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Uponor Corporation appoints Thomas Fuhr Chief Technology Officer and member of the Executive Committee, and updates Building Solutions Europe’s…

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Danzig

Uponor Corporation,Stock exchange release,26 July 2022 at 09:30 am EEST

Uponor Corporation appoints Thomas Fuhr Chief Technology Officer and member of the Executive Committee, and updates Building Solutions Europes leadership structure

Thomas Fuhr (M.Sc. (Mech. Eng.), b. 1965) has been appointed Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and a member of the Executive Committee at Finland-based Uponor Corporation. He begins his new role on 1 October 2022 and will lead a newly formed Technology organization designed to accelerate innovation as well as drive manufacturing efficiency and supply chain resilience. The Technology organization will provide operational support for the Building Solutions Europe division and focus globally on innovation and sustainability, while also driving cross-division collaboration of the manufacturing and supply chain functions. Thomas will be based in Germany and report to Michael Rauterkus, President and CEO, Uponor Corporation.

Thomas brings more than 30 years of professional experience from both the water business and the automobile sector. He joins Uponor from Grohe AG where he held various leadership roles since 2013. Most recently he served as Co-CEO, responsible for the R&D, Procurement, Supply Chain, Quality, Safety, and Manufacturing. Prior to this, Thomas worked for more than 20 years at Mercedes Benz where he led teams and improved processes, in Purchasing, R&D, Quality, Logistics and Production.

I am delighted to welcome Thomas to Uponor and strengthen the Executive Committee with his manufacturing expertise. Uponor has gained in Thomas a strong forward-thinking leader, familiar with all aspects of manufacturing, supply chain and step-change innovation in an international setting. His leadership will be essential in driving sustainable innovation, efficiency, and resilience throughout our business, says Michael Rauterkus. The new Technology organization that Thomas will lead is central to our growth strategy, as it will enhance our customer focus, unlock significant potential in our R&D pipeline, and drive value creation through operational efficiencies.

Updated leadership and organizational structure for Building Solutions EuropeThe Building Solutions Europe (BLD-E) divisions operational functions, including Manufacturing and Supply Chain, will move to the companys new Technology organization, led by CTO Thomas Fuhr, to enable increased focus on BLD-Es customers and commercial growth in Europe and other international markets.

A Senior Vice President, BLD-E, reporting to President and CEO Michael Rauterkus, will be appointed to lead the new BLD-E organization. This new leadership structure replaces the President, Building Solutions Europe role that was previously an Executive Committee role.

The updated organizational structure will have no impact on the external financial reporting of the divisions.

Thomas Fuhrs CV and image are attached.

Further information:

Franciska JanzonSenior Vice President, Corporate Communications & IRUponor CorporationTel. +358020 129 2821franciska.janzon@uponor.com

DISTRIBUTION:Nasdaq HelsinkiMajor media

Uponor in briefUponor is rethinking water for future generations. Our offering, including safe drinking water delivery, energy-efficient radiant heating and cooling and reliable infrastructure, enables a more sustainable living environment. We help our customers in residential and commercial construction, municipalities and utilities, as well as different industries to work faster and smarter. Uponor employs about 3,900 professionals in 26 countries in Europe and North America and Uponors products are sold in some 80 countries. In 2021, Uponor's net sales totalled approximately 1.3 billion. Uponor Corporation is based in Finland and listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. http://www.uponorgroup.com

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Uponor Corporation appoints Thomas Fuhr Chief Technology Officer and member of the Executive Committee, and updates Building Solutions Europe's...

Labor shortages are the top concern of Raytheon CEO – Washington Technology

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Danzig

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Labor shortages are the top concern of Raytheon CEO - Washington Technology

Limeade Appoints Global Software, Technology, and Finance Executive Lisa Nelson to its Board of Directors – PR Newswire

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Danzig

Limeade Appoints Global Software, Technology, and Finance Executive Lisa Nelson to its Board of Directors

"We are delighted to welcome Lisa to the Limeade Board of Directors," says Henry Albrecht, CEO of Limeade. "Lisa has an outstanding track-record, matched by her passion for driving growth, accelerating the digital transformation of work, and managing risk. Lisa's extensive experience will be a tremendous asset as we continue to pioneer well-being and listening as essential to positive employee experiences across industries and geographies."

"Well-being at work is now a baseline expectation of employees," said Lisa Nelson. "Limeade is a true frontrunner in this industry and continues to pave the path forward. I look forward to partnering with Limeade to transform work into a source of positivity, energy, and purpose worldwide."

Nelson currently serves as board director at Astra (NASDAQ: ASTR), Seattle Bank, and DNA Seattle. She brings over 25 years of executive leadership excellence in the software, technology, and financial services sectors. Her experience includes various executive roles at Microsoft, including Co-Founder and Managing Director at M12, Microsoft's Venture Fund, and Chief Operating Officer, Global Business Development, as well as roles at Willis Towers Watson in London and Ernst & Young in Australia. Nelson holds a Bachelor of Arts, Business Administration from the University of Washington.

For more information about Limeade, visit http://www.Limeade.com

About Limeade

Limeade is an immersive employee well-being company that creates healthy employee experiences. Limeade Institute science guides its industry-leading software and its own award-winning culture. Today, millions of users in over 100 countries use Limeade solutions to navigate the future of work. By putting well-being at the heart of the employee experience, Limeade reduces burnout and turnover while increasing well-being and engagement ultimately elevating business performance. To learn more, visit http://www.limeade.com(ASX listing: LME).

SOURCE Limeade

Limeade Appoints Global Software, Technology, and Finance Executive Lisa Nelson to its Board of Directors - PR Newswire

New technology on Osceola school buses expected to keep kids safer – WESH 2 Orlando

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Danzig

The goal of new technology on board Osceola County school buses is to keep students safer, and it will help keep tabs on where your kids are before and after school.When students get on the bus, theyll use their student ID to scan in. Then their information will appear on a tablet, notifying the bus driver that theyre on the right bus.Zach Downes, the community relations specialist with Osceola Schools' transportation department said having students scan on and off will help the district build routes. Our student ridership program is a new program that were launching within the school district, so we have a better idea of where kids are getting on and off the buses, Downes said. Itll also alert bus drivers if a child tries to get on the wrong bus or off at the wrong stop.Its definitely an extra safety measure because kids will get on the wrong bus at the beginning of the school year just because of confusion, or theyll want to go home with their friends or theyre trying to run away from home, so this will help crack down on a lot of things weve dealt with in the past, Downes said.The technology will also allow the district to get a better tally of how many bus riders they have which translates to more accurate funding from the state.Downes said the technology cost about $300,000 and has been installed on all 400 school district buses, including the spares.Itll be used for the first time on the first day of school on Aug. 10. If a student doesnt have an ID card, they can sign in on the tablet using their school ID number. If they dont have that, they wont be turned away at first, but it will eventually be required.

The goal of new technology on board Osceola County school buses is to keep students safer, and it will help keep tabs on where your kids are before and after school.

When students get on the bus, theyll use their student ID to scan in. Then their information will appear on a tablet, notifying the bus driver that theyre on the right bus.

Zach Downes, the community relations specialist with Osceola Schools' transportation department said having students scan on and off will help the district build routes.

Our student ridership program is a new program that were launching within the school district, so we have a better idea of where kids are getting on and off the buses, Downes said.

Itll also alert bus drivers if a child tries to get on the wrong bus or off at the wrong stop.

Its definitely an extra safety measure because kids will get on the wrong bus at the beginning of the school year just because of confusion, or theyll want to go home with their friends or theyre trying to run away from home, so this will help crack down on a lot of things weve dealt with in the past, Downes said.

The technology will also allow the district to get a better tally of how many bus riders they have which translates to more accurate funding from the state.

Downes said the technology cost about $300,000 and has been installed on all 400 school district buses, including the spares.

Itll be used for the first time on the first day of school on Aug. 10.

If a student doesnt have an ID card, they can sign in on the tablet using their school ID number.

If they dont have that, they wont be turned away at first, but it will eventually be required.

New technology on Osceola school buses expected to keep kids safer - WESH 2 Orlando

Companies urged to use technology to improve AGM engagement – IR Magazine

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Danzig

Companies should seize the opportunity presented by technology to maximize engagement at the AGM, according to new guidance from the UKs corporate reporting watchdog.

Shareholders should be offered the same rights of participation whether they are attending in person or virtually, says the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) in a report on AGM good practice.

Companies significantly changed their approach to annual meetings over the last two and a half years as a result of restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the UK, where it is legally unclear whether fully virtual AGMs are allowed, companies switched to hybrid events. But many chose to return to physical-only meetings in 2022 as social distancing rules eased.

The report notes that, for any virtual element of an AGM, companies should use technology that allows questions to be submitted in real time. It also advises companies to open the online Q&A function at the start of the meeting and ensure questions are taken from all the available channels.

When using a system to manage online questions, meeting organizers should explain how the platform works and operate it in a manner consistent with any physical Q&A taking place, adds the FRC.

Pre-meeting Q&A

The regulator also suggests companies consider answering questions ahead of the AGM, for example through an online Q&A or webinar, to help investors make better-informed voting decisions.

The report notes that companies have differing shareholder bases some have a small number of domestic investors, others hundreds of thousands spread around the world so an individual approach to the AGM is required, including in the selection of technology.

With this new guidance, we want to encourage companies to seize the opportunity to maximize shareholder engagement by embracing new technologies, says Jon Thompson, CEO of the FRC, in a statement.

We also recognize that there are many benefits of physical meetings, allowing for more effective in-person dialogue, so companies should think carefully about which approach is right for them and their shareholders.

The FRC received input for the report from nearly a dozen organizations including GC100, which represents general counsel and company secretaries, the Investment Association, a trade body for investment firms, and responsible investment initiative ShareAction.

Oklahoman first to benefit from advance in liver transplant technology – Journal Record

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Danzig

The OrganOx metra device was designed to extend the time that donated livers may remain viable for transplant. It has potential to positively affect lives of thousands of people in need of liver transplants across the country. (Courtesy photo)

Johnny Holiday had no idea when he woke up after having major surgery recently that he had just made history.

The Broken Arrow man was just glad the surgery was over and happy to be alive.

Now, having learned that he was the first liver transplant recipient in the country to benefit from a new piece of medical equipment designed to extend the time that donated livers may remain viable for transplant, Holiday said hes even more grateful.

We had no idea until after the surgery, when Dr. (Vivek) Kohli told my wife that I was making medical history, Holiday said.

We were blown away, added the 51-year-old transplant recipients wife, Melanie. We were so very grateful and excited to be a part of this game-changing technology.

The history-making surgery was performed at Integris Health in Oklahoma City. According to a news release, the hospital was the first place in the nation outside of a clinical trial environment where a liver transplant was performed using the OrganOx metra device.

The device, owned and operated by LifeShare of Oklahoma, the states organ procurement organization, was designed to keep a donated liver in a functioning state from the time its taken from a donor to the time of transplant, by using oxygenated blood at normal body temperature.

Traditionally, you have up to 12 hours to retrieve the liver from the donor, take it to its destination and transplant it into the recipient, said Kohli, director of abdominal transplants and hepatobiliary surgery at the Nazih Zuhdi Transplant Institute at Integris Baptist Medical Center. With this new technology, the liver is preserved with warm oxygenated blood. This improves the organ preservation and extends preservation time beyond the usual 12 hours.

Holidays successful surgery occurred on May 27.

According to Jeffrey Orlowski, president and chief executive officer at LifeShare, the OrganOx metra device has potential to affect thousands of lives of people in need of liver transplants.

Theres new hope on the horizon for the more than 11,000 Americans waiting for a liver transplant, he said. This new technology allows us to increase the number of donor organs available for transplant, meaning surgeons like Dr. Kohli and his team can save more lives.

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Oklahoman first to benefit from advance in liver transplant technology - Journal Record

Bridging the Digital Divide with 6G Technology – Newswise

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Danzig

Newswise Light-based technology, for making telecommunications more accessible in remote and rural areas, is to be developed in a collaboration between the University of Strathclyde andFriedrich-Alexander-Universitt Erlangen-Nrnberg (FAU) in Germany.

Professor Harald Haas, Director of StrathclydesLiFi Research and Development Centre, has received aHumboldt Research Awardfor his research achievements to date. This award enables him to collaborate on a topic of choice with Professor Robert Schober at FAU.

The collaboration will investigate the use of point-to-point free space optical (FSO) communications to provide an effective solution to the digital divide through 6G communications.

The project will also explore THz (terahertz) communications, on frequencies between 300 GHz (gigahertz) and 10 THz, as well as optical wireless communications, between 10 THz and 1 PHz (petahertz).

In addition, the research will examine the use of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) for all potential 6G frequency bands. RIS are electromagnetic devices with electronically controllable characteristics, which can manipulate the impact of an incoming signal.

Professor Haas is an Alexander von Humboldt Professor and a recognised pioneer in the field of LiFi, or light-based communications technology. In a 2011TEDTalk, he publicly demonstrated for the first time new technology for receiving data with ordinary solar cells. His research offers a means of overcoming problems of access to technology, particularly in remote, rural or desert regions.

According to the International Telecommunication Union, 2.9 billion people more than a third of the worlds population have never used the internet.

Professor Haas said: It is generally accepted that, to achieve step-change improvements in net-zero, data rates, latency, user experience and coverage, radically new solutions are required for 6G and overcoming the digital divide is particularly important post-COVID-19.People in data-deprived areas can really fall behind in the modern world and what is really transformational about this is the move away from radio spectrum to optical spectrum. We are aiming to use the optical communications spectrum in the infrared region to beam wireless data signals over hundreds of meters to tens of kilometres, using solar panels as both data receivers and energy harvesters. We have been running a trial in Orkney in which ordinary solar cells and laser transmitters have been used to quadruple the data rates of residents on Graemsay.

Our goal is to have affordable free-space optical communications for 6G, in a framework which enables mesh and multihop networking to get around hills and obstacles. Our system is designed to be self-powered because we use solar panels simultaneously for power and data harvesting so that it could be installed anywhere, even on trees or any other mast where there is no access to the power grid. The operational carbon footprint of these communication systems is, therefore, zero.

We are also aiming to redirect signals when something, an object or an individual, is in the way and blocking the signal. We will advancing optical RIS, which is something like a smart billboard or wallpaper that reflects and concentrates light towards a LiFi receiver."

I have chosen to work with FAU because, like Strathclyde, it has a national and international reputation as a research-intensive and leading university. It is an absolute privilege to collaborate with Professor Schober, who is among the top researchers in wireless communications in the world.

Humboldt research awards are presented by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to senior researchers who have predominantly lived and worked outside Germany for at least five years; are recognised internationally as outstanding researchers in their field; have had a significant impact on their own discipline and beyond, and are expected to continue producing cutting-edge research.

Bridging the Digital Divide with 6G Technology - Newswise

Former AOL CEO bullish on technology stocks: ‘A lot less risky’ to buy today than a year ago – Fox Business

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Danzig

Tim Armstrong says he is bullish on tech stocks telling 'Cavuto: Coast to Coast' there is a lot of money on the sidelines waiting to enter the market.

Former AOL CEO Tim Armstrong said Monday that investors are poised to get a much better return on tech stocks than they would have one year ago, telling "Cavuto: Coast to Coast" he sees tremendous room for growth in both the online and offline e-commerce worlds.

TIM ARMSTRONG: Im really bullish. I think Stripe, the payments company, just came out with a report at the end of March saying that 15% of the commerce done in the world was online and 85% was still offline. So as much as demand has gotten pulled forward, in the pandemic, and the digital companies have really grown, I still think there's tremendous growth room left to happen both in the offline world and the online world. Even though the valuations have come back a little bit, I think over the next 24 months you will see a lot of the big moves getting made to have these companies securitize themselves for the future.

TOUGH TIME TO BE BULLISH ON TECH: INVESTMENT EXPERT

If you go back to the financial crisis, these companies left the financial crisis with $50 billion in cash. They now have about $500 billion in cash. So youre going to see aggressive strategies I think to move that offline experiences to even more online over time and thats a big opportunity. That is what were doing at Flowcode as well. I see it day-to-day in our business. Lets put it this way, I think its a lot less risky to buy stock today than it was a year ago even though people felt very comfortable buying tech companies a year ago. When you want to buy them is when theyre down and right now I think youre going to get a much better deal on the companies today than you would have a year ago.

WATCH FULL INTERVIEW HERE:

Former AOL CEO Tim Armstrong assesses Elon Musk's shattered Twitter deal and shares his outlook for the Big Tech industry.

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Former AOL CEO bullish on technology stocks: 'A lot less risky' to buy today than a year ago - Fox Business

PAR Technology Corporation Releases Conference Call and Webcast Information for Fiscal 2022 Second Quarter Financial Results – Marketscreener.com

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Danzig

PAR Technology Corporation (NYSE: PAR) a global restaurant technology company and provider of unified commerce for enterprise restaurants, today announced that it will report its second quarter financial results on Tuesday, August 9, 2022. The results are scheduled to be released before market open, followed by an investor presentation and conference call at 9:00 a.m. ET.

PAR Technology President and Chief Executive Officer Savneet Singh, Chief Financial Officer Bryan Menar and Vice President for Business Development, Christopher Byrnes will provide a business update and address questions from call participants.

To participate in the conference call, please register in advance via this link. After registering, a confirmation email will be sent including dial-in details and unique conference call codes for entry. Registration is open through the live call, but to ensure you are connected for the full call we suggest registering a day in advance or at minimum 10 minutes before the start of the call.

The earnings conference call will be webcast live. To access the webcast, please visit the PAR Technology Investor Relations website at https://www.partech.com/investor-relations/ . A recording of the webcast will be available on this site after the event.

PAR Technology looks forward to your participation in this conference call. Please call Tiffani Temple at 315-738-0600 x 6325 with any questions.

ABOUT PAR TECHNOLOGY

For more than 40 years, PAR Technologys (NYSE Symbol: PAR) cutting-edge products and services have helped bold and passionate restaurant brands build lasting guest relationships. We are the partner enterprise restaurants rely on when they need to serve amazing moments from open to close, during the most hectic rush hours, and when the world forces them to adapt and overcome. More than 100,000 restaurants in more than 110 countries use PARs restaurant hardware, software, loyalty, drive-thru, and back-office solutions. To learn more, visit http://www.partech.com or connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220726006101/en/

Ambi Robotics returns to Berkeley and expands headquarters – Robotics and Automation News

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Danzig

Ambi Robotics, a provider of AI-powered robotic parcel sorting systems for supply chain operations, has unveiled its new headquarters in Berkeley, California to support company growth and new product development.

Ambi Robotics is ramping up installations of AmbiSort systems ahead of peak season as more shipping and logistics brands grapple with surging ecommerce demand.

The new headquarters boasts 33,000 square feet of space for the company to continue its mission to solve the supply chains most complex problems while helping people handle more than ever before.

Jim Liefer, CEO of Ambi Robotics, says: Relocating our headquarters back to Berkeley was a logical step in our business growth strategy.

This decision was fueled by the need to accommodate the growth of our company as we remain focused on deployments and supporting the implementation of hundreds of AmbiSort AI-powered robotic sorting systems in production across the US.

The new office location will accommodate the capacity for growing teams in customer support, engineering, AI research, operations, and software development.

The new Berkeley headquarters footprint increased over 500 percent as the team more than quadrupled its size in one year. Ambi Robotics was previously located in a 6,000 square foot office space in Emeryville, California.

Stephen McKinley, co-founder and VP of operations at Ambi Robotics, says: We are thrilled to be closer to where it all began, just a few miles from the heart of the UC Berkeley campus where our founding team met while pursuing our PhDs.

Ambi Robotics is built on the power of people people working together to build extraordinary systems that empower our workforce to handle more. We are building a one-of-a-kind headquarters to foster the growth of our dedicated team and an environment that empowers our team at Ambi Robotics to handle more too.

The newly remodeled headquarters, now re-architected and designed to support the development of advanced supply chain technologies, boasts features that build the human experience for all employees.

Sandra Kazee, VP of finance at Ambi Robotics, says: At Ambi Robotics, we believe that when people are respected and valued, they become more engaged.

We are committed to building an inclusive working environment for our team where all employees can be their best, authentic selves.

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Ambi Robotics returns to Berkeley and expands headquarters - Robotics and Automation News

‘First-of-its-kind’ $50 million fund launches for early-stage robotics, automation, and AI companies – Robotics and Automation News

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Danzig

Cybernetix Ventures, an independent venture capital firm investing in early-stage robotics, automation and AI technology companies, today announced the launch of its first global fund headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

Cybernetix Fund I will focus on pre-seed, seed and Series A investments into companies in the US and around the world developing robotics solutions for manufacturing, logistics, construction, and healthcare verticals.

The fund will also invest in key robotics-enabling software companies in AI/machine learning, cloud robotics, cybersecurity, autonomy and sensors/edge computing.

The funds general partner Fady Saad is an MIT alumnus and co-founder of MassRobotics, the largest robotics startup escalator in the United States, supporting more than 60 resident startups at its Boston shared office and laboratory facility.

He architected MassRobotics corporate partnership and scaling program, building formal partnerships with more than 40 corporates.

A Boston Business Journal 40 Under 40 honoree, he has been heavily involved in the robotics innovation and investment community made up of entrepreneurs, researchers and technologists from around the world.

Saad also brings international business management and development experience from multinational technology firms Siemens and Nokia.

General partner Mark Martin, a Cornell and Tufts University alumnus, has been an investor, board observer and advisor for over 20 startups in SaaS, IoT and sensor technologies.

As a VP of industrial automation, sensors and IoT at Analog Devices, he led an organization with over 600 employees and $1 billion annual revenue.

Martin has extensive mergers and acquisition experience, overseeing the sale of two business units valued at over $450 million combined and the acquisition of four businesses valued at over $100 million combined during his tenure at Analog Devices.

Martin scaled the companys presence in Asia while based in Hong Kong for three years. He has also been on MassRobotics advisory board.

Cybernetix portfolio companies will benefit from the funds unprecedented access to the robotics ecosystem, corporate relationships, deep industry knowledge and insights, and other critical finance, business and manufacturing resources.

Saad says: With the launch of Cybernetix Ventures, robotics startups will have access to a one-of-a-kind fund which is from the robotics community, led by robotics leaders, for robotics innovators.

Its clear to us that robotics is a distinct investment class, separate from established categories like software and biotech, with its own investment models, metrics and portfolio engagement.

The majority of investors are just starting to figure out the true value of innovative, early-stage robotics opportunities. With the establishment of this fund, were here to influence what will have the greatest long-term impacts, and share the full extent of our expertise and networks with the companies we believe in.

Martin says: Its only in the last few years that weve seen the arrival of robotics unicorns and funding rounds with multi-billion dollar valuations as part of an accelerating robotics ecosystem.

So this marks an exciting time to be supporting and guiding the next crop of companies in the industry with outsize potential.

Couple that with the intensifying labor shortage in our key verticals, and you have a strong rationale why the time is perfect for us to launch this new fund.

Cybernetix Ventures has an advisory board consisting of seven distinguished leaders in their respective fields:

Steve Ricci: former partner at Flagship Ventures, and former president of the New England Venture Capital Association, bringing more than 30 years of early stage venture capital investment experience.

Helen Greiner: co-founder, former chairman and president of pioneering robotics company iRobot and CEO of Tertill, a recognized leader in the robotics field for more than 35 years.

Peter Wurman: co-founder and former CTO of Kiva Systems, a manufacturer of mobile robotic fulfillment systems acquired by Amazon and rebranded to Amazon Robotics. He is currently Sonys AI America director and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2020.

Rick Faulk: CEO of Locus Robotics and former CEO of Quiet Logistics, has more than 30 years of experience in the logistics industry.

Elaine Chen: a well-known roboticist, currently director of the Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts University and former entrepreneur-in-residence at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship.

Amar Sawhney: prolific serial entrepreneur in the medical devices industry, currently CEO of Pramand, CEO and Chairman of Instylla. Some of his previous companies were acquired by Boston Scientific, Covidian and Genzyme.

Dennis Clarke: Chairman and CEO of Boston-based commercial real estate development company, Cummings Properties, and brings a wealth of experience in the construction industry.

Ricci says: Theres never been a venture capital team like this before, purpose-built and ready from day one to identify and target the most compelling opportunities at the intersection of robotics, automation, and AI.

We already have seen the team putting their wealth of knowledge, experience, and network into their current investments.

Cybernetix Ventures has already built an investment portfolio of leading early stage robotics and AI companies covering their target technology and market sectors.

Derrick Morse, CEO of portfolio company, Rugged Robotics, says: After meeting Fady and Mark, I quickly realized the power of their network and experience, and I knew I had to get them onto our cap table.

We were massively oversubscribed, but its important to have investors who really know the market and technology, understand the challenges of driving early-stage robotics companies, and can really engage on the important challenges we face as we grow the business. Were thrilled to have their support.

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'First-of-its-kind' $50 million fund launches for early-stage robotics, automation, and AI companies - Robotics and Automation News

Startup uWare Robotics develops ‘first’ complete system to map and monitor coastal ecosystems – Robotics and Automation News

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Danzig

A Belgian-Spanish startup called uWare Robotics says it has developed the first end-to-end technology to map and monitor coastal ecosystems.

uWare says its system consists of a number of proprietary hardware and software technologies, including an autonomous underwater vehicle, called the uOne.

Designed for maximum mobility, stability, cost-effectiveness, and autonomy, the uOne allows for data collection at five times the speed of a diver and with the precision of a robot, claims uWare.

Being autonomous and untethered, the uOne can cover vast areas by itself, eliminating the risk to human life. It is electric and quiet and can be launched from shore, reducing the environmental impact of a monitoring operation.

The uOne communicates with the uBuoy another of uWares inventions using the companys proprietary acoustic communication modem, the uCom to provide live mission updates and accept new mission commands.

The uOne seamlessly integrates with uWares software system that employs machine learning and computer vision to provide automated 2D and 3D map generation, intelligent visual inspection (for example, pollution spotting), and environmental and biodiversity data analysis.

In its press kit, uWare says: We have combined the latest technology in Robotics and AI, with open source software and proprietary electronics, to offer a solution that is safe, efficient, reliable, and cost-effective.

Our technology allows users to monitor and generate real intelligence out of the data they gather in the form of map generation, visual inspection and environmental data analysis.

By making our solution affordable and accessible to marine protected areas, conservation societies, and other relevant organizations we can ensure they have the necessary temporal data to keep ecosystems healthy, offer more advanced restoration efforts, and advise policymakers on their protection.

uWare says its target markets include:

The business model uWare has adopted involves hiring out its hardware on a mission basis and its software is available through subscription. There are three versions of the uOne Standard, Medium and Pro. The company claims its early adopter program offers pretty much everything almost free.

uWare says it expects to have fully autonomous, underwater worker bots using cost-effective internet of underwater things departing from our autonomous mothership in the future.

It adds: We can already envision a swarm of uOnes autonomously restoring a coral reef or managing a mariculture farm.

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Startup uWare Robotics develops 'first' complete system to map and monitor coastal ecosystems - Robotics and Automation News

Serve Robotics partners with Piestro to deliver robot-made pizzas – Robotics and Automation News

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Danzig

Piestro, a maker of a robotic pizzeria, is partnering with Serve Robotics, a maker of autonomous sidewalk delivery robots, to offer customers a totally robotic pizza delivery service.

When a customer places an order, Piestros scheduling system will notify Serves fleet and the nearest available robot will pick up the pizza for transport from a Piestro pod.

The partnership will roll out in the coming months, as Piestro deploys units within Serve delivery areas.

Massimo De Marco, CEO of Piestro, says: We couldnt be more excited to partner with Serve Robotics to offer our customers the convenience and delight of robotic delivery.

Robotic delivery is contactless and reliable, with a higher on-time rate than couriers, and will allow our customers to get their pizzas even faster than before all at the touch of their fingertips.

Serves robots fit up to four Piestro pizzas and can complete deliveries in under 15 minutes. Once the robot arrives at its destination, customers can retrieve their pizzas from the machine with a secure passcode. Serves autonomous sidewalk robots navigate safely alongside pedestrians, with remote supervision when needed.

Ali Kashani, co-founder and CEO of Serve Robotics, says: Serves zero-emission robots are distinguished by their level of autonomy and safety, outperforming vehicle delivery in key metrics like on-time arrival and order completion.

Combining the reliability of robotic delivery with Piestros tasty pizzas is a perfect match. Together, we offer customers a quick, contactless experience that also benefits the environment.

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Serve Robotics partners with Piestro to deliver robot-made pizzas - Robotics and Automation News

Ondas Holdings American Robotics to Add New Artificial Intelligence Anomaly Detection Capabilities to its … – AccessWire

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Danzig

New loss of containment capabilities will enable automatic detection of crude oil loss at oil and gas facilities

WALTHAM, MA / ACCESSWIRE / July 26, 2022 / Ondas Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq:ONDS), a leading provider of private wireless data, drone and automated data solutions through its wholly owned subsidiaries, Ondas Networks Inc. and American Robotics, Inc. ("American Robotics" or "AR"), announced today that American Robotics is adding new artificial intelligence anomaly detection capabilities to its autonomous Scout System drone. Loss of containment capabilities will enable oil and gas customers to minimize environmental risks, clean-up costs, fines, and litigation expenses. This new analytics feature is the first being introduced in connection with our strategic partnership with Dynam.AI, a leading edge provider of AI/ML development tools and services. Additional software-driven data analytics features targeted for the O&G markets are expected to be introduced in the second half of 2022.

"On the heels of our announcement of new high-resolution RGB and thermal camera payloads, American Robotics continues to enhance our offerings for current and future customers in the oil and gas industry," said Reese Mozer, co-founder and CEO of American Robotics. "This analytics feature is the first to be announced from our industry-optimized product roadmap put in place early last year. We have worked closely with our customers to define these requirements on route to fleet deployments, and we are grateful for their partnership."

The loss of containment analytics feature will accelerate early detection and location of crude oil leaks before they become critical to customers by providing frequent, autonomous inspections of oil and gas pumpjacks, heater treaters, tanks, pipes, pumps, and more via the autonomous Scout System. Autonomous drones have become a crucial component to ensuring safety and conducting regular inspections within the oil and gas industry. Through artificial intelligence anomaly detection capabilities tailor-made for the oil and gas industry, American Robotics is providing customers with the tools they need to reduce reputational risk resulting in loss of revenue and brand value, while minimizing environmental risk and costs associated with clean-ups.

A recent Market Research Future report predicted that the market size for drones in the oil and gas industry is projected to be worth over $23 billion by 2027. By continuing to add new features to its Scout System specifically for the oil and gas industry, American Robotics is further establishing itself as the market-leading autonomous drone-in-a-box (DIB) solution for the oil and gas sector. Combined with the high-resolution thermal and RGB camera payloads, the loss of containment analytics feature deepens and expands American Robotics' competitive differentiation within the oil and gas vertical.

A prototype of the loss of containment analytics feature is targeted for release in Q3 2022. To learn more about American Robotics and its Scout System drone, click here.

About Ondas Holdings Inc.Ondas Holdings Inc. ("Ondas") is a leading provider of private wireless data and drone solutions through its wholly owned subsidiaries Ondas Networks Inc. ("Ondas Networks") and American Robotics, Inc. ("American Robotics" or "AR"). Ondas Networks is a developer of proprietary, software-based wireless broadband technology for large established and emerging industrial markets. Ondas Networks' standards-based (802.16s), multi-patented, software-defined radio FullMAX platform enables Mission-Critical IoT (MC-IoT) applications by overcoming the bandwidth limitations of today's legacy private licensed wireless networks. Ondas Networks' customer end markets include railroads, utilities, oil and gas, transportation, aviation (including drone operators) and government entities whose demands span a wide range of mission critical applications. American Robotics designs, develops, and markets industrial drone solutions for rugged, real-world environments. AR's Scout System is a highly automated, AI-powered drone system capable of continuous, remote operation and is marketed as a "drone-in-a-box" turnkey data solution service under a Robot-as-a-Service (RAAS) business model. The Scout System is the first drone system approved by the FAA for automated operation beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) without a human operator on-site. Ondas Networks and American Robotics together provide users in oil & gas, rail, mining, agriculture, and critical infrastructure markets with improved connectivity and data collection capabilities.

For additional information on Ondas Networks and Ondas Holdings, visit http://www.ondas.com or follow Ondas Networks on Twitter and LinkedIn. For additional information on American Robotics, visit http://www.american-robotics.com or follow American Robotics on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Information on our websites and social media platforms is not incorporated by reference in this release or in any of our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Forward-Looking StatementsStatements made in this release that are not statements of historical or current facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We caution readers that forward-looking statements are predictions based on our current expectations about future events. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Our actual results, performance, or achievements could differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors, including the risks discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" discussed under the caption "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in Part I of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K or any updates discussed under the caption "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in Part II of our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and in our other filings with the SEC. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise that occur after that date, except as required by law.

ContactsMedia Contact for Ondas Holdings Inc.Derek Reisfield, President and CFOOndas Holdings Inc.888.350.9994 x1019[emailprotected]

Media Contact for American Robotics Payton St. LawrenceBIGfish Communications for American Robotics[emailprotected] 617-713-3800

Investor Relations ContactCody Cree and Matt Glover Gateway Group, Inc.949-574-3860[emailprotected]

SOURCE: Ondas Holdings Inc.

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Ondas Holdings American Robotics to Add New Artificial Intelligence Anomaly Detection Capabilities to its ... - AccessWire

Q&A: Warehouse robots that feel by sight | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT News

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Danzig

More than a decade ago, Ted Adelson set out to create tactile sensors for robots that would give them a sense of touch. The result? A handheld imaging system powerful enough to visualize the raised print on a dollar bill. The technology was spun into GelSight, to answer an industry need for low-cost, high-resolution imaging.

An expert in both human and machine vision, Adelson was pleased to have created something useful. But he never lost sight of his original dream: to endow robots with a sense of touch. In a new Science Hub project with Amazon, hes back on the case. He plans to build out the GelSight system with added capabilities to sense temperature and vibrations. A professor in MITs Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Adelson recently sat down to talk about his work.

Q: What makes the human hand so hard to recreate in a robot?

A: A human finger has soft, sensitive skin, which deforms as it touches things. The question is how to get precise sensing when the sensing surface itself is constantly moving and changing during manipulation.

Q: Youre an expert on human and computer vision. How did touch grab your interest?

A: When my daughters were babies, I was amazed by how skillfully they used their fingers and hands to explore the world. I wanted to understand the way they were gathering information through their sense of touch. Being a vision researcher, I naturally looked for a way to do it with cameras.

Q: How does the GelSight robot finger work? What are its limitations?

A: A camera captures an image of the skin from inside, and a computer vision system calculates the skins 3D deformation. GelSight fingers offer excellent tactile acuity, far exceeding that of human fingers. However, the need for an inner optical system limits the sizes and shapes we can achieve today.

Q: How did you come up with the idea of giving a robot finger a sense of touch by, in effect, giving it sight?

A: A camera can tell you about the geometry of the surface it is viewing. By putting a tiny camera inside the finger, we can measure how the skin geometry is changing from point to point. This tells us about tactile properties like force, shape, and texture.

Q: How did your prior work on cameras figure in?

A: My prior research on the appearance of reflective materials helped me engineer the optical properties of the skin. We create a very thin matte membrane and light it with grazing illumination so all the details can be seen.

Q: Did you know there was a market for measuring 3D surfaces?

A: No. My postdoc Kimo Johnson posted a YouTube video showing GelSights capabilities about a decade ago. The video went viral, and we got a flood of email with interesting suggested applications. People have since used the technology for measuring the microtexture of shark skin, packed snow, and sanded surfaces. The FBI uses it in forensics to compare spent cartridge casings.

Q: Whats GelSights main application?

A: Industrial inspection. For example, an inspector can press a GelSight sensor against a scratch or bump on an airplane fuselage to measure its exact size and shape in 3D. This application may seem quite different from the original inspiration of baby fingers, but it shows that tactile sensing can have many uses. As for robotics, tactile sensing is mainly a research topic right now, but we expect it to increasingly be useful in industrial robots.

Q: Youre now building in a way to measure temperature and vibrations. How do you do that with a camera? How else will you try to emulate human touch?

A: You can convert temperature to a visual signal that a camera can read by using liquid crystals, the molecules that make mood rings and forehead thermometers change color. For vibrations we will use microphones. We also want to extend the range of shapes a finger can have. Finally, we need to understand how to use the information coming from the finger to improve robotics.

Q: Why are we sensitive to temperature and vibrations, and why is that useful for robotics?

A: Identifying material properties is an important aspect of touch. Sensing temperature helps you tell whether something is metal or wood, and whether it is wet or dry. Vibrations can help you distinguish a slightly textured surface, like unvarnished wood, from a perfectly smooth surface, like wood with a glossy finish.

Q: Whats next?

A: Making a tactile sensor is the first step. Integrating it into a useful finger and hand comes next. Then you have to get the robot to use the hand to perform real-world tasks.

Q: Evolution gave us five fingers and two hands. Will robots have the same?

A: Different robots will have different kinds of hands, optimized for different situations. Big hands, small hands, hands with three fingers or six fingers, and hands we cant even imagine today. Our goal is to provide the sensing capability, so that the robot can skillfully interact with the world.

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Q&A: Warehouse robots that feel by sight | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology - MIT News

Acceleration Robotics and Harvard Present Collaborative Research – HPCwire

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Danzig

VITORIA-GASTEIZ, Spain, July 25, 2022 Acceleration Robotics a robotics semiconductor startup based in the Basque Country, Spain together with Prof. Vijay Janapa Reddi from Harvard University and researchers at the Harvard Edge Computing Lab will present next October in Japan their latest work on democratizing the use of hardware acceleration in robotics in a scalable, vendor- and technology-agnostic manner. Titled as RobotCore: An Open Architecture for Hardware Acceleration in ROS 2, their paper describes and discloses a reference implementation of the architectural pillars and the programming conventions required to introduce hardware acceleration in robotics in a sustainable manner, avoiding semiconductor vendor lock-ins. Shortly, hardware acceleration allows the creation of custom compute architectures that exploit compute parallelism. Instead of building solely on CPUs, with hardware acceleration (through FPGAs or GPUs) roboticists can empower faster robots, with reduced computation times, lower power consumption and more deterministic responses. The core idea behind their research is to facilitate the process of using this technology which, according to the researchers, with the current solutions requires expertise in each specific hardware (acceleration) platform.

The research effort is led by Vctor Mayoral-Vilches, an experienced roboticist and a former Systems Architect at Xilinx (now AMD) who left the company to create his own startup (Acceleration Robotics) that focuses on creating these robot accelerators, or semiconductor building blocks for robots mixing CPUs, FPGAs and GPUs. The whole group together demonstrated their Open Architecture against the Robot Operating System (ROS 2), a popular event-driven programming interface for building robot applications. The resulting robot accelerators deliver significant computation speedups when compared to modern CPU performance.

Robots are deterministic machines, said Mayoral-Vilches. Meeting time deadlines in their computations is the most important feature. Their behaviors take the form of computational graphs, with data flowing between Nodes, across physical networks (communication buses) and while mapping to underlying sensors and actuators. The popular choice to build graphs for robots these days is ROS. Most companies building real robots use ROS or similar event-driven software frameworks, but they do so in a CPU-centric manner. We demonstrated in our work how hardware acceleration combining FPGAs and GPUs properly can revolutionize robotics, increasing determinism and speeding up robot response times enabling new applications with robots.

This piece of research also allows us to easily compare and benchmark different compute solutions in robotics and paves the way towards enabling roboticists to prototype hardware designs for robots in silicon while maintaining the common development practices in robotics. Their results were demonstrated with ROS 2, a popular robotics development kit but it can also be used with other robotics frameworks. Their paper has been accepted at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), one of the most prestigious venues in robotics, and will be presented next October in Kyoto.

About Acceleration Robotics

Acceleration Robotics is a firm focused on designing customized brains for robots to hasten their response time. Founded by top robotic experts to deliver semiconductor building blocks for robots, the company leverages GPUs and FPGAs to create custom hardware that speeds up a robots operation.

About Harvard Edge Computing Lab

The Edge Computing Lab resides in the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. Its team of computer system architects specializes in edge computing platforms, with expertise in understanding the interactions across the circuits, architecture, and software layers.

Source: Acceleration Robotics

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Acceleration Robotics and Harvard Present Collaborative Research - HPCwire

This Black Robotics Professor Is Diversifying Engineering With Robot Poetry And STEM Romance Novels – Black Enterprise

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Danzig

The lack of Black representation in STEM jobs is still an overwhelming race and gender gap.

Only 5% of Black students obtained masters and research doctoral degrees in engineering or physical science during the 2017-2018 school year, as explained by anApril 2021 Pew Research Center article STEM Jobs See Uneven Progress in Increasing Gender, Racial and Ethnic Diversity,

For Carlotta Berry, Ph.D., anElectrical and Computer Engineering professor at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, she is among the less than 200 Black women engineering professors in the United States, according to Forbes. She believes that the major gap is contributed by the underrepresentation of both Black and female students in STEM related academic programs.

With that said, Berry aims to bring more students across the finish line by changing the face of the STEM profession. Her efforts include making STEM exciting to a broader audience by injecting art and sharing it in new and exciting ways, she told the publication.

Engineering has a marketing problem, Berry further explained. Even after many years of interventions to seed the pipeline, the most recognizable figures in engineering are still nerdy, antisocial white men like Dilbert, Sheldon, Spencer Reid or MacGyver.

Here are some of the ways in which Berry is changing the face of the STEM profession and attracting more underrepresented populations and women to the field.

During a professional sabbatical, Berry first founded an educational consulting firm company NoireSTEMinist which sheoffers workshops, presentations and demonstrations on diversity in STEM, women in STEM, mobile robotics education, and engineering education.

Her motto My STEM is for the streets, taking it out of the classroom to connect with people on their turf, reflects her commitment tobringing STEM to people and bringing people to STEM in order to diversify the engineering field.

On YouTube, Berry lays down STEM-inspired tracks on hip hop beats in order to maintain the students interest in robotics. She cleverly names her robots after prominent figures in Black history such as Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King Jr.

In one of her latest poems,Harriet Tugman, A Robot Soldier, Berry explains the unique identifiers of the Tubman such as its two encoders.

A published author of many technical publications, Berry has also leveraged her innovative skills to publish a romance novel.Elevated Inferno: Monets Moment, independently published in June 2022, tells the story of protagonist Monet Parker who is in search for love all while trying to land herdream internship and prepare herself for a career in social robotics.

Berry said she began writing fictional books with Black women in STEM as the main characters to normalize seeing them as they balanced the demands of their personal and professional lives, per Forbes,

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This Black Robotics Professor Is Diversifying Engineering With Robot Poetry And STEM Romance Novels - Black Enterprise

Global Robotic Prosthetic Market Report to 2028 – Advancement in Robotics Technology is Driving Growth – ResearchAndMarkets.com – Business Wire

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Danzig

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Robotic Prosthetic Market By Product Type, By Technology, By Application, By End-Use, and By Region Forecast to 2028" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global robotic prosthetic market size is expected to reach USD 2,384.4 Million in 2028 and register a revenue CAGR of 8.9% over the forecast period, according to latest report. The increase in number of people with amputation and technological advancements are the primary factors driving the market growth.

According to the National Diabetes Statistics Report 2020 published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 34.2 million people in the U.S., aged 18 years or older, had diabetes in 2018. This number is expected to grow to about 54.3 million by 2030. Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes, accounting for around 90% to 95% of all diagnosed cases of diabetes.

Robotic prosthetic devices are used in place of missing limbs or body parts. These devices help in improving the quality of life of people with amputations and provide them with the ability to perform their daily activities. The market for robotic prosthetics is expected to grow at a significant rate owing to the increasing number of people suffering from diabetes and other chronic diseases, which may lead to amputations. Moreover, the rising awareness about these devices and the technological advancements in these devices are some of the factors expected to drive the market growth over the forecast period.

The increasing adoption of robotic prosthetic devices is also attributable to the growing awareness about these devices among patients and physicians. In addition, government initiatives to promote the use of these devices are also expected to drive the growth of the robotic prosthetic market in the coming years.

Some Key Highlights From the Report:

Companies Mentioned

For this report, the publisher has segmented the global robotic prosthetic market based on product type, technology, end-use, application, and region:

Product Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2018-2028)

Technology Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2018-2028)

Application Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2018-2028)

End-Use (Revenue, USD Million; 2018-2028)

Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million; 2018-2028)

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/hctdud

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Global Robotic Prosthetic Market Report to 2028 - Advancement in Robotics Technology is Driving Growth - ResearchAndMarkets.com - Business Wire

How Medtronic Is Strengthening Its Robotics Portfolio – The Motley Fool

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Danzig

Leading medical-device company Medtronic (MDT 1.27%) has received two Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearances in the past month for its advanced technology in spinal surgery. These may be crucial as the company looks to jump-start growth by expanding its footprint in the robotic-assisted surgery space.

In late June, the FDA cleared Medtronic's LigaPASS 2.0 device to help correct spinal deformities. The device allows the surgeon to stabilize the spinal vertebrae to prevent them from collapsing after the surgical procedure. Mechanical failure after the operation is relatively common, but Medtronic says that its ligament augmentation system lowers the need for a follow-up surgery from 16% to only 3% of patients.

In July, the FDA gave a green light to Medtronic's UNiD Spine Analyzer v4.0 planning platform. This system adds machine learning to help surgeons prepare for a spinal surgery, and marks the first FDA clearance of a predictive model for spinal surgery.

Over the years, the company has built up a database of over 10,000 spine surgery cases. The platform uses this information to help the surgeon understand the alignment before surgery and predict spinal alignment up to six months after the operation.

This tool is particularly helpful for degenerative spine procedures, as nearly a third of patients have a hidden deformity and up to 60% of patients remain poorly aligned after the surgery. If the alignment is incorrect, the discs adjacent to the site may get damaged over time after the operation, leading to complications or even the need for another surgery. Advance planning allows the surgeon to select the best implants for the patient and get the correct alignment during the procedure.

The platform also enables the surgeon to track the recovery process and the long-term outcomes from the surgery. This additional information should help caregivers make better decisions and further improve surgeries in the future.

These FDA clearances help Medtronic stay at the forefront of the spine market, a key business segment for the company. Cranial and spinal technologies account for about half of the company's neuroscience division, which, in turn, generates 28% of total sales. The company brought in $4.5 billion during its already-finished 2022 fiscal year from the cranial and spinal technologies segment, enough to capture about 30% of the overall spine surgery market.

As another benefit, these technologies may be integrated with Medtronic's Mazor X Stealth to make the spinal surgical robot more attractive to physicians. Spinal-surgery robots are a relatively small (but high-growth) area of the spine market. For example, the spinal-implant market was about $9 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow about 3% annually for the next five years, whereas the spinal surgical robotics space is only valued at $124 million but is growing at a much more rapid rate of 16% to 20% annually over the next five years.

Medtronic is also eyeing robotic surgery for soft tissue cases with its more recent launch of the Hugo Robotic-Assisted Surgery (RAS) system. The Hugo RAS has a "CE" mark of approval in Europe but is still building its case for approval in the U.S. market.

Surgical robots for soft tissue is a far larger market than for the spine. It had a valuation of $1.6 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow by 25% over the next five years. In contrast to spinal surgical robots, where Medtronic holds a strong position against competitors Stryker, Zimmer-Biomet, and Globus Medical in the area of soft tissue, Medtronic must go up against well-established incumbent Intuitive Surgical. To gain traction in this market, Medtronic must make a compelling case for its robotic system through more effective technology, lower cost, or ease of use.

Neither the LigaPASS 2.0 device or the UNiD Spine Analyzer v4.0 is likely to be a game changer for Medtronic, but these approvals help it stay at the leading edge of the spine market and may also help the company build share in the rapidly growing field of robotic surgery. At this point, Medtronic is clearly committed to robotic surgery, and building a strong brand reputation in spinal robots may cross-pollinate into the soft-tissue area.

Medtronic offers a relatively safe valuation with a price-to-earnings ratio of only 24, falling at the low end of its five-year historical values. And with leadership positions in cardiovascular, diabetes, and neuroscience, Medtronic offers great diversification. It may be worth overlooking its sluggish five-year growth and considering the company's more promising growth opportunities ahead.

Natalie Forbes has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Globus Medical and Intuitive Surgical. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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How Medtronic Is Strengthening Its Robotics Portfolio - The Motley Fool

Deals relating to robotics decreased significantly in the tech industry in H1 2022 – Verdict

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Danzig

In the first half of 2022 the number of deals relating to robotics decreased significantly by 38.1% from the same period in 2021, according to data from research firm GlobalData.

This marks a deceleration in growth from the 15.2% decrease in deals that occurred in H2 2021 relative to the same period a year earlier.

GlobalDatas deals database looks at mergers, acquisitions and venture capital and private equity investments taking place daily between thousands of companies across the world.

During first half of 2022, deals relating to robotics accounted for 3.5% of all deals taking place in the sector. This represents a decrease from the figure of 3.9% in the first half of 2021.

GlobalData's thematic approach to sector activity seeks to group key company information on investments to see which industries are best placed to deal with any issues they may encounter.

These themes, of which robotics is one, are best thought of as "any issue that keeps a CEO awake at night", and by tracking them, it becomes possible to ascertain which companies are leading the way on specific issues and which ones have some work to do.

Deals relating to robotics decreased significantly in the tech industry in H1 2022 - Verdict

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