International

Last week, the fifth edition of the National Cobot Day took place at Olmia in Tiel. Visitors could network and exchange knowledge about the rapidly growing cobot market in a relaxed atmosphere. ‘We see that robots are not used to replace people, but to enable them to do other, more challenging work.’

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science and the University of California, Berkeley, have designed a robotic system that enables a low-cost and relatively small legged robot to climb and descend stairs nearly its height; traverse rocky, slippery, uneven, steep and varied terrain; walk across gaps; scale rocks and curbs; and even operate in the dark. 

Miko, an AI robot for kids, gets its own streaming series. Produced by Moonbug Entertainment and available on YouTube, Miko: The Animated Series follows six-year-old Liza and her companions Red and Blue — two robot characters based on the Miko 3 robot.

OSARO, provider of AI-driven robotics for e-commerce, announced a partnership with SVT Robotics to accelerate the integration of pick-and-place robotics systems for e-commerce and logistics businesses. SVT Robotics’ SOFTBOT Platform enables companies to integrate and deploy the robots, automation, and IoT devices they need in just days or weeks.

Robotics startups can struggle to get the help needed to turn great ideas into successful businesses. That’s why leading investors and companies from Denmark’s robotics industry and prominent commercial foundations have joined forces to establish a fund that will provide robotics and drone startups with the support they need – for generations to come.  

Beneath our streets lies a maze of pipes, conduits for water, sewage, and gas. Regular inspection of these pipes for leaks, or repair, normally requires these to be dug up. The latter is not only onerous and expensive – with an estimated annual cost of £5.5bn in the UK alone – but causes disruption to traffic as well as nuisance to people living nearby, not to mention damage to the environment.

Researchers at North Carolina State University have created a ring-shaped soft robot capable of crawling across surfaces when exposed to elevated temperatures or infrared light. The researchers have demonstrated that these “ringbots” are capable of pulling a small payload across the surface – in ambient air or under water, as well as passing through a gap that is narrower than its ring size.

At Project Convergence 2022 (PC22) Kraus Hamdani Aerospace introduced its newest offering, the upSwarm “Skynet* for good” system in conjunction with a demonstration for the K1000ULE, the world’s longest endurance fully electric zero emissions autonomous unmanned aircraft in its size and weight category.

The Asia Pacific micro-surgical robot market is expected to grow from US$ 245.19 million in 2022 to US$ 581.11 million by 2028; it is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 13.1% from 2022 to 2028, according to the report “Asia Pacific Micro-Surgical Robot Market Forecast to 2028 – COVID-19 Impact and Regional Analysis – by Component, Application, and End User” by ResearchAndMarkets.com

A new Gartner survey revealed that 87% of business leaders expect to increase their organisation’s investment in sustainability over the next two years. Customers are the primary stakeholder group creating pressure for organisations to invest or act on sustainability issues, selected by 80% of executives, followed by investors (60%) and regulators (55%).