Save A Lot has partnered with automation provider Fabric to introduce a robot that reduces the time to assemble a 50-item grocery order to just 6-8 minutes. This development is part of a new micro-fulfillment center in Brooklyn, which marks Save A Lot’s first venture into on-demand, automated grocery delivery. The collaboration combines Fabric’s robotic technology with Save A Lot’s grocery offerings to bring delivery services to New York City, with Uber couriers handling the last-mile logistics.

The robotics market shows contrasting trends in 2024, reflecting divergent performances across sectors and regions. According to recent reports from the Association for Advancing Automation (A3) and the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), while North American robot orders saw an overall decline, the global service robot market experienced substantial growth.

Vanderlande, a company specializing in warehouse automation solutions, has announced a partnership with Hai Robotics to enhance its offerings in North America. The collaboration will introduce Hai Robotics’ Automated Case-Handling Mobile Robots (ACRs) into Vanderlande’s Tote AV portfolio, expanding the company’s capabilities in warehouse automation.

AI can reduce energy consumption in hotels by up to 30%, potentially lowering both costs and carbon emissions. According to Donatas Karčiauskas, CEO of Exergio, AI-based energy performance tools enable hotels to manage energy use more efficiently without the need for retrofitting. These systems, which adjust energy usage in real-time based on variables such as occupancy and weather, align with the increasing demand for sustainability in the hospitality sector.

Despite advances in robotics, certain professional tools are still missing from the industry. There is room for acceleration in the field by connecting various individual developments. The Rocking Robots team discussed this with Christine Fraser, CEO of Asimovo, a robotics-focused DevOps platform. In her keynote she talked about collaboration between academia and industry and the impact of AI on robotics.

Shenzhen Han’s Robot is set to introduce a new line of collaborative robots tailored for the Southeast Asian market during the upcoming Industrial Transformation ASIA-PACIFIC (ITAP) 2024, which will take place from October 14 to 16 at Singapore EXPO. As part of its strategic expansion into the region, Han’s Robot is focusing on meeting the growing demand for automation and smart manufacturing solutions in Asia’s rapidly evolving industrial sector.

Mondial Relay is deploying Addverb’s ‘Zippy’ sorting robots at its distribution center in La Roche-sur-Yon, France, to enhance parcel handling efficiency and accuracy. This deployment involves 62 Zippy robots, part of a comprehensive automation solution aimed at streamlining the sorting process for Mondial Relay’s high-volume parcel operations.

YASKAWA has announced a cooperation agreement with Fizyr, focusing on a non-exclusive go-to-market strategy in Europe. The collaboration aims to facilitate the implementation of robotic automation in warehouse logistics by leveraging AI-based computer vision. The target areas include high-speed item picking, automatic parcel sorting, palletizing, depalletizing, and trailer unloading, which involve handling objects of various sizes and shapes. The use of AI in vision systems is considered crucial for overcoming past difficulties in automating these processes.

AWS is introducing generative AI to provide live commentary during sports matches. In the German Bundesliga, this technology is used to automatically generate commentary during football matches in real time. The AI ​​analyses more than 1,600 actions per match, such as goals, passes and fouls, and delivers commentary in a number of languages ​​and styles within seconds. This enables fans worldwide to have direct access to match information in a way that is tailored to their personal preferences.

WorkFar has introduced a new initiative allowing businesses to lease its humanoid robots without requiring an initial payment. The program is designed to make advanced robotic technology accessible to manufacturing and logistics companies, helping them boost productivity while contributing to the development of WorkFar’s artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms.