UR cobots at the Peugeot assembly plant in France. | Source: Teradyne My LinkedIn inbox has been busier than usual over the last couple of weeks, since I shared an opinion piece in Forbes titled “The Reinvention of the Manufacturing Industry,” exploring how a new generation of advanced robotics is helping to democratize manufacturing, making robots affordable for companies of all sizes. Several of my professional contacts have reached out to ask: Are collaborative robots really just for small and medium-sized companies then? We know this is not true, and so I need to offer some further expla ..read more

Magna International will manufacture more delivery robots. Source: Serve Robotics Serve Robotics Inc. today said it has expanded its existing partnership with Magna International Inc. to increase production of Serve’s sidewalk delivery robots. Under the terms of the new production and purchase agreement, Magna is the exclusive contract manufacturer of Serve’s autonomous systems, supporting its plan to deploy up to 2,000 robots on the Uber Eats platform across multiple U.S. markets. “Magna is excited to continue collaborating with Serve, leveraging our manufacturing and technical expertise to ..read more

New offerings include more low-cost automation and the igusGO AI-driven app. Source: igus At its annual press conference last week, igus GmbH previewed numerous new products in advance of the Hannover Messe trade show. The Cologne, Germany-based company announced 247 new products, including  lubrication-free drives using motion plastics and new robots for educational, service, and industrial applications. “We’re offering a mobile manipulator for small companies,” said Alexander Mühlens, head of automation technology and robotics at igus. He touted the company’s low-cost automation appro ..read more

Custom user interface for Flexiv Rizon 4 sanding robot. Source: Flexiv Robotics By integrating sensing, robotics, and artificial intelligence, Flexiv Robotics Inc. claimed that it can improve multiple industrial processes, from sanding to sortation. It develops and manufactures general-purpose, adaptive robots. Founded in 2016, Flexiv produces the Rizon arm with seven degrees of freedom and the Moonlight force-controlled parallel robot. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company has offices in China, Taiwan, and Singapore. Last month, Red Bluff, Calif.-based systems integrator DOCO Engineering pa ..read more

The PUDU T300 mobile robot dis designed for use in tight aisles with heavy payloads. Source: Pudu Robotics Pudu Technology Co. said today at Hannover Messe that it is expanding from service robots into supply chain applications with the new PUDU T300 mobile robot. The Shenzhen, China-based company said its new robot offers maneuverability, a “map-and-go” feature, and flexible deployment to help manufacturers worldwide. “There is a huge demand from industrial clients for automated, flexible robotics solutions that can operate continuously to meet high production rates and improve operational ..read more

Advanced Navigation’s Hydrus micro autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) deployed. | Source: Advanced Navigation Advanced Navigation is bringing humans closer to the ocean with Hydrus, a relatively small underwater drone. The company recently sent Hydrus to the depths of the Rottnest ship graveyard, located in the Indian Ocean and just off the coast of Western Australia.  The Sydney, Australia-based developer of AI robotics and navigation technology said that upon seeing the gathered data, the team discovered a 210-ft. (64-m) shipwreck scattered across the sea floor. This means the wreck ..read more

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

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