MDA Space’s Canadarm2 onboard the ISS in 2021. | Source: MDA Space MDA Space this week announced that it has received a $250 million contract extension from the Canadian Space Agency. The contract will allow the company to continue supporting robotics operations on the International Space Station, or ISS, from 2025 to 2030.  Brampton, Ontario-based MDA Space specializes in satellites, Earth and space observation, and space exploration and infrastructure. The company said it has 55 years of experience as a mission partner to the space industry, and it has completed more than 450 missions ..read more

The Robot Report Podcast · From the barn to the bar: AI powered robots In this episode, we talk to Matt Casella from Richtech Robotics about the Adam bartending robot, and then to Chris Padwick from John Deere about creating vision models for spraying weeds in the field. Both interviews occurred during the NVIDIA GTC24 event in March, and both companies leverage NVIDIA technology in their robotic solutions. Richtech Robotics: https://www.richtechrobotics.com/ John Deere Autonomous Solutions: https://www.deere.com/en/sprayers/see-spray/ Show Timeline 23:54 Interview with Matt Casella, CEO of R ..read more

Intuitive placed eight of its next-generation da Vinci 5 systems in the first quarter of 2024. | Source: Intuitive Surgical Intuitive Surgical Inc. yesterday posted first-quarter results that exceeded Wall Street’s consensus forecast while increasing its forecast for full-year procedure growth. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based surgical robotics leader reported profits of $545 million, or $1.51 per diluted share, for the three months ended March 31, 2024, up 53% from the first quarter of 2023. Total revenue was $1.89 billion for the quarter, up 11% from the same period a year ago. Intuitive cited ..read more

Serve Robotics mobile robots maneuver on the sidewalk to make local deliveries. | Credit: Serve Robotics Serve Robotics Inc. went public on the Nasdaq yesterday under the symbol “SERV,” opening at $4.75 and closing the day at $3.11. It said it expected its initial public offering of 10 million shares of common stock to generate $40 million in gross proceeds, before underwriting discounts and offering expenses. “Serve’s transition to a publicly traded entity marks an important moment in the robotics landscape, showcasing our role as one of the first to commercially deploy AI-powered robots in ..read more

The MOTOMAN NEXT series, which is powered by NVIDIA Jetson Orin and Wind River Linux. | Source: Yaskawa Electric Wind River Systems Inc. this week announced that Yaskawa Electric Corp. is using Wind River Linux in the development of its new product MOTOMAN NEXT. The company said its software will enable Yaskawa’s industrial robots to autonomously adapt to their environment and make judgments with advanced artificial intelligence.  MOTOMAN NEXT is powered by NVIDIA Jetson Orin and Wind River Linux. Yaskawa claimed that these systems will help the robot “realize new levels of intelligence ..read more

Bota offers vision systems intended to allow robots to work and move safety. | Source: Bota Systems Bota Systems will exhibit its recently unveiled sensors featuring a through-hole flange design and enhanced cable management at the Robotics Summit & Expo. The company can be found in Booth 315 on the event’s show floor. “During the Robotics Summit, we will showcase our complete range of sensors at our booth, and we invite you to experience these sensors in action,” Marco Martinaglia, vice president of marketing at Bota Systems, told The Robot Report. “You’ll see a live demonstration of in ..read more

Jennifer Apicella (left) of the PRN and Fady Saad (right) of Cybernetix Ventures have announced a strategic partnership. | Source: Pittsburgh Robotics Network Cybernetix Ventures yesterday announced a strategic partnership with the Pittsburgh Robotics Network. The early-stage venture capital firm said it is part of its long-term robotics cluster engagement efforts.  The partnership is a joint initiative to set Pittsburgh’s robotics startups up for success, and bring more of the cluster’s investable robotics opportunities to global markets. The Pittsburgh Robotics Network (PRN) is a nonp ..read more

Goodbye to the hydraulic version of Atlas and hello to the electric model designed for commercialization. That’s the message from Boston Dynamics Inc., which yesterday retired the older version of its humanoid robot after 15 years of development and today showed a preview of its successor. “The next generation of the Atlas program builds on decades of research and furthers our commitment to delivering the most capable, useful mobile robots solving the toughest challenges in the industry today: with Spot, with Stretch, and now with Atlas,” said the company in a blog post. Spot is a quadruped u ..read more

Mentee Robotics co-founders include Lior Wolf, CEO (left); Amnon Shashua, chairman (middle); Shai Shalev-Shwartz, chief scientist (right). | Credit: Mentee Robotics Mentee Robotics came out of stealth today and unveiled its first bipedal humanoid robot prototype. An experienced team founded the Herzliya, Israel company in 2022. It includes Prof. Amnon Shashua, the chairman of Mentee Robotics, an expert in AI, computer vision, natural language processing and other related fields. The company‘s founders also include Prof. Lior Wolf, the CEO of Mentee Robotics and formerly a research scientist ..read more

Bumblebee X is a new GigE-powered stereo imaging solution that delivers high-accuracy and low-latency for robotic guidance and pick-and-place applications. | Credit: Teledyne FLIR Teledyne FLIR IIS (Integrated Imaging Solutions) today announced the new Bumblebee X series – an advanced stereo-depth vision solution optimized for multiple applications. The imaging device is a comprehensive industrial-grade (IP67) stereo vision solution with onboard processing to build successful systems for warehouse automation, robotics guidance, and logistics. Bumblebee X 5GIGE delivers on the essential need ..read more