CEO Julia Astrid Riemenschneider (left) and COO Franziska Lorenz of Rethink Robotics. | Source: Rethink Robotics

Six years after closing its doors, Rethink Robotics Inc. relaunched in September with a new line of collaborative robot arms, autonomous mobile robots, and a mobile manipulator. Today, the company unveiled its new leadership team. Effective immediately, Julia Astrid Riemenschneider has been appointed chief executive officer, and Franziska Lorenz is chief operations officer.

Top priorities for Riemenschneider and Lorenz will include delivering innovative technologies in collaborative robots, overseeing the installation of Rethink Robotics’ North American headquarters, and expanding the team. By the end of 2025, the company plans to triple its team size, open a U.S. headquarters, and relocate robot production from Europe to the U.S.

“There is huge opportunity for our products in the North American manufacturing market, and we are excited to be working on our first installations as we grow our network of partners, distributors, and integrators,” said Riemenschneider. “I am honored to be in the position to lead a team that will challenge the status quo, help manufacturers solve challenges through automation, and empower our business partners for sustainable growth.”

In the 10 years Rethink Robotics was in operation before it shut down in 2018, it raised $150 million and released the well-known Baxter and Sawyer cobots. After shutting down, German automation and robotics specialist HAHN Group acquired the IP and trademarks for Rethink’s Sawyer cobot and Intera software.

Now, Rethink is under the United Robotics Group umbrella of HAHN Group.

The company’s newly introduced product line includes collaborative robots in payloads ranging from 7 to 30 kg (15 to 66 lb.), two autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), and a mobile manipulator robot (MMR). Rethink said it designed the robots for increased precision, speed, and reliability, making them highly capable for industrial applications.

Riemenschneider and Lorenz take the reins at Rethink 

The new Reacher collaborative robot arms from Rethink Robotics. | Credit: Rethink Robotics

As CEO, Riemenschneider, M.Sc., is responsible for managing all customer-facing related departments, including marketing, sales, business development, product development, and application engineering. She brings more than 10 years of business development experience in industrial automation.

Prior to Rethink Robotics, Riemenschneider grew the business-development organization for United Robotics Group in Europe and the U.S. She previously worked in the U.S. for an international sensor manufacturer. This followed Europe-based business-development roles with a machine vision manufacturer and collaborative robot market leader Universal Robots.

Lorenz was previously responsible for corporate development and compliance at HAHN Automation Group, United Robotics Group, and Schenck Process Group. She holds a master’s degree in international business administration. Lorenz said she brings extensive international experience from her studies and professional work in Italy, Spain, and Mexico.

“With Rethink Robotics being based in the U.S., we are excited to create high-tech American jobs,” stated Lorenz. “It is our goal to provide opportunities for motivated and experienced talents to rethink and employ collaborative robots to help solve today’s manufacturing challenges.”

She recently spent 18 months at Robotnik, a manufacturer of indoor and outdoor mobile robots in Valencia, Spain. Lorenz managed its integration into United Robotics Group. She has managed numerous company acquisitions and is an expert in developing strategies and implementing organizational structures.

In addition, Rethink said Lorenz brings extensive administrative expertise to her role. In her new role as chief operations officer, Lorenz will be managing the company‘s human resources, finance, production, and service units. She said she is “looking forward to creating a diverse team as the foundation of success.”

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AWS and Isaac Sim can help accelerate robotics development, says NVIDIA.

NVIDIA Corp. today announced at AWS re:Invent enhanced tools for robotics developers, as well as the availability of NVIDIA DGX Cloud on Amazon Web Services and offerings for artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

The company said that NVIDIA Isaac Sim is now available on NVIDIA L40S graphics processing units (GPUs) in Amazon Elastic Cloud Computing (EC2) G6e instances. It said this could double scaling robotics simulation and accelerate AI model training. Isaac Sim is a reference application built on NVIDIA Omniverse for developers to simulate and test AI-driven robots in physically based virtual environments.

With NVIDIA OSMO, a cloud-native orchestration platform, developers can easily manage their complex robotics workflows across their AWS computing infrastructure, claimed the company.

“This combination of NVIDIA-accelerated hardware and software — available on the cloud — allows teams of any size to scale their physical AI workflows,” wrote Akhil Docca, senior product marketing manager for Omniverse at NVIDIA.

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What is ‘physical AI?’

According to NVIDIA, “physical AI” describes AI models that can understand and interact with the physical world. The company said it “embodies the next wave of autonomous machines,” such as self-driving cars, industrial manipulators, mobile robots, humanoids, and even robot-run infrastructure like factories and warehouses.

With physical AI, developers are embracing a “three-computer solution” for training, simulation, and inference to make breakthroughs, NVIDIA said. Yet physical AI for robotics systems requires robust training datasets to achieve precision inference in deployment. Developing such datasets and testing them in real situations can be impractical and costly.

Simulation offers an answer, as it can accelerate the training, testing and deployment of AI-driven robots, the company asserted.

L40S GPUs in the cloud offer to scale simulation, training

Developers can use simulation to verify, validate, and optimize robot designs as well as the systems and their algorithms before deployment, said NVIDIA. It added that simulation can optimize facility and system designs before construction or remodeling starts for maximum efficiencies, reducing costly manufacturing change orders.

Amazon EC2 G6e instances accelerated by NVIDIA L40S GPUs can double performance over the prior architecture, while allowing the flexibility to scale as scene and simulation complexity grows, NVIDIA said. Roboticists can use these instances to train many computer vision models that power AI-driven robots.

This means the same instances can be extended for various tasks, from data generation and simulation to model training. NVIDIA added that OSMO allows teams to orchestrate and scale complex robotics development workflows across distributed computing resources, whether on premises or in the AWS cloud.

NVIDIA said Isaac Sim can foster collaboration and critical workflows, such as generating synthetic data for perception model training.

A reference workflow combines NVIDIA Omniverse Replicator, a framework for building custom synthetic data generation (SDG) pipelines and a core extension of Isaac Sim, with NVIDIA NIM microservices. With it, developers can build generative AI-enabled SDG pipelines, it said.

These include the USD Code NIM microservice for generating Python USD code and answering OpenUSD queries, plus the USD Search NIM microservice for exploring OpenUSD assets using natural language or image inputs.

The Edify 360 HDRi NIM microservice can generate 360-degree environment maps, while the Edify 3D NIM microservice can create ready-to-edit 3D assets from text or image prompts. Generative AI can thus ease the synthetic data generation process by reducing many tedious and manual steps, from asset creation to image augmentation, said NVIDIA.

• Rendered.ai’s synthetic data engineering platform is integrated with Omniverse Replicator. It enables companies to generate synthetic data for computer vision models used in industries from security and intelligence to manufacturing and agriculture.
• SoftServe Inc., an IT consulting and digital services provider, uses Isaac Sim to generate synthetic data and validate robots used in vertical farming with Pfeifer & Langen, a leading European food producer.
• Tata Consultancy Services is building custom synthetic data generation pipelines to power its Mobility AI suite to address automotive and autonomous use cases by simulating real-world scenarios. Its applications include defect detection, end-of-line quality inspection, and hazard avoidance.

NVIDIA, AWS help robots learn in simulation

While Isaac Sim enables developers to test and validate robots in physically accurate simulation, Isaac Lab, an open-source robot learning framework built on Isaac Sim, provides a virtual playground for building robot policies that can run on AWS Batch. Because these simulations are repeatable, developers can troubleshoot and reduce the number of cycles required for validation and testing, said NVIDIA.

The company cited robotics startups that are already using Isaac Sim on AWS: 

• Field AI is building robot foundation models to enable robots to autonomously manage a wide range of industrial processes. It uses Isaac Sim and Isaac Lab to evaluate the performance of these models in complex, unstructured environments in construction, manufacturing, oil and gas, mining, and more.
• Vention, which offers a full-stack cloud-based automation platform, is creating pretrained skills to ease development of robotic tasks, noted NVIDIA. It is using Isaac Sim to develop and test new capabilities for robot cells used by small to midsize manufacturers.
• Cobot offers Proxie, its AI-powered collaborative mobile manipulator. It uses Isaac Sim to enable the robot to adapt to dynamic environments, work alongside people, and streamline logistics in warehouses, hospitals, airports, and more.
• Standard Bots is simulating and validating the performance of its R01 robot used in manufacturing and machining setup.
• Swiss-Mile is using Isaac Sim and Isaac Lab for robot learning so that its wheeled quadruped robots can perform tasks autonomously with new levels of efficiency in factories and warehouses.
• Cohesive Robotics has integrated Isaac Sim into its software framework called Argus OS for developing and deploying robotic workcells used in high-mix manufacturing environments.
• Aescape’s robots are able to provide precision-tailored massages by accurately modeling and tuning the onboard sensors in Isaac Sim.

NVIDIA made other announcements in addition to the availability of Isaac Sim 4.2 on Amazon EC2 G6e Instances powered by NVIDIA L40S GPUs on AWS Marketplace.

It said that NVIDIA DGX Cloud can run on AWS for training AI models; that AWS liquid cooling is available for data centers using its Blackwell platform; and that NVIDIA BioNeMo NIM microservices and AI Blueprints, developed to advance drug discovery, are now integrated into AWS HealthOmics.

The company also said its latest AI Blueprints are available on AWS for video search and cybersecurity, the integration of NVIDIA CUDA-Q with Amazon Braket for quantum computing development, and RAPIDS Quick Start Notebooks on Amazon EMR.

The post AWS offers accelerated robotics simulation with NVIDIA appeared first on The Robot Report.

Here are the top 10 most popular stories on The Robot Report in the past month. Subscribe to The Robot Report Newsletter and listen to The Robot Report Podcast to stay up to date on the robotics developments you need to know about.

10. Europe has a key role to play in the development of robots, humanoids

While headlines often spotlight U.S. and Asian companies in the humanoid robotics race, startups in the tech hubs of Europe are making strides in developing human-like robots. From Norway to Switzerland, innovative European firms are pushing the boundaries of robotics technology, creating machines that can sense, feel, and interact with their environments in increasingly human-like ways. Read more.

9. Moxi reaches milestone of 100,000 autonomous elevator rides in hospitals

As development continues on humanoid robots, one mobile robot is already at work in hospitals. Diligent Robotics 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. Read more.

8. AeroVironment acquiring BlueHalo for $4.1B to boost defense tech

Defense contractor AeroVironment has agreed to acquire BlueHalo in an all-stock transaction worth approximately $4.1 billion. BlueHalo is best known for its drone swarm and counter-drone technology. The acquisition, which has been approved by both companies’ boards of directors, is expected to close in the first half of 2025. Read more.

 7. Kassow Robots’ new cobots designed for mobile manipulation

Kassow Robots in November 2024 introduced a new line of compact collaborative robots designed to integrate with mobile robots. The new Edge Edition cobots are smaller robot arms designed for mobile manipulation applications. They feature a direct DC connection from battery power, enabling them to operate while mounted to a mobile robot. Read more.

6. Collaborative Robotics unveils Proxie mobile manipulator

Collaborative Robotics Inc. unveiled its Proxie mobile manipulator publicly for the first time. The startup has been secretive about the design of the robot since Brad Porter founded the company in 2022. Porter has hinted at the design of the robot by alluding to the importance of a mobile manipulator for applications within the warehouse, with a kinematic that could be better suited for warehouse workflows than a humanoid. Read more.

5. Physical Intelligence raises $400M for foundation models for robotics

Foundation models promise to give robots the ability to generalize actions from fewer examples than traditional artificial intelligence approaches. Physical Intelligence it has raised $400 million to continue its development of artificial intelligence for a range of robots. Read more.

4. Schaeffler plans global use of Agility Robotics’ Digit humanoid

Schaeffler AG, a global leader in motion technology, is making a minority investment into Agility Robotics and buying Digit humanoid robots for use across its global plant network. The companies did not disclose the size of the November 2024 investment, the number of humanoids being purchased, or what they will be used for. Read more.

3. Pickle Robot gets orders for over 30 unloading systems plus $50M in funding

Robotic truck unloading fits the classic definition of dull, dirty, or dangerous jobs worth automating. Pickle Robot has raised $50 million in Series B funding and said that six customers placed orders during the third quarter for more than 30 robots to deploy in the first half of 2025. The new orders include pilot conversions, existing customer expansions, and new customer adoption. Read more.

2. Chicago’s South Suburbs see the future of manufacturing as American and robotic

For decades, the Chicagoland area has played a pivotal role in American manufacturing capability. Unfortunately, the once-strong bastion of manufacturing and fabrication has lost much of its fervor following years of economic stagnation, outmigration, and a declining tax base. However, as the global marketplace continues to evolve, U.S. manufacturers must contend with an aging ownership base, greater competition, and a severe labor shortage. Read more.

1. Red Cat wins U.S. Army next-gen drone contract over Skydio

Red Cat Holdings Inc. announced that it won the U.S. Army’s Short Range Reconnaissance, or SRR, program-of-record contract. The company replaced Skydio on this contract. The U.S. Army set an initial acquisition target of 5,880 systems over a five-year period. Read more.

The post Top 10 robotics developments of November 2024 appeared first on The Robot Report.

In Episode 173 of The Robot Report Podcast, co-host Steve Crowe and I catch up on the news of the week, including several recent stories about mobile manipulators.

Featured interview with RGO Robotics and Wheel.Me

In the featured interview this week, I talk to Amir Bousani, CEO of RGO Robotics, and Jacob Petersen, chief commercial officer of Wheel.Me. We discuss the importance of perception for autonomous mobile robots, and discuss Wheel.Me’s decision to leverage RGO Robotics perception engine in its platform.

Show timeline

• 7:44 – News of the week
• 11:02 – Update on Proxie from Brad Porter, founder and CEO of Collaborative Robotics
• 24:15 – Interview with Amir Bousani, CEO of RGO Robotics, and Jacob Petersen, Chief Commercial Officer from Wheel.Me.

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News of the week

2025 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards open for nominations

You can now submit nominations for the 2025 RBR50 innovation awards. They will recognize technology and business innovations in the calendar year 2024, and the awards are open to any company worldwide that produces robotics or automation.

The categories include:

1. Technologies, products, and services: This category includes primary or applied research focusing on robotics and supporting technologies such as motion control, vision, or machine learning. It also includes new products and business, engineering, or technology services.
2. Business and management: This category covers initiatives positioning a company as a market leader or an organization as an important thought leader in the robotics ecosystem. Significant mergers and acquisitions are relevant, as are supplier, partner, and integrator relationships.
3. Applications and markets: The RBR50 will also recognize innovations that improve productivity, quality, and cost-effectiveness, as well as those that automate new tasks.

In addition, the 2025 RBR50 awards will celebrate the following:

• Startup of the Year
• Application of the Year
• Robot of the Year
• Robots for Good Award

The deadline for submissions is Friday, Dec. 20, 2024.

Podcast sponsored by RGO Robotics

The show this week is sponsored by RGO Robotics 

Is your autonomous mobile robot (AMR) struggling in dynamic environments? Is your business stuck because it takes months to commission a new site?

RGo Robotics’ Perception Engine is revolutionizing the AMR business through advanced Vision AI perception technology. Unlike traditional solutions, The company’s software enables AMRs to adapt to changing environments and navigate complex spaces with unprecedented accuracy and the commissioning process is shorter and simpler.

Leading AMR companies are enhancing their fleets with RGo’s AI-powered perception, enabling their teams to accelerate use of advanced AI capabilities like foundation models and digital twins.

Don’t let outdated navigation hold your business back.

To learn more about RGO’s solutions, go to: https://www.rgorobotics.ai/

The post How AI, perception are shaping mobile robotics appeared first on The Robot Report.

The MC600 is designed for reliable mobile manipulation, says MiR. Source: Mobile Industrial Robots

Mobile Industrial Robots ApS today announced the the latest addition to its growing list of MiR Go-approved products, the MC600 mobile collaborative robot.

“By integrating the ‘legs’ of a mobile robot with the ‘arms’ of a cobot, the MC600 addresses multiple automation workflow challenges such as palletizing and machine tending with one system,” said Jean-Pierre Hathout, president of Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR).

“While some companies have explored humanoid robots or one-off custom mobile cobot solutions for such tasks, they remain far from widespread industrial use,” he stated. “The MC600 is ready today to safely handle these complex automation challenges.”

Mobile Industrial Robots develops and manufactures autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) designed to automate internal logistics and optimize material handling for a wide range of payloads, including pallets. The Odense, Denmark-based unit of testing equipment maker Teradyne Inc. said it integrates robotics and artificial intelligence to serve businesses of all sizes in industries including manufacturing, logistics, and healthcare.

MC600 combines Teradyne technologies

The MC600 combines the MiR600 AMR with the UR20 and UR30 collaborative robot arms from Universal Robots A/S, which is also owned by Teradyne. Mobile Industrial Robots said it can handle payloads up to 600 kg (1,322 lb.) and automate complex workflows in industrial environments.

A unified software platform by MiR Go partner Enabled Robotics controls the MC600. MiR said this coordinates its mobile base and robotic arms, simplifying integration into existing workflows and ensuring smooth operations.

“The smaller MC250 has proven especially popular in semiconductor fabrication facilities and other lower-payload manufacturing tasks, but there’s been a clear demand for a mobile cobot that could handle heavier manufacturing applications,” said Ujjwal Kumar, group president of Teradyne Robotics. “The MC600 meets these requirements, another example of how we consistently offer customers the flexibility, safety, and efficiency that meets their unique automation needs.”

Kumar participated in a fireside chat at the 2024 Robotics Summit & Expo.

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MC600 promises efficency, flexibility

The global market for mobile cobots, which offer efficient and flexible automation, is projected to grow 46% annually by 2030, said Mobile Industrial Robots. Hathout said the MC600 offers a proven, safe, and ready-to-deploy system designed for ease of use, repeatability, and ongoing support.

“For companies seeking scalable automation, the MC600 delivers operational efficiency and long-term reliability,” the company claimed.

Building on the success of the smaller MC250, the MC600 can handle heavier items to automate tasks such as palletizing, box handling, and machine tending, said MiR. The UR20’s extended reach allows the new robot to tackle tasks that were previously inaccessible to smaller cobots.

The MC600 can improve productivity by operating with little downtime, serving multiple machines, and performing continuous material-handling tasks, asserted MiR. This enables businesses to redeploy human workers to higher-value assignments, it said.

In addition, by taking over the movement of heavy goods, the MC600 can improve ergonomics, reducing physical strain on workers and enhancing workplace safety, said MiR.

Mobile Industrial Robots said it will demonstrate the MC600 for real-world applications next week at Logistics & Automation Madrid.

ASTM proposes mobile manipulation standard

In other mobile manipulation news, ASTM International’s F45 committee for robotics, automation, and autonomous systems has proposed a new standard, WK92144.

It provides guidelines for documenting disturbances of robot arms, such as by heavy equipment, in unstructured manufacturing environments. The proposed standard describes an example apparatus for testing.

“Many applications of mobile manipulators require high degree of position and orientation accuracy and repeatability,” said Omar Aboul-Enein, a member of ASTM International.

The post MC600 combines UR cobot with MiR base for mobile manipulation appeared first on The Robot Report.

Collaborative Robotics Inc. today unveiled its Proxie mobile manipulator publicly for the first time. The startup has been secretive about the design of the robot since Brad Porter founded the company in 2022.

Porter has hinted at the design of the robot by alluding to the importance of a mobile manipulator for applications within the warehouse, with a kinematic better suited for warehouse workflows than a humanoid.

Porter brings robotics experience, vision

Porter has been a frequent contributor to The Robot Report and a guest on The Robot Report Podcast. He most recently shared his thoughts about Amazon’s acquihire of the Covariant leadership.

At Amazon, Porter led the deployment of more than 500,000 robots as vice president of robotics and distinguished engineer.  After Amazon, Porter saw an opportunity to accelerate more ubiquitous autonomy through better data and tooling, leading him to join Scale AI as chief technology officer.

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Proxie already in trials

In April 2024, Collaborative Robotics closed a $100 million Series B round toward commercializing its autonomous mobile robot (AMR). The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said Proxie can safely and affordably work alongside people in varied manufacturing, supply chain, and healthcare workflows.

In many cases, this is the same work humanoids are jockeying for. In June 2024, Collaborative Robots opened an office in Seattle and began adding to its AI team.

The base of Proxie includes four “swerve drive” motors that provide holonomic motion. | Credit: Collaborative Robotics

Porter told The Robot Report that Proxie is already in trials with several pilot customers, including a global logistics company. Featured clients include Moderna, Mayo Clinic, Owens & Minor, and Tampa General Hospital. He said Proxie has roughly the stature of a human. 

We asked Porter about the design intentions of going with the swerve drive versus other AMR base designs. Proxie has a base with four drive wheels in a “swerve drive” configuration. The AMR attaches to a cart and then pulls the cart to its next destination, navigating safely through the facility.

“The swerve drive gives you pseudo holonomic motion, enabling you to slide sideways into a set of shelving units. The swerve drive also enables you to snap the casters before you start to move. With a differential drive base, the AMR doesn’t have the degrees of freedom, so it’s more clumsy. Finally, mecanum wheels have other problems that are difficult to manage in production.”

On top of the base is a vertical linear axis that carries a dual arm cart interfacing gripper for cart-moving implementations. A six-degree-of-freedom collaborative robot arm will be an optional configuration for Proxie in the future.

Porter said the company has a dual-arm manipulator in its lab, equipped with the ALOHA grippers, for manipulation tasks.

Proxie can be equipped with a rolling cart gripper that attaches to the cart on the normal handle, and then guides the cart throughout the facility. | Credit: Collaborative Robotics

The post Collaborative Robotics unveils Proxie mobile manipulator appeared first on The Robot Report.

The path toward general-purpose robots is being paved by software to accelerate application development. Flexiv last week launched Elements Series 3, the latest version of its adaptive robot control system to makes programming faster and easier.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said its engineers have simplified the user experience, focusing on human-centered design and semi-automated features.

Founded in 2016, Flexiv said it is dedicated to developing and manufacturing adaptive robots. The company said it has integrated industrial-grade force control, computer vision, and artificial intelligence to deliver “turn-key automation” that can enhance efficiency while reducing operational costs and environmental impact.

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Teach pendant plus simulation

Flexiv asserted that its new, ruggedized Teach Pendant and intuitive software allows programmers of any skill level to easily create and manage robotics applications, whether they’re in an office or on the production-line floor.

In addition, the Elements Studio 3D simulation tool allows users to design, test, and refine their applications before deploying them in the real world.

Fully compatible across PCs, the Teach Pendant, and all Flexiv robots, Elements Studio can reduce deployment time and minimize risk by allowing thorough testing in a virtual setting, claimed the company.

Source: Flexiv

Flexiv redesigns Motion Bar

As part of the newly released Elements hardware, the Motion Bar has also been redesigned. Based on user feedback, it now includes a status-indicator light and dedicated buttons for mode switching, Freedrive, and Jogging.

Flexiv said operators can use the Motion Bar independently or docked to the Teach Pendant for convenient robot control.

When coupled with the ability to build applications by physically moving a robot into position in Freedrive mode, the need for complex and time-consuming programming is removed. This hands-on approach means anyone can quickly and efficiently build, test, and perfect their application.

Source: Flexiv

Elements 3 supports more motion

Flexiv said it has enabled support for multiple external axes, bringing users seven-plus degrees of freedom (7+N DoF) motion control, making the software suitable for complex tasks involving dual-axis rotary platforms or linear guide rails.

Elements 3 also features additional enhanced drag-and-drop function blocks — known as primitives—to accelerate programming and application building. Flexiv recently helped a seafood producer develop a fish fillet-shaping application with its Rizon 4 collaborative robots.

The company said its updated hardware and software are fully compatible with all of its robots, including the newly released Moonlight Adaptive Parallel Robot.

Source: Flexiv

The post Flexiv releases Elements Series 3 to simplify robot simulation, programming appeared first on The Robot Report.

In Episode 172 of The Robot Report Podcast, co-hosts Steve Crowe and Mike Oitzman catch up on the news of the week, including several recent stories about self-driving vehicles. We also catch up with Yoshi Umeno and learn how Kollmorgen helps clients design and build surgical robots.

Featured interview with ABB

In the featured interview this week, Oitzman catches up with Marc Segura, president of ABB Robotics, to learn how the company is using artificial intelligence to make robotics easier to program and deploy.

Show timeline

• 7:50 – News
• 22:22 – Kayleen Brown interviews Yoshi Umeno from Kollmorgen (sponsored by Kollmorgen)
• 29:50 – Interview with Marc Segura, president of ABB Robotics

Register now

News of the week

Schaeffler plans global use of Agility Robotics’ Digit humanoid

2025 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards open for nominations

You can now submit nominations for the 2025 RBR50 innovation awards. They will recognize technology and business innovations in the calendar year 2024, and the awards are open to any company worldwide that produces robotics or automation.

The categories include:

1. Technologies, products, and services: This category includes primary or applied research focusing on robotics and supporting technologies such as motion control, vision, or machine learning. It also includes new products and business, engineering, or technology services.
2. Business and management: This category covers initiatives positioning a company as a market leader or an organization as an important thought leader in the robotics ecosystem. Significant mergers and acquisitions are relevant, as are supplier, partner, and integrator relationships.
3. Applications and markets: The RBR50 will also recognize innovations that improve productivity, quality, and cost-effectiveness, as well as those that automate new tasks.

In addition, the 2025 RBR50 awards will celebrate the following:

• Startup of the Year
• Application of the Year
• Robot of the Year
• Robots for Good Award

The deadline for submissions is Friday, Dec. 20, 2024.

Podcast sponsored by RGO Robotics

The show this week is sponsored by RGO Robotics 

Is your autonomous mobile robot (AMR) struggling in dynamic environments? Is your business stuck because it takes months to commission a new site?

RGo Robotics’ Perception Engine is revolutionizing the AMR business through advanced Vision AI perception technology. Unlike traditional solutions, The company’s software enables AMRs to adapt to changing environments and navigate complex spaces with unprecedented accuracy and the commissioning process is shorter and simpler.

Leading AMR companies are enhancing their fleets with RGo’s AI-powered perception, enabling their teams to accelerate use of advanced AI capabilities like foundation models and digital twins.

Don’t let outdated navigation hold your business back.

To learn more about RGO’s solutions, go to: https://www.rgorobotics.ai/

The post The ABB Edge: Using AI and robotics to transform industries appeared first on The Robot Report.

CAPTRON has announced its official UR+ partnership with Universal Robots A/S. The global sensor provider said its TCP Calibration Sensors, now available on the Universal Robots marketplace, deliver high precision and are integrated with UR collaborative robot arms.

“Our UR+ certified products are designed to deliver maximum precision and reliability to support our customers’ automation goals,” stated Sean Walters, general manager at CAPTRON North America LP. “This partnership with Universal Robots reinforces our commitment to delivering high-performance solutions that are easy to integrate, boosting productivity across the board.”

Designed for applications like dispensing and welding, these sensors can maximize accuracy, reduce scrap, and enhance production quality, said CAPTRON. The company claimed that its URCap software enables manufacturers to achieve plug-and-play integration, speeding up deployment and improving efficiency.

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CAPTRON sensors offer ease of use, precision

The TCP Laser Calibration Sensors are available in 40 mm (1.5 in.) and 70 mm (0.2 in.) sizes. They offer precise tool tip calibration with a reproducibility of 0.01 mm (0.0003 in.), said the company, which has locations in the U.S., Germany, China, and Poland.

CAPTRON listed the following features and benefits for its URCap-compatible TCP Calibration Sensors:

• Ease of use: CAPTRON said its URCap software simplifies sensor setup, drastically cutting integration time.
• Reliability: The sensors promise precise and repeatable accuracy, minimizing tool deviations and errors.
• Flexibility: With user-friendly software interfaces, manufacturers can switch between tasks quickly and easily, said CAPTRON, making its systems highly adaptable across various applications.

Customer says TCP Calibration Sensor a ‘game changer’

Popular tool center point applications include checking the welder gun wire tip after cleaning and calibrating the glue-dispensing tip before each process to ensure precision.

One of CAPTRON’s newest customers recently implemented the TCP Calibration Sensor and described it as a “game changer.” The customer said it has seen dramatic improvements in tool precision, significantly reducing errors and downtime.

CAPTRON said the use case highlights how its technology can enhance accuracy and efficiency in automated industrial processes.

“Universal Robots is thrilled to partner with CAPTRON to drive the next wave of innovation in collaborative robotics,” said Michael DeGrace, ecosystem success manager for the Americas at Universal Robots. “By combining CAPTRON’s cutting-edge sensor technology with our flexible, user-friendly robotic arms, we are opening up new possibilities for industries worldwide to enhance automation, improve precision, and achieve greater efficiency in their operations.”

CAPTRON’s TCP Calibration Sensors and URCap Software are now available through the Universal Robots Marketplace. For more information, visit CAPTRON UR Products.

The post CAPTRON joins UR+ to offer sensors through Universal Robots marketplace appeared first on The Robot Report.

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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Europe is a major center of robotics development and use, according to Humanoid. Source: Adobe Stock

While headlines often spotlight U.S. and Asian companies in the humanoid robotics race, a silent revolution is brewing in the tech hubs of Europe, where cutting-edge startups are making remarkable strides in developing human-like robots.

From Norway to Switzerland, innovative European firms are pushing the boundaries of robotics technology, creating machines that can sense, feel, and interact with their environment in increasingly human-like ways.

These advancements are not just technological marvels; they’re also potential solutions to global labor shortages and catalysts for a societal shift in how we work and live.

Robotics innovation is happening across Europe

Europe offers a favorable market for development, a solid talent pool, and no shortage of innovative ideas and research labs. Its diverse cultures and languages also encourage the development of robots that can navigate complex social interactions.

The continent has a long history of robotics innovation, with a wide range of research conducted across diverse fields such as service, industrial, and cognitive robotics. Examples include PAL Robotics in Spain, which claimed that it developed the first autonomous bipedal robot in Europe, to Swiss companies like ANYbotics and Swiss-Mile leading advances in quadrupedal robots and embodied AI. The continent offers a rich environment for robotics development.

Europe has a diverse and innovative robotics sector. In the realm of autonomous vehicle, the U.K.-based Oxa develops low-compute software, while Sweden’s Einride produces autonomous, electric road transport vehicles. U.K.-based ECARX offers turnkey solutions for next-generation smart vehicles.

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Startups in Europe take on robotics challenges

Several companies in Europe have been working on promising robotics projects that deserve attention:

1X (Norway): This AI robotics company recently unveiled NEO Beta, a humanoid robot designed for home use. With an impressive $100 million funding round in January 2024, 1X has now raised a total of $137 million.

ABB (Switzerland), a global leader in electrification and automation, is based in Zurich and has more than 105,000 employees worldwide. With over 140 years of experience, the company integrates software and engineering to optimize manufacturing, energy, and automation processes.

ABB Robotics in June launched its next-generation control platform, OmniCore, designed to enhance precision, speed, and sustainability in automation. Resulting from a $170 million investment, OmniCore integrates AI, sensor, cloud, and edge computing systems into a unified control architecture, offering faster and more efficient robotics solutions across industries.

The platform can improve robot motion accuracy to less than 0.6mm and enables up to 25% faster operations while reducing energy consumption by 20%, said the company.

Jointly with Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute, ABB Robotics developed an automated fruit-fly transfer system using ABB’s YuMi robot. This eliminated the need for anesthesia, which can affect fly behavior and study accuracy in neurological disease research.

Agile Robots (Germany), founded in 2018 by Dr. Zhaopeng Chen and Peter Meusel, former researchers at DLR’s Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, has rapidly grown to employ over 2,300 people across multiple global production sites and R&D centers in Germany and China.

The Munich-based company specializes in combining AI with robotics for user-friendly solutions to complex manufacturing challenges. Agile Robots said its ability to rely on both “Chinese market dynamics and German engineering precision” sets it apart.

ANYbotics (Switzerland) emerged from pioneering work at ETH Zurich in 2009 and was officially founded in 2016. It has made strides in autonomous robots for industrial applications. It developed ANYmal, a four-legged robot capable of navigating complex terrains and performing inspection tasks in challenging environments.

Over the past 14 years, ANYbotics has demonstrated its ability to enhance worker safety, improve operational efficiency, and support sustainability goals. The company has a partnership with Energy Robotics, a developer of hardware-agnostic fleet management and data analytics platforms, to transform asset monitoring in the energy industry through integrated, autonomous inspections.

KUKA (Germany), founded in 1898 in Augsburg, has evolved from a local acetylene gas plant to one of the world’s leading suppliers of industrial automation. The company said it developed Europe’s first robot-operated welding transfer line in 1971 and the world’s first industrial robot with six electric motor-driven axes in 1973.

KUKA’s sales have exceeded €4 billion ($4.2 billion U.S.) and it employs around 15,000 people across more than 50 countries. The company’s portfolio includes LBR iiwa cobot introduced in 2013, and it is expanding into new markets and regions beyond its traditional stronghold in the automotive industry.

In 2023, the RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award winner introduced three new autonomous mobile robots (AMRs): the KMR iisy, a mobile manipulator with a collaborative arm and a 200 kg (440.9 lb.) payload capacity; the KMP 1500P, designed for heavy-duty tasks carrying up to 1.5 tons; and the KMP 600-S, capable of transporting 600 kg (1,322.7 lb.).

Neura Robotics (Germany), founded in 2019, said it is a player in the cognitive robotics field. The Metzingen-based company has grown to more than 170 employees from over 30 countries, attracting diverse talent in a competitive tech landscape. NEURA’s product lineup, including the MAiRA cognitive cobot and 4NE-1 humanoid robot, showcases its focus on advancing human-robot collaboration.

The company’s recent partnership with NVIDIA to use the Isaac platform suggests NEURA is positioning itself strategically in the AI-driven robotics market. However, the real-world impact and market adoption of these technologies remain to be seen in the coming years.

PAL Robotics (Spain) has been at the forefront of service robotics since 2004, gaining significant traction with its autonomous robots across various sectors including industry, healthcare, retail, agriculture, and food. With more than two decades of experience, the company has established itself as a leader in the field, continuing to inspire roboticists worldwide through its customizable robotic platforms and modular components designed for integration into daily life and industrial settings.

Shadow Robot (U.K.), founded in the late 1990s by a non-tech entrepreneur and a group of hobbyists, has become Britain’s longest-running robotics company. The London-based company is best known for developing the Shadow Dexterous Hand, described as the most advanced five-fingered robotic hand in the world. It features 20 motors, 24 degrees of freedom, and over 100 sensors.

Shadow Robot said its technology is being used in both academic and commercial settings. The company’s ethical stance, including a “robots for good” policy and refusal to sell for military use, shows its commitment to responsible innovation.

Swiss-Mile (Switzerland), incorporated in April 2023 as a spin-off from ETH Zurich‘s Robotic Systems Lab. In its first year, the company achieved early traction with pilot deployments for last-mile delivery in smart cities and security for critical infrastructure.

Swiss-Mile raised $22 million in seed funding round in August 2024, led by Jeff Bezos and HongShan. This substantial early-stage funding and the involvement of high-profile investors demonstrated market confidence in Swiss-Mile’s approach to creating autonomous robots that integrate AI with the physical world.

Universal Robots (Denmark), founded in 2005 in Odense, has established itself as a pioneer in collaborative robotics. The company first sold the UR5 cobot in 2008, followed by the launches of UR10 in 2012 and UR3 in 2015.

Universal Robots’ growth is evidenced by its acquisition by Teradyne Inc. for $285 million in 2015, the introduction of the e-Series in 2018, and reaching the industry milestone of 50,000 cobots sold worldwide in 2020. It also launched the UR20, a 20kg payload cobot, in 2022, and opened its 100th training center, showcasing its commitment to education and global expansion.

What’s driving the robotics boom in Europe?

The explosion in robotics research is not happening in a vacuum. It’s driven by pressing global needs, particularly labor shortages.

“Labor shortages have appeared across a diverse group of countries that have no apparent common features other than their stage of development,” said a recent McKinsey report. “Tightness is particularly acute in seven countries—the Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, and the United States—that have more vacancies than unemployed workers.”

McKinsey noted that these countries account for 53% of the total labor supply of the 30 advanced economies in our research, and 64% of collective GDP.

Japan, often considered the front runner in aging population, is projected to have 38% of its population aged 65 or older by 2050, up from 28% in 2020. In Germany, the proportion of people aged 65 and older is expected to rise from 21.7% in 2020 to 31% by 2050, according to the latest data compiled by the United Nations.

The U.S. is aging more slowly than Europe or East Asia but still expects to see its 65+ population increase from 16.9% in 2020 to 22% by 2050. While China and Western markets have vastly different labor and living costs, these economic contrasts directly shape the focus areas and use cases pursued by robotics startups in each region.

These demographic shifts contribute significantly to labor shortages, as the working-age population shrinks relative to the overall population. This trend is likely to continue and potentially intensify in the coming decades, presenting challenges for economic growth and social systems in these countries.

Cobots are part of the solution

Despite perceptions that European factories might lag in robotic innovation, a wave of collaborative robotics is sweeping across the continent’s manufacturing sector. The Sharework and SHERLOCK programs, funded through the European Commission’s Factories of the Future initiative, have developed and implemented systems that work safely alongside human operators without the need for protective barriers.

These intelligent robots, equipped with AI-driven perception and decision-making capabilities, could revolutionize assembly lines from automotive to renewable energy. By focusing on human-centered design and worker well-being, these projects are not only boosting productivity but also improving job quality, potentially opening up manufacturing to a more diverse workforce.

A future with humanoids approaches

Humanoid robots offer another solution to labor shortages, and the market is responding to their potential to reshape industries and society. The global market for humanoid robots was valued at approximately $1.5 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $9.4 billion by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 36.2%.

While there are numerous commercial trials, there have been no successful mass deployments or proven business cases in the humanoid robotic space, making it an exciting moment for the industry. Goldman Sachs research predicts that by 2035, the total addressable market for humanoid robots will reach $38 billion—more than six times their previous projection of $6 billion.

Robotics startups such as Neura Robotics and 1x Technologies are focusing more on household applications, setting Europe apart from industrial-focused competitors in the U.S. or China.

At Humanoid, we believe in a more gradual approach, and we think that humanoid robotic technology should first become essential at factories and warehouses before eventually integrating it into our homes.

Three major technical challenges currently limit humanoid robotics development: AI capabilities and training, battery life, and actuator technologies for safe, efficient movement. Social aspects and regulatory concerns are also challenges.

The cost of building these robots varies widely based on their intended use, with our estimates ranging from $10,000 to $300,000 per unit. The investment landscape is dominated by U.S.-based humanoid startups, which attract 80-90% of total funding, followed by Chinese companies.

The U.S. also leads in commercial pilot programs, while stricter labor regulations and the presence of strong labor unions in Europe and the U.K. have limited deployment opportunities in these regions.

Humanoid shares vision and positioning

At Humanoid, we focus on building versatile robots with a modular, human-like design that can integrate into existing environments. These humanoids are intended to be compatible with current tools and automation systems, easily repurposed for different tasks, and capable of automating medium- to high-precision tasks that standard industrial robots cannot handle, all while maintaining safety.

The company‘s vision aligns with those of companies like 1X, which see automation not as a means to maximize efficiency at all costs, but as a way to enhance human potential. By taking on the physically demanding and repetitive tasks, Humanoid’s robots could free up humans to engage in work that is more fulfilling, creative, and aligned with their personal growth.

Imagine a world where former warehouse workers, freed from physical strain and monotony, have the time and energy to pursue education, start businesses, or simply spend more quality time with their families. This is the future we’re working towards — one where technology serves humanity by giving people more time to be truly human.

About the author

Dmitrii Rudnitckii is chief technology officer at Humanoid (SKL Robotics Ltd.). He has extensive international experience and a proven track record in robotics, AI, and autonomous systems across multiple industries, including manufacturing, telecommunications, and banking.

At Humanoid, Rudnitckii leads the development of next-generation humanoid robots with cutting-edge AI integration to reshape human-robot collaboration and push the boundaries of automation. He previously spearheaded the creation of a fully flexible autonomous electric vehicle factory at ARRIVAL, a company focused on creating zero-emission transportation through advanced manufacturing processes.

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Angled M5 panel mount connectors from binder. | Source: binder

Industrial applications are growing more complex, imposing high requirements on connector systems, according to binder USA, which specializes in circular connectors. In response to this need, particularly in settings such as robots with limited installation space, binder has added angled M5 panel mount connectors to its product range.

The Camarillo, Calif.-based company engineered these connectors for applications needing compact, durable systems. It said they open new opportunities in fields such as automation, robotics, and measurement and control technology. 

In applications such as circuit-board assembly, every millimeter often matters. Increasingly, end users require custom connectors that they can use in the smallest spaces. This was also the case for a provider of complete solutions for the electrical engineering and IT industries.

The angled M5 panel-mount connectors enable crucial mechanical and electrical connections in tight spaces, according to binder. The company said it is targeting markets that require high reliability and robustness, such as industrial camera technology, sensors for automation, analytical devices, collaborative robots, and drones.

binder aims to meet specific customer needs

binder said it developed the M5 angled panel mount connector in response to a request from one of its customers. 

“The company approached us as a connector specialist to see if we could offer one of our smallest connectors for its application,” said Guido Werner, a product manager at binder. “After reviewing the requirements, it quickly became clear that only an angled version would be suitable.”

“We didn’t have this in our portfolio at the time,” he recalled. “This led to a new development, which has attracted interest from other customers. As a result, we will soon be adding the angled M5 panel mount connectors to our standard portfolio.”

The development of this panel mount connector presented unique challenges for the company.

“An angled version of our M5-size panel mount connectors is, in itself, a design challenge,” said Werner. “Additionally, the customer required the component dimensions to be reduced to a maximum of 7.5 x 7.5 mm [0.2 x 0/2 in.] so that as many parts as possible could be placed side by side on the circuit board. This brought us up against geometric limits such as wall thickness and clearance and creepage distances.”

“Material selection also became a factor,” he noted. “New contacts and a new housing were needed for the panel mount connectors.”

“New production tools had to be developed to ensure the angled panel mount connectors could be reliably produced in series,” added Werner. “But the effort was worth it. In the end, we successfully realized a high-quality component.”

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M5 includes features for reliability

The connector also features spread positioning pins that are barely visible to the naked eye. binder said these ensure optimal twist protection on the circuit board even before soldering.

Another feature is the recessed O-ring, which ensures a reliable seal with the housing, said binder. When users connect the panel connectors, the O-ring presses precisely against the housing, ensuring an optimal sealing effect. This eliminates the risk of damaging the seal by over-tightening, the company said.

binder USA LP is a subsidiary of binder Group, a leading global manufacturer of circular connectors, custom cord sets, and LED lights. The company claimed that its products are used worldwide in industrial environments for factory automation, process control, and medical technology applications. 

In addition, binder said its quality management system is ISO 9001 and 14001-certified. It said its “solution-focused approach to customer applications and commitment to superior service” differentiates it from the competition.

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Here are the top 10 most popular stories on The Robot Report in October 2024. Subscribe to The Robot Report Newsletter or listen to The Robot Report Podcast to stay up to date on the robotics developments you need to know about.

10. Relay Robotics proposes levels of autonomous navigation for indoor robots

When we think of autonomous navigation, the first thing that usually comes to mind is self-driving cars. Although their development has spanned decades, recent years have seen significant advancements. One important framework that is used ubiquitously in the self-driving car industry is the classification of levels of driving automation. Defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) in 2014, this framework remains a standard reference in the field. Read More

9. Robot Utility Models: the coolest thing you never heard about (yet)

Robot Utility Models (RUMs) are a new area of research and development for the advancement of AI training for robotics. Lerrel Pinto, an assistant professor of computer science, and a team at at New York University created RUM. This open-source research project is trying to generalize training for robots so that one doesn’t have to train thousands of examples of a task. Read More

8. Innovative motion solutions are supporting the latest trends in robotics

Rapidly growing markets for robot innovation include applications that enhance human health and wellbeing, such as bionics and robotic surgery. Robots in these fields rely on miniature DC motion technology, which require state-of-the-art motion control. Motors with increasing torque density and dynamics are helping robot designers improve precision and control. Read More

7. Atlas humanoid robot shows increasing competence in latest Boston Dynamics video

Boston Dynamics Inc. released a new video of its Atlas humanoid robot. The video shows the electric robot handling large automotive parts autonomously. According to the company, the robot uses machine learning to execute its tasks and 3D vision to perceive the world around it. Read More

6. Robotics investments near $1B in August

Fifty producers of robots and robotics-enabling technologies received funding in August 2024, pulling in a total of approximately $1 billion. This figure is on par with the $1.2 billion average The Robot Report has tracked each of the previous 12 months. Investment targeted to robotics companies for the first eight months of 2024 equals about $10.86 billion.  Read More

5. Fourier launches GR-2 humanoid, software platform

Shanghai-based Fourier launched GR-2, the latest generation of its GRx humanoid robot series. It has upgraded its hardware, design, and software. This announcement followed the company‘s rebranding from Fourier Intelligence to Fourier earlier this year, and the GR-2 release builds on the production release of the first-generation GR-1 in late 2023. Read More

4. PULS acquires Wiferion’s wireless charging business

DIN rail power supply provider PULS has acquired Wiferion from Tesla. This deal comes after Tesla acquired Wiferion for an undisclosed amount in June 2023. PULS said it plans to continue manufacturing, marketing and selling the company‘s wireless charging products worldwide. Read More

3. Renishaw and RLS help to drive a robot revolution

A revolution in collaborative robots promises to change how assistive care is delivered to the elderly, how people interact with their work environment, and even how surgeons perform heart surgery. RLS d.o.o. has over many years cultivated a value-added partnership with the German company, TQ-RoboDrive, part of the TQ-Group. Read More

2. Universal Robots AI Accelerator offers to ease development of cobot applications

The latest advances in artificial intelligence promise to improve robot capabilities, but engineers need to bring the technologies together. Universal Robots announced its UR AI Accelerator, a hardware and software toolkit to enable the development of AI-powered collaborative robot applications. Read More

1. Corvus Robotics soars to new heights with Series A round for drone inventory

Corvus Robotics Inc. has closed an $18 million Series A round and seed funding led by S2G Ventures and Spero Ventures. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company has been engineering and validating its inventory drone system since it was founded in 2017. Read More

The post Top 10 robotics developments of October 2024 appeared first on The Robot Report.

GrayMatter Robotics recently provided a peek into its deployment with Life Line Emergency Vehicles. Sumner, Iowa-based Life Line Emergency Vehicles has 35 years of experience building life-saving ambulances, with an emphasis on quality, safety, and durability. 

Each of Life Line’s vehicles such as ambulances is one of a kind and built according to the customer’s needs and specifications. The company said it has built a reputation around customer service and craftsmanship to help its customers provide better patient care.

Robustness is key in this line of work. These vehicles will be saving people’s lives, so malfunctions aren’t an option. 

However, the process of building an ambulance is incredibly labor-intensive. In recent years, Life Line said it has struggled to find enough people to continue serving for its customers.

Sanding, in particular, is a difficult part of the vehicle-construction process. It involves going up and down ladders, dragging hoses around, and hauling heaving equipment. It’s also time-consuming and pulls Life Line’s employees away from work that is better suited for humans.

This is where GrayMatter Robotics comes in. The Carson, Calif.-based company offers its robotic sanders through a robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) model.

It said they can relieve shop floor workers of tedious and ergonomically challenging tasks. They can also enhance production capacity and reduce scrap, repair, and rework costs, said GrayMatter. 

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Scan&Sand designed for reliable finishing

Scan&Sand is an AI-powered system that scans an object and sands it with the push of a button. GrayMatter created the system for high-mix manufacturing, where there is great variety in the shape and size of pieces that need to be sanded. 

The company said its technology can handle complex geometries with ease. The robots can prepare a surface and sand for shape correction. 

GrayMatter’s system autonomously replaces worn sandpaper and switches between different grits as needed. It can also swap end-of-arm tools (EOAT) to shift from sanding to grinding or other applications in just minutes. 

With Scan&Sand, operators can precisely define sanding areas by marking them directly on the part. The system’s advanced packages feature built-in quality control for precise measurement of roughness, gloss, or surface imperfections.

GreyMatter also uses high-fidelity sensors to swiftly scan and model parts within minutes, creating a precise, unique working model for each component placed in the cell.

The company offers multiple Scan&Sand configurations, so the system can fit into a variety of workflows. These include dual-arm and rail configurations, as well as mobile arm and rail configurations.

Life Line shares its results with GrayMatter

Life Line said that GrayMatter’s technology filled essential gaps in its production. The vehicle maker noted that this autonomous technology wouldn’t be replacing any workers, as there simply weren’t enough people to get everything done without the robots. 

In addition to filling these gaps, GrayMatter also made production faster for Life Line. Its employees said it was able to shave 45 minutes off of sanding a single raw truck. For a primer truck, GrayMatter was able to knock 30 minutes to an hour off of the sanding time. 

The Life Line team also noted that GrayMatter was a very present partner when it came to deploying this technology. The vendor didn’t just send them a robot and disappear, it said. In addition, GrayMatter was upfront about the learning curve of its robots, said Life Line’s team. 

The post Life Line Emergency Vehicles deploys robotic sander from GrayMatter Robotics appeared first on The Robot Report.

A CRX-20iA/L robot slides a tray of cookies onto a rack. | Source: FANUC

FANUC America plans to showcase its latest packaging and processing innovations in Booth N-5332 next week at Pack Expo in Chicago. From food-grade collaborative robots to stainless industrial robots, it claimed it will demonstrate uninterrupted speed, reliability, accuracy, and dexterity—all while maintaining food safety—in real-world applications.

FANUC said its advanced automation provides high-quality solutions to common industry problems, including production, supply chain, and labor shortages. The Rochester Hills, Mich.-based company will feature industrial robots and cobots including:

• Food-grade CRX collaborative robots
• High-speed and versatile SCARA robots
• FANUC DR-3iB/6 STAINLESS food-grade delta robot
• The food-grade/cleanroom-type, long-reach LR Mate 200iD/7LC robot

FANUC to show picking, packing, and palletizing

The company asserted that its systems can deliver reliability and accuracy that minimize error, reduce product waste, and enhance overall quality control. FANUC said its demos will directly address common industry challenges.

A CRX-10iA robot picking objects from a box. | Source: FANUC

Collaborative robots

• Food-grade cobot bakery tray load and unload with iRVision: In this new dual-cobot cell, attendees can see the controlled loading and unloading of cookies on bakery trays. Demonstrating its impressive 1,418 mm (55.8 in.) of reach, the FANUC CRX-20iA/L food-grade cobot will use 3DV/400 iRVision mounted to its arm to locate and unload cookies from a tray and place them onto a conveyor, simulating a cookie-baking operation. A second CRX-20iA/L will then use a bakery tray to catch the cookies coming off the end of the conveyor and then place the now-full trays onto a cart.
• Food-grade cobot palletizing: Shown for the first time at PACK EXPO, the FANUC CRX-30iA food-grade cobot—with a 30 kg (66.1 lb.) payload and 1,756 mm (69.1 in.) of reach—will use PalletTool 3 software to efficiently palletize two pallets from a single infeed using a multi-case gripper.
• Intuitive cobot programming: In this kitting demonstration, attendees are able to use drag-and-drop icon based programming on the FANUC Tablet TP and three-button wrist to easily kit meat and cheese gift boxes with the CRX-10iA cobot. Suitable for those with little to no robotics experience, FANUC said the cobot’s ease of programming is paired with its reliable technology and sensitive contact detection that allows the CRX-10iA to work safely alongside people.

The M-710 Box Palletizer. | Source: FANUC

Industrial robots

• High-speed picking application with line-tracking tools: The DR-3iB/6 STAINLESS is FANUC’s first stainless-steel, food-grade delta robot for picking and packing primary food products. The company claimed that it sets new benchmarks for payload, speed, reach and sanitation in robotic food handling. Using iRVision and iRPickTool line-tracking software, this demonstration will pick and place randomly oriented fish fillets alongside an SR-12iA/C, showcasing high speeds and product reorientation.
• Food assembly with food-grade robots: Offering a best-in-class work envelope for both upright and invert mount installations, FANUC said its LR Mate 200iD series of tabletop industrial robots will assemble cheeseburgers in this demo. Working alongside the SR-6iA/C will be the LR Mate 200iD/7LC – both food-grade/cleanroom robots – picking and placing buns, burgers, and toppings before removing and reversing order so that the cycle can repeat.
• Automated palletizing and depalletizing: The six-axis M-710iD/50M robot, combined with two iRVision 3DV/1600 vision sensors and the FANUC iPC, will use the iPC’s AI Box Detection software to locate boxes within stock carts. Once located, the robot will depalletize boxes from one cart and utilize PalletTool to palletize them on the opposite cart. With one cart empty, the process will be repeated by depalletizing and palletizing back to the original cart. In this demo, tall stock carts highlight the advantage provided by the M-710i50-/50M’s curved arm. FANUC said its AI-driven iPC enables high-performance advanced picking in challenging lighting conditions to ensure seamless, reliable depalletizing.

FANUC to show new robotic controller

• Performance with FANUC’s new robot controller: Just announced, FANUC said its new R-50iA offers cybersecurity with a wide range of enhancements and has intelligent features designed to maximize robot performance. Attendees can learn about these and optimized efficiency demonstrated in a heavy payload palletizing cell that integrates the new controller.

Editor’s note: This article was syndicated from The Robot Report sibling site Engineering.com.

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