Despite the hype, the robot vacuum is the only home robot that has truly made a remarkable impact in the market. Several factors have contributed to the struggle of other robots in gaining widespread acceptance, including their high price tags, questionable reliability, and limited capabilities. It’s not due to a lack of effort or consumer interest, but rather because no other robot has yet found the perfect balance of affordability and functionality that would appeal to the mass market.

The future of robots in the home is likely to hinge on improving how they collaborate with the people who own them. The first generation of home robots probably won’t be able to tackle household chores on their own, but with the right enhancements in interaction and assistance, they could become valuable partners in everyday tasks.

Age tech presents a promising area for innovation, especially when it comes to helping older adults live independently. Take Labrador’s automated serving cart as an example—this type of technology highlights the potential for robots to provide vital support in the lives of aging individuals. However, for such systems to truly gain mainstream acceptance, major advances, like those Meta is working on, will be necessary.

The vision for bipedal robots is clear: they could one day become an integral part of home life. But before that happens, a significant reduction in price and a huge boost in reliability will be required. The future of home robotics hinges on achieving these critical milestones.

A video has gone viral on social media, sparking debate about the risks of artificial intelligence. In the video, a robot becomes self-aware and starts aggressive with its purpose, instead of just walking around the house. The video showcases an installation by Japanese artist Takayuki Todo, featuring two robotic dogs chained to a pillar in an unknown gallery in Tokyo . Designed to attack visitors—or so the internet claims —these mechanical quadrupeds, reminiscent of Xiaomi’s Cyberdog and Boston Dynamics’ Spot

In January, at a Mark’s clothing store outside Vancouver, Canada, a Sanctuary AI robot successfully completed a variety of retail tasks that are usually completed by human workers. This innovative practice is not only a symbol of technological progress, but also a new strategy for the retail industry to address human resource challenges and improve efficiency. By using humanoid robots to perform daily tasks such as picking, packing, replenishing sales floors, cleaning and store display, Mark’s stores not only improve operational efficiency, but also free up human employees to engage in more creative and strategic tasks.

The pilot test was carried out by the retail chain owned by Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC) and demonstrated the potential of Sanctuary AI’s general-purpose robots in actual store environments. Jody Ross (co-founder and CEO of Sanctuary AI) pointed out that these robots can efficiently perform necessary but basic tasks, thereby helping retail businesses improve operational efficiency and service quality.

This experiment is not only a technological breakthrough, but also a reflection on the future of retail formats. As artificial intelligence technology advances, retailers can better use robots to handle daily repetitive tasks, thereby creating more opportunities for human employees to exercise their creativity and interpersonal interaction. This innovation not only improves business efficiency, but also earns the brand a reputation for cutting-edge technology applications, further enhancing the brand’s market competitiveness and customer recognition.

Through such practices and innovations, Mark’s is not just a retail store, but also a leader that demonstrates technological innovation and service excellence, setting a model for the future retail industry.

Easy PROG 3D Scan is a software associated with a 3D scanner used with the carousel system. This scanner is able to identify the surface load of three-dimensional objects and generates a painting path autonomously.

It is possible to create specific recipes directly from the robot controller screen for each type of product that needs painting. Then, each program will be recalled by reading the barcode though a scanner or directly from the touch screen.

With EasyPROG 3D scan, it can be used for painting curves and shaped panel that are not standard shape without thickness limits. The system can be used for painting panels, boxes, drawers etc.

The system is equipped with Lesta LEBOT MV A6 which is an anthropomorphic robot. It is capable to record its axis movement in real time and automatically playing them back. So basically human can move the robot manually by hand to make a program path, then the robot will play them back once it is completed.

LEBOT MV A6 is a 6 axes robot which its arm is made of aluminum to the ease of use. Its movements are balanced by the hydraulic system with compressed air.
This robot is the most popular robot at Lesta and can be used for industrial painting, but also used for drying, firing, spraying gelcoat, fiberglass, adhesives and much more application.

LEBOT MV A6 has maximum versatility and can be configured on the ground, on carousels or in-line conveyer. It can be also suspended from overhead wagons or attached to a wagons on the ground or walls. It is often used in the production of chairs, windows, boxes, frames, doors, hoods, spoilers and fenders, components for tractors and agricultural and larger machinery, hydraulic pumps, helmets, pots, button and many more

Source: lesta.it

Autonomous robots are becoming more commonplace in hospital environments, where they can be used to deliver supplies throughout the facility. The COVID-19 pandemic presents even more reason to use mobile robots for the safe distribution of hospital materials in quarantine zones, Bieller noted, citing Photoneo´s mobile robot Phollower as an example.

During the crisis, drones have been deployed to enforce curfews and provide security surveillance, increasing sales of the robotic devices to government agencies. In the short term, to enforce quarantine mandates, governments will need to increase their security apparatuses, as well as the productivity of their medical agencies, ABI Research notes.

With stay-at-home orders in place around the globe, there’s an opportunity for robot delivery companies to show their value. The drone delivery market could take its experience from transporting supplies in the developing world to scale up operations in the most affected countries. The research firm expect that potential to translate into a $414 million small drone delivery market by 2021, growing further to $10.4 billion by 2030.

Key Facts

• Universal mobile platform for warehouses, factories and hotels
• Robot distribution solution for carrying (max 100 kg / 220.5 lbs) and pulling (max 350 kg / 771.62 lbs)
• Simple use, quick setup, flexible and reconfigurable
• No floor marking tapes needed
• PC / tablet responsive web interface
• Remote controlling
• Online troubleshooting

Safety

• Safe and fast AMR with easy operation and navigation, including via elevators
• Surrounding environment checked 33 times per second and system able to detect an obstacle every 30 ms
• Detecting objects with a minimum width 30 mm
• All safety components meet the requirements of the safety class SIL2 PL.d Category 3

Mapping

• Real-time robot navigation by controlling movements with a joystick
• Instant map redrawing

Trajectory planning

• Quick and easy
• Custom trajectory curves
• Station points
• Speed zones and limits (max. speed: 1.125 m/s)
• Cyclic or dynamical move plans
• Reversible movement

Source: photoneo

As everyone around the world tries to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers are struggling to keep themselves healthy and the rest of us (hopefully) continue to maintain our distance. It’s a good time to remember the three Ds of robotics—dirty, dull, and dangerous. Sales of medical robots had already increased by 50% in 2018, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). But the coronavirus outbreak highlights some key use cases for mobile robotics in particular as robotic systems move in to disinfect facilities, provide surveillance, material handling, and help with deliveries.

“By the time the COVID-19 pandemic has passed, robots will be mainstreamed across a range of applications and markets.”

One of the more popular uses of robotics has been deploying autonomous mobile systems to disinfect facilities. These ultraviolet disinfection (UVD) robots use UV light to kill harmful microorganisms and have been in high demand since the coronavirus outbreak. “Automating disinfection is a key part of maintaining health and safety and could be one of the major bright spots in the response to COVID-19,” Whitton said.

Denmark-based UVD Robots is scaling up deployments of its robots to disinfect hospitals; U.S.-based GermFalcon is offering a similar UV disinfection solution for aircraft; and China’s TMiRob has been deploying disinfection robots in Wuhan, China. Chinese hospitals have ordered more than 2,000 UVD robots from Blue Ocean Robotics, according to the IFR, which, along with IEEE, awarded Blue Ocean’s UVD Robots subsidiary the IERA Award in 2019. The robots started to destroy viruses in Wuhan, where the global pandemic began, and now operate in more than 40 countries in Asia, Europe, and the U.S.

“We are now helping solve one of the biggest problems of our time, preventing the spread of viruses and bacteria with a robot that saves lives,” said Claus Risager, CEO of Blue Ocean Robotics. “The immediate demand has increased a lot with the outbreak of COVID-19. Existing customers buy many more units than before, and many new customers are ordering the UVD robots to fight coronavirus and other harmful microorganisms.”

“In a severe crisis like this where the world health is threatened, our innovative technology really proves its worth,” added Per Juul Nielsen, CEO of UVD Robots.

The robot moves autonomously around patient rooms and operating theatres, covering all critical surfaces with the right amount of UV-C light to kill specific viruses and bacteria. In a typical patient room, 99.99 % of all viruses and bacteria are killed within 10 minutes. For safety reasons, the robot works on its own and automatically disengages the UV-C light if someone enters the room, Risager noted. Watch the robot in action.

“Robots have a great potential of supporting us in the current severe corona pandemic,” said Dr. Susanne Bieller, general secretary of the IFR. “They can support us in healthcare environments, but also in the development, testing and production of medicine, vaccines and other medical devices and auxiliaries.”

source: healthcare packaging

Startup Cafe X opens its first machine-operated cafe in San Francisco. Human baristas may shudder, but tech has been replacing humans for decades.

A squat white robot arm, nicknamed Gordon after a company engineer, operates a pair of standard professional coffee machines to serve you premium-grade $2.25 espressos and $2.95 caffe lattes.

The chief benefit of Cafe X’s approach? The robot and its accompanying ordering and scheduling software deliver customers a faster caffeine fix, said Chief Executive Henry Hu. “I’m a coffee drinker. I’ve spent a lot of time waiting in line at cafes,” he said.

Gordon the robot barista is a novelty today, but smart machinery just like it will become downright ordinary as robots and artificial intelligence elbow in on human jobs. And it’ll be white-collar work, too, not just your cousin’s summer job grinding beans, foaming milk and misspelling names on paper cups.

source: cafexapp / cnet

Thai government invests in medical robotics sector

Under its Thailand 4.0 vision, Thailand plans to leverage on its reputation and excellence in medical services and medical devices and strengthen its position as the regional medical hub. To promote medical robotics, Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) has offered a wide range of investment promotion incentives.

Thai Public Sector support the field of medical robotics

The Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Public Health and Ministry of Education have jointly set up a committee with a key responsibility to promote medical and health related innovations. Many public organizations have been established to promote research and development as well as investment into human resources training. Apart from the Board of Investment, many public and private organizations have been working closely together to drive medical innovation.

Thailand is making good progress in the development and use of robotics in the field of medicine and promoting investment in robotics technology. Medical robots have been used and promoted in Thailand in many areas, including surgery, diagnosis, rehabilitation and services.

Innovations in Thai medical robotics

For rehabilitation and therapy, robots have played more important roles in assisting patients with lost limb movements and in therapy. SensibleTAB and SensibleSTEP, for example, was developed by a local company to help patients with arm and leg injury perform practiced movements aided by the robots. SensibleSTEP, a robot for rehabilitative gait training, is the winner of i-MEDBOT Innovation Contest held by Thailand Center of Excellence for Life Sciences (TCELS).

In surgery, robotics and innovations are gaining ground, especially in complicated surgery. Back in 2017, Ramathibodi Hospital, a leading government hospital in Bangkok and a reputable medical school, successfully performed the first robot-assisted brain surgery in Asia. Today, robot-assisted surgery has been adopted in many hospitals for different operations like spine, heart, eyes, intestinal, and gynaecologic surgery.

High demand for existing medical robots

In terms of services, medical service robots are increasing in demand. In addition to the well-known Dinsow, elderly care robot, and BUMBEE medical dispenser robot, medical robotics have been used in more areas. ROBODOCTOR, for example, is a remote presence system being used in a number of hospitals, allowing specialist doctors in hub hospitals to assist doctors in remote hospitals in diagnosing and treating patients with complicated conditions, such as stroke. The result is faster and more efficient diagnosis and treatment.

In addition to robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is playing such an important role in research and development (R&D) and in assisting doctors in performing complicated surgery. With the investment and advances into medical robotics and the strong support from several government agencies, Thailand is looking towards leading the way in becoming the latest healthcare innovation hub.

source: opengovasia

“With local production, the cost of such robot development is relatively low compared to the imported ones. This means more opportunity for patients to have access to robotic therapy.“

The application uses a two-arm cooperative robot to make tea, simulates the tea making action of tea artists, so as to fully display the Chinese tea culture. The tea making process is fine and complicated, and the use of cooperative robots can better complete these fine work processes.

AUBO Robotics, this highly intelligent collaborative dual-arm robot gracefully prepares, steeps, pours and serves four perfect cups of Chinese tea.

source: whirtltone / laughingsquid

AUBO Robotics
a company founded by three Phd professors from the United States and China, created the Zibo Tea Brewing Machine. 

Functional features:

▪The whole tea ceremony show is automatically completed by the cooperation of both arms.

 ▪The electric claw at the end can fully control the posture, speed and strength of the finger.

 ▪The control of the terminal electric claw is integrated in the controller, so as to make it is easy to program and call.

 ▪ It reflects the flexibility of multiple cooperative robots in the process of mutual cooperation.

Zume Pizza, a food delivery startup in the San Francisco Bay Area – with the help of robotic companions.

A robot places pizzas into an oven as it comes off a conveyor belt at Zume Pizza in Mountain View. Zume Pizza uses robots to make customers’ pizza, hoping to reduce labor costs and therefore make pizza a more profitable venture. One robot spreads the sauce on the uncooked pies, then humans add toppings, and another robot pops it in the oven. They are also rolling out delivery trucks with smart ovens to cook pies en route to customers.

At Zume Pizza, pies made by human hands are becoming a thing of the past. The startup is working on automating the process using a collection of pizza-making robots programmed for tasks such as applying pizza sauce and sliding pies into the oven. And on Thursday, Zume announced the launch of its latest high-tech feature — a delivery truck loaded with smart ovens that bake pies while they’re en route to customers.

All that technology makes the process cheaper and more efficient — Zume’s founder says her kitchen can make a pie in 22 seconds. But in a world where everything from cars and surgical equipment to home thermostats and mall security guards has become automated, adding pizza to that list may compound fears that Silicon Valley residents will have to compete with robots for jobs.

That allows the operation to improve efficiency and let its human employees spend time on less tedious work, according to CEO and co-founder Julia Collins. “We wanted to identify places where humans were overtaxed physically, bored, or whether the job they were doing was not safe, like sticking their hand into a 600 degree oven for six hours a day,” Collins said in an interview with The Verge.

source: theverge / mercurynews

Zume Pizza

What: A delivery-only pizza startup that uses robots to make the pies, automating tasks such as applying sauce and putting the pizza in the oven.

Where: Mountain View

Cost: $15-$19 for a 14-inch pie. Delivery is free.

Delivery area: Zume delivers within Mountain View and to parts of Los Altos, Sunnyvale and Palo Alto.