Marco van der Hoeven

Polysentry, provider of platforms to integrate and analyze complex data sets, has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II contract from the Department of the Air Force (DAF). In partnership with the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center (AFNWC) and the USAF Digital Transformation Office (DTO), Polysentry will develop AI-COP, an AI-enabled Classification Operations Platform.

Built Robotics, maker of robotic Exosystem and working in construction autonomy, will acquire Roin Technologies, makers of an automated concrete power trowel. With this acquisition Built Robotics wants to expand automation beyond construction into new applications and markets.

The restructuring announced by Microsoft particularly affects the teams behind AltSpaceVR and the Mixed Reality Tool Kit. According to reports in American media, these have been completely fired. For the time being, the expected AI investment of ten billion dollar in ChatGPT seems to continue.

FANUC robotics integrator Aerobotix has received a special award at a Lockheed Martin supplier conference. Aerobotix was presented with a 2022 Supplier Recognition Award for Ease of Doing Business. The award describes Aerobotix as “a vital partner” of Lockheed Martin’s Space division. 

The physical skills of Atlas, one of the robots being developed by Boston Dynamics, have again increased significantly. To show what the robot is capable of, Boston Dynamics has posted a new video.

Turnkey robotic solutions, complete with all hardware, software, sensors and interfaces, will be powerful automation drivers in 2023, according to Universal Robots. Gone are the days of manufacturers buying a robot arm only to struggle figuring out how to integrate it in an application cell. 

The World Economic Forum, in partnership with Accenture and Microsoft, unveiled at its Annual Meeting 2023 a working prototype of its Global Collaboration Village, a purpose-driven metaverse where organizations can convene to learn about, create solutions for, and take action on the world’s most pressing challenges.

The Indy Autonomous Challenge team PoliMOVE from Politecnico di Milano (Italy), and the University of Alabama (Alabama) won the second annual Autonomous Challenge at  CES reaching max speeds of 180 mph, a new autonomous speed world record for a racetrack.

Early-stage robotics startups looking for help can now apply now to the Odense Robotics StartUp Fund, offering funding, mentoring and incubation to ambitious robotics and drone startups from Denmark and abroad.

Countries around the world invest in robotics to support developments in industry and society. What are the exact targets of robotics research funding programs (R&D) officially driven by governments in Asia, Europe and America today? This has been researched by the International Federation of Robotics and published in the 2023 update paper of “World Robotics R&D Programs”.