Bots & Bullets

A new strategy to reduce the spread of COVID-19 employs a mobile robot that detects people in crowds who are not observing social-distancing rules, navigates to them, and encourages them to move apart. Adarsh Jagan Sathyamoorthy of the University of Maryland, College Park, and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS ONE on December 1, 2021.

Knightscope, developer of security robots, today announced the commencement of its offering of up to $40 million of Class A common stock, with shares to be listed immediately following closing on the Nasdaq Global Market (“NASDAQ”) under the ticker symbol “KSCP.” The offering is for up to 4 million shares priced at $10 per share.

Preceding discussions at the United Nations in Geneva on autonomous weapons The Future of Life Institute has published a sequel to the grim warning video Slaughterbots, that in 2017 warned the world of the dangers of autonomous weapons. In the new video those lethal autonomous weapons have arrived.

Elbit Systems has demonstrated to the RAS Concept Development & Experimentation Program of the Royal Netherlands Army the Company’s Robotic Autonomous Systems (RAS) capabilities for Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions utilizing heterogeneous autonomous swarms.

European robotics and autonomous systems provider Milrem Robotics opened its office in the Netherlands, making the first step towards creating a Central European Robotics Center. Simultaneously the company introduced its upgraded THeMIS unmanned ground vehicle (UGV).

Organisations must embrace business composability to thrive through disruption in 2022 and beyond, according to Gartner’s annual global survey of CIOs and technology executives. EMEA CIO respondents projected a 3.7% IT budget increase for 2022, on average, which is slightly higher than the average global IT budget growth (3.6%)

Knightscope, developer of autonomous security robots, announced the launch of its first-ever Robot Roadshow. Knightscope’s…

RE2 Robotics has received $1.5 million in Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding to develop an autonomous flightline sustainment system for the Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office.  The program, Mobile Autonomous Aircraft Platform for Sustainment (MAAPS), will focus on the development of dual RE2 Sapien robotic arms integrated with a JLG scissor lift to perform tasks on C-17 military aircraft at height.

Modeling the mechanics of the strongest punch in the animal kingdom, researchers with U.S. Army funding built a robot that mimics the movement of the mantis shrimp. These pugnacious crustaceans could pave the way for small, but mighty robotic devices for the military.

The City of Huntington Park will extend its existing contract with Knightscope for their robot cop to continue patrolling a popular park in Los Angeles County. By a unanimous 5 to 0 vote, the City Council of Huntington Park approved the renewal of the Knightscope Autonomous Security Robot contract for an additional two-year term.