioneer in the field, Breazeal saw firsthand the many detractors when the technology was in its early stages. 

“It’s kind of an atypical lens on robots,” Breazeal said. “Nobody was really thinking deeply about what it would mean for anyone, everyday people, to actually interact with robots. I mean, of course, we had science fiction and all these visions and so forth. But people weren’t really thinking about anyone beyond the non-expert being able to have value, or the non-commercial really being able to have value from this autonomous robot technology.”

She acknowledged that new ideas always draw skepticism, and the social robots had some big-name detractors early on. Breazeal recalled her work on Kismet, which some observers have called the first social robot, for her doctoral work at the MIT AI Lab in the late 1990s. At the time, she said, there were some people industry who doubted the benefits of “having a robot that could smile,” as they put it.

Kismet didn’t resemble the cute, approachable form factors that are often associated with social robots, but it could enter into social-emotional interactions with a human caregiver, reminiscent of parent-infant exchanges. These more natural interactions could be used to bootstrap the social-emotional-cognitive development of social robots, explained Breazeal.

She said knew that those detractors simply didn’t understand what she was trying to do. Fortunately, Breazeal had support from enough of the community to keep going. 

“Once we kind of got past those first friction points and started getting this nascent community together, it just became increasingly obvious that, of course, this is important,” Breazeal said.

“It is so incredibly rewarding that someone in social robotics received this honor,” she continued. “It just made the point that this field of human-robot interaction, social robotics, has become such an important part of the overall field of robotics.”

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The past year has been eventful for robotics developments, with economic headwinds, new applications, and excitement around humanoids and AI. John Bubnikovich, president of ABB’s Robotics Division in the U.S., will be among the panelists discussing the future of robotics innovation at RoboBusiness in California next week.

In that keynote panel, Bubnikovich will join NVIDIA’s Amit Goel, DHL’s Joan-Wilhelm Schwarze, and Teradyne Ventures’ Eric Truebenbach in analyzing the drivers of innovation and how to scale automation.

As one of the world’s largest producers of industrial automation, as well as collaborative and mobile robots, ABB Robotics is in a good position to observe the latest trends. Bubnikovich provided The Robot Report with a sneak peek at the perspectives he’ll share at RoboBusiness.

Bubnikovich offers advice for robotics startups

What’s the biggest trend in robotics at the moment?

I believe the biggest trend in robotics is how many end users are harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to make their robotic systems smarter and more adaptive.

At ABB Robotics, we define four areas for industrial applications of AI-powered robotics: 

• Generating insights: AI can analyze large datasets and generate meaningful insights that form the basis for decision-making. 
• Optimization: From macro-level energy management to micro-level path planning for robot movements, AI optimizes operations and increases efficiency.
• New capabilities: With AI robots can perform a broader range of complex tasks that were previously difficult to automate. By leveraging data and algorithms to optimize processes, robots execute tasks faster and more precisely, with greater in dynamic and unstructured environments. 
• Human-machine collaboration: AI makes robots and automation more accessible and user-friendly, enabling people without programming knowledge to guide and control a robot or machine.

What advice do you have for ensuring product-market fit, especially in a tight and competitive market?

Robotic OEMs, and in many instances their system integrator (SI) partners, must get as close to their customers and potential customers as possible, in order to truly understand their needs, and the performance metrics they are hoping to achieve. 

The incredible advancements in robotic technology over the past few years have opened up automation to a far wider range of industries and applications. Many of these are relatively new, with little in the way of prior models to emulate.

OEMs and SIs must be consultative and work closely with customers to achieve the best results. Patience is also a virtue, as the time it takes to specify, test, and install a robotic system in a new application can be very time consuming.

Tools like ABB’s RobotStudio offline simulation programming software is a valuable resource to test the design and performance of a potential robot system before any commitment is made.

What advice do you have for young robotics startups?

Make sure there is a viable market for your specific technology, and focus on becoming the best possible solution for companies that need what you have to offer. Seek to collaborate with end users in your target industry segment, and work with them to test and validate your offering.

Be nimble and flexible so you can quickly modify your technology as your earn more about what your potential customers want and need.

Cultivate a solid foundation of investors, but communicate a realistic growth and profitability schedule. Pursue product expansions only after you have fully refined your core technology and have established the infrastructure to support your growing customer base. 

What are you looking forward to about RoboBusiness?

I am looking forward to participating in the keynote panel with such an esteemed group of industry leaders, and I am eager to establish a rapport with them and the many other robot cognoscenti who will be attending the event.

I’m also excited to see the new technology concepts from both the startups and more advanced-stage entities that will be displaying their latest developments in the exhibit area. Though ABB is a long-tenured robot OEM, we continue to embrace an entrepreneurial spirit, and being among such robotics industry innovators for a couple of days will be inspiring!

Join ABB Robotics and more at RoboBusiness 2024

In addition to robotics innovation and enabling technologies, RoboBusiness will focuses on investment and business topics related to running a robotics company. Other keynotes at the event will feature:

• Rodney Brooks, co-founder and chief technology officer at Robust AI, as well as co-founder of iRobot and Rethink Robotics
• Sergey Levine, co-founder of Physical Intelligence and an associate professor at UC Berkeley
• Claire Delaunay, chief technology officer at farm-ng
• Torrey Smith, co-founder and CEO of Endiatx

RoboBusiness will also include more than 60 speakers, over 100 exhibitors and demos on the expo floor, 10+ hours of dedicated networking time, the Pitchfire Robotics Startup Competition, a Women in Robotics Luncheon, and more.

RoboBusiness will be co-located with DeviceTalks West, which focuses on the design and development of medical devices. Thousands of robotics practitioners from around the world will convene at the Santa Clara Convention Center, so register now to ensure your spot!

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Bota Systems will be showing its latest SensONE T80 force-torque sensor at RoboBusiness. | Source: Bota Systems

Bota Systems AG will be showing off its comprehensive range of force-torque sensors, including its latest sensor specifically designed for larger collaborative robots, at RoboBusiness next week in Santa Clara, Calif. The company will be exhibiting in Booth 613 on the show floor. 

Zurich-based Bota Systems specializes in cutting-edge sensors for robots and cobots. The company said its sensors are designed for humanoid, industrial, and medical robots — improving functions in fields such as welding and minimally invasive surgeries.

Force-torque sensors can give robots a sense of touch, enabling them to accurately and reliably perform tasks which were previously only possible with manual operators, said Bota Systems.

“At RoboBusiness, we will showcase our latest advancements in force-torque sensing technology,” Klajd Lika, CEO of Bota Systems, told The Robot Report. “Advancements in AI and machine learning promise to simplify robot programming, potentially increasing adoption even among users without robotics backgrounds, though challenges remain.”

“Robotics data, primarily from sensors measuring motion, is limited,” he added. “By capturing data that gives us information about the dynamic state of the robots, such as internal and external forces and tactile data, we can enhance training and inference efficiency.”

“We look forward to discussing how our technology will be shaping the future of robotics and why it is the ‘native language’ of robots that is hiding unlimited potential, at this year’s event,” said Lika.

See innovative sensors firsthand

RoboBusiness attendees will have an opportunity to see Bota Systems’ latest SensONE T80 force-torque sensor. It is the latest in the company’s SensONE line of lightweight six-axis force torque sensors for collaborative robots.

“This sensor is engineered to cover high sensitivity on the full payload range of large cobots, offering new possibilities for high-demand applications such as heavy palletizing and welding,” said Martin Wermelinger, head of robotics at Bota Systems. “We look forward to demonstrating how it will drive greater precision and efficiency in these and other complex tasks.”

Bota Systems said its SensONE sensors enable human-machine interaction and can provide force, vision, and inertia data. They can be used in a variety of industrial applications, including rehabilitation with robotic systems, precision assembly, product testing, polishing and grinding, and robotic-assisted surgery. 

Meet with Bota Systems and more at RoboBusiness

In addition to perception and other enabling technologies, RoboBusiness will focus on robotics innovation, and business and investment topics related to running a robotics company. Keynotes at the event will feature:

• Rodney Brooks, co-founder and chief technology officer at Robust AI, as well as co-founder of iRobot and Rethink Robotics
• Sergey Levine, co-founder of Physical Intelligence and an associate professor at UC Berkeley
• Claire Delaunay, chief technology officer at farm-ng
• Torrey Smith, co-founder and CEO of Endiatx
• A panel on driving robotics innovation with ABB, DHL, NVIDIA, and Teradyne

RoboBusiness will include more than 70 speakers, over 100 exhibitors and demos on the expo floor, 10+ hours of dedicated networking time, the Pitchfire Robotics Startup Competition, a Women in Robotics Luncheon, and more.

RoboBusiness is co-located with DeviceTalks West, which focuses on the design and development of medical devices. Thousands of robotics practitioners from around the world will convene at the Santa Clara Convention Center, so register now to ensure your spot!

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The researchers’ robotic finger contains conductive fiber coils and a twisted liquid-metal fiber at the fingertip. | Source: Hongbo Wang

Researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China said they have developed a soft robotic “finger” with a sense of touch that can perform routine doctor office examinations, including taking a patient’s pulse and checking for abnormal lumps.

The scientists said this technology could make it easier for doctors to detect diseases like breast cancer early, when they are more treatable. It could also put patients at ease during physical exams that can seem uncomfortable and invasive.

“By further development to improve its efficiency, we also believe that a dexterous hand made of such fingers can act as a ‘Robodoctor’ in a future hospital, like a physician,” stated Hongbo Wang, a sensing technologies researcher at the University of Science and Technology of China and an author of the study.

“Combined with machine learning, automatic robotic examination and diagnosis can be achieved, particularly beneficial for these undeveloped areas where there is a serious shortage in health workers,” he said.

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Robotic finger is delicate enough for human contact

While rigid robotic fingers already exist, experts have raised concerns that these devices might not be up to the delicate tasks required in a doctor’s office setting. Some have pointed to potential safety issues, including a fear that overzealous robotic fingers could rupture lumps during examinations. 

More recently, scientists have developed lightweight, safe, and low-cost soft robotics that can recreate the movements of human hands. However, these devices typically haven’t been able to sense the complex properties of objects they touch the way real fingers do.

“Despite the remarkable progress in the last decade, most soft fingers presented in the literature still have substantial gaps compared to human hands,” the authors wrote. By contrast, robotic fingers have not been ready to handle real-world scenarios, they said.

To overcome this challenge, the University of Science and Technology of China developed a simple device that contains conductive fiber coils with two parts. One is a coil wound on each air chamber of the device’s bending actuators, and the other is a twisted liquid metal fiber mounted at the fingertip. This way, the device could perceive an object’s properties as effectively as human touch.

The robotic finger is designed to be soft and sensitive enough for medical diagnosis. Source: Hongbo Wang

Researchers put soft finger to the test

To test the device, the researchers started by brushing a feather against its fingertip.

“The magnified view clearly shows the resistance change, indicating its high sensitivity in force sensing,” the authors wrote.

Next, they tapped and pushed the fingertip with a glass rod and repeatedly bent the finger, observing that the device’s sensors accurately perceived the type and quantity of force they applied.

To test the finger’s medical chops, they mounted it on a robotic arm and watched as it identified three lumps embedded in a large silicone sheet, pressing on them like a doctor would. While mounted on the robotic arm, the finger also correctly located an artery on a participant’s wrist and took their pulse.

“Humans can easily recognize the stiffness of diverse objects by simply pressing it with their finger,” said the researchers. “Similarly, since the [device] has the ability to sense both its bending deformation and the force at the fingertip, it can detect stiffness similar to our human hand by simply pressing an object.”

In addition to taking pulses and examining simulated lumps, the researchers found that the robotic finger can type “like a human hand,” spelling out the word “hello.”

Additional sensors provide even more flexibility in the robotic finger’s joints. They allow the device to move in multiple directions like a human finger, so it may be ready to perform effective and efficient medical examinations in the near future, the team concluded.

“We hope to develop an intelligent, dexterous hand, together with a sensorized artificial muscle-driven robotic arm, to mimic the unparalleled functions and fine manipulations of the human hands,” said Wang.

This work was published in the Cell Press journal Cell Reports Physical Science.

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One of ABB’s healthcare initiatives was its partnership with XtalPi, where it helped build automated laboratory workstations. | Source: ABB Robotics

With each passing year, labor shortages and complexity increase for the healthcare industry. From pharmacies to hospitals, businesses are struggling to find and keep qualified workers. At the same time, advances in research mean that laboratory and medical procedures require greater speed and precision. ABB Robotics asserted this week that robotics and automation can help solve these problems. 

While there are many emerging industries for robotics, including food service and retail, healthcare is particularly promising, noted Jose Manual Collados, service robotics product line manager at ABB. 

“Some years ago, we already saw that we’ve been leading the revolution of logistics with the Amazons and online commerce. And today, logistics is the largest market for robotics,” he said during a MassRobotics webinar. “But there are new segments, and we believe that life sciences and healthcare is a new field for robotics.”

When ABB first started working with healthcare providers, the company already had years of experience with the pharmaceutical industry and medical device manufacturers, said Collados. However, it wanted to take a more structured approach.

So, ABB Robotics built a dedicated team to determine what the healthcare industry needed, what processes could be changed, and where it fit in.

“There are many opportunities. Of course, we are all aware of surgical robots, which are amazing technology,” Collados said. “But how, for ABB, for industrial companies, can we be relevant in this field?”

What is driving automation in the healthcare industry?

The healthcare industry encompasses more than hospital wards. It includes research, development, and production of pharmaceuticals, as well as medical device design and manufacturing, not to mention the supply chain that serves facilities, workers, and ultimately patients.

Click here to enlarge. Source: MassRobotics

So, between all of these facets of the sector, there are many opportunities for robotics. Opportunity, however, isn’t enough to get robots out into the world. Collados also identified several drivers pushing the healthcare industry to consider automation. 

“We have an elderly population, we have the rising cost of healthcare, and we have more advanced healthcare, treatments, and personalized medicine. So, it’s getting more complex. There are more choices that we need to make to treat more patients,” Collados said. “At the same time, the technology is evolving.”

“There is a need and a willingness from healthcare service companies to find solutions. So we believe that if we work together and we really focus on these drivers, we will be able to have a better service for all of us. And there are opportunities to improve the system, we believe that robotics can be part of that solution,” Collados continued.

ABB aids in pharmaceutical research

Collados highlighted a few ABB use cases to showcase robotics potential in the industry. First, he looked at a recent project ABB completed with the Texas Medical Center, Texas Children’s Hospital, and Baylor University. At Texas Children’s Hospital, researchers study fruit flies, which share a great deal of DNA with humans. 

“Looking into fruit flies, we can understand the effect of different genes or how cerebral palsy can affect genetic diseases like Alzheimer’s or Huntington’s disease,” Collados said.

To keep these flies alive while studying them, researchers need to move them into new vials containing food every 30 days. A typical lab maintains around 20,000 vials, meaning researchers spend 20% of a workday “flipping flies” by placing a vial containing the fly stock over a vial with fresh food, and then tapping it to drop the flies.

ABB created an automated workstation featuring its dual-arm YuMi collaborative robot to flip these vials instead. 

“The challenge in that project was really that the equipment was not fit for automation,” said Collados. “So you need a robot that is able to sense and feel what it was touching, and we were able to do that.”

In another example, ABB helped Boston-based XtalPi build mobile manipulation workcells for its custom-built labs. XtalPi uses artificial intelligence to accelerate chemical research. In the past, it worked with Pfizer on the Paxlovid COVID-19 vaccine, among other projects.

“By using robots, automation, and the AI brain, it was able to reduce the time of the chemical stability test,” Collados said. “For this drug, it would normally take six months. They did it in two weeks.”

Robotics for pharmacy fulfillment

ABB also sees potential in using robots to speed up healthcare logistics. For example, the company has worked with the Seventh People’s Hospital in Shanghai, where its robots are helping to fill pharmacy orders.

“In China, there is a new regulation that is requiring the people working in the pharmacy to have university training, and there are issues in some hospitals,” Collados said.

This new regulation has resulted in a shortage of qualified pharmacy workers. Without workers to fill prescriptions, people who need medication could go without crucial care. 

“In this case, we are using the FlexBuffer storage and retrieval system, which is taking boxes outside of the storage system and in front of that robot that has item picker software,” Collados explained. “This is 3D vision combined with AI, and another IRB 2600 ABB robot is able to pick the right drug and separate the prescription for a certain patient.”

Robotics providers must comprehend healthcare constraints

While ABB sees a lot of potential for robotics in the healthcare industry, vendors need to understand its constraints, said Collados. 

“We believe that in order to be relevant in this industry, we need to be very much aware we are working in a very sensitive area,” he noted. “We need to have robots that have the right preparation, the right certification, and they need to be compatible with the environment.”

In addition, ABB understands that automation is still new to many healthcare workers. This means any technology that can make robots easier to use and understand, like AI, will be key to implementation. 

“We are coming into environments where it’s not an automotive factory that has 2,000 robots,” Collados said. “It’s a laboratory that will have one or two and maybe many different applications, and that job that the people are doing is not focused on the automation.”

Editor’s notes: John Bubnikovich, president of ABB Robotics, will be participating in a keynote panel on “Driving the Future of Robotics Innovation” at RoboBusiness 2024, which will be on Oct. 16 and 17 in Santa Clara, Calif.

RoboBusiness will be co-located with DeviceTalks West, which focuses on medical devices.

Applications are open for the latest cohort of the MassRobotics Healthcare Robotics Catalyst until Nov. 1.

Register now

The post ABB discusses the evolving role of robotics in healthcare appeared first on The Robot Report.

GelSight & Flexxbotics are partnering for robot-enabled nondestructive testing. | Source: GelSight, Flexxbotics

GelSight has partnered with Flexxbotics to jointly provide a system for nondestructive testing, or NDT, with autonomous process control. It incorporates GelSight’s tactile sensing technology into Flexxbotics’ controls for robotic machine tending. The companies said the system provides precise quality inspection and digital thread traceability that can reduce time to inspect by 40% or more.

“In a lot of high-value manufacturing cases, like aerospace or medical, a lot of work around inspection has, for some reason, remained in the domain of very manual and analog types of processes,” Youssef Benmokhtar, CEO of GelSight, told The Robot Report.

“So the real value add that we bring, together with Flexxbotics, is the ability to completely automate a workflow that is today done using completely human-centric, analog, non-repeatable inspection techniques,” he added.

Customer needs drive partnership

GelSight and Flexxbotics said their partnership began with looking at the needs of their shared customers. According to Tyler Bouchard, the co-founder and CEO of Flexxbotics, customers are increasingly looking for an inspection product that is completely vertically integrated with their existing systems.

“For most of the customers that we’re talking with, the major thing that they’re looking for is higher throughput, so we’re reducing that through cutting downtime, higher yield,” he told The Robot Report. “They want to make sure that they’re reducing scrap and making sure that you’re adhering to your process every single time.”

In addition, many of the companies’ customers were experiencing labor shortages. 

“We hear it from customers all the time. At least in North America and the Western world, it’s a very common problem,” Benmokhtar said. “Lots of our customers are saying, ‘I need to automate my process because I cannot find enough technicians that are qualified.’ This is true for aerospace, which is a strong market as us, but I’ve heard in medical as well.”

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GelSight measures surfaces on the production line

Based on inventions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, GelSight’s proprietary technology provides detailed and rapid surface characterization. This enables several surface measurement applications and tactile sensing capabilities, claimed the Waltham, Mass.-based company.

GelSight said its its elastomeric 3D imaging systems can map surface finish and defects on any material at the micron level.

By combining this tactile sensing with Flexxbotics’ communications systems, customers can rapidly perform hundreds of precision measurements on the production line, the companies said. Without automation, end users have to manually transport parts to use specialized lab equipment or rely on outside laboratory services.

The GelSight Mini is a 3D tactile sensor that offers high touch resolution. | Source: GelSight

Flexxbotics coordinates for decision making

Flexxbotics said it provides interoperable communication between the robots and GelSight devices to coordinate the entire process. The Boston-based company noted that its tools can also connect directly with existing business systems in the plant including the CAD/PLM, QMS, industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and others for closed-loop quality compliance.

Bouchard said the joint system works by taking the information gathered by GelSight and creating a closed feedback loop within the robot itself. Flexxbotics is tasked with determining the decision-making for the robot, he said. 

“There are situations where it’s a dedicated inspection, where the robot is just working directly with GelSight,” said Bouchard. “In other situations, we actually are working with GelSight in line with other machining processes. So we can take that inspection information from GelSight and then through the robot, then coordinate what needs to happen on the machine.”

Companies agree that collaboration is key to growth

GeklSight and Flexxbotic said they envision a variety of use cases for their joint system. Their initial target industries include aerospace, defense, medical devices, automotive, and other industries where measurement accuracy is critical in tight tolerance processing.

The latest sensors and communications enable manufacturers to use industrial and collaborative robots to dramatically speed up inspection processes, increase throughput, and improve margins, they said.

Benmokhtar and Bouchard agreed that their collaboration is indicative of larger trends within the industry. 

“Success for a company like us, honestly, only comes through partnerships,” said Benmokhtar. “In order for our sensing technology to be broadly adopted, you have to partner with others that are complementing your offering to really meet what the customers want.”

“We have a strategy at the company around building a very strong network of partnerships not only with Flexxbotics, but also with others that bring complimentary solutions to our technology,” he said.

Flexxbotics and GelSight work with feedback

Flexxbotics and GelSight said their systems are already in use in manufacturing and in forensics and robotics research labs around the world. Both companies said they plan to continue collaborating and improving their technologies. 

“At GelSight, we’re working on continuing to improve our sensor offering through miniaturization, and improving its capabilities and the kinds of inspections you can do,” Benmokhtar said. 

Flexxbotics is also interested in creating AI models using the data it has been gathering. Bouchard said that the industry is currently in a reactive state: The robot takes in feedback and then adjusts what it’s doing according to this feedback.

But with AI, Flexxbotics said it should be able to tell a robot or operator what to do before something happens.

“Because we have all the contextualized data and information that’s happening within the workcell, related to robot inspection and machinery equipment, we’re starting to use that data to create models now that are providing what we’re calling scripted adaptations,” Bouchard said.

Before companies can benefit from Flexxbotics and GelSight’s testing automation, they must first have a clear understanding of what they want to achieve, said Bouchard and Benmokhtar. 

“Establish what your business outcomes are. That’s the most important thing,” Bouchard said. “Once you have that understanding, then we can help you derive what are the operational, and, more importantly, because of our specialties, the technical requirements that are needed to achieve those business outcomes.”

The post GelSight, Flexxbotics to offer joint system for robotic nondestructive testing appeared first on The Robot Report.

From design and testing to deployment, there are plenty of ways to fine-tune automation systems. Source: Adobe Stock

Experienced design engineers can certainly estimate cycle times, throughput, quality, and uptime. However, the complexity of processes and associated controls leave plenty of room for fine-tuning during engineering and after installing automation systems.

Note that optimization is not the same as continuous improvement. Optimization is refinement conducted on a current process, whereas “continuous improvement” generally refers to changes to the process or systems. These can be done concurrently, but it is best to optimize first and then concentrate on continuous improvement.

The post How to optimize automation systems during and after installation appeared first on The Robot Report.

AMD said its processors enable robotic surgery such as with Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci system. Source: AMD

The need for robotic surgery is well established, but most systems are still costly to purchase, operate, and maintain, noted Advanced Micro Devices Inc. The company said its technologies can help control those costs, and AMD is already working with leading surgical robot providers.

In 2021, almost 644,000 robotic surgeries were performed in the U.S., and that number could reach 1 million in 2028, according to the National Library of Medicine (NLM).

The global market for robot-assisted surgery could grow to $83 billion by 2032, predicted Noah Medical. However, many technical and regulatory hurdles remain to increasing autonomy, noted MDPI Sensors, and cost is a major consideration for adoption.

Surgical robots and related technologies are moving along Gartner’s “hype cycle.” Source: MDPI Sensors

AMD positions itself in the healthcare tech stack

“AMD is one of the fastest-growing semiconductor companies and has grown substantially in the healthcare space,” said Subhankar Bhattacharya, lead for healthcare and sciences at AMD. “We have a wide portfolio of processors, FPGAs, GPUs, CPUs, SoCs, PLCs, and programmable I/Os. They’re used in industrial automation, automotive, gaming, servers and data centers, and increasingly in healthcare.”

Bhattacharya has an electrical engineering background and worked for Intel, Sun, and PMC. He later worked on software-as-a-service (SaaS) for hospitals; with pharmaceutical company Novartis on medical devices; and with GE Digital on the Internet of Things (IoT), healthcare, and cybersecurity.

After working at Xilinx, which AMD acquired in 2022, Bhattacharya has seen the applicability of high-performance computing to robotic surgery.

“The FDA used to be very conservative, but it has started a new group for software as a medical device to consider these products in medical devices, which were previously under OEM’s perspective,” he told The Robot Report. “That opens up the technology, making artificial intelligence appears in almost every phase of the industry, from the devices themselves and ECR [electronic case reporting] to surgical robots.”

AMD makes processors for data centers, gaming, PCs, and increasingly embedded computing such as surgical robots. Source: AMD

Pandemic propels telemedicine, robotic surgery

“COVID-19 was a major market-changer,” observed Bhattacharya. “If you looked at emerging trends in PoC [point-of-care] for AI, remote patient monitoring, telemedicine, and robotic surgery, they were projected in 2012 to grow, but it wasn’t happening. COVID gave a boost to these, and people saw with their own eyes how effective something like point-of-care ultrasound could be in saving lives.”

He cited the example of Clarius, an AMD customer that built a handheld device with AI capabilities for local physicians without sonography experience. They can now check complaints of back pain for potential cancer and then refer patients as needed to hospitals in cities.

“AMD is building adaptive SoCs [system-on-chips] that have low latency and high-speed data processing from the edge,” Bhattacharya said. “Once AI developers have trained models, they can do a lot more with inferencing with smaller devices.”

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Intuitive Surgical robots get improved sensing, controls

“Diagnostic medical imaging has been AMD’s strength — in cart-based care, ultrasound, diagnostic endoscopy, and signal processing,” asserted Bhattacharya. “In robotics, we’re the market leader, and we’ve been working with Intuitive Surgical since 2010.”

The company‘s Xilinx unit worked with Intuitive Surgical to design the second-generation da Vinci robotic surgical system. Last year, more than 7,500 da Vinci systems were in use in 69 countries, said the NLM.

“Intuitive has built up its IP [intellectual property] with design and reuse potential,” Bhattacharya said. “In its surgeon side-cart AR/VR [augmented/virtual reality] system, a visualization system processes the image signal and makes it available for the next set of modules.”

“On the multi-arm robot side, nurses control the technologies with SoCs, and back-end video systems use not just one or two of our products but 30 to 50 per each da Vinci X or Xi multiport and single-port system,” he said. “The da Vinci 5 is a significant step forward in terms of haptic feedback.”

Xilinx reported favorable results, and the da Vinci 5 this year obtained U.S. Food and Drug Administration and European CE clearance. 

Processors enable a range of medical devices

Reliable data processing is not only necessary for high-end surgical robots, but it can also help less-expensive devices, said Bhattacharya.

“Capable hardware allows customers to scale software as they build up — we’ve provided SoCs to $10,000 to $150,000 machines,” he said. “For small and midsize enterprises, the ability to build and reuse app code is the secret sauce for developers.”

Bhattacharya touted the density of AMD’s FPGA (field-programmable gate array), its fast memory access, and the ability of adaptive SoCs to partition-load to various blocks for programmability and upgradeability.

“For example, a large CT or ultrasound scanner can acquire signals with an analog/digital interface, then use beamforming to move the data to the host for rendering and visualization,” he explained.

The right processors can reduce latency and help accelerate development of medical devices such as endoscopes and surgical robots. AMD said its heterogeneous approach to specialized and adaptable computing allows developers to choose from a range of systems for real-time visualization and multi-axis robot controls.

“With a bigger device and our Embedded+ offering — an x86 processor next to one of our high-end Versal adaptive SoCs with PCI Express in between — we can help cut 10 months off development time and provide software for moving data and partitioning,” Bhattacharya said.

AI to improve the quality of robotic surgery

“Robot-assisted surgery provides a clear advantage of smaller incisions and faster recovery,” said Bhattacharya. “The preferred approach of the FDA is to use AI to improve productivity while minimizing risk, so we still see a lot of assistance rather than AI making decisions.”

In addition to diagnostics, AI and machine learning can improve contrast or add filters for surgical robot displays, which don’t require FDA approval, he noted. Ultrasound also provides guidance on how to position a probe.

“Another use of is AI is for training. I was at a radiological conference, and a demo showed the layman where to put a device to take a report on the carotid artery,” Bhattacharya recalled. “Improving PoC training is low-hanging fruit, but it’s extremely important for medicine.”

Another area where AMD’s processors can enable AI and improve care is in imaging of small lesions to detect skin cancer at early stages, he said.

In the future, AI could even enable PoC surgery, but cybersecurity and surgeon oversight are still necessary for robotic and laparoscopic procedures, acknowledged Bhattacharya.

The post Robotic surgery to benefit from advanced processors and AI, says AMD appeared first on The Robot Report.

The HAND project at the new Engineering Research Center will develop dexterous robot hands to assist with manufacturing and more. | Source: Northwestern University

The human hand is made up of 27 bones, 27 joints, 34 muscles, and more than 100 ligaments and tendons. With all of that hardware, it’s no surprise that roboticists have struggled to equal that level of dexterity. With a $26 million grant from the National Science Foundation, Northwestern University will launch a new Engineering Research Center, or ERC, focusing on improving the ability of robots to amplify human labor. 

The Human AugmentatioN via Dexterity (HAND) ERC plans to develop a robot hand with the dexterity to assist humans with manufacturing, caregiving, handling precious or dangerous materials, and more. The center said its goal is to build robots capable of intelligent and versatile grasping, fine motor skills, and hand-eye coordination. It also intends to develop technologies that are versatile and easy to integrate. 

“This new NSF award is a historic milestone that builds on Northwestern’s well-recognized expertise in robotics and human-machine systems,” stated Eric Perreault, vice president for research at Northwestern University. “The HAND proposal is bold and visionary.”

“It will have a long-lasting, positive effect on manufacturing, food processing, healthcare and many other areas that rely on dexterous manipulation,” he added. “Ed Colgate, Kevin Lynch, and their exceptional colleagues across Northwestern have built a world-class team of industrial and academic partners to ensure this cutting-edge research creates practical outcomes.”

The NSF grant will fund the new center across five years, with the ability to renew for another $26 million for an additional five years. This marks the first ERC led by the university.

Core partners include Carnegie Mellon University, Florida A&M, and Texas A&M. Additional faculty support is coming from Syracuse University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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Researchers plan to improve robot utility  

While robots already play an important role in manufacturing and can improve workers’ job quality and raise their wages, Colgate said their full potential has been limited. Developing robotic hands that are as versatile and dexterous as human hands will enable robots to expand human capabilities and boost industry competitiveness, he said.

But dexterity isn’t the new center’s only goal. The researchers said they also want to ensure that new robotic hands are inexpensive, easy to operate without expertise, robust, durable, and ready for mass production. The robotics researchers plan to work across disciplines to engage experts in education, policy, and accessibility.

Northwestern touted potential benefits including increased worker productivity, improved job opportunities, reshoring of manufacturing, and reduced supply chain vulnerability. Other potential outcomes include enhanced food safety, improved quality of life, and democratization of technology.

The HAND ERC research is working to AI-powered dexterous skills. Source: Northwestern University

Researchers come from across Northwestern University

An expert in robots and haptics, J. Edward Colgate, a Walter P. Murphy Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering, will lead the center.

Kevin Lynch, a professor of mechanical engineering at McCormick and director of Northwestern’s Center for Robotics and Biosystems, will serve as the center’s research director.

Other collaborators at the university include McCormick’s Brenna Argall, Jian Cao, Matthew Elwin, Elizabeth Gerber, Todd Murphey, and Ryan Truby and the School of Education and Social Policy’s Lois Trautvetter.

About the ERC program

Since its founding in 1985, the ERC program has supported convergent research, education, and technology translation at U.S. universities. Each ERC unites members from academia, industry, and government to produce transformational engineered systems along with engineering graduates who are adept at innovation and primed for leadership in the global economy.

“NSF’s Engineering Research Centers ask big questions in order to catalyze solutions with far-reaching impacts,” said NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan.

“NSF Engineering Research Centers are powerhouses of discovery and innovation, bringing America’s great engineering minds to bear on our toughest challenges,” he said. “By collaborating with industry and training the workforce of the future, ERCs create an innovation ecosystem that can accelerate engineering innovations, producing tremendous economic and societal benefits for the nation.”

Since its founding in 1985, the NSF’s ERC program has funded 83 centers (including four announced this week) that receive support for up to 10 years. The centers build partnerships with educational institutions, government agencies, and industry stakeholders to support innovation and inclusion in established and emerging engineering research.

The post NSF awards Northwestern with $26M for dexterous hand research appeared first on The Robot Report.

Register now to get early bird pricing for RoboBusiness 2024.

Today is the deadline for early bird registration for RoboBusiness 2024, the leading event focused on the development of commercial robots and robotics businesses. It will be on Oct. 16 and 17 in Santa Clara, Calif.

Register now to save $200 on full conference passes! Starting tomorrow, prices will increase from $595 to the regular rate of $795. 

Full passes include access to all RoboBusiness and DeviceTalks West sessions, the exhibit floor, the Engineering Theater, and post-event presentation downloads.

Student/academia admission will rise from $295 to $395, and expo-only attendee passes will go from $75 to $85. Similarly, full conference sponsor passes will increase from $595 to $795, and expo-only sponsor registration will go from $75 to $85.

RoboBusiness speaker highlights

This year’s keynote speakers include Rodney Brooks, co-founder of iRobot, Rethink Robotics, and Robust AI; Sergey Levine, co-founder of Physical Intelligence and associate professor at UC Berkeley; and Claire Delaunay, chief technology officer at farm-ng.

They will discuss topics such as improving collaboration in robotics, building robotic foundation models, and scaling autonomous agriculture. 

A keynote panel on “Driving the Future of Robotics Innovation” will include NVIDIA’s Amit Goel, ABB Robotics U.S.’s John Bubnikovich, Teradyne Robotics Ventures’ Eric Truebenbach, and DHL’s Joan-Wilhelm Schwarze.

In addition, RoboBusiness 2024 will feature sessions in tracks focusing on design and development, building a robotics business, enabling technologies, field robotics, and innovation. Conference presenters and panelists will explore the challenges of building outdoor robots, current investment trends, and motion-control fundamentals, among many other topics.

In the closing keynote, Torrey Smith, co-founder and CEO of Endiatx, will demonstrate his company’s swallowable robotic pill live on stage.

See robots and meet your peers

More than 150 exhibitors will demonstrate the latest technologies on the show floor at RoboBusiness 2024. It will also include the Engineering Theater and a new Robotics Startup Zone.

The popular Pitchfire startup competition will return on Wed., Oct. 16. Participants will briefly pitch their innovations to an expert panel. Several past winners have gone on to successful commercialization.

RoboBusiness attendees will have several opportunities to network around the Santa Clara Convention Center. Tickets are free for the networking reception on Wednesday, Oct. 16, but attendees must opt in during registration.

Add on-tickets are available to early bird registrants for the welcome reception on Tuesday, Oct. 15, and the Women in Robotics Luncheon on Thursday, Oct. 17.

Networking events at RoboBusiness 2024 will include a Women in Robotics luncheon.

Register now for early bird pricing for RoboBusiness 2024

To take advantage of early bird pricing for RoboBusiness, register now!

RoboBusiness will be co-located with DeviceTalks West, which focuses on the medical device industry. WTWH Media produces RoboBusiness, DeviceTalks, and the Robotics Summit & Expo. It also publishes The Robot Report, Automated Warehouse, and Collaborative Robotics Trends.

Sponsorships are also still available. Questions regarding exhibiting and sponsorship opportunities should be directed to Colleen Sepich at csepich[AT]wtwhmedia.com.

See the latest developer tools and robots at RoboBusiness.

The post Early bird registration ends today for RoboBusiness 2024 appeared first on The Robot Report.

The nonprofit ARM Institute said it intends to be an honest broker between robotics and manufacturing stakeholders. | Source: ARM Institute

The Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing, or ARM, Institute today selected six new technology projects for funding. These projects came from the ARM Institute’s 24-01 Technology Project Call, which centered on the following topics: multi-modal inputs for AI robotics in manufacturing, rapid re-tasking and robot agility, multi-robot and multi-human collaboration, and virtual commissioning of advanced robotic systems.

The institute plans to award around $2.9 million in project funding, for a total contribution of approximately $6.1 million across these six projects. To date, the Pittsburgh-based organization said it has catalyzed more than 100 robotics technology and workforce development projects. 

“The ARM Institute congratulates these project teams on their selection,” stated Dr. Chuck Brandt, chief technology officer of the ARM Institute. “These projects epitomize the importance of enabling collaboration between diverse organizations to address areas of need in manufacturing. The ARM Institute is honored to enable collaboration between these groups and support these important projects.”

The consortium said its projects aim to bridge gaps between industry, government, and academia for innovations in robotics and artificial intelligence to strengthen U.S. competitiveness. By releasing project calls to its membership of more than 400 organizations, the ARM Institute said it connects groups that otherwise would not collaborate to advance technologies that address manufacturing challenges.

1. Automated T-shirt assembly system

Apparel manufacturing is an industry ripe for automation, making it a strategic focus for the ARM Institute. Robotics and automation could be key to re-shoring apparel manufacturing, which could create more U.S. jobs, it added.

In the past, the institute has funded several robotics projects centered on apparel manufacturing, with each building on prior outputs and lessons learned. This project will design, develop, and test a robotic system that automates six operations involved in T-shirt manufacturing to demonstrate the feasibility of automating garment sewing in a factory environment. 

Henderson Sewing Machine Company Inc. is leading this project as the principal investigator. Its project team includes HanesBrands Inc., Apparel Robotics, the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Interface Technologies, and MassRobotics. 

2. Demonstration of rapid TPC welding at scale 

Lightweight carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites (TPCs) can meet the high-rate demands of the aerospace market, while also providing sustainability benefits. These features will make it an important material in the future of the market.

One challenge, but also a key enabler of high-rate TPC manufacturing is welding, the ARM Institute said. A prior project, called Rapid Welding of Thermoplastic Composite Structures, showed that robotic continuous ultrasonic welding can increase the speed of induction.

This project will build on the outputs from the prior project to scale it to production use. RTX Technology Research Center is the principal investigator, and the team includes Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Wason Technology LLC, and Collins Aerospace. 

3. Fixtureless robotic assembly and manufacturing environment (FRAME) 2.0

This project will build on the outputs from the ARM Institute-funded FRAME project. FRAME is a fixtureless high-mix/low-volume (HMLV) manufacturing cell.

The institute said it has widespread applicability to both defense and commercial manufacturing challenges. By enabling humans and robots to collaborate, the project’s goal is to increase efficiency, reduce downtime, and increase call yield. 

FRAME 2.0 will address a wider range of part sizes and complex assembly scenarios and advancing the project into a functional pilot line. Lockheed Martin is the project’s principal investigator. The University of Southern California (USC), CMU, and Yaskawa Robotics make up the project team.

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4. Adaptive insertion of automotive parts using multi-modal AI

In automotive, aerospace, and consumer electronics, adaptive insertion is performed by humans. This is because the task requires whoever does it to apply and adjust the force in real time to insert asymmetrical, oddly shaped objects successfully.

The ARM Institute said a key enabler for the adoption of autonomous adaptive insertion systems is a multi-modal AI that uses real-time information from sensors, combined with novel machine learning (ML) techniques. It also uses new edge-computing techniques to adaptively insert parts of varying shapes, sizes, and weights needed for assembling items within different industries.

This project seeks to integrate multi-modal AI inputs, ML algorithms, new computing techniques, and sensors. It plans to create a system to enable robots to operate flexibly in adaptive insertion applications.

The principal investigator of the project is ThoughtForge AI, and the project team is made up of Siemens and Magna International. 

5. Automated finishing of castings: Parting line grinding

Led by CapSen Robotics, this project aims to automate the manual finishing process of metal casting. The ARM Institute said metal casting offers flexibility in a component’s size, shape, and material and often operates in the low-volume, high-mix manufacturing scenarios.

Castings, however, often have high-variable features/defects that need to be removed or post-processed. Finishing processes today are typically completed manually due to variability, but these manual processes can lead to errors, higher costs, and slower speeds.

This project team plans to develop a robotic finishing cell that autonomously finishes castings. The system will image the cast component, reconstruct a 3D model of the part, identify parting line flash, and create a tool path and motion plan for performing the grinding operation. It will also execute robotic grinding – all with limited human intervention and no explicit CNC programming.

The project team is made up of The Ohio State University (OSU), SwRI, and Yaskawa Robotics.

6. Agile robotic path planning for spray coating of complex geometry

First-time quality is difficult to achieve in current high tolerance, large, complex robotic coatings applications within the defense industrial base, said the ARM Institute. This can lead to excessive manual rework, re-programming, and increased product lead times, it said.

Challenges with mapping complex surface geometries to ensure surface coverage without overspray onto other surfaces make the coating and finishing of complex geometry parts difficult. This project team will seek to create autonomous robotic path-planning software for the coating and finishing of complex geometry that can use metrology data.

This project is led by Northrop Grumman Corp., and the project team includes Manufacturing Automation Systems (MAS) and OSU. 

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