New York, April 27, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "COVID-19 Impact on Industrial Robotics Market by Type, Industry And Region Global Forecast to 2025" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05888617/?utm_source=GNW 6 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 73.0 billion by 2025; it is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.4% during the forecast period. The projection for 2025 is estimated to be down by ~3% as compared to pre-COVID-19 estimation.

A shortage of skilled labor, especially in developed countries, is driving the further use of automation, in the industrial robotics market.Manufacturers are turning to automation to decrease manufacturing costs and to keep their cost advantage in the market.

Automation in the electronics industry presents an excellent growth opportunity for traditional industrial robots in the coming years, especially in the APAC region where manufacturers are looking to automate their production processes further. Post-COVID-19, manufacturers are expected to increase in-house manufacturing through automation rather than outsource manufacture to other countries to mitigate global supply chain risks in the future.

SCARA robots market to grow at highest CAGR during the forecast periodThe market for SCARA robots is projected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. SCARA robots are expected to play a vital role specifically in industries such as food & beverages and electronics & electrical by preventing contamination of food products and preventing damage of delicate semiconductor wafers due to human contact, especially for companies looking to minimize their losses during COVID-19.

Market for metals & machinery industry to grow at significant CAGR from 2020 to 2025.Like other industries, the metals & machinery industry has also been hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic.The lack of demand for metals and machines from the construction, automotive, shipbuilding, and many more industries have severely affected the metals & machinery sector.

Additionally, metals and machinery companies are planning to operate by utilizing only 50% of their workforce.However, the metals and machinery industry make up the building blocks for other large industries.

Companies in the metals and machinery industry make for a large number of essential suppliers. To minimize disruption in production, the traditional industrial robotics market for this industry is expected to grow at the fastest rate post-COVID-19.

APAC to dominate the global traditional industrial robotics market throughout the forecast period.2018 saw a decrease in sales of industrial robots due to countries like China seeing a fall in demand in the automotive sector and the adverse effects of the US-China trade war. Subsequently, the COVID-19 pandemic starting in late 2019 and extending till mostly Q2 or Q3 of 2020 is now adversely affecting the market growth for traditional industrial robots. However, the market in APAC is still expected to grow at the highest CAGR during 20202025. Although major countries contributing to the APAC market, such as China, experienced a greater slowdown in growth, their market share remains significant.On the other hand, 2018 has witnessed the penetration and sales of industrial robots in developing APAC countries such as India and Taiwan.The electrical and electronics industry is an important driver for industrial robots in APAC, owing to the rising demand for electronic products around the world.

Components like computer chips, batteries, and displays that are small and sensitive need to be handled with high speed and high precision. APAC also houses a major number of strong global players in the industrial robotics market.Apart from APAC, the growth of industrial robots in Europe has remained steady over the years.In Europe, industrial robots are not only relevant for large enterprises, but smaller enterprises as well.

Germany remains the largest market in Europe for industrial robots. Government initiatives like Industrie 4.0 and the penetration of IoT and AI are expected to boost robot sales in the coming years post-COVID-19. However, the COVID-19 pandemic will negatively affect growth even in developing APAC countries as well as European manufacturers until Q2 or Q3 of 2020.In the process of determining and verifying the market size for several segments and subsegments gathered through secondary research, extensive primary interviews have been conducted with key industry experts in the industrial robotics market. The break-up of primary participants for the report has been shown below: By Company Type: Tier 1 40%, Tier 2 40%, and Tier 3 20% By Designation: C-level Executives 40%, Directors 30%, and Others 30% By Region: North America 40, APAC 30%, Europe 20%, and RoW 10%

The report profiles key players in the industrial robotics market with their respective market ranking analysis. Prominent players profiled in this report are ABB (Switzerland), YASKAWA (Japan), FANUC (Japan), KUKA (Germany), Mitsubishi Electric (Japan), Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Japan), DENSO (Japan), NACHI-FUJIKOSHI (Japan), EPSON (Japan), Drr (Germany), Universal Robots (Denmark), Omron Adept (US), b+m Surface Systems (Germany), Stubli (Switzerland), Comau (Italy), Yamaha (Japan), Franka Emika (Germany), CMA Robotics (Italy), Rethink Robotics (Germany), Techman Robots (Taiwan), Precise Automation (US), and Siasun (China).

Research Coverage:This research report categorizes the global industrial robotics market based on type, industry, and geography.The report describes the major drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities for the industrial robotics market pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It forecasts the market considering the COVID-19 impact on the industrial robotics ecosystem until 2025.Apart from these, the report also consists of an analysis of all the companies included in the industrial robotics ecosystem.

It also identifies the new revenue sources for the players in the industrial robotics ecosystem.

Key Benefits of Buying the Report

The report would help leaders/new entrants in this market in the following ways:1. The report helps stakeholders understand the pulse of the industrial robotics market and provides them with information on key drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities specific to the COVID-19 pandemic.2. This report would help stakeholders understand their competitors better and gain more insights to improve their position in the business even during the COVID-19 pandemic.3. The report identifies new revenue sources for players in the industrial robotics ecosystem, post-COVID-19 subsides.Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05888617/?utm_source=GNW

About ReportlinkerReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.

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COVID-19 Impact on Industrial Robotics Market by Type, Industry And Region Global Forecast to 2025 - GlobeNewswire

For high school senior Evan Spalding, a co-captain of the robotics team Free WiFi, he can only wonder what may have been at the FIRST Tech Challenge World Competition.

A Stonington resident and student at the Marine Science Magnet High School in Groton, Spalding and members of Free WiFi were set to travel to Detroit this week alongside their sister team, Blue Screen of Death, after both qualified for the world competition earlier this year that is before travel restrictions and stay-at-home orders related to COVID-19 brought the robotics season to a screeching halt.

As a team, we are fortunate in the sense that I was the only senior who would have been traveling, so both teams should be in a great position for next year, said Spalding, a designer who has worked with Shoreline Robotics Inc. for eight years now.

It was the first time that two teams would have gone to the competition, so it would have been interesting to see what could have happened with everyone there at the same time, Spalding said. Thats the one thing I will always wonder about.

Shoreline Robotics Inc. is a Pawcatuck-based organization that partners with the Westerly Library to bring robotics to area students. The organization sponsors two FIRST Tech Challenge teams each year; Team 10376, known as the Blue Screen of Death, and Team 13181, or Free WiFi.

Both teams had qualified for the 2020 World Competition, which was initially scheduled to take place in Detroit from Tuesday through May 2. The robotics season came to an abrupt end in mid-March as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, but the season had already been a successful one for students and coaches with Shoreline Robotics Inc.

Jay Spalding, Evans father and coach of Team 10376, said both teams have strong reasons to be proud of their accomplishments during the current academic year.

In February, both teams earned the right to take part in the World Competition after each qualified during the Rhode Island State Championship in February. Both teams had qualified for the state competition a month earlier and eventually found themselves going head-to-head during team competition in the semifinals.

Blue Screen of Death team defeated WiFi and advanced to the finals before eventually losing to a team from North Kingstown. Although the team did not take home the championship it would have been their second straight win for Blue Screen of Death the success did land them a spot in Detroit.

Molly Starr, a designer with Blue Screen of Death, said she wasnt particularly confident in the teams robot this year. After a better-than-anticipated showing in both the qualifying tournament and state championship, however, she said she was excited to see what the team would have been able to accomplish while working with and against the best teams in the world.

Weve had a track record of success, so our expectations were pretty high, said Starr, a Mystic resident and junior at Three Rivers Middle College Magnet High School. We knew we had a decent robot and program, so we just tried to accomplish what we could. We got a little luck along the way, which helped.

After falling to Blue Screen of Death in the semifinals, Free WiFi punched their ticket to worlds as winners of the 2020 Inspire Award.

According to the FIRST Tech Challenge website, the Inspire Award is an annual award that is given to the team that best embodies the challenge of the FIRST Tech Challenge program. This involves a team sharing its experiences, enthusiasm and knowledge with other teams, sponsors, the community, and the judges.

The team that receives this award is a strong ambassador for FIRST programs and a role model FIRST team, the website states.

The recognition was certainly one of note for the team, which had sought to win the award from day one, said Veronica Kushner, a Bradford resident and builder with Free WiFi. Kushner, a homeschool student and high school freshman, said outreach and cooperation with other teams in the region proved to be an important factor in helping win the Inspire Award.

Kushner said by trying to do what was right and including others in the building process, Free WiFis members had become better teammates and competitors. This helped them grow as individuals and made the award feel like a true team accomplishment.

I was really glad we were able to take home that award. Everyone was focused on being gracious and professional, and I think that mentality helped us to stay focused, Kushner said.

Jay Spalding said the team also took inspiration from Rilla Eisenbeiser, who was named the Rhode Island representative to the Deans List award, which is named in honor of FIRST Rbotics founder and innovator Dean Lawrence Kamen.

A high school sophomore, Eisenbeiser will find out whether she won during a virtual ceremony on May 2.

Im just happy to have been nominated, she said.

As the team looks to build on its accomplishments from this year, Jay Spalding and several team members said they are looking forward to seeing the social distancing restrictions lifted and hopefully get back out there for a friendly scrimmage before the end of the school year.

Members said it will then be all eyes ahead as they look to the fall competition and start of the 2020-21 robotics season. That means recruitment, team retention and brainstorming in preparation for the next challenge.

What is going on right now is shocking, but it wont go on forever, Spalding said. We are ready to open things back up. The students are excited to get back to building and we are looking forward to the chance to compete again and hopefully earn a trip to the World Competition again in 2021.

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Shoreline robotics teams ponder what could have been at cancelled World Competition - The Westerly Sun

CHERRY HILL, N.J. (CBS) As the coronavirus spreads the need for personal protective equipment continues. New Jersey has the second most cases of COVID-19 in the United States, so in order to help, a group of high school robotics teams decided to band together.

Face shields, printed and prepped by the joint efforts of a group of high school robotics teams, are arriving at New Jersey Jefferson Hospital locations just in time.

So the residents were in need of face shields and here they were sitting in front of us and being donated so the timing was great, said Dr. Roy Sandau, Chief of Surgery at Jefferson Health New Jersey.

Coronavirus Latest: What You Need To Know And Staying Connected

Sandau says he was overly excited about the donation.

The teams from Moorestown, Seneca, Lenape, Cherokee, and Bishop Eustace High Schools are now refocusing their efforts to come together to put their own print on the coronavirus pandemic.

Were seeing the shortage, how the coronavirus is affecting all of our hospitals and as an FRC team, we are always looking for ways to help out the community, student Emily Tsai said.

The students are making a Swedish model shield called the Verkstan stackable shields that are more efficient in the printing process and quicker to get to health care workers.

My son was able to take the code and slice it, FRC Against COVID-19 Co-Founder Maria Blatcher said. Now, we can print a stack of 37 so essentially have our printers running 24/7.

LATEST CORONAVIRUS CASES

Theyve made just over 1,000 shields so far, but they need help to make more. They say they need more 3D printing capacity, more resources to make the $1 shields.

If anybody in the community has a printer and wants to join us, we have informational videos on our website to get them going, Blatcher said.

If we can save one persons life or prevent more cases from spreading, its all worth it, Tsai said.

For more information on how to help FRC Against COVID-19, click here.

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Coronavirus New Jersey: Group Of High School Robotics Teams Band Together To Provide Face Shields To Jefferson Health - CBS Philly

Boston Dynamics has released a payload and application architecture for their mobile robot in order to protect healthcare workers amid COVID-19.

In a recent blog post, the robotics firm stated Mobile robots play a vital role in removing people from dangerous environments. We have spent the last six weeks building and testing a payload and application architecture that would enable our robot Spot to help reduce exposure of frontline healthcare workers to the novel COVID-19 virus.

The company further stated that it has developed and tested the payload, hardware, and software for this application in order to generalise it as well as make it easy to be deployed on other mobile robotic platforms with APIs and capacity for custom payloads.

Boston Dynamics has developed an open-source healthcare robotics toolkit which will allow mobile robots to carry out essential functions aiding in reducing the exposure of frontline healthcare staff to the deadly virus. With the deployment of our first healthcare-focused robot, were open-sourcing all of our work to empower mobile robotics platforms to leverage the same hardware and software stack that weve developed to help frontline healthcare workers, stated on the blog post.

Using the advanced mobile robots, the healthcare staff could reduce the risk of coming in contact with COVID-19, by reducing the number of the necessary medical staff at the scene. The robot will help in carrying out the essential function of speaking to the potentially infected patients, measuring vital signs and transporting supplies. The company has shared the toolkit on GitHub, which includes hardware and software designs for COVID-19 applications, including documentation for CAD mounts and programming scripts; making it vendor-neutral so that other mobile robotics platforms can leverage the same tech stack.

With the growing pandemic, robots technology have come handy in keeping essential frontline workers safe as well as in contributing to the fight against COVID-19. The company claimed that it had spent six weeks building and testing capabilities of this mobile robot in order to help hospitals in saving lives using its advanced mobile robot Spot.

According to the company blog post, Boston Dynamics started receiving inquiries from hospitals, around March 2020, asking whether its robots could help to minimise healthcare staffs exposure to COVID-19. Due to the increasing nature of the virus, hospitals are looking to using robots in order to take more of their staff out of range of the novel virus.

Based on these conversations, as well as the global shortage of critical personal protective equipment, we have spent the past several weeks trying to understand hospital requirements better to develop a mobile robotics solution with our robot, Spot. The result is a legged robot application that can be deployed to support frontline staff responding to the pandemic in ad-hoc environments such as triage tents and parking lots, said Boston Dynamics on the blog post.

The company hopes that these tools can enable developers to rapidly deploy robots in order to reduce risks to medical staff. Several researchers, analysts and robotics specialists have started using Spot for their healthcare workers benefits. Some of them are using it as a mobile telemedicine platform, where the healthcare providers are using an iPad and two-way radio attached to the robots back to attend and treat infected patients.

Additionally, the company is working towards advancing its robots to read and collect vital signs remotely and accurately measure body temperature, respiratory rate, pulse rate and oxygen saturation. We have been in dialogue with researchers who use thermal camera technology to measure body temperature and calculate the respiratory rate. Weve also applied externally-developed logic to externally-mounted RGB cameras to capture changes in blood vessel contraction to measure pulse rate. We are evaluating methods for measuring oxygen saturation, Boston Dynamics said.

Besides, the company is also advancing Spot to do essential decontamination work. This will be done potentially with mounted UV-C lights capable of disinfecting surfaces and killing coronavirus particles at the same time. We are still in the early stages of developing this solution but also see several existing mobile robotics providers who have implemented this technology specifically for hospitals, Boston Dynamic stated on the blog post.

We hope our fellow mobile robot providers, existing customers, and medical professionals will be able to use this information to leverage mobile robots to take people out of harms way during this critical time. Together, we can improve conditions for healthcare workers and essential personnel around the world, save lives, and fight COVID-19, concluded Boston Dynamics.

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Boston Dynamics Open Sources Their Healthcare Robotics Toolkit - Analytics India Magazine

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Astrobotic seeks a Thermal System Engineer to design and test thermal solutions for the companys lunar lander product lines.

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Astrobotic, RE2 Robotics and Carlow University are hiring. See more Pittsburgh jobs 4/27/20 - NEXTpittsburgh

A new research study has been presented by Dataintelo.com offering a comprehensive analysis on the Global Bio-inspired Robotics Market where user can benefit from the complete market research report with all the required useful information about this market. This is a latest report, covering the current COVID-19 impact on the market. The pandemic of Coronavirus (COVID-19) has affected every aspect of life globally. This has brought along several changes in market conditions. The rapidly changing market scenario and initial and future assessment of the impact is covered in the report. The report discusses all major market aspects with expert opinion on current market status along with historic data. This market report is a detailed study on the growth, investment opportunities, market statistics, growing competition analysis, major key players, industry facts, important figures, sales, prices, revenues, gross margins, market shares, business strategies, top regions, demand, and developments.

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By Types:Modular RobotsHumanoid RobotsSwarm RoboticsSoft RobotsOther

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Table of Contents1. Executive Summary2. Assumptions and Acronyms Used3. Research Methodology4. Market Overview5. Global Market Analysis and Forecast, by Types6. Global Market Analysis and Forecast, by Applications7. Global Market Analysis and Forecast, by Regions8. North America Market Analysis and Forecast9. Latin America Market Analysis and Forecast10. Europe Market Analysis and Forecast11. Asia Pacific Market Analysis and Forecast12. Middle East & Africa Market Analysis and Forecast13. Competition Landscape

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Bio-inspired Robotics Industry 2020 Includes The Major Application Segments And Size In The Global Market To 2026 - Latest Herald

By Henry Payne

The Detroit News

ANN ARBOR, Mich. The streets are empty of cars in Ann Arbor, but robot traffic is up.

Refraction AIs robot restaurant food delivery service has seen demand increase by four times since the COVID-19 crisis shut down Michigan last month, and the companys engineers are working furiously to expand the companys small fleet of three-wheeled REV bots.

Refraction is part of a surge in robot activity as the U.S. economy struggles to get back on track while maintaining self-distancing and exposing as few workers as possible in the workplace. The virus is accelerating robotics trends from auto plant assembly lines to grocery store cleaning robots to security patrols and that is likely to have enormous implications for the jobs of the not-so-distant future.

This moment is a call to arms for robotics makers to really bring their technology to market that helps people. Particularly now in a time when there are so few options for doing tasks that we dont want to put people at risk for, said Refraction AI CEO Matthew Johnson-Roberson, an associate professor of engineering at the University of Michigan with 20 years of experience in the robotics field.

Refraction autonomous REVs (Refraction Electric Vehicles) began restaurant food deliveries at the first of the year from four restaurants to a small group of beta customers within a 2-mile radius in downtown Ann Arbor.

With the states closure of in-restaurant dining and subsequent shelter-in-place order, Refractions customer list has ballooned to 400, taxing the startups five robots which have been hustling to and fro along the edges of abandoned city streets.

A bunch of new restaurants have said we have to have delivery now. The big limiting factor is the number of robots we have, said Johnson-Roberson, 36. Weve been working to expand to groceries, which is the more important need of the moment than takeout food.

Johnson-Roberson says the shutdown has accelerated customers acceptance of robots as fear of COVID-19 has drawn them to technologies think of the Zoom chat revolution that they were unaware of before.

It really changes consumer behavior across the board, he said. A lot of what were getting help with here is people getting comfortable with robots.

That comfort has been reinforced with strict safety guidelines to mitigate virus spread. The robots are wiped down between every delivery; upon food delivery, customers can open the 5-foot tall robots door by phone instead of keypad; and the company has installed UV lights a coronavirus killer in the interior to disinfect the compartment and food.

With the added demand, the 15-person autonomous startup is looking to hire in these job-lean times. Some of its new employees come from the hard-hit restaurant industry.

Weve always thought about robotics as to how to improve peoples lives. It can do things people dont want to do like bomb disposal robots, nuclear inspection robots, said the robotics professor. Theyve figured out a task thats unpleasant for human beings and can do it better.

One of those unpleasant tasks is cleaning grocery aisles after hundreds of patrons have filed through in a typical COVID economy day.

San Diego-based Brain Corp. is the worlds largest maker of autonomous navigation software for robotics giants like Minuteman, Tennant and Karcher. Its business has expanded as grocery retailers like Walmart have brought in more cleaning robots.

As retailers are required to clean more frequently and deliver more cleaning coverage, BrainOS-powered autonomous floor care robots are providing 8,000-plus hours of daily work over 250,000 hours over the next 30 days that otherwise would have to be done by an essential worker, said a company spokesperson. This allows workers to focus on other tasks that are essential during this health crisis.

Security robots are in demand as companies have abandoned workplaces and employees work from home. For example, autonomous Cobalt Robotics bots are patrolling Metro Detroit businesses.

The U.S. auto industry is not likely to be immediately impacted with more robots in part because it is already heavily automated to reduce costs. Today, humans are scarce in giant assembly plants except at the assembly-line tail and are therefore spaced safely. Stamping, painting, and body welding departments are crowded robot zones.

But with the enormous travel restrictions caused by COVIDs spread, industry insiders say the auto supply chain is going to change drastically and robots will play their part.

In pursuit of lower costs, the supply chain in recent decades has expanded to China, Vietnam, and elsewhere.

Now, we see huge risk of the supply chain when something like this happens, said Doug Betts, a manufacturing veteran and president of J.D. Powers auto division. The management of risk will reel the supply chain back in to the U.S. Labor costs are going to be high and that supply chain is likely to be established here with more robotics than whats used in other markets.

Example? A paint supplier abroad might use the cheaper labor of local people to spray paint onto parts. As those jobs move back to the U.S., they will be filled more by robots than people for safety, environmental and cost reasons.

Says robotics expert Johnson-Roberson: Part of what were talking about is job displacement and that is something that is a concern. We want to be careful that whatever we are doing here is making life better on the whole.

Amidst the coronavirus business devastation in Ann Arbor, he says robotics can help provide job and health security.

People who run restaurants arent sure they can come through this, said the Refraction CEO. The fear that 25-to-50% (of) restaurants will go away is terrifying to me. And the jobs from dishwashers to bus people to caterers to line cooks _ their livelihoods depend on their customers. If (the COVID crisis) goes on for six months _ with one wave after another _ we have to come up with a sustainable way to do this.

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Robots on the rise in the COVID-19 economy - Sunbury Daily Item

As the coronavirus began to spread through Japan in March, workers at a warehouse in Sugito that processes millions of personal care products each day were overrun by a spike in demand for masks, gloves, soap, and hand sanitizer.

To prevent workers from spreading the deadly virus, the company that operates the center, PalTac, introduced temperature checks, masks, and regular decontaminations. In coming weeks, it plans a more radical solutionhiring more robots.

We have to consider more automation, more use of robotics, in order for people to be spaced apart, says Shohei Matsumoto, deputy general manager of the companys R&D division. There are going to be fewer opportunities for humans to touch the items.

Read all of our coronavirus coverage here.

The coronavirus pandemic has cost millions of jobs. Now, it may transform work in other ways. As manufacturers and ecommerce companies struggle to adapt to social distancing, regular cleaning, and a potential shortage of workers because of quarantines, some may invest in robots.

PalTac already uses robots from the US company RightHand Robotics to pick objects from bins and assemble orders. Matsumoto says it should be possible to expand the use of these robots with software updates, allowing them to recognize and grasp a new object, or retrieve items from new types of bins. Many industrial robots, including those found in car factories, take hours to program, cannot easily be moved, and blindly follow precise commands. The flexibility offered by these newer robotic systems makes it possible to redeploy them quickly.

Not every factory or warehouse will be able to use robots. In some ways, the coronavirus crisis has only highlighted how limited most workplace robots still are. They typically lack the ability to sense, respond, and adapt to the real world, so humans are still crucial even in the most automated facilities.

But the return to work may accelerate adoption of more flexible, cloud-connected collaborative robots with basic sensing capabilities. That might lead to more automation of work involving picking, packing, and handling products and components.

Robots at Japan's PalTac pick items from bins to assemble orders.

If you have to space out the people throughout your facility differently than you used to for manufacturing, or even picking, then you can't keep the automation in the same places, says Melonee Wise, CEO of Fetch Robotics, which makes wheeled robots capable of ferrying items around factories and warehouses.

Fetch is working with a large US ecommerce company to reprogram its robots to adapt to staggered shifts with fewer workers to allow for social distancing. It is also working on versions of its robots that can autonomously disinfect workplaces.

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As Workers Spread Out to Halt the Virus, Robots Fill the Gaps - WIRED

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Police: 2-Year-Old Falls From Window In Washington SquareThere is no word on the child's condition at this time.

Philly Bike Share, Indego, Offering Discounted Rates For Riders During COVID-19 OutbreakJanelle Burrell reports.

Coronavirus Latest: CDC Adds 6 New Possible Symptoms Of COVID-19Previously only fever, cough, and shortness of breath were officially listed.

Monday Morning Weather: Cool And Brisk MondayLlarisa Abreu has the latest forecast.

Face Masks To Be Required At Delaware Businesses Starting TuesdayThe order does not apply to children 12 or younger.

3 Townhomes Damaged Following Two-Alarm Fire In NewarkCrystal Cranmore has the latest.

New Jersey Gov. Murphy Expected To Release Plans For Reopening StateTrang Do reports.

Coronavirus Latest: Young People In North Philadelphia Serve Neighbors With Free Grocery DeliveryEyewitness News was at the Philly Mosque pantry at 12th and Greenwood Streets.

Philadelphia Weather: Cool And Brisk MondayLauren Casey reports.

Stafford Township Police Officer Saves Taco Bell From Catching FireThe officer pushed a burning vehicle away from the restaurant.

North Philadelphia Fire Forces Several People From HomeNo one was injured.

Second Inmate At James T. Vaughn Correctional Center Dies From COVID-19Officials say 79-year-old Robert Francisco had underlying health problems.

Coronavirus Latest: New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy To Reveal Plan To Reopen On MondayJoe Holden reports.

New Jersey State Police Trooper Injured In Shooting At Salem County Mobile Home Park, Authorities SayMatt Petrillo reports.

Young People In North Philly Serve Neighbors With Free Grocery DeliveryMembers of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association packed up groceries

Philadelphia Weather: Cool, Brisk MondayLauren Casey reports.

Group Of NJ High School Robotics Teams Band Together To Provide Face Shields To Jefferson HealthDan Koob reports.

Internationally Renowned Philadelphia Vibraphonist Teaching Music Students From Home During COVID-19 PandemicDennis Richardson reports.

Police Asking For Information Related To Camden Hit-And-RunThe victim was found dead on Saturday.

Link:

Group Of NJ High School Robotics Teams Band Together To Provide Face Shields To Jefferson Health - CBS Denver

How can remote workers make their presence known in their organization? How can enterprises overcome the limitations of video conferencing and enable a level of communication and collaboration that approaches on-site interaction?

Telepresence robots have been on the scene for the better part of a decade, though as global upheavals reshape work and reorient attitudes toward remote participation, the technology may finally be primed to break out of its niche user base and go mainstream. The timing is fortuitous: The market is now mature enough that consumers have choices when it comes to feature set and price point. As companies downsize physical locations and revamp their policies toward distributed workforces, telepresence offers both technological benefits and collaboration advantages that will appeal to some employers and workers alike.

The current telepresence lineup reflects the range of use cases and intended end-users out there, including a handful of models designed for specific fields and workflows, as well as others that fit organizations of any size.

These are our picks for the best telepresence robots out there right now.

Disclosure: ZDNet may earn an affiliate commission from some of the products featured on this page. ZDNet and the author were not compensated for this independent review.

Double Robotics has been one amonga few telepresence robotics companiesoffering lower-priced models focused on core functionality: Mobile video conferencing that's drop-dead simple to use. Affectionately called a Segue with an iPad mount, the Double 2 did something very important for the technology by giving consumers a palatable entry point to the world of telepresence that required neither a massive capital outlay or a master's degree in robotics.

Though now superseded by its predecessor (see below), the Double 2 is still a tremendous value, particularly if your organization uses iPads already or the IT department has one lying around.

A wide-angle lens, motorized height control to meet your coworkers at eye level, and automatic stabilization and parking make this bare-bones telepresence model drop-dead simple to use.

Double is still selling the Double 2 through Amazon and third-party suppliers for $2,749.

In the battle for low-cost, truly robotic telepresence, OhmniLabs has been giving rival Double a major run for its money.

At under $2200, the Ohmni Robot weighs just 20 pounds and folds up, meaning you can take it anywhere, but still manages all the functionality you need in a telepresence robot. It features wide-angle, low-latency streaming at HD+ resolution and real-time full-resolution zoom to read whiteboards or see fine details at full UHD 4K detail.

A secondary dedicated wide-angle navigation camera lets you see around the base of Ohmni while you're driving, which you can do remotely from just about any standard device. The unit features a bright 10.1-inch screen and integrated Jabra speakerphone for great audio. It doesn't have automatic rising and lowering like Double, but the robot can move its head side to side for natural interactions.

OhmniLabs is also thoughtful about who might use the device, which has dual-band Wi-Fi radio with full 2.4GHz + 5GHz support and optimized background scanning and roaming for large spaces. Full 802.1x support means it should be simple to run on business or school networks.

Where the Double 2 used a tablet display, Double 3 replaces the iPad with a fully-integrated solution using anNvidia Jetson TX2 GPU, two Intel RealSense depth sensors, two high-resolution cameras, and a beamforming microphone array. In place of the iPad is an integrated screen and new feature sets, includingAR overlays, that really step up the functionality and feature set game of the Double.

Some of those features include a new click-to-drive interface, obstacle avoidance, and pan/tilt/zoom video, all of which contribute to a fully-immersive remote experience that's still intuitive to use. Perhaps the biggest functionality upgrade is the addition of mixed reality overlays.

In Double's version of mixed reality, virtual 3D objects are added into the video stream to appear as if they're in the real world. Virtual objects include helpful waypoints to make the video feed more informative during navigation.

The Double 3 with charging dock runs $3,999. If you already have a Double 2, you can upgrade your current device with a Double 3 head for $1,999.

With the Ava Telepresence robot, remote users easily and safely navigate through large workspaces, event spaces, and retail spaces with an enterprise-grade video conferencing system designed to make interacting with people on-site feel natural.

Unlike lower-priced models, the robot features intelligent, autonomous navigation. Remote users simply specify a destination, and Ava automatically moves to the desired location while avoiding obstacles. The technology is slick: The robot utilizes advanced mapping to learn the local environment and create a realistic map of the area, which enables it to navigate at the push of a button. Obstacle avoidance we're used to seeing on autonomous mobile robots in fields like logistics and fulfillment enables Ava to navigate around people and avoid tumbles down the stairs.

Perhaps Ava's biggest selling point is its form factor. This is one sleek unit, making it ideal for applications in client-facing offices and sectors like hospitality.

It's also secure. Embedded enterprise-grade security (including encryption, secure HTTPS management, password protection) means Ava is well suited to a corporate IT infrastructure.

This is a niche product for the healthcare market, albeit one that's extremely flexible and could be a good option for a number of related fields. As doctors increasingly embrace telemedicine to mitigate exposure risks, it's a good time to be selling telecommunications to doctors' offices and hospitals, and Ergotron has been in the game for a while.

Built on an open architecture that allows the cart to integrate most standard communications equipment, this pro-grade telecom console isn't technically a robot but rather a rollable ergonomic cart designed for patient consultations.

Designed with customization in mind, it can be configured with the devices and network-compatible systems a hospital is already using.

Meeting Owl is a 360-degree video and audio conferencing system that automatically focuses on the people speaking in the room. It doesn't move, so it's not a robot by most definitions, but its autonomous functionality makes it an excellent and highly affordable tabletop system for individuals and teams that routinely conference and collaborate remotely.

Eleven-inches tall, Meeting Owl uses an eight microphone array to pick up sound and lock in on the person speaking. Remote viewers on the other end get a panoramic view of all the meeting attendants and a close-up view of the current speaker.

The system comes in original and Pro versions. The Pro version improves on the Meeting Owl's 720p picture and increases audio pickup range from 12 feet to 18 feet, which is especially useful for larger teams or any collaboration utilizing a whiteboard.

The system integrates with all the major video conferencing services so usability is a snap. The original retails at $799 and the Pro version goes for $999.

Kubi is an inexpensive robotic docking cradle for tablets that augments the teleconferencing experience you're used to with the addition of movement.

During video conferencing, the remote participant can steer the cradle to look around a room. "Kubi" means "neck" in Japanese.

That makes it a particularly useful device for team environments where one participant is remote. The remote worker sits at a laptop or desktop but is able to look around the room to engage with speakers, which the device's developers say enhances the interactive experience.

An enhanced audio kit and a secure docking retrofit to keep tablets secured to the base make them good options for educational environments where learners have to beam into larger classroom settings and engage in conversations but won't necessarily have to move around the classroom.

Anyone in tech or a tech-adjacent industry will be familiar with the sight of telepresence robots roving around conference room floors as virtual attendants beam in remotely.

Beam is comfortable in offices and is used by some of the biggest companies in the world, but this robot from Suitable Technologies really shines in conference settings, where it's nimble enough to bounce from keynotes to breakouts to hallway banter.

Beam has four wheels (the pro version has 5 for increased stability and maneuverability) and wide-angle navigation cameras. The entire ecosystem was built in-house, which means participants must use Beam's app.

The advantage is security, which is best in class. Using industry-standard technology such as TLS/SSL, AES-256, and HMAC-SHA1, Beam encrypts all communication that travels through our system to ensure your calls remain private and secure.

VGo's parent, Vecna, knows the healthcare sector, so it makes sense that the company has developed a telepresence robot that enables healthcare providers to deliver lower-cost services and improved quality of care virtually.

Telemedicine is certainly having a moment as providers figure out ways of reducing in-person visits, but the robot has also been used to enable homebound students to go to school virtually.

Using the VGo application on a PC or Mac, an internet-connected person located anywhere connects to a VGo in a distant facility. VGo can be shared by a set of people or dedicated to a single person using standard web accounts and permission settings maintained by the admin.

VGo is lightweight, contributing to its excellent battery life, which is best in class at 12 hours. That makes it ideal for clinical environments and hospitals.

Offices are coming around to telepresence solutions for remote workers, and the recent health crisis has put the transition to distributed workforces into hyperdrive. Teachers and school administrators are now also embracing remote learning, which, in the short term, can quell infection rates -- but, in the longterm, may be a way to maximize limited resources while bringing needed services to students.

Markets and Markets estimated the overall telepresence market will be over $300 million by 2023, however that market research doesn't take into account the rapid adoption of remote work due to COVID-19 or the expected longterm effects of the global stay-at-home experiment on attitudes toward remote working. Pivoting out of the pandemic, many companies may embrace a partially distributed workforce, which is a huge opportunity for developers of telepresence and video conferencing systems.

For workers, employers, and IT pros who wish to advocate for telepresence systems, the most important strategy is to tout the collaborative benefits of the technology and to have a plan for implementation. Robots in the workforce carry a longstanding stigma. Coupled with lingering resistance to remote work situations, existing biases on the part of employers or employees could stop proposed adoption of telepresence dead in its tracks.

But advocating for telepresence as a way of maximizing collaboration and approximating the productive magic that happens in unstructured interactions in hallways and face-to-face chatscan help mitigate concerns. As can explaining that most telepresence systems are ready-to-go out of the box with intuitive user interfaces. The technology is carefully designed not to need extensive training to use. After all, most humans don't need training to have natural interactions in person.

The biggest questions to ask are who might use a telepresence solution and in what settings. If you're just looking to enhance video conferencing without spending big bucks or implementing new processes and protocols, solutions like Meeting Owl or Kubi would be the best places to start.

However, for those willing to embrace the dynamic features offered by a mobile robot, consider whether your environment is client-facing. A slick robot like Ava makes a great impression, although it comes at a price.

For most SMBs, models from Double or Ohmni are likely to be smart bets. They're relatively inexpensive and provide a seamless user interface. A company can get by with one shared robot to start and easily scale up to meet needs.

After all, once one remote employee gets a robot doppelgnger, it's likely others will want them as well.

More:

Best telepresence robots for business in 2020: Double Robotics, OhmniLabs, Meeting Owl, and more - ZDNet

Fukushima Prefecture was devastated in the earthquake and tsunami of 2011. These days, the region is a burgeoning hub for robotics. We visited the vast Robot Test Field in Minami-Sma, a facility that allows robots to be tested in real world conditions.

Visitors to Haramachi-ku, a district in the middle of the Fukushima city of Minami-Sma, will notice a swathe of bare land stretching all the way to the giant sea wall over a kilometer away. The barren landscape is interrupted by what looks like a factory with exposed tanks and pipes, a concrete tunnel, and a runway. This is Fukushimas Robot Test Field, the centerpiece of the Fukushima Innovation Coast Framework, an initiative being advanced by the national and prefectural governments.

The Robot Test Field is located in an industrial park that was established in Minami-Sma as part of the reconstruction of the city. The test factory is visible in the right of the photo.

This area was devastated by the 2011 tsunami, says Ishikawa Jin, head of the Fukushima Innovation Coast Frameworks operations planning section. After the disaster, the ground was raised and a high sea wall constructed. However, the area remains uninhabited, and devoid of hotels or similar facilities. The Robot Test Field has put this land to good use as a testing range for drones and robots. I really hope that it will lead to the growth of the region.

Ishikawa Jin is himself from Fukushima.

The double blow of the tsunami and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station disaster resulted in the loss of many industries from the Hamadri region of coastal Fukushima. The Robot Test Field is situated around 23 kilometers north of the Fukushima Daiichi plant, just outside the 20-kilometer exclusion zone. Many residents moved away after the accident, fearing the effects of radiation.

I want the RTF to set the standard for Japans robotics industry, says Ishikawa.

Within the RTF, a series of facilities has been brought online progressively from July 2018, with the final component completed in April this year. The RTF has already been used for over 160 tests, some long-term, and hosted over 20,000 visitors.

A plan of the Robot Test Fields 50-hectare site. ( Fukushima Robot Test Field)

This research wing serves as the RTFs headquarters, accommodating corporate and institutional tenants and featuring a conference hall and meeting rooms.

The 2011 tsunami reached the forest visible beyond the helipad, 1.4 kilometers inland.

Robotics is predicted to be a growth industry in Japan, but a lack of suitable testing environments had been a major hurdle. For example, take air mobility, a nascent industry generating plenty of buzz at the moment. The Public-Private Conference for Future Air Mobility, a group established by Japans Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry in collaboration with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, aims to make commercial airborne delivery services a reality by 2023, followed by regional passenger drones, and finally urban passenger drones by 2030. While many Japanese corporations and organizations have joined the race to develop flying cars and delivery drones, they have all experienced difficulty finding suitable test environments. Japan is a mountainous, island nation, and the need for expensive testing ranges to properly test drones capabilities meant Japanese developers were being overtaken by drone heavyweights China and Canada, in addition to the rapidly rising United States.

The RTFs drone testing range includes the 500-meter Minami-Sma runway, which pairs with another, 400-meter runway 13 kilometers away in the town of Namie. Flight paths have been established over land and water, thus allowing long-distance flights to be conducted over a wide area.

The Minami-Sma runway is 500 meters long and 20 meters wide and features a hangar with basic servicing facilities.

Tests conducted on the runway and heliport can be controlled from the central control tower in the research wing.

The drone range also boasts a heliport, an endurance testing facility, a wind tunnel, and an enclosed testing range. Unlike cars and motorbikes, airborne vehicles are subject to aviation regulations even when tested on private land. However, because the entirety of the RTFs 150- by 80-meter testing range is enclosed by a 15-meter-high crash net, it is treated as an indoor space, and exempted from aviation law. This means that operators can make night flights or perform payload dropping tests that could otherwise only be performed with advance regulatory consent, in a real-world environment that, unlike an indoor testing range, is exposed to variations in wind, rain, and sunlight.

Flights performed in this netted-off testing range are exempt from aviation law.

Staff from Tokyo Metropolitan Bokutoh Hospital use an unmanned aerial vehicle to simulate the transportation of blood for transfusion (left) and drop a blood pack in the enclosed testing range (right). ( Fukushima Robot Test Field)

Another major feature is the development center area in the center of the RTF, which features a research building, indoor testing range, and pretest preparation area. The facility allows servicing before and after tests and is outfitted with state-of-the-art machine tools to work on parts and precision measuring equipment for observation and analysis. While the facility contained 13 labs when it was first opened, these quickly filled up, and additional rooms were added. There are currently 16 corporate and institutional tenants, and with still more tenants on the waiting list, the facility continues to be extended.

One of our clients used to cart their prototype drones all the way from Aichi to Hokkaid. With no onsite facilities in Hokkaid that would enable them to perform repairs or adjustments, though, whenever anything went wrong they had to pack up and go back to Aichi, laughs Ishikawa. Theyre pleased that they can now do repeated tests while making improvements as necessary, here in the Fukushima Robot Test Field.

At 32 by 30 meters with an 11-meter-high ceiling, the indoor testing range is suitable for a wide range of tests.

The sophisticated machining facilities are popular with university groups and small businesses that cannot afford to invest in tools of their own.

This shielded room blocks electromagnetic radiation from the outside, while containing internally produced radiation and damping reflections. Clean rooms, X-ray and CT scanners, and 3D motion capture facilities are also available.

Tenant organizations in the laboratory area actively share information.

Disaster-prone Japan has repeatedly been ravaged by earthquakes throughout history. In recent years, the country has been battered by an increasing number of typhoons and extreme weather events. As infrastructure built in Japans postwar period of rapid economic growth starts aging, along with the citizens who used it, hopes are growing that some of the more dangerous repair tasks will be performed by robots in the future. Further advances in robotics will also be indispensable in order to successfully decommission the stricken Fukushima Daiichi reactors.

The RTFs infrastructure inspection/disaster response zone and underwater and aquatic zone allow robots to be tested in large structures and buildings. Both facilities are packed with features that have been included on the advice of academics and experts. The test plant, designed to simulate a chemical factory, contains a variety of differently shaped valves, tanks, and pipes in a small area. There are also spiral staircases, vertical ladders, and three chimneys of varying diameters. The area can be filled with smoke or gas, packed with rubble, or have a heat source placed inside to simulate various types of emergency. The test tunnel is fitted with shutters at either end that can be opened to allow testing at the tunnel entrance or closed to test in darkness. The tunnel is fitted out with LED lighting as well as sodium lamps, and the walls have been treated to simulate peeling and cracking.

The test plant simulates an obstacle-ridden chemical plant.

The University of Aizus Spider probe, at left, attempts to operate valves in the test plant. At right, a miniature facility-inspection drone named IBIS manufactured by Liberaware flies around taking footage. ( Fukushima Robot Test Field)

The test tunnel can be sealed with shutters on both ends.

In February 2020, the RTF hosted a firefighting drill, shown at left. At right, a Wiz drone inspects the facility in December 2019. ( Fukushima Robot Test Field)

The urban zone is fitted with traffic lights, power poles, and even road signs, enabling search and rescue operations to be tested in residential and office buildings. The roads in this urban zone can also be used by driverless cars. The flooded urban zone simulates a flooded residential area and can be used not only to test underwater and aquatic robots and drones, but also for rescue drills using manned boats. While still under construction at the time of reporting, when the experimental bridge, indoor pool, and wind tunnel are completed in spring 2020, the test environment will be even more comprehensive.

Three of the buildings in the urban zone can be used for testing.

Measuring 50 by 19 meters, the outdoor pool is up to 5 meters deep in places.

The rubble and landslide zones enable search and rescue drills, in addition to drills that simulate efforts to restore services. This area can also be used to train rescue dogs.

The Tokyo-based robotics firms Robotcom and Fa.com have recently been helping to breathe life back into the area with their construction of a factory and employee accommodations in the Minami-Sma Reconstruction Industrial Park.

Ishikawa says, In addition to the issue of how to attract corporations, institutions, and prospective visitors to come to Fukushima, we also need to think about how to link the RTF to local industry. He says his team is also working to help local businesses, and has a coordinator distributing pamphlets containing information on Fukushima-based suppliers of related materials and technologies in an effort to encourage robotics businesses to procure materials and parts locally.

A pamphlet showcasing local suppliers.

In January 2020, the Thoku Access intercity bus service (based in Minami-Sma) was extended to the Fukushima Robot Test Field, thus improving access from JR Fukushima and Haranomachi stations.

Later this year, robot enthusiasts can look forward to the World Robot Summit 2020, which will be held in collaboration with international exhibition space Aichi Sky Expo. Ishikawa says that measures are being put in place to organize accommodation, transport, and meals, in order to cater to the needs of not only Summit attendees, but also engineers from RTF tenant organizations and site visitors. I want this to be somewhere the robotics engineers of tomorrow can hold study camps. I am doing my best to make Fukushima a place that is associated internationally with robotics, not disaster, he says.

The test bridge (at left) will soon be completed.

(Originally published in Japanese. Reporting, text, and photos by Nippon.com. Banner photo: Looking out toward the Pacific Ocean from the RTFs research wing.)

Read more here:

Innovation from Destruction: Robotics Testing in Fukushima - Nippon.com

As a direct response to the coronavirus pandemic, Boston Dynamics today open-sourced its health care robotics toolkit on GitHub. The company hopes that existing Boston Dynamics customers and other mobile robot providers can use the toolkit, which includes documentation and CAD files of enclosures and mounts, to help health care workers and essential personnel and ultimately save lives. The mobile robot provider outlined four use cases for its toolkit: telemedicine (which it has already deployed), remote vitals inspection, disinfection, and delivery.

Boston Dynamics says that in early March hospitals started inquiring whether its robots could help minimize staff exposure to the novel coronavirus. (One hospital apparently shared that in a single week a sixth of its staff had contracted COVID-19.) The company spent weeks figuring out how its robot Spot, which is shipping to early adopters, can meet hospital requirements. The result is a four-legged robot that supports frontline staff responding to the pandemic in ad-hoc environments, such as triage tents and parking lots. In fact, a single Spot was deployed last week to Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston as a mobile telemedicine platform to help health care providers remotely triage patients. There, it has helped nursing staff minimize exposure to potentially contagious patients.

The world is currently experiencing a global shortage of critical personal protective equipment (PPE), opening the door to autonomous technologies like drones and robots. Essential services are desperate for technology that can limit human contact, moving personnel and visitors out of infection range. As other businesses reopen, and arguably long after the pandemic is over, company leaders will be hungry for the same.

The telemedicine part was the lowest-hanging fruit, so thats what Boston Dynamics pursued first at Brigham and Womens Hospital. The Spot robot features an iPad and a two-way radio for video conferencing. Health care providers remotely direct the mobile robot through lines of patients waiting outside the hospital to answer questions and get initial temperature assessments. Doctors can speak with patients from afar, possibly even from their own homes.

This process normally requires up to five medical staff, Boston Dynamics says. A mobile robot lets hospitals reduce the total number at the scene and conserve the hospitals PPE supply. Every Spot shift reduces at least one health care providers exposure to the disease.

Boston Dynamics has also prototyped using Spot for remote vitals inspection to triage sick patients, for disinfection, and for various deliveries. For remote vital inspection, the company still needs to figure out how to support collecting additional vital sign information, including remotely measuring body temperature, respiratory rate, pulse rate, and oxygen saturation. So far, Boston Dynamics has done the following:

We have been in dialogue with researchers who use thermal camera technology to measure body temperature and calculate respiratory rate. Weve also applied externally developed logic to externally mounted RGB cameras to capture changes in blood vessel contraction to measure pulse rate. We are evaluating methods for measuring oxygen saturation.

Additionally, Boston Dynamics wants the robots to disinfect hospital rooms and themselves. The company has also made some progress here:

By attaching a UV-C light to the robots back, Spot could use the device to kill virus particles and disinfect surfaces in any unstructured space that needs support in decontamination be it hospital tents or metro stations. We are still in the early stages of developing this solution but also see a number of existing mobile robotics providers who have implemented this technology specifically for hospitals.

Weve left the most obvious use case for last. The robots can deliver food, medicine, masks, and other supplies to patients in isolation. To help, the company prototyped a 3D-printable tray for Spot. Again, this minimizes health worker exposure and PPE usage.

None of these services requires Boston Dynamics hardware or software, the company emphasized. In many instances, we imagine wheeled or tracked robots may be a better solution for these applications, the company said. Thats why its releasing its toolkit to the world.

Go here to read the rest:

Boston Dynamics open-sources health care robotics toolkit for telemedicine, vitals inspection, and disinfection - VentureBeat

Coronavirus appears to be accelerating the adoption of workplace automation and the trend is likely to stick around after the pandemic.

Why it matters: Adopting robots and AI could keep businesses going during social distancing and reduce the health risk to human workers. But with unemployment already at Great Depression levels, many of the jobs lost to automation might never be regained.

What's happening: Brain Corp, a San Diego-based company that develops software for use in autonomous cleaning robots, reports its customers are employing robots about 13% more than they were in the months before the pandemic.

The big picture: Past experience suggests the advance of automation happens in sudden surges and economic downturns are often a trigger.

What to watch: Robots will be particularly attractive to front-line businesses that have to stay open during the pandemic.

Yes, but: Companies in the robotics business say their products are meant to augment human workers, not replace them. But with tens of millions of Americans unemployed, it's impossible not to fear that a surge in automation could make a post-pandemic job recovery even more difficult.

The other side: Some experts believe the immediate threat to jobs from automation during the pandemic is overstated.

The bottom line: The robots were already coming for jobs, and the pandemic will give employers additional incentive to automate where they can. But for now, the far bigger threat to jobs is the brute fact of an economic depression.

Go deeper: Coronavirus-related recession could spike automation

Go here to see the original:

Coronavirus speeds the way for robots in the workplace - Axios

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The same Saturday in which Pedro Snchez decreed in Spain the alarm status warlike metaphors began in this health crisis in which an invisible enemy. To fight the coronavirus the innovation is shown as an essential ally. From artificial intelligence the first technology to warn of the spread of the virus in Wuhan at the end of the year to robots or drones incorporated from the outset into this battle.

The presence of robotics has now become more evident thanks to the number of functions that robots can perform without exposing people, says Pierre Bourdin Kreitz, professor at the UOC in Computer, Multimedia and Telecommunications Studies, who quotes These functions include cleaning, dispensing medications, disinfecting hospitals and other centres, carrying out massive PCR tests and even supplying food or other products that can be sent by courier, he adds.

He refers to robots like Roxo, the FedEx delivery robot, or Scout, as the one from Amazon was baptized. But there are also others, such as Moxi, designed to reduce the workloads of nursing staff by delivering and picking up supplies and bedding; UVD disinfection robots, which use ultraviolet light to kill harmful microorganisms and which, following the appearance of Covid-19, will serve more than 2,000 hospitals in China, or drones that have been integrated into the Operation Balmis of the Military Emergency Unit (UME) of the Spanish Armed Forces, which have gone from being used for agricultural tasks to disinfecting large areas from the air to eliminate the coronavirus.

They are not the only functionalities that drones can provide in the fight against the current pandemic. As it explains Jordi Sandalinas, lawyer, communicator and collaborating professor at the UOC in the drones and law seminar, they also serve to locate and capture information in the form of data. They should be able to do whatever the sensor adapted to the hardware in question allows them to do. Thus, a drone with a suitable sensor should be able to visualize biochemical parameters, he explains. Even the so-called pandemic drones begin to develop. As published by The Robot Report, these drones could detect infectious conditions in crowded spaces using thermal sensors and intelligent systems that control temperature and heart rate, among other parameters.

According to experts, all this technological advance that is reducing risk On the part of the personnel who work in the front line of the pandemic is unstoppable. However, they warn that it is necessary to include certain ethical controls so that technological progress does not end up getting out of hand. We are at a time when responses are urgent, there is no way to escape that pressure. But we should add certain controls that go beyond the emergency, says Pierre Bourdin. In his opinion, the chains of decisions on the technology to be used against the Covid-19 should include philosophers, historians and professionals from areas other than engineering who help to reflect to avoid disastrous consequences despite good intentions. We feel the danger, and that makes us willing to accept great restrictions of freedom that could have negative consequences in the future, he recalls.

In Jordi Sandalinass opinion, the most important and precious asset of the human being is the right to life, which supposes the legal asset to protect without making distinctions. In that context, any technology intended to save lives is welcome, he says. However, he agrees with Pierre Bourdin by stressing that there are certain limits that should not be exceeded. And he cites as an example the use of drones to detect people, which must be accompanied by an action protocol in accordance with the law. Technology must be protected and regulated by ethical and moral values. We cannot speak of detecting people as if we were speaking of detection of hostile elements. Everything must be studied to the millimetre, he says. The UOC collaborating professor reminds us that we must not forget the right to privacy, to the protection of personal data or the right to life and liberty of people, which are among the fundamental rights and freedoms.

On the other hand, Bourdin asserts that all advances in robotics or artificial intelligence should be solely supportive. In no case can a robot or an algorithm replace a person. The goal is for them to function as support for staff so that they have more time to increase the quality of care. A lesson from the crisis we are going through is, without a doubt, the need for personnel for the health system and public services in general, says the UOC professor.

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More here:

Drones and robots to stop the epidemic - InTallaght

KARMI-Bot, a robot deployed at the isolation ward for COVID-19 patients at the Government Medical College Hospital, Ernakulam, may soon find its way to hospitals across the country and even abroad.

For, ASIMOV Robotics, a start-up based in Maker Village, is on the verge of kick-starting commercial production of the robot.

The robot, developed by ASIMOV Robotics with support from the Viswasanthi Foundation run by actor Mohanlal, was handed over to Ernakulam Collector S. Suhas at an event at the start-up village complex in Kalamassery recently.

Deployed at the hospital isolation ward on Saturday, the robot performs a slew of activities from dispensing food and medicines and collection of trash left behind by patients to initiating video call between doctor and patients.

Besides, it can perform ultraviolet-based disinfection and spray detergents at targets.

Its main goal is to limit the interaction between patients and health workers, minimising the use of personal protection equipment (PPE) kits, which is scarce at present.

We have already received close to 500 orders for the robot from India and abroad and the design of the manufacturing model for commercial production is complete. We can go into commercial production as soon as the lockdown is lifted and spares are available, says T. Jayakrishnan, CEO, ASIMOV Robotics.

The start-up is focussing on the health-care sector and plans to bring out a robot specifically designed with therapeutic applications for deployment in intensive care units.

KARMI-Bot, Mr. Jayakrishnan claims, was developed within a month after consultations with medical college authorities.

The robot, capable of carrying a payload of up to 25 kg, can perform up to 6-8 hours after a full charge lasting two hours.

Mr. Jayakrishnan says it will be loaded with additional features such as contact-less temperature checking and automated charger docking once spare parts are available after the lockdown.

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Breaking the chain the robotic way - The Hindu

Avidbots Corp.s autonomous floor-scrubbing robots

Demand has doubled for Avidbots Corp.s autonomous floor-scrubbing robots since the COVID-19 pandemic hit North America, as property owners and managers rush to disinfect surfaces that they once took for granted.

The cleaner, called Neo, looks like a hulking photocopier on wheels, and can be found trawling the floors of universities, warehouses, malls and more across the globe. It drops water or cleaning solution onto the ground, scrubs away, then sucks the dirty solution back into the machine. Users dont have to include disinfectant in the solution but many of its new owners are buying Avidbots Neo specifically for disinfection.

Spurred in part by a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study that found the novel coronavirus can live on floors and be carried elsewhere on shoes, many executives are now turning to the six-year-old Kitchener, Ont., startup to solve this need without further risking the health of janitorial staff.

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Disinfecting is now top of mind for a lot of top executives in a way that it wasnt before, said Faizan Sheikh, Avidbotss chief executive officer and co-founder.

The company has 160 employees, largely based out of its manufacturing facility in Kitchener, and has sent Neos to clean hundreds of buildings in the United States, Australia, Japan, parts of Europe and other jurisdictions. It has raised US$36-million in venture financing, including US$24-million in growth capital 13 months ago in a round led by Californias True Ventures.

Not only have customers such as airports been buying Neos for use during the crisis, but Mr. Sheikh says many clients, including universities, have been ordering the robots to use when theyre able to cautiously reopen to ensure that they dont spark another wave of infections.

Everyone who experienced this is not going to forget this, Mr. Sheikh said.

Neo cleaners can be found in airports worldwide, including MontralTrudeau, Singapore Changi and Paris Charles de Gaulle, as well as hospitals such as Sunnybrook in Toronto.

Customers are coming to Avidbots for more than just COVID-19-related needs. Shipping giant DHL International GmbH will announce Monday that it will roll out hundreds of Avidbotss cleaners for use in warehouses worldwide in the next few years as part of its long-term robotics investment.

Gina Chung, DHLs head of innovation for the Americas, said in an interview that the company was impressed with both Avidbotss customer focus and Neos technical capabilities. You have visibility and confidence that cleaning has been done consistently, she said.

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With demand up by 100 per cent, Avidbotss Kitchener factory has been busy and taking precautions. Those who can are working from home, while other workers, particularly in assembly roles, are required to wear protective equipment. Portions of the Neo assembly have been staggered further apart so that workers remain distant from each other, too.

Avidbots is actually hiring right now both in Kitchener and for sales positions abroad. Mr. Sheikh has heard from many people over the years who say theyre fearful of robotics supplanting jobs; with worker health now a massive societal priority, he hopes more people will see the benefits of having a robot in the workplace. Its here, its going to do a dirty and dangerous job, and people dont have to, he said.

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Floor-scrubbing robots go where humans fear to tread - The Globe and Mail

From the ancient civilization there have been user configurable automated devises that were used to entertain people. Origin of robots starts from the early 19th century. Robot is a machine which is specially programmed and controlled by a computer. They are capable of carrying complex operations automatically either with an external control or with the command embedded inside them.

Robots have replaced human in conducting repetitive and dangerous activities which humans are not able to do because of certain limitations.RPA (Robotic Process Automation) technology, sometimes called a software robot or bot, mimics a human worker.

As the application of technology that allows employees to configure computer software or a robot to capture and interpret existing applications for processing a transaction, manipulating data, triggering responses and communicating with other digital systems. RPA is the automation of rules-based processes with software that requires zero (or minimum) human interaction and applies it to Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERPs), workflows, email systems and databases.

In a bank RPA has the potential to reduce the operational errors, they can work 24*7, reduce the cost of multiple people for the same task and also multitasking. This helps to increase the sustainability, increase the customer service and also improve the audits.

Let me start off by saying that I am not a fan of technology for the sake of technology; Im a seasoned transformation practitioner focused on deploying pragmatic solutions to my clients problems. Industry study show that know only one in ten use RPA whereas by the next decade 4 out of 10 will use the same.

Scope Of Study

The main focus area of this research paper is to understand the changing financial and economic conditions with the advent of modern technology. The data collected is a form of secondary data. I focused my course of study in banking, insurance and a part of capital markets that is the Algo Trading.

This study helped me to gain certain insights on the possible outcomes of the introduction of robots in the financial sector and how it will help to ease our business to increase profitability. The possible positive impact of these AI and robots in banking insurance and capital markets.

I am going to focus my study on the changes of digitalisation or automation in the financial sector. Today we stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another. Change is constant we cannot avoid the occurrence of the same the only thing we can do is to adjust to the changing environment and upgrade ourselves.

The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production. The Second used electric power to create mass production. The Third used electronics and information technology to automate production. Now a Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the third, the connection of human mind and technology together which we call artificial intelligence.

Already artificial intelligence is around us from self-driven cars to virtual assistants that guide us when and where to invest computing the risk is to returns factor. Like the previous revolutions the current revolution will also raise global incomes and improve the quality of life all over the globe. Currently ordering a cab, booking a flight, buying a product, making payment, etc can be done remotely.

Transportation and communication costs will drop whereas logistics and global chain will be more effective. Economists have predicted that with the current revolution the number of job creation will come down. A time will come where the people will be rewarded for the innovative idea which they give.

So we are focusing on the impact of robots on financial sector. The Automated Teller Machines are there since 1967, but they have not yet replaced the traditional teller jobs. Since complex transactions takes place require human intervention best example is the demonetisation that took place in India.

Part of these payments are replaced by various mobile E-Payment wallets. The more surprising aspect is robots actually working in a bank like the IRA a robot introduced by HDFC bank for providing basic customer service. There are many other fields like KYC, Risk, Valuations, Insurance, Limits, etc. robots have changed the face of modern day banking which in turn has helped satisfy the mellenails requirement of technology.

Robotic process automation has also dramatically streamlined a wide variety of back office processes that always used to consume time of the bank workers. By shifting these tedious, manual tasks from humans to machines which have direct impact on their performance and efficiency levels. RPA also provides full audit traits for each process that will help to achieve process compliance and reduce risk.

There is a great deal of records in the life cycle of a normal banking customer right from deposits, withdrawals to loan documentaries. It was indeed very tedious job for the customer as well to maintain a record of the same. One of the greatest things that robots have done is it has introduced a solution for the banking industries through which the data management has improved and we need not be starting from the scratch.

With the help of this technology the bank employees will be able to have access to information at all times at just a click away. The other part where it is usefull is the compliance and audit part instead of paying money to the consultant this can be done easily with the help of this.

For example, Bank of Tokyo- Mitsubishi introduced Nao, a 58-centimetre (1ft 11)-tall, 5.4 kg robot developed by Aldebaran Robotics. It is equipped with a camera and microphone and has visual recognition and remote control capabilities. It can recognise 19 spoken languages, interact and communicate with customers in branches, and provide response to queries. They also developed a robot named Pepper which is a robot that entertains the customers with games and multimedia functions.

ANZ is using RPA in processing payroll, account payable, mortgage procession, and human resource (HR) functions. ICICI Bank, meanwhile, uses RPA to perform over one million banking transactions in backend operations per day, reducing response time by 60% and improving accuracy. These software robots are deployed in over 200 business process functions of the bank across retail banking, agri-banking, trade and forex, treasury, and HR.

Likewise, Barclays Bank implements RPA across a wide range of processes such as fraud detection, risk monitoring, account receivables processing, and loan application. In India HDFC on of the largest Indian private sector bank has introduced Eva Indias first AI-based banking Chabot. They can assimilate thousands of data from different sources and provide solutions in simple language in 0.4 seconds.

EVA stands for Electronic Virtual Assistant. It is developed by Sense forth AI Research Pvt Ltd for HDFC Bank. Senseforth AI Research Private Limited was founded on 27 March 2017. It is classified as a Nongovernment Company and has been registered at the Registrar of Companies, Bangalore.

Chatbot is a short form for chat robot it is a computer programme which creates human conversation or chats through artificial intelligence. Presently a chatbot conducts conversations with a real person but advanced programmes are being made where two chat bots will be able to converse with each other. They are widely used in E-Commerce websites and call centre to solve the customer grievances.

The development of chatbots has opened up new arenas for customer engagement and new ways of carrying out business in the form of conversational commerce with the customers. It is now considered to be one of the most useful innovations of technologies that businesses can blindly rely on, very conveniently replacing the traditional methods of making apps and websites more efficient for business and commerce.

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Impact of Robots In The Financial Sector - Communal News

The word "robotics brings many images to mind. Depending on your experiences and frame of mind, a robot could be anything from the Roomba robotic vacuum to Lego and VEX robots used in educational facilities across the country to theindustrial robotsseen in manufacturing plants all over the world. All of the listed items are examples of robots androbotics.

Many people are introduced to robots androboticsthrough toys and the media. Remember Rosey, the robotic maid in the television cartoon The Jetsons? How about R2-D2 from the Star Wars movies? These and other examples of roboticsare often our first introduction to robots. If these examples of robotsseem a little dated, one doesnt need to look very far to find more modern examples. The Roomba robotic vacuuming system regularly runs commercials on our television sets.Hondas ASIMO made headlines in the last few years, stunning viewers with its human-like abilities and demeanor.

While Rosey, R2-D2, Roomba, and ASIMO dont usually play a vital role in our daily lives and arent weaved to complexly into the fabric of our economy, educational robots androboticstake us one step closer. Many middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities take part in robotic competitions every year. Organizations such as Legos, VEXRobotics, and FIRST Robotics distribute robotic building kits to hundreds of teams every year the allow students to learn about, build, and operate robots androbotic systems. The education gained from competing in these robotic events gives students an introduction into the field of robotics and the principles needed to take their interest to the next level.

What is the next level?Industrial robotsrepresent the real-world, practical application of robotics.Industrial robots from manufacturers such asFANUCandMotomanautomateindustrial tasks such asspot welding,palletizing,arc welding,machine loading,cutting, and many others. The experiences gained from educational robots and a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) based education give students the background and foundation necessary to jump right into theindustrial roboticsfield.

To learn more about examples of robotics and examples of industrial robots,visit ourFAQandproduct pages. To speak with an expert aboutindustrial robots, callRobotWorxat 740-251-4312 or get in touch online.

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RobotWorx - Examples of Robotics

Decades ago robotics was science fiction, and any consideration of the types of jobs in robotics was a thing of the future. Well, it's no longer science fiction, but rather science fact. It's still a thing of the future, but it's also very much a thing of the present with many job opportunities. It will continue to grow and increase in job prospects. If you're even remotely interested in this science, now is the time to get the training to enter this field.

A few of the types of jobs in robotics include:

This is a profession for someone with a lot of patience, besides a lot of training in engineering. An engineer has the responsibility for developing the robot on paper. This creation can take quite some time, because of research and the high technicality and sophistication of robotics. Then, as it's being built, he will oversee practically every aspect of the development of the robot, from safety to testing to analyzing and reviewing every movement.

An engineer will also need to debug any problem within the software system. Because of the need to oversee every project, engineers don't create very many robots throughout their careers. This type of robotics job is very technical and time consuming.

Each robot needs to have a computerized internal system that is highly efficient in operating the machine. This schematic design is written and coded by the software developer along with the engineer to assure the robot performs the functions it's designed to carry out in a safe and precise way. Obviously, the software developer has to be very efficient in computer coding and software design.

There are a couple types of technicians. A robotics technician can repair and maintain robots and build some robotic parts along with other tasks.

An electromechanical technician works with the engineer in the design process of new robots.

Sales engineers must know the products inside and out, as they will be attempting to sell advanced technological robots and their designs to potential customers. They must also be able to consult with the buyer and make any changes in the design to satisfy their needs.

Of course every robot has to have someone operating and overseeing it 24 hours a day. In case anything should go wrong or break down, someone would need to be on top of the situation immediately. That's where an operator comes in. Working in shifts around the clock, they ensure everything goes smoothly.

They are also needed to operate and repair such equipment as flying drones, undersea robots and robots designed for military activities.

Yes, there are even jobs within the robotics field that include accounting. For this, an individual would need a strong background in robot technology, sales, accounting, and customer service. He or she would need to be outgoing yet independent, and have a strong personality to connect with and make sales to customers within the robotics industry.

Related Resources: Types of Jobs in Biostatistics

As you can see, the technology of robotics is growing. According to an article in The New York Times, more and more robots will be replacing humans in everyday tasks and jobs, with the need for more and more robotics engineers, technicians and others in the field. It's a growing industry and worth focusing your sites on if you're interested in making a future in one of the many types of jobs in robotics.

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What Types of Jobs Are in Robotics? - Grad School Hub

DJI created and owns the folding drone space, but it's not without viable competition. The Autel Robotics EVO ($999) does some things that DJI Mavic drones don'tincluding recording 4K at 60fpsbut does omit some of the more advanced features offered by the competition. But if you place emphasis on high frame rate capture, the EVO is an appealing aerial video platform. I like it a lot, although our favorite folding drone is the pricier, but more capable, DJI Mavic 2 Pro.

The first thing you notice about the EVO is its color schemebright orange is a heck of a lot more eye-catching than most drone designs. If you have to land hard in tall grass or brush it'll make the aircraft easier to spot, and black struts help you visually identify the drone as it soars against a bright sky.

The aircraft features a folding design. With its arms folded against the body, it measures in at about 5.5 by 5.5 by 10.0 inches (HWD). That means you can find space for it in your existing camera bagit takes up about the same amount as a typical 70-200mm f/2.8 zoom and adds about two pounds of weight to your pack.

The arms have to be unfolded before flight, but centrifugal force takes care of putting the propellers in their proper positionthey also fold for storage. Opening up the drone for flight is simple, just remember to swing out the forward arms before the aft ones.

See How We Test Drones

The EVO has the expected safety features. Its positioning system leverages both GPS and GLONASS satellites, so a position lock is acquired quickly. If connection is dropped between the drone and the remote, the EVO will automatically return to its takeoff point. You can also activate return-to-home manually.

Battery life is quite good, though not as good as the 30 minutes advertised by Autel. In real-world flight conditions, I averaged about 26 minutes per flight. That's right up there with competitors, thoughthe DJI Mavic 2 gets about 27 minutes and the Parrot Anafi about 25 minutes. Autel sells additional flight batteries for $85.

Obstacle detection sensors are located at the nose and tail. The forward sensors do cut the top speed to 22mph when enabledthe drone can fly as quickly as 44mph when they're turned off. They can stop the drone from crashing, thoughthe EVO stops in its tracks when it senses an obstruction in its flight path. Flight speed is similar to the DJI Mavic Air, which also tops out around 22mph when its obstacle sensors are enabled. For a faster drone with obstacle detection enabled, consider the Mavic 2 Zoom or Mavic 2 Pro, both of which can fly at 32mph with obstacle detection turned on.

Rear sensors are included too, although they won't prevent you from backing the drone into a tree during manual flight. Both sets of sensors are used when the drone is set to track a moving subjectyou just need to draw a box around your target using the control app. There are no top, bottom, or side sensors available, as you get with the DJI Mavic 2 family, so automated tracking is limited to forward and backward motion.

Autel isn't as authoritative with enforcing safety features as DJI. This can be appealing to pilots who are aware of regulations, but it can also be dangerous for uneducated pilots. So, while it is possible to fly the EVO as high as 2,600 feet above ground level, you should take care to limit yourself to a 400-foot altitudethe default, and legal limit in the US.

There is also a geofence, which can be set from about 100 feet all the way through 1,640 feet. When enabled, the drone won't fly farther away from the launch point than the set limit. It can certainly serve to keep you out of trouble, although you should remember that you're required to keep a drone within visual line of sight when flying in the US.

The EVO doesn't recognize or enforce permanent or temporary no-fly zones. That's a safety concern, too. You'll need to take care to ensure that you're not within five miles of an airport, flying in a national park, or near Washington, DC when using the EVO. Most importantly, you don't want to fly the EVO near wildfiresdrones can interfere with aerial firefighting efforts.

There is no internal memory. The EVO has a single microSD slot and ships with a 32GB card included. You can transfer video to your computer via a micro USB cable, or remove the card and use a card reader. The memory card door is very tight, at least on the EVO I tested, and I had to resort to opening it with a letter opener or scissors.

Battery charging is done outside the drone. It ships with a dedicated charger that can replenish the flight battery, and also includes a USB port to top off the remote control or another device.

The included remote control is quite nice. It's compact, with a clip to hold your phone at its top, handgrips that swing out and to the bottom, and a full-color display. There are wheels to adjust exposure and camera tilt, buttons to snap images and start or stop video clips, two programmable rear controls, and dedicated controls for takeoff and landing, as well as for return-to-home. There's also a Pause button, which will stop the EVO and hover in place.

The remote's color screen doesn't just show telemetry data, battery life, and other sundry features. With a press of the Display button, it switches to show a live feed from the EVO's camera. Unlike most competing models, you can fly it without having to attach a smartphone and still see the view from the camera. The 3.3-inch display isn't huge and doesn't support touch input, so you'll need to navigate through settings using the physical controlsthe right wheel is used to scroll through menus and doubles as a button to confirm any changes you make to settings.

You can access and adjust basic settingsvideo resolution, frame rate, image file format, maximum flight altitude and geofence settings, and the likeusing the remote. But for more advanced settings, including access to different video profiles, automated shot modes, and subject tracking, you'll still need to attach a phone. The EVO does remember which video profile you've chosen, though, so you can make those configuration changes once with the phone app and they'll still be applied when flying with the remote control only.

The Autel Explorer app, a free download for Android and iOS devices, is required to take full advantage of all of the EVO's features. The app gives you access to video profiles, automated shots, which include perfectly circular orbits, and subject tracking. The EVO recognizes a subject easilyjust draw a box around it using your phone's screenand leverages its obstacle detection system to keep pace with moving targets at up to 22mph speed.

I have a minor quibble with the controls. The remote has a button for automated takeoff and landing. It works well for landings, but not so much for takeoff. Pressing it shows an Invalid Command message on the remote's screen. You need to manually fire the motors the old fashioned way, by moving both control sticks diagonally downward and inward, and then press the button to take off. But I found it easier just to push up on the left stick to take off once the rotors spun up.

The EVO sports a 4K video camera, backed by a smartphone-sized 12MP image sensor. I was very happy with the video quality in generalthere's plenty of resolution to show crisp detail, and colors look great. But I have one big complaintthe default profile applies way too much sharpening to footage, giving it an unnatural look. Thankfully you can dial back the sharpening using the app, either by manually fine-tuning the default color profile or switching to the Film mode, which is no different from the default, but with sharpening turned all the way down. It's the first thing I'd recommend EVO buyers do when setting up the drone.

There are a couple of other things to watch out for, too. I had to manually dial in a bit of gimbal roll adjustment in order to straighten out my horizon during one test flight, and propellers can enter the frame when flying forward, even with the top speed throttled to 22mph by the obstacle sensors.

There are a number of frame rates available. I shot my test footage at 24fps, as I prefer a cinematic look, but you can also choose 30fps for a video look, 48fps for cinematic slow-motion, and 60fps for traditional half-speed playback. You're also able to shoot at 2.7K resolution at any of those frame rates, at 1080p (2K) up to 120fps, and 720p as quickly as 240fps.

In addition to the standard profile, you can opt for the aforementioned Film look, as well as Vivid, Black-and-White, and a number of filtered looksArt, Beach, Dream, Classic, and Nostalgic. They're helpful settings for casual users who want to get a different look from video without having to learn how to color grade footage.

But if you're a pro and you love grading your own video, be happy to know there is also a flat Log color profile available. It drops contrast, curbing highlights and reining in shadows, so you have more room to make adjustments. But Log footage doesn't look good without color correction, so it's only something you should use if you're familiar with advanced video editing software.

For stills, you can shoot in Raw or JPG format at 12MP resolution. Image quality is on par with modern smartphones, so it's definitely more point-and-shoot than SLR. But that's the case for most drones. If you're mostly interested in daylight imaging you'll likely be happy with the images, even if you're the type to opt to shoot in Raw and take charge of your own image processing. To get better-than-smartphone shots, you'll need to look at a model with a larger image sensor. If you like to print, consider it, but for Facebook and Instagram, the EVO will do fine.

There are a few drones out there with 1-inch class image sensors, about four times the size of the EVO's smartphone-sized sensor, and they offer a big upgrade in image quality, but you either have to sacrifice a compact design or some dollars to get one. The DJI Phantom 4 Advanced puts a 1-inch sensor camera in a larger drone for around $1,000, while the DJI Mavic 2 Pro is the only folding 1-inch sensor model we've seen, but it costs around $1,500.

Let's face itDJI essentially owns the compact drone market. Its Mavic series created the space and it's now into the second generation of development. The Mavic Air does more stuff than the EVO for less money, after all. But not everyone needs, or wants, more stuff. The Autel Robotics EVO is compelling for different reasons.

A big one is the lack of built-in restrictions. DJI's critics have been vocal, crowing about enforcement of no-fly zones and the necessity to set up an account and tie its drones to it and your smartphone. For some, what is perceived as a Big Brother attitude is enough to keep them from buying a DJI drone.

I don't share that opinion. In my eyes, DJI's built-in safety features are necessary and its self-policing has no doubt prevented someone somewhere from doing something very dumb. But I recognize that not everyone shares my opinions, and potential drone owners who don't like the way DJI does things can buy an EVO and have fun making aerial images and videos.

The other area where the EVO betters the Mavic series is in its remote control. And while Autel doesn't include a touch screen with the EVO remote, it's very practical to use without a smartphone, and if you need to use a feature that requires the Autel Explorer app, you can still connect your phone to the remote to unlock the drone's full feature set.

Video quality is very good, and while I would have liked to have seen a more pleasing default profile, it's easy enough to dial down sharpening orif you really know what you're doingto switch to a Log profile. And the EVO supports 4K DCI capture, as well as 60fps at 4K UHD, options not available in the Mavic series.

The EVO is undoubtedly the right drone for some pilots. Its battery life is right up there with the competition, and it's capable of flying at greater speeds than other small drones that cost about the same. I think the DJI Mavic Air is a better choice for more peopleit's $200 cheaper, has more safety features, and records 4K UHD video. But if the Mavic Air doesn't tickle your fancy, the EVO is a very viable alternative.

Compact, folding design.

Stable 4K video at up to 60fps.

Log video profile.

Supports UHD and DCI formats.

Obstacle avoidance system.

Solid battery life.

Works with or without a smartphone.

Default video profile appears oversharpened.

Memory card door is very tight.

Not as many safety features as other drones.

The Autel Robotics EVO is a very solid small drone with strong battery life, a stabilized 4K camera, and an obstacle detection system.

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Autel Robotics EVO Review | PCMag