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Denfeld Robotics run halted ahead of FIRST Championships – KBJR 6

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Danzig

DULUTH, Minn. -- For eight weeks, the Duluth Denfeld Robotics team worked towards a goal that had never been reached by their program.

Successful use of "vision processing" had never been accomplished by the Hunters, but they had every intention of changing that.

They eventually completed their robot named Luma, standing over three and a half feet tall, capable of gathering launching foam balls.

With the element of visual processing, Luma was able to locate a strip of tape on an elevated surface, and automatically adjust its aim.

"Vision processing has been a part of FIRST for a long time, they always put reflective tape onto the field to be able to lock on," said senior Nick Miller.

"We're definitely not the first to do it, but this is the first year that our team has been able to utilize it effectively."

The team fund-raised their own money to construct Luma, in some cases reaching out to local businesses for support.

Their success landed them the "Engineering Inspiration Award" at the Lake Superior Regionals, advancing them to the FIRST Championships in Detroit, Michigan.

"Kind of an interesting system I thought, we had a conveyor system running from the front to the back where we had a turret up on the top, and we would sit behind one of the game elements, and we would auto-lock onto the target, and be able to shoot across the field fairly accurately into that goal," said senior Brandon Jahn.

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the event before they even had a chance to compete.

Although the team of more than 20 members was disappointed, Miller said that he'll carry his high school robotics experience with him as he moves onward in his career.

"I've been in sports my whole life and I've never felt that great at it, and when I was at robotics, I really felt like that was my area. Just being able to do that, and knowing that I'm doing something that I'm good at was really cool."

Both Miller and Jahn plan to pursue Computer Science after high school.

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Denfeld Robotics run halted ahead of FIRST Championships - KBJR 6

Future of Work: How the IoT, AI, and Robotics Can Help Keep Workplaces Clean and Safe – Allwork.Space

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Danzig

Emerging technologies like the IoT, artificial intelligence, and robotics can help improve cleaning processes and procedures by making them much more efficient.

As governments lift lockdowns and companies prepare the workplace to welcome back workers, technology could prove to be a key ally in keeping workplaces cleaner and safer.

Cleaning and sanitization are now a top priority for organizations hoping to reopen their workplaces and help workers feel comfortable going back into the office.

Naturally, improving cleaning and sanitization processes will require time, effort, and money. Luckily, emerging technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), automation, artificial intelligence, and robotics can help make the process much easier, efficient, and less time-consuming for workers.

Over the past five years, humans have been increasingly working alongside new technology such as robots, artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms. The post-pandemic world will offer a new area of opportunity for such collaboration.

Having an interconnected cleaning and sanitization system will enable more efficient protocols and procedures, while saving resources (mainly time and money).

Below are some of the potential applications of technology to drive cleaning and sanitization, therefore creating a much safer workplace environment for workers.

The IoT

By enabling smart lighting, smart temperature changes, and smart access, among many other things, the IoT can help keep workplaces clean and safe by reducing the amount of touch points a person has during a regular working day.

Furthermore, sensors and tracking capabilities of the IoT, combined with artificial intelligence, can help organizations determine high traffic areas or times during the day when certain areas (like bathrooms) are used the most. This data can be valuable so that organizations can make a more informed decision of how often certain areas should be cleaned and whether theres a time of day cleaning should be increased.

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In the example of the bathroom, a cleaner (human or robot) could be sent to clean and sanitize the bathroom after 50 people have used it or during a specific time frame.

Such data can also help organizations identify days of the week when traffic decreases and therefore when cleaning procedures do not need to take place as often as usual.

Bear in mind that with the IoT, the more things that are connected, the better the information and data available.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence can be a powerful tool for organizations as they seek to improve their cleaning and sanitization practices.

One area that artificial intelligence can be beneficial is in layout and space planning. As organizations adapt their workplaces to maintain physical distancing, artificial intelligence, combined with sensors and tracking capabilities, can help identify high and low traffic areas and help create a more efficient floor plan and desk distribution.

When combined with the IoT, artificial intelligence can be used to ensure that organizations keep a stock of cleaning supplies and it can inform management when a supply is about to run out, it can notify people when an area is ready to be used again (i.e. a meeting room that has been cleaned and disinfected), and it can notify people when an area has been contaminated, and it can notify a cleaner that an area needs to be cleaned.

Another potential use case is AI-handwashing, which could help detect insufficient or incorrect hand-washing practices.

Robotics

Basically, robots could be doing the dirty work for organizations as robots tend to perform extremely well in repetitive tasks (such as cleaning).

Robots could be used to scrub or sweep floors, clean surfaces, disinfect common areas, clean touchpoints, clean bathrooms, and more while providing real-time data on performance and analytics.

One notable advantage of using robots to clean is that it reduces or eliminates human exposure to bacteria, viruses, and allergens.

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Future of Work: How the IoT, AI, and Robotics Can Help Keep Workplaces Clean and Safe - Allwork.Space

Just in Time for a Contactless World, Keenon Robotics has 6,000 Food Server Robots Already in Action – The Spoon

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Danzig

As restaurants across the country start to reopen, one question weve been asking is, assuming people will even want to go back into restaurants, how will they want to be served? Will customers want their server to wear a mask or not wear a mask? Which is less off-putting?

Another third option that may become increasingly common is having a robot server in your restaurant. Autonomous robots can shuttle food and empty dishes to and from the kitchen, they dont get fevers and theyll never cough anywhere near you or your food.

One company making such robots is Chinas Keenon Robotics, which launched its first server robots back in 2016. Keenons robots use both 3D mapping and specially coded stickers mounted on ceilings to navigate. A camera pointing up on the robot sees the sticker and determines its route. The robots also feature obstacle detection and automated stopping so they dont bump into people. Robots can be leased for $1,500 $1,600 a month.

Other players in the space include Bear Robotics and PuduTech, but what sets Keenon apart is scale. Of the 9,000 robots Keenon has operational around the world, 6,000 are already in the hotel and restaurant industry. Simi Wang, the Director of Global Sales at Keenon Robotics, told me by phone this week that the company can produce 30,000 robots this year.

The question now is, will that be too many robots or too little?

Keenon certainly seems to be filling its pipeline. The company has partnerships with Burger King in China, the Haidilao hot pot restaurant chain, and recently entered into an agreement with Chinese delivery service Meituan Dianping to create a new contactless restaurant.

Will there be that same demand for server robots here in the U.S.? When I spoke with Bear Robotics CEO last month, he said that there was definitely more inbound interest in his robots. He attributed this increased interest to customers wanting more transparency into who has touched their food. But again, were at the very beginning stages of restaurants coming back online, so we dont know how much people will actually care.

Pre-COVID, the labor crunch was a big factor for restaurants considering a robotic workforce. Casual and quick service restaurants in particular had huge churn rates. With so many people out of work, and so many fewer restaurants still operational, the economics of human labor wont be as much of an issue. The question now will just be how much people trust other people to handle their food.

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Just in Time for a Contactless World, Keenon Robotics has 6,000 Food Server Robots Already in Action - The Spoon

Rehabilitation Robotics Market With Top Companies like AlterG, Bionik Inc.,COVID-19 Impact, Statistics Analysis, Market Size, Share, Growth, Trends,…

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Danzig

Global Research Report called Rehabilitation Robotics Market was recently published by Market Research Inc. to provide guidance for the business.The report also focuses on global major leading industry players of GlobalRehabilitation Roboticsproviding information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, price, capacity, cost, production, revenue and contact information.

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Top Key Players:AlterGBionik Inc.Bioxtreme Robotics RehabilitationCorindus, Inc.CYBERDYNE

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Rehabilitation Robotics Market With Top Companies like AlterG, Bionik Inc.,COVID-19 Impact, Statistics Analysis, Market Size, Share, Growth, Trends,...

Pittsburghs airport is the first in the US to use UV-cleaning robots – The Verge

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Danzig

Pittsburgh International Airport has put UVC fixtures on its floor-cleaning robots, making it the first airport in the US to test the use of the ultraviolet rays to scrub the coronavirus from surfaces. If effective, the UV-cleaning robots could be a model for other airports as they plan to reopen and try to persuade people to travel again.

Allegheny County Airport Authority CEO Christina Cassotis said the partnership with Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Robotics highlights how the burgeoning robotics sector in Pittsburgh works alongside the community to solve big-picture problems.

We have a whole innovation culture that is looking for ways to do things better, especially in the pandemic, Cassotis said. And one of the things that we recognized immediately is that while we have to manage the crisis day to day we have to keep a line of sight into the future, to help inspire confidence in travel again.

She said they were starting to have those conversations internally when Carnegie Robotics CFO Daniel Beaven called her and said he had an idea to retrofit the airports existing floor scrubbers with UV lights.

UVC light is the same technology New York City will start using to sanitize its subway system next week. While UVC rays are known to be effective at killing viral particles, including other coronaviruses like MERS, its still unknown how effective they are against the virus that causes COVID-19.

Carnegie Robotics developed the AI and robotic systems for the Nilfisk floor scrubbers so they can map and clean an area autonomously. Now, after cleaning the floor surface with water pressure and chemical disinfectant, the UVC light will pass over the airports floors for a deeper cleaning.

The partnership with the airport and Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Robotics is a potential model for other airports, and it also highlights Pittsburghs status as a robotics hub. Its the latest sign of the airports focus on tech innovation. In 2018, the airport announced it was partnering with Carnegie Mellon University for the Metro21: Smart Cities Institute, to develop tech projects for the aviation industry.

Like other airports, Pittsburgh International has seen a sharp drop-off in flights during the coronavirus pandemic. The number of daily travelers is usually around 13,000, but it has dwindled to a few hundred a day. Many of the shops in the terminals have closed, and a planned $1.1 billion renovation has been put on hold.

Cassotis said working with companies like Carnegie Robotics is part of PITs larger organizational philosophy that an airport should be part of its community. Were not just the gateway to the region, we want to bring forward its best assets, she said. We want to make sure were taking care of passengers and staff. That bubbles up from the bottom and down from the top.

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Pittsburghs airport is the first in the US to use UV-cleaning robots - The Verge

Cisco And AVA Robotics: Getting Closer to Teleportation – IT Business Edge

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Danzig

This week Cisco had a presentation with AVA Robotics about using a robot that was partially controlled by a remote user to make the user feel as though they'd teleported to a remote site. With the likelihood that many of us will continue to work from home for the foreseeable future, our reliance on video conferencing will only increase. As a result, it has suddenly become essential to invest in and advance these tools to make them more useful.

While the use of robotics as a physical avatar for remote viewing isn't new, integrating the solution with an existing conferencing platform like Webex is, and the result appears to address the problem of feeling left out far more effectively.

Let's explore that this week.

I've followed video conferencing since the mid-1960s when I first saw the AT&T video phone at Disneyland as a child. Fast forward to the late 1980s, I participated in research that intended to put video cameras on everyone's desk. The technology back then was very raw, but the employees didn't want to use it because they thought their boss was using the camera to spy on them. Given this study was done at Apple, they probably were right to be concerned.

Since then, we have had an attempt each decade to make video conferencing mainstreamand each attempt failed. This failure was because companies didn't force the use of the technology, and remote attendees felt understandably left out.

While a lot of the early problems like poor video quality, latency, and horrid user interfaces have been sorted over the years, three things remained: Strong policies that forced video conferencing use over travel, a lack of interoperability between platforms, and an inability to mingle like you would if you were physically there.

The first point of problem is being addressed by national policies preventing travel, which force video conferencing. The second issue the industry is still avoiding. However, there is an increasing number of hardware products that support multiple video conferencing platforms. The third difficulty is getting a lot of attention with things like the Holoportation booth. Another earlier attempt put a big screen TV in a door frame in a portrait configuration that people could walk up to and chat with. (Done right, it looks like the remote person is standing just inside the room through the door.)

The issue with both solutions is that while they are natural (it feels like the person is there), they aren't mobile, which means the user is pretty much stuck in the conference room or wherever the booth or unique doorway is. (By the way, on the doorway solution, I've often thought it would be cool to rig it with an actual door and then put the display on a video loop of a doorway in some other part of the world. It could become, in the winter, your door into summer. Or with this COVID-19 event, your entrance into someplace else you'd rather be.).

As noted, using a robotic Avatar isn't new. Still, many of the earlier solutions used cheap robots and often iPads to create a relatively fragile and challenging solution that didn't integrate the conferencing software in use at the company. This means you'd tend to see retransmission of the video from a meetingthrough the robot's camerasrather than the natively streamed content going to a remote person without access to a robotic avatar.

With the integration, you should be able to see the presentation and speaker, as well as any other remote worker, while still being able to leave the room for a quick side conversation robotically. You could even go on a site tour (assuming there are no stairswhich is far more likely now that offices have to be ADA compliant). And their AVA Robot appears to be far more robust than many of the earlier efforts (though I still think it needs arms). It can even effectively raise to talk to a standing person or collapse down to talk eye-to-eye with a sitting person.

No one vendor can fully address the problems associated with current video conferencing solutions. However, the need for these solutions has never been higher, which is driving change. One of those changes that Cisco and AVA Robotics demonstrated is partnering to create more complete solutions. If this becomes a trend, I expect that by the end of the year, we'll have video conferring solutions that address most of the problems we currently have video conferencing.

Thanks to Cisco and AVA Robotics for getting us one big step closer so less of us have to get on planes during these troubled times.

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Cisco And AVA Robotics: Getting Closer to Teleportation - IT Business Edge

SCHOOLS BRIEFS: Martinsville robotics team in world event; 4 HCPS students named to All Virginia Band – Martinsville Bulletin

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Danzig

A team of students at Martinsville Middle School will be one of 20 semifinalists competing next month in a global robotics tournament.

Absolute Zero, a Division 2 FIRST LEGO team comprised of 10 Martinsville Middle School students ages 12-14, won regional and state competitions to advance to the world tournament, the school district announced in a release.

The FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) LEGO League is an annual competition attracting more than 60,000 teams from around the world.

Competitors develop projects based on a theme and are judged on four components: robot game, robot design, project innovation, and core values. On the basis of its previous competitions, Martinsville was nominated by its region for a Global Innovation Award, where they could win a $20,000 grant to make their innovative solution to the annual challenge theme's problem a reality. Submissions were reviewed by a panel of judges consisting of experts for their problem identification, innovation, implementation and effective use of STEM principles.

Semifinalists normally compete at Disney World in Orlando, but because of COVID-19, this year's global tournament will shift to a virtual platform, and the world competition will take place June 24-27.

This seasons theme was City Shapers, and team members were tasked with identifying a problem in their community and creating a realistic solution.

Absolute Zero worked with Lieut. Todd Owen of Martinsville Fire & EMS on a taxing problem first responders face: maneuvering a traditional stretcher through snow on the ground.

Absolute Zero then partnered with Henry County Public Safety, who provided a stretcher to help the team design and create its solution, the Wheel2Ski: a ski-like adaptation that EMS workers can quickly attach to a traditional stretcher, transforming it into a life-saving device that can glide across the snow for faster patient rescue.

The team is applying for a provisional patent for their innovation.

Henry students make all-state band

Dylan Royal (left) and Dakota Sports of Magna Vista High School.

Evan Joyce (left) and Fabiola Vasquez of Bassett.

Four students from Bassett High School and Magna Vista High School qualified for the All Virginia Band this year.

The students are chosen from auditions by those who previously had been selected to the all-district band. Henry County High Schools had more than 40 students in the all-district competition. Auditions were conducted in February at James Madison University.

From Magna Vista, Dakota Sports, son of Pete and Heather Sports, was selected as a member of the concert band on trumpet, and Dylan Royal, son of Vincent and Donna Royal, was named to the symphonic band on baritone saxophone. Dylan received the highest score on his instrument in the state.

From Bassett, Fabiola Vasquez, daughter of Antonio Cruz Vazquez and Fabiola Becerra, was selected as a member of the concert band on clarinet, and Evan Joyce, son of Donald and Tammy Joyce, was selected as a member of the concert band on French horn.

Deadlines for students

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SCHOOLS BRIEFS: Martinsville robotics team in world event; 4 HCPS students named to All Virginia Band - Martinsville Bulletin

Ossining Student and Teacher Receive Awards for Robotics – Patch.com

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Danzig

Science teacher Douglas Albrecht and junior XiaXia Saavedra recently received FIRST Robotics Competition Regional Awards.

While most of the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) awards are team-based, two are for individuals: the Woodie Flowers Award and the Dean's List Award. Mr. Albrecht, an adviser to the Engineering Club and Ossining O-Bots Robotics Team, received the Woodie Flowers Award for the Hudson Valley Region. XiaXia got a Dean's List Award for the New York City region. She was one of 14 Dean's List winners in New York.

The Woodie Flowers Finalist Award recognizes mentors who inspire students through the art and science of engineering and design. Students nominate mentors in each region. One regional winner is selected worldwide for the Championship Woodie Flowers Award.

"Woodie Flowers was a professor at MIT, co-founder of FIRST Robotics, and one of the kindest, most inspirational people I've ever been lucky enough to meet," Mr. Albrecht said. "He passed away last fall. I'm honored to have my name in the same sentence as his."

In announcing the award in an email, the judges wrote that Mr. Albrecht "has lived and promoted the ideals of FIRST.

"He may know the answer to the questions outright but always challenges the students to seek their own solutions. Through his guidance and knowledge, he has served as a role model for many students who now pursue engineering fields," they said.

Mr. Albrecht said XiaXia is one of the outstanding leaders of Team 4122 and he is proud of her for winning the Dean's List Award.

Each team nominates two students as Dean's List Semifinalists each year. In addition to XiaXia, Ossining nominated junior Michael Pavelchek. FIRST selected winners based on interviews, which were conducted online this year due to COVID-19.

"It is such a challenge picking only two candidates as our nominees," Mr. Albrecht said, adding that Ossining has had seven finalists since 2014. "There are so many hard-working students on the team who would be excellent candidates for the award."

Students are selected for the award based on academic performance, commitment to the team, robotic building skills, leadership and community service. "XiaXia and Michael are both the embodiment of these traits and are leaders on the team, and I look forward to seeing what they accomplish in the future," Mr. Albrecht said.

In their essay nominating XiaXia, the Ossining team described her as "one of the leaders and driving forces for Team 4122." She joined the team as a freshman, working on the mechanical design team training program in addition to the FIRST Robotics Competition robot. As a sophomore, XiaXia was captain of Team 7004, the development team for freshmen and sophomores.

"This team was meant to be a chance for the younger students to learn without being bumped aside by older students, but no one told Xia," the essay said. "She learned the ropes at her first competition and led her team to be ranked #7 and 5 alliance captain at NYC Regional last year."

This year, XiaXia was Team 4122 secretary. She learned to work with bigger groups and expand her knowledge of mechanical systems, game strategy and communicating with sponsors. She continued her involvement in the mechanical department and taught younger students to fill her shoes. She also led a team of six students in preparing awards submissions and taught coding to elementary students during Hour of Code last fall.

"Her work in outreach and with elementary school students is typical of her attitude towards promoting STEM and ensuring the next generation of students gets to experience FIRST," the essay said.

Outside of robotics, XiaXia is a leader in the school community. She plays varsity softball and is a member of the National Honor Society and other clubs. She has a 99.5 cumulative GPA and takes AP and SUNY classes. She is investigating genetic engineering and diabetes in the school's Science Research Program.

"Her passion and excitement for science and technology is contagious and sets the tone for our entire team," the essay said. "Xia is a force in our entire program and her leadership skills separate her out from the rest of the cohort."

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Ossining Student and Teacher Receive Awards for Robotics - Patch.com

The Global Robotic Wheelchair Market is expected to grow from USD 120.13 Million in 2018 to USD 231.13 Million by the end of 2025 at a Compound Annual…

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Danzig

The positioning of the Global Robotic Wheelchair Market vendors in FPNV Positioning Matrix are determined by Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) and placed into four quadrants (F: Forefront, P: Pathfinders, N: Niche, and V: Vital).

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The report deeply explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Robotic Wheelchair Market including are Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare Ltd, Invacare Corporation, Karman Healthcare, Kinova Robotics, Permobil AB, Cyberworks Robotics Inc., Dane Technologies, MEYRA GmbH, ReSymmetry, and Sunrise Medical Limited.

On the basis of Drive Type, the Global Robotic Wheelchair Market is studied across Front Wheel Drive Robotic Wheelchairs, Mid-wheel Drive Robotic Wheelchairs, and Rear Wheel Drive Robotic Wheelchairs.

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For the detailed coverage of the study, the market has been geographically divided into the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The report provides details of qualitative and quantitative insights about the major countries in the region and taps the major regional developments in detail.

In the report, we have covered two proprietary models, the FPNV Positioning Matrix and Competitive Strategic Window. The FPNV Positioning Matrix analyses the competitive market place for the players in terms of product satisfaction and business strategy they adopt to sustain in the market. The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies. The Competitive Strategic Window helps the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. During a forecast period, it defines the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisitions strategies, geography expansion, research & development, new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth.

Research Methodology:Our market forecasting is based on a market model derived from market connectivity, dynamics, and identified influential factors around which assumptions about the market are made. These assumptions are enlightened by fact-bases, put by primary and secondary research instruments, regressive analysis and an extensive connect with industry people. Market forecasting derived from in-depth understanding attained from future market spending patterns provides quantified insight to support your decision-making process. The interview is recorded, and the information gathered in put on the drawing board with the information collected through secondary research.

The report provides insights on the following pointers:1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on sulfuric acid offered by the key players in the Global Robotic Wheelchair Market 2. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and new product developments in the Global Robotic Wheelchair Market 3. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyzes the markets for the Global Robotic Wheelchair Market 4. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new products launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments in the Global Robotic Wheelchair Market 5. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players in the Global Robotic Wheelchair Market

The report answers questions such as:1. What is the market size of Robotic Wheelchair market in the Global?2. What are the factors that affect the growth in the Global Robotic Wheelchair Market over the forecast period?3. What is the competitive position in the Global Robotic Wheelchair Market?4. Which are the best product areas to be invested in over the forecast period in the Global Robotic Wheelchair Market?5. What are the opportunities in the Global Robotic Wheelchair Market?6. What are the modes of entering the Global Robotic Wheelchair Market?Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05871412/?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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The Global Robotic Wheelchair Market is expected to grow from USD 120.13 Million in 2018 to USD 231.13 Million by the end of 2025 at a Compound Annual...

Covariant raises $40 million to bring robots to low-tech industries – VentureBeat

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Danzig

Covariant today announced the close of a $40 million series B funding round to bring its robotic control systems to additional industries and create more systems capable of picking, placing, and unloading objects in warehouses. Until now, Covariant has focused its efforts on ecommerce picking robots in highly automated warehouses. It may be best known for its work in robotic grasping, the task of picking up objects with a robotic hand or gripper.

The startup whose founders met at OpenAI and the University of California, Berkeley has raised $67 million to date. After emerging from stealth earlier this year with support from deep learning luminaries like Geoffrey Hinton, Jeff Dean, and Yann LeCun, Covariant stated that the Covariant Brain system is capable of picking and packing some 10,000 items with 99% accuracy.

Above: A KNAPP robot using Covariant in an Obeta warehouse in Berlin, Germany

Image Credit: Covariant / Magnus Petterson

Robotics manufacturer ABB signed a partnership with Covariant in February, following a picking and sorting test held by ABB last year in which Covariant outperformed 20 other systems. In March, Covariant and Knapp signed a partnership to release a picking robot solution.

Covariant has primarily deployed robots in warehouses with high levels of automation, but the funding will be used to expand the companys footprint to include warehouse environments with low rates of automation, or where work is done entirely with human labor today.

Covariant CEO Peter Chen told VentureBeat examples of low automation industries include mail and parcel delivery, with companies like UPS or the U.S. Postal Service.

There are a lot of tasks where grasping is the first step in robotic manipulation, but its one of the many steps in other use cases that were looking into tackling and that obviously go beyond just the logistics supply chain industry, like going to manufacturing, recycling, agriculture. These are places where people still use their hands a lot to do very repetitive kinds of tasks, Chen told VentureBeat in a phone interview.

A series of studies MIT economists released this week found that robotics are most prevalent in four manufacturing industries: automakers (38% of robots in use), electronics (15%), plastics and chemicals (10%), and metals manufacturers (7%). The study also found that robots replace on average 3.3 jobs, but businesses that move quickly to adopt robots can also add employees to their payroll.

Since learning that the core principles behind sorting ecommerce items in warehouses apply to other industrial applications, Chen expects Covariant will begin to develop robotic systems that go beyond tasks like loading and unloading boxes.

Even though we have seen our robots operating in high-automation warehouses doing order picking and packing orders for consumers, the underlying technology is a lot more extensible than that, and thats the key thing that we look to bring more to markets with our partners and solve more additional use cases, Chen said.

He said Covariant has recently seen increased usage from clients hoping to avoid supply chain disruption. Since the start of the pandemic, Chen said, clients want robots for consistency and reliability or to avoid a slowdown in case of shelter-in-place orders in the future.

What COVID-19 has shown us is some of the vulnerabilities and weaknesses in the supply chain, and now [the question is] How can we invest in the next generation of robotics to help us be more resilient?' he said.

In addition to opening up new industries, the funding will also be used to grow the research and engineering teams for the Covariant Brain robotics system.

The round was led by Index Ventures, with participation from Amplify Partners and Radical Ventures. Index Ventures partner Mike Volpi will join Covariants board of directors.

Covariant was founded in September 2017 and is based in Berkeley, California, with plans to move to nearby Emeryville in the weeks ahead.

In other news, last week Covariant cofounder and Berkeley AI Research codirector Pieter Abbeel open-sourced RAD, a module the team says is capable of improving any reinforcement learning algorithm, and published other reinforcement learning work at the ICLR machine learning research conference.

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Covariant raises $40 million to bring robots to low-tech industries - VentureBeat

Global Robotic Rehabilitation & Assistive Technologies Market – Premium Insight, Competitive News Feed Analysis, Company Usability Profiles,…

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Danzig

New York, May 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Global Robotic Rehabilitation & Assistive Technologies Market - Premium Insight, Competitive News Feed Analysis, Company Usability Profiles, Market Sizing & Forecasts to 2025" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05871403/?utm_source=GNW 86%.

The positioning of the Global Robotic Rehabilitation & Assistive Technologies Market vendors in FPNV Positioning Matrix are determined by Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) and placed into four quadrants (F: Forefront, P: Pathfinders, N: Niche, and V: Vital).

The report deeply explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Robotic Rehabilitation & Assistive Technologies Market including are AlterG, Inc., Bionik Laboratories Corp., Intuitive Surgical, Inc., Reha-Stim Medtec GmbH & Co. KG, Vincent Medical, Competition Matrix, DIH Technologies Corporation, Ekso Bionics, Instead Technologies, Ltd., and Mazor Robotics.

On the basis of Type, the Global Robotic Rehabilitation & Assistive Technologies Market is studied across Assistive Robot and Rehabilitation Robot.

On the basis of Portability, the Global Robotic Rehabilitation & Assistive Technologies Market is studied across Mobile and Standalone.

On the basis of Application, the Global Robotic Rehabilitation & Assistive Technologies Market is studied across Cognitive Motor Skills, Orthopedics, Sports, and Stroke.

The report provides insights on the following pointers:1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on sulfuric acid offered by the key players in the Global Robotic Rehabilitation & Assistive Technologies Market 2. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and new product developments in the Global Robotic Rehabilitation & Assistive Technologies Market 3. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyzes the markets for the Global Robotic Rehabilitation & Assistive Technologies Market 4. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new products launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments in the Global Robotic Rehabilitation & Assistive Technologies Market 5. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players in the Global Robotic Rehabilitation & Assistive Technologies Market

The report answers questions such as:1. What is the market size of Robotic Rehabilitation & Assistive Technologies market in the Global?2. What are the factors that affect the growth in the Global Robotic Rehabilitation & Assistive Technologies Market over the forecast period?3. What is the competitive position in the Global Robotic Rehabilitation & Assistive Technologies Market?4. Which are the best product areas to be invested in over the forecast period in the Global Robotic Rehabilitation & Assistive Technologies Market?5. What are the opportunities in the Global Robotic Rehabilitation & Assistive Technologies Market?6. What are the modes of entering the Global Robotic Rehabilitation & Assistive Technologies Market?Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05871403/?utm_source=GNW

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Global Robotic Rehabilitation & Assistive Technologies Market - Premium Insight, Competitive News Feed Analysis, Company Usability Profiles,...

Robots to the rescue! Arizona students in lockdown will still get their graduation day – Reuters

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Danzig

(Reuters) - Juili Kales dreams to receive her masters degree diploma in a ceremony cheered on by her family were dashed by the coronavirus - until robots came to the rescue.

Kale, who has been studying at Arizona State University, had planned the day for months. Her parents and brother would fly in from India, and a social media clock counted down the days until out-of-state friends would arrive in Phoenix for a big party.

But in March, the coronavirus pandemic ended those plans, as colleges nationwide closed down to stop the spread.

The clock stopped at T minus 67, said Kale, 40.

But the ceremony will take place, after all - just not as she anticipated.

Cameras pre-recorded Kale and about 140 of her fellow graduates as they logged on at home this week, dressed in graduation robes and mortar board caps. They took turns moving a remote-controlled robot on a podium at the university that held an eye-level display showing their face. Via the robot, they approached the dean to receive their diplomas and take a photo.

The pre-pandemic robots from Double Robotics, based in Burlingame, California, had been used to allow people to show up at weddings and funerals without traveling.

The bittersweet experience - shot and edited over two days - may not be ideal for the students, said Dean Sanjeev Khagram, but we want to show that we did everything that we could to celebrate them.

Kale will throw a watch party with her husband at home and her family in India when the three-hour event is webcast on YouTube on Monday.

Adjusting to the online experience was easy for millennial Nancy Sierras Morales, 22, the first in her family to graduate college.

We have been able to adapt very quickly because we are used to being on a computer and on the phone almost like 24/7, she said. Graduating virtually, its not ideal but its actually also very cool and iconic to be like the first class ever to do this.

When the lockdown is over, the class of 2020 can do a real-life walk at any future graduation ceremony they choose.

Im disappointed Im not doing it on May the 11th... but I will get to experience this innovative, creative event anyway, said Douglas Northcott, 41, who is graduating with a Masters in Applied Leadership and Management.

And if anything, that makes it better, in that is spread over two times rather than one.

Reporting by Jane Ross; Writing by Richard Chang; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien

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Robots to the rescue! Arizona students in lockdown will still get their graduation day - Reuters

Autonomous Delivery Robots will Provide the Warehouse Industry the Opportunity to Achieve Efficient Material Management – GlobeNewswire

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Danzig

Dublin, May 08, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Opportunities of Autonomous Delivery Robots in Warehouse Management" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Autonomous robotics technology has been undergoing major technological growth in recent years. This novel technology is playing a crucial role in the transformation of many key industries like automotive, aerospace, warehouse, and logistics. With the advent of Industry 4.0 and smart factories, all industries across the spectrum are adopting advanced robotic automation solutions for varied applications according to industry requirements.

This research service reviews the different autonomous delivery robotic solutions which are impacting the warehouse industry. A section of the study is also dedicated to the new business models used by major companies in the additive manufacturing sector.

Key questions answered in the study:

Key Topics Covered:

1.0 Executive Summary1.1 Research Scope1.2 Research Methodology1.3 Explanation of Research Methodology

2.0 Key Findings

3.0 Overview of Autonomous Robotic Solutions3.1. An Overview of Different Autonomous Warehouse Robots3.2. Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems have Highest Adoption Rate in the Warehouse Industry3.3 Automated Guided Vehicles are Apt for Raw Material Handling for Work-in-progress Manufacturing Scenarios3.4. Goods-to-Person technology is a Type of AS/RS Solution3.5. Autonomous Mobile Robots Adoption Rate is Anticipated to Increase in the Near Term3.6. Articulated Robotic Arms are Predominately Used for Picking and Sorting applications3.7. Automated Guided Carts are the Easiest Robotic Solutions that can be Adopted with Minimal Investment3.8 There are Many Regulations Governing the Adoption of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

4.0 Overview of Various Navigation Solutions for Autonomous Robots4.1. An Overview of Different Types of Navigation Technologies for Autonomous Robotic Solutions4.2. LiDAR with AI and Machine Learning is the Currently Available Advanced Navigational Solution4.3. Label and Laser-based Navigation Solutions are Most Commonly Used in Autonomous Robots4.4. Rail Navigation is the Simplest and Oldest Type of Navigation Solution

5.0. Key Funding Activities5.1. Funding has been Immensely Increasing Encouraging Technology Adoption5.2. The Start-ups Funding Scenario has Seen Investment Even from OEMs in the Robotics Industry

6.0 Key Mergers & Acquisitions6.1. Strategic Acquisition to become Industry Leader and Expand Product Portfolio

7.0. Business Model Opportunities7.1. Key Components for Business Model Development7.2. Business Model Opportunity for Technology Developers7.3. Business Model Opportunity for Software Providers

8.0. Key Contacts

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/il7h20

About ResearchAndMarkets.comResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

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Autonomous Delivery Robots will Provide the Warehouse Industry the Opportunity to Achieve Efficient Material Management - GlobeNewswire

Robots, AI, and the road to a fully autonomous construction industry – VentureBeat

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Danzig

Built Robotics executives are fond of saying that their autonomous system for construction equipment, like dozers and excavators, might be further along than many autonomous vehicles. In fact, CEO Noah Ready-Campbell insists youll see autonomous vehicles in controlled industrial environments like construction sites before you see level 5 driverless cars on public roads. That may be in part because autonomous construction equipment often operates on privately owned land, while public roads face increased regulatory scrutiny.

Theres a quote that Cold fusion is 20 years in the future and always will be,' Ready-Campbell told VentureBeat. I think theres a chance that that might be true for level 5 self-driving cars as well.

That might have seemed like an absurd thing to say back when autonomous driving first entered the collective imagination and companies established their intention to solve AIs grand autonomous vehicle challenge. But Waymo now takes billions from outside investors, and the delay of major initiatives like GMs Cruise and taxi service and Fords autonomous driving program call into question the progress automakers have made on autonomous vehicles.

One thing Ready-Campbell credits autonomous vehicle companies with is generating excitement around AI for use in environments beyond public roads, like on construction sites.

We were the beneficiaries of that when we did our series B last year, he said. I definitely think construction benefited from that.

From computer vision systems and drones to robots walking and roving through construction projects, Built Robotics and a smattering of other companies are working in unstructured industrial environments like mining, agriculture, and construction to make autonomous systems that can build, manage, and predict outcomes.

To take a closer look at innovation in the field, the challenges ahead, and what its going to take to create fully autonomous construction projects in the future, VentureBeat spoke with startups that are already automating parts of their construction work.

Built Robotics creates control systems for existing construction equipment and is heavily focused on digging, moving, and placing dirt. The company doesnt make its own heavy construction equipment; its solution is instead a box of tech mounted inside heavy equipment made by companies like Caterpillar, Komatsu, and Hyundai.

Built Robotics VP of strategy Gaurav Kikani told VentureBeat that the company started with autonomous skid steers the little dozers that scoop up and transport sand or gravel on construction sites. Today, Built Robotics has autonomous systems for bulldozers and 40-ton excavators.

We have a software platform that actuates the equipment that takes all the data being read by the sensors on the machine every second and then makes decisions and actuates the equipment accordingly, Kikani said.

Built Robotics focuses on earthmoving projects at remote job sites in California, Montana, Colorado, and Missouri far removed from human construction workers. Autonomous heavy equipment monitored by a human overseer tills the earth in preparation for later stages of construction, when human crews arrive to do things like build homes or begin wind or solar energy projects. In the future, the startup, which raised $33 million last fall, wants to help with more infrastructure projects.

Kikani and Built Robotics CEO Ready-Campbell say the company is currently focused on projects where theres a lot of dirt to move but not a lot of qualified operators of heavy machinery.

Calling to mind John Henry versus the machine, Kikani said human operators can go faster than a Built-controlled excavator, for example, but machine automation is meant to provide consistency and maintain a reliable pace to ensure projects finish on schedule.

Built Robotics combines lidar with cameras for perception and to recognize humans or potential obstacles. Geofencing keeps machinery from straying outside the footprint of a construction site. Excavators and dozers can work together, with dozers pushing material away or creating space for the excavator to be more productive.

The fleet coordination element here is going to be critical. In Built [Robotic]s early days, we really focused on standalone activities, where you have one piece of equipment just on its own taking care of the scope. But realistically, to get into the heart of construction, I think were going to start to coordinate with other types of equipment, Kikani said. So you might have excavators loading trucks [and] autonomous haulage routes where you have fleets of trucks that are all kind of tracking along the same route talking to each other, alerting each other to what they see along the route if conditions are changing.

I think the trickiest thing about construction is how dynamic the environment is, building technology that is pliable or versatile enough to account for those changing conditions and being able to update in real time to plan to accommodate for that. I think that is really going to be the key here, he said.

Equipment operated by systems from companies like Built Robotics will also need computer vision to recognize utility lines, human remains, or anomalies like archeological or historically important artifacts. Its not an everyday occurrence, but construction activity in any locale can unearth artifacts that lead to work stoppage.

Drones that can deploy automatically from a box are being developed for a variety of applications, from fire safety to security to power line inspection. Drones hovering above a construction site can track project progress and could eventually play a role in orchestrating the movement of people, robotic equipment, and heavy machinery.

In a nod to natural systems, San Francisco-based Sunflower Labs calls its drones bees, its motion and vibration sensors sunflowers, and the box its drones emerge from a hive.

Sensors around a protected property detect motion or vibrations and trigger the drones to leave their base station and record photos and video. Computer vision systems working with sensors on the ground guide the drone to look for Intruders or investigate other activity. Autonomous flight systems are fixed with sensors on all four sides to influence where the drone flies.

Sunflower Labs CEO Alex Pachikov said his companys initial focus is on the sale of drones-in-a-box for automated security at expensive private homes. The company is also seeing a growing interest from farmers of high-value crops, like marijuana.

Multiple Sunflower Labs drones can also coordinate to provide security for a collection of vacation homes, acting as a kind of automated neighborhood watch that responds to disturbances during the months of the year when the homes attract few visitors.

Stanley Black and Decker, one of the largest security equipment providers in the United States, became a strategic investor in Sunflower Labs in 2017 and then started exploring how drones can support construction project security and computer vision services. Pachikov said Sunflowers security is not intended to replace all other forms of security, but to add another layer.

The companys system of bees, hives, and sunflowers is an easy fit for construction sites, where theft and trespassing at odd hours can be an issue, but the tools can do a lot more than safeguard vacant sites.

When a Sunflower Labs drone buzzes above a construction site, it can deploy computer vision-enabled analytics tools for volumetric measurement to convert an image of a pile of gravel into a prediction of total on-site material.

Then tools from computer vision startups like Pics 4D, Stockpile Reports, and Drone Deploy can provide object detection, 3D renderings of properties for tracking construction progress, and other image analysis tools.

Companies like Delair take a combination of data from IoT sensors, drone footage, and stationary cameras from a construction project to create a 3D rendering that Delair calls a digital twin. The rendering is then used to track progress and identify anomalies like cracks or structural issues.

Major construction companies around the world are increasingly turning to technology to reduce construction project delays and accident costs. The 2019 KPMG global construction survey found that within the next five years, 60% of executives at major construction companies plan to use real-time models to predict risks and returns.

Indus.ai is one of a handful of companies making computer vision systems for tracking progress on construction sites.

We can observe and use a segmentation algorithm to basically know every pixel what material it is and therefore we know the pace of your concrete work, your rebar work, your form work and [can] start predicting whats happening, Indus.ai CEO Matt Man told VentureBeat in a phone interview.

He envisions robotic arms being used on construction sites to accomplish a range of tasks, like creating materials or assembling prefabricated parts. Digitization of data with sensors in construction environments will enable various machine learning applications, including robotics and the management of environments with a mix of working humans and machines.

For large projects, cameras can track the flow of trucks entering a site, the number of floors completed, and the overall pace of progress. Computer vision could also follow daily work product and help supervisors determine whether the work of individuals and teams follows procedure or best trade practices.

Imagine a particular robotic arm can start putting drywall up, then start putting tiles up, all with one single robotic arm. And thats where I see the future of robotics [] To be able to consolidate various trades together to simplify the process, Man said. There could be armies of robot-building things, but then there is an intelligent worker or supervisor who can manage five or 10 robotic arms at the same time.

Man thinks software for directing on-site activity will become more critical as contractors embrace robotics, and he sees a huge opportunity for computer vision to advance productivity and safety in industrial spaces.

Stanford University engineers have explored the use of drones for construction site management, but such systems do not appear to be widely available today or capable of coordinating human and robotic activity.

Having all these kinds of logistical things run together really well, its something I think AI can do. But its definitely going to take some time for the whole orchestration to be done well, for the right materials to get to the right place at the right time for the robot to pick it up and then to do the work or react if some of the material gets damaged, Man said. In the current construction methodology, its all about managing surprises, and there are millions of them happening over the course of the whole construction plan, so being able to effectively manage those exceptions is going to be a challenge.

Boston Dynamics, known for years as the maker of cutting-edge robots, also entered construction sites last year as part of its transition from an R&D outfit to a commercial company.

Like Sunflower Labs drones, Boston Dynamics four-legged Spot with a robotic grasping arm acts as a sensor platform for 360-video surveys of construction projects. Capable of climbing stairs, opening doors, and regaining its balance, the robot can also be equipped with other sensors to track progress and perform services that rely on computer vision.

An event held by TechCrunch at the University of California, Berkeley last month was one of the first opportunities Bay Area roboticists have had to convene since the pandemic precipitated an impending recession. Investors focused on robotics for industrial or agricultural settings urged startups to raise money now if they could, to be careful about costs, and to continue progress toward demonstrating product-market fit.

Speaking on a panel that included Built Robotics CEO Ready-Campbell, startups debated whether there will be a dominant platform for construction robotics. Contrary to others on the panel, Boston Dynamics construction technologist Brian Ringley said he believes platforms will emerge to coordinate multiple machines on construction sites.

I think long-term there will be enough people in the markets that there will be more competition, but ultimately its the same way we use lots of different people and lots of machines on sites now to do these things. I do believe there will be multiple morphologies on construction sites and it will be necessary to work together, Ringley said.

Tessa Lau is cofounder and CEO of Dusty Robotics, a company that makes an automated building layout called FieldPrinter. She said theres a huge opportunity for automation and human labor augmentation in an industry that currently has very little automation. Systems may emerge that are capable of doing the work of multiple trades or on-site activity management, but Lau said there can be nearly 80 different building trades involved in a construction site. Another problem: Construction sites are by definition in various stages of fairly constant change. The dynamic nature of construction sites where there is no set or static state like you might find in a factory presents another challenge.

I think the flip side is if you look at a typical construction site, its chaos, and anyone with a robotics background who knows anything about robotics knows its really hard to make robots work in that kind of unstructured environment, she said.

One thing the TechCrunch panelists agreed on is that robots on construction sites wont succeed unless the people working alongside them want them to. To help ensure that happens, Lau suggested startups slap googly eyes on their robots because people want to see things that are cute or beloved succeed.

Our customers are rightfully concerned that robots are going to take their jobs, and so we have to be careful about whether we are building a robot or building a tool, Lau said. And, in fact, we call our product a FieldPrinter. Its an appliance like a printer. It uses a lot of robotic technology it uses sensors and path planning and AI and all the stuff that powers robotics today, but the branding and marketing is really around the functionality. Nobody wants to buy a robot; they want to solve a problem.

Built Robotics CEO Ready-Campbell wholeheartedly agreed, arguing that even a thermostat can be considered a robot if the only requirement to meet that definition is that its a machine capable of manipulating its environment.

Last month, just before economic activity began to slow and shelter-in-place orders took effect, the International Union of Operating Engineers, which has over 400,000 members, established a multi-year training partnership with Built Robotics. Executives from Built Robotics say its systems operate primarily in rural areas that experience skilled labor shortages, but Ready-Campbell thinks its still a good idea to drop the term robot because it scares people. Opposition to construction robotics could also become an issue in areas that see high levels of unemployment.

Thats how we position Built [Robotics] in the industry, because when people think of robots, it kind of triggers a bunch of scary thoughts. Some people think about The Terminator, some people think about losing jobs, he said. Its an industry that really depends on using advanced machinery and advanced technology, and so we think that automation is just the next step in the automation of that industry.

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Robots, AI, and the road to a fully autonomous construction industry - VentureBeat

Rise of the Robots: COVID-19 is Causing a Hesitant India to Welcome Automation – The Tech Panda

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Danzig

As the COVID-19 pandemic ensures that the need of the hour is contact-less services, India is finally making use of robots in areas like hospitals, offices, shop floors, and factories. While it remains to be seen how this automation boom impacts the nations economy and unemployment, it looks like its definitely here to stay, even after the pandemic is over.

Services such as healthcare, food delivery, and even sitting together and working in an office after a public transport commute, or manufacturing goods in a factory, are putting us in close proximity to each other. We are well aware that this increases the danger of spreading COVID-19 virus. Remember the pizza delivery guy who tested positive leading to quarantining 72 people.

Crisis can be sort of a catalyst or can speed up changes that are on the way it almost can serve as an accelerant

Doctors and medics throughout the nation are at risk and positive COVID-19 cases have resulted, leading to hospitals having to close down. The usage of robots in these areas avoids that contact. India is making use of robots with screening and advising capacities to ensure safe services.

India hasnt been high on automation usage compared to nations like South Korea, Singapore, and Germany. COVID-19 is about to change that.

Even by June of last year, global usage of robots tripled in the last two decades, the number rising to 2.25 million, according to an Oxford Economics report. The report had suggested back then that this number will reach 20 million in the coming 20 years. COVID-19 will surely increase this number even further. Moreover, it is pushing India to choose automation.

Read more: Indias Own Amazon Go: Watasale Opens AI Based Automated Store in Kochi

All this while, India has been in a predicament about whether to go for automation or concentrate on creating jobs for its unemployed population. After all, smart manufacturing doubtlessly presents globally competitive opportunities. At the same time, it means lesser need for human hands per unit of output. Thus, companies can hope for increased productivity and better quality, while saving money too.

This means robotics was going to be popular anyway. The current pandemic has just made this decision for India. For example, currently, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. has around 5,000 robots at their Manesar and Gurgaon plants, one robot for almost every four workers. These numbers will only rise now.

pic.twitter.com/2DbcWC00Q3

?? Sumeet Mukherjee?? (@TweetmeSumeet) April 23, 2020

Arun Sundararajan, an NYU Stern School of Business professor researching how digital technologies transform society told Protocol that he believes a new tech paradigm will emerge after the pandemic recedes.

Crisis can be sort of a catalyst or can speed up changes that are on the way it almost can serve as an accelerant, he said.

Economic literature over the last decade shows that these investments are made especially during a crisis

Experts are also saying that investments in automation will also rise, further accelerating the transition to automation. Mark Muro, a senior fellow and policy director who researches automation at the Brookings Institution, told Protocol that the view that businesses would hesitate to make capital investments in a crisis, slowing down automation, is wrong.

Economic literature over the last decade shows that these investments are made especially during a crisis, he said.

Many hospitals in India are turning to robots as one of the ways to maintain less contact between caregivers and patients. Delhis AIIMS hospital has a floor disinfectant and a humanoid robot in its COVID-19 wards. Fortis Hospital, Bengaluru is using an interactive robot to screen patients and medical staff at its entrance.

Although robotic technology is currently expensive for wider adoption across all types of healthcare settings, it is expected to find increasing use in countries such as India due to very less number of healthcare professionals available for more than 1.3 billion population

In fact, hospitals are becoming the first sector to usher in robots. From there, other sectors could also start adopting robots. Rajeev Karwal, founder chairman of Milagrow, the robotics company that is manufacturing the robots in use at AIIMS told Livemint that they are seeing an increase in demand from hospitals across India, such as Fortis, CloudNine, and Max.

Some hospitals have shown interest in how robots can be leveraged in the long run, he said.

The reason for hospitals choosing robots also stems from the fact that the need for hygiene requires equipment. UK-based data analytics firm, GlobalData, has said that a shortage of personal protective equipment will drive adoption of robots to treat COVID-19 patients in India.

Read more: Industrial Automation and AI Must Transform India into a $1 Trillion Manufacturing Economy by 2025: RAOTM

Moreover, lets not forget that Indias population doesnt have enough healthcare professionals to attend it. Bhaskar Vittal, medical devices analyst at GlobalData said in a statement,

No one can take hygiene lightly anymore. The high demand in hygiene, especially in hospitals, leave no choice but to opt for least human intervention, hence, automation.

Another aspect of the economy that this new wave of automation will bring in is a slew of robotics startups in India. Some of them are already successfully mushrooming.

Asimov Robotics, a Kerala-based startup, has robots that dispense hand sanitiser and deliver public health messages about the virus at office building entrances and other public places. Their robots are also used to carrying food and medicines in hospital isolation wards.

Another startup Invento has come up with three robots to fight the pandemic, which are currently deployed in Bengalurus Fortis hospital. The robot Mitra screens people entering the hospital, the robot Mitri deploys telemedicine, and the third, Astra, kills the virus in the air with a powerful UVC radiation for hallways, rooms, elevators etc.

Inventos 3 robots fighting COVID. Mitra does screening, Mitri does telemedicine and Astra kills Coronavirus in air with powerful UVC radiation for hallways, rooms, elevators etc.Made in India for the world. pic.twitter.com/dMwyoFy4OQ

Balaji Viswanathan (@balajivis) May 7, 2020

The unemployment rate of India has risen to 26% in April 2020 from 6.6% in January 2020 because of the pandemic, according to Statista data.From the looks of it, the use of robots is going to increase in spite of this. In fact, automation could be seeping into every industry, piggybacking the pandemic.

For example, grocery and food delivery, essential services that require public interaction like banks, retail stores, etc., all areas that require constant cleaning, all could use robots. Startups and businesses are already stepping up. Looks like India is ready to usher in an age of automation.

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Rise of the Robots: COVID-19 is Causing a Hesitant India to Welcome Automation - The Tech Panda

Sentinel Robotic Launches Mobile Sentinel with Fever Detection, Antibody Verification – Dealerscope

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Danzig

Sentinel Robotics Solutions (SRS) has announced the development of an access control device with technology that provides fever identification and adapts to antibody verification. Chief Operating Officer, John Robinson, of SRS commented "In this time of social distancing, it has become critically important to control access to sensitive areas in the healthcare, law enforcement, government, manufacturing, and other fields. The new need for screening the health of individuals has slowed and complicated the traditional procedures. The SRS Mobile Sentinel provides the necessary control, remotely and safely."

Mobile Sentinel is an unmanned, portable, first line of defense gate, applicable across multiple international industries. The Mobile Sentinel offers unparalleled network connectivity with enhanced 360 surveillance, granting best-in-class physical and visual access control. With a network backbone capable of connecting any type of IOT device, the options for function-specific security hardware integrations are endless.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, the Team from SRS integrated technology that recognizes antibody verification, external body temperature (EBT) and license plate readers to better equip the healthcare security industry during these trying times. Lead Engineer, Chase Riley, explains further, "Development of this system is more than a matter of placing new sensors in the vehicle. This is a flexible, integrated system that is made practical by Mobile Sentinel's open source Application Protocol Interface (API). API coordinates collection of data from sensing instruments, processing of that data and timely delivery of results to decision-making authority. It has been a challenge to create this system." (https://bit.ly/2SAxabG)

Designed and manufactured on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, Mobile Sentinel is a commercialized version of an earlier technology, originally developed for NASA and still in use. With a grant from the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), Commonwealth Research Commercialization Fund (CRCF) in 2019, SRS developed this new system. SRS looks to grow its market share in the autonomous security industry while creating valuable career opportunities required for rapid production/distribution. "This Mobile Sentinel was not developed in response to the COVID-19 crisis," says CEO Peter Bale, "and our ability to have the system running with new capabilities on short notice demonstrates the value of this very flexible system in protecting any type of business/government property and anyone who enters."

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Sentinel Robotic Launches Mobile Sentinel with Fever Detection, Antibody Verification - Dealerscope

Travel Reopenings Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic – The New York Times

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Danzig

Covid-19 has upended daily life in much of the world for so long that the idea of traveling to another country or state seems like the stuff of dreams. But in the last week or so, as the idea of opening up to travelers has gained traction, some countries are taking concrete steps. Yesterday, Australia announced a three-stage plan to reopen the economy, which includes a focus on tourism. And some countries are forming regional alliances designed to minimize the risk of the virus, including an Australia-New Zealand travel bubble, and, in Europe, a travel corridor shared by Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

But for many places, international flights carrying leisure travelers remain on hold or are banned outright, and the process of reopening remains speculative. The focus, instead, is on internal tourism, to be followed at some point by foreign tourism.

Here is a look at 10 top tourist destinations and the beginnings of their plans for reopening in the weeks and months ahead.

On May 8, Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia announced a three-step plan for reopening, in which the country will gradually take steps to resume normal life. The third and final step of that plan includes the trans-Tasman bubble, which will eventually allow for travel between Australia and New Zealand. The alliance, in addition to geographic proximity, stems from their similarly successful handling of Covid-19 both countries continued to report low total case numbers, deaths and growth rates (New Zealand has declared the coronavirus eliminated, meaning the small number of new cases can all be tracked and traced).

Is there an opening date? On May 7, Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand, announced the possibility of reducing the countrys lockdown measures to Level 2 as soon as next week, pending cabinet approval. This would allow many Kiwis to go back to work, visit friends and family, and for businesses like markets, museums and dine-in restaurants to reopen, provided social distancing and hypervigilant hygienic practices are followed. Travel within the country will be allowed.

What are the current restrictions? New Zealand and Australia have both shut their borders to all international travel and non-residents, in addition to greatly restricting movement within the countries themselves. The countries have since begun to slowly open up; in New Zealand, thats meant allowing outdoor exercise, small family gatherings and takeout and delivery service at restaurants and cafes.

In Australia, restrictions vary by state in New South Wales, for example, cafes and restaurants are open for takeout only, gatherings in public places are limited to two people and parklands are open for socially distant exercise. Disobeying current rules is considered a criminal offense and can lead to fines or imprisonment.

Australias stage one allows a gradual reopening of retail stores, parks and outdoor sporting facilities. Dine-in restaurants and cafes can reopen, but are limited to 10 patrons at a time, and social distancing of four square meters per person. Hotels and hostels may reopen and travel within states will be allowed, though state borders will likely remain closed. All reopening timelines will be determined by individual states and territories currently, Queensland plans to begin its stage one May 15 and Tasmania on May 18.

As of now, there is no firm date for the proposed trans-Tasman Bubble, or for more advanced phases of opening in both countries. Per Prime Minister Morrisons recent remarks, he is hopeful that Australia will reach its third phase, which may include trans-Tasman travel, by July. When travel within the trans-Tasman Bubble has been deemed safe, both nations are interested in potentially expanding to include other Pacific island countries.

How will they open safely? When trans-Tasman travel is allowed, its likely that a 14-day quarantine will be required following any travel between the two nations.

What are the major obstacles? Much of Australia and New Zealands success in containing Covid-19 can be attributed to the strictness of their lockdowns. Any easing of these measures comes with the possibility that the virus could begin circulating again. Proceeding with extreme caution, while attempting to effectively reopen their economies, will guide the coming weeks and months.

Thanks to fast action and restrictions put in place before a major outbreak, Greece has avoided the major outbreaks of nearby Italy as of May 6, the country has reported 2,663 cases and 147 deaths.

Is there an opening date? The first phase of Greeces two-month plan began May 4, with the opening of some shops and services, according to VisitGreece.gr. More businesses are expected to open on May 11 and 18; next steps will be announced on May 18, with the opening of other businesses, including restaurants and hotels, starting June 1.

What are the current restrictions? As restrictions continue to lift, Greeks are required to wear masks on public transit, in hospitals and in shops. Residents are still not allowed to travel beyond their wider region of residence; travel from outside the European Union, plus Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Germany, is banned. All arrivals are subject to a 14-day quarantine.

How will they open safely? In addition to maintaining a gradual cadence of openings over the next one to two months, there are no plans to resume sporting events, festivals, concerts or other large, crowded gatherings. According to a government presentation on the easing of restrictions, May and June will be dedicated to a coordinated return to a new normal with continuous monitoring, while the focus in July and beyond will be on sustaining the new normal yet remaining alert, while simultaneously preparing for a second wave in the fall.

Still, according to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the country hopes to open to tourists in the fall, using extensive testing and contact tracing, and placing emphasis on more easily distanced accommodations and activities, including agritourism and boating.

What are the major obstacles? Balancing the need for tourism with safety. While Greece has fared better than many European nations, its economy, having only just recovered from years of debt and collapse, is at great risk. Tourism has been a major part of the recent economic improvements, welcoming more than 34 million visitors in 2019 while employing 20 percent of Greek workers.

After requiring some of the strictest confinement measures in the United States, including a nightly curfew, Puerto Rico is beginning to look forward; in addition to a gradual easing of the lockdown and reopening of businesses, the Puerto Rican Tourism Company announced a new two-step program that will allow businesses to be recognized for exercising high standards of cleanliness and safety. As of May 6, Puerto Ricos confirmed case count is 1,757, with 95 deaths.

Is there an opening date? If the first round of openings, which started May 4, goes well, restaurants may be allowed to open between May 18 and 25. The curfew is still in place, until at least May 25.

What are the current restrictions? Puerto Ricos initial lockdown restrictions, which went into effect March 16, included a closure of most businesses, the curfew and threats of fines or imprisonment for anyone who violated its terms. As of May 4, restrictions are loosening somewhat some smaller businesses are allowed to open, as long as they enforce social distancing and provide protective gear to employees. Parks and beaches remain closed (though exercise is allowed), and a curfew is still in effect between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. All visitors to the island are being screened for symptoms and are also requested to self-quarantine for 14 days.

What are the major obstacles? Puerto Ricos population of older people, and a shaky health care system that was strapped during Hurricane Maria. Fears of a similar collapse make the possibility of a surge even more worrisome, particularly one occurring in concert with hurricane season. A recent earthquake disturbed residents, too, damaging some buildings and briefly knocking out power.

Thanks to an extensive program of testing and contact tracing, Icelands response has been quite successful, with about 1,800 cases, 10 deaths and no new cases as of May 6. With an economy thats hugely reliant on tourism, the island nation is eager to find ways to safely reopen to the rest of the world.

Is there an opening date? Travel restrictions banning most foreigners are in place until May 15; there is currently not a final decision on extending those restrictions or beginning the process of reopening on or after that date.

What are the current restrictions? Iceland, more so than many countries, has remained relatively open two-meter (about 6.5 feet) social-distancing rules are emphasized, but many businesses and primary schools have remained open, and residents may go outside. As of May 4, high schools and universities have reopened and gatherings of 50 people and under are allowed, with expectations for gatherings under 100 to be allowed by the end of May. Since March 20, most foreign nationals have been banned from entering the country (with the exception of citizens of the European Union, Britain and the European Free Trade Association); as of April 20, all visitors were required to quarantine for 14 days.

How will they open safely? Details are scarce, but the government has deployed a task force to determine how to safely reopen the country this spring or summer.

What are the major obstacles? Obstacles are all health-related, Elias Bj. Gislason, the director of the Icelandic Tourism Board, said. Can we open up the borders only for citizens from countries that have had success in handling the spread of the virus? And so on.

Tourism is a major industry in Mexico the country saw close to 50 million visitors in 2018, with the vast majority from the United States. But with a steady rise of Covid-19 cases and a health care system that is at risk of being overwhelmed, a return to normal may be far off.

Is there an opening date? There is no official opening date for tourist services, said Enrique Vega Vzquez, the publisher of VisitMexico.com, but many hotels and restaurant owners are hoping to open by June 1. Although everyone is confident that they will be able to reopen, the reality is that it is only what they have in mind, he said. While President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador has expressed his desire to reopen parts of the country by May 17, and the country in full by June 1, details of how that will happen remain scarce.

What are the current restrictions? All citizens and visitors are encouraged to stay home, maintain social distance and wash hands frequently. Gatherings over 100 people have been banned, and schools are closed until May 30. As of March 21, Mexico and the United States entered a joint agreement limiting all movement between the U.S.-Mexico land border to essential travel. Air travel, however, is still operational all travelers entering the country are subject to health screenings. Hotels were ordered to cancel new and existing reservations on April 3, save those made by people carrying out essential business (with a letter from their employer stating their purpose); those hotels must limit occupancy to 15 percent. Restrictions also vary by state and municipality.

How will they open safely? A joint statement from Miguel Torruco Marqus, the secretary of tourism, and Jorge Alcocer Varela, the secretary of health, was published on April 23 and laid out details for the hospitality industry to insure cleanliness and safety, and to allow hotels and restaurants to safely function once the threat of Covid-19 has waned. Details include how frequently to disinfect spaces, procedures for disinfection and cleanliness requirements for employees, including providing them with protective equipment.

What are the major obstacles? Mr. Vzquez is unsure how these protocols will be enacted. In reality, they are only plans, he said, because business owners do not really know how they will apply these measures.

One of the harder hit European nations, Frances early Covid-19 surge has slowed, as the number of patients requiring hospitalization has steadily decreased. But while movement within the country may become less restricted in the coming weeks, international travel will take much longer to resume.

What are the current restrictions? A containment and confinement program was announced on March 17, and further extended on April 28 until May 11. Residents are not allowed to leave their homes without a written certificate stating that they are engaging in one of a few approved activities, including purchasing food, assisting a family member or limited exercise. Borders outside of the European/Schengen area were also closed.

How will they open safely? The opening process will be gradual, said Kate Schwab, the media relations manager at Atout France, Frances national tourism development agency. Small museums, libraries, stores and open-air markets will be allowed to open first, starting on May 11, with social distancing rules in place, but restaurants, cafes, major museums and beaches will be closed until early June. Masks will be required on public transportation, and gatherings will be limited to 10 or fewer people. Travel between regions in France will continue to be limited. Each region will be classified as either red (high infection zone/not safe to relax confinement) or green (OK to relax confinement) but the ultimate decision will rest with the local authorities, Ms. Schwab said. Paris, Calais, Strasbourg and Dijon are currently classified as red areas.

What are the major obstacles? Keeping gatherings small and avoiding crowded public transportation. French destinations are working at implementing sanitary measures to adapt their cultural offerings to allow smaller groups, Ms. Schwab said. A 20 million euro (about $21.6 million dollars) government initiative to encourage cycling over using public transportation was recently announced, with particular focus on opening up Paris. Mayor Anne Hidalgo has announced that 30 miles of streets normally used for cars will be reserved for cyclists, including Rue de Rivoli and Boulevard Saint-Michel, said Ms. Schwab. Furthermore, another 30 streets will be pedestrian only, particularly around schools to avoid groups of people.

Singapores early success in containing Covid-19 was upended in April with news of major outbreaks in migrant worker dormitories. Still, while the countrys positive case number climbs at more than 20,000, its currently the highest in Southeast Asia aggressive testing and contact tracing has kept the death toll low (with 20 reported as of May 6).

Is there an opening date? Currently, restrictions are in place until June 1, though select services, including barbers and hairdressers, laundry services and cake and confectionary shops, will be permitted to open May 12.

What are the current restrictions? All foreign, short-term visitors have been denied entry into Singapore since March 23. On April 7, strict circuit breaker measures were enacted throughout the country all meetings and large gatherings are canceled; residents are to stay home as much as possible (face coverings are mandatory when leaving the house for essentials or emergency medical services); schools and nonessential businesses are closed; and dining establishments are restricted to delivery and takeout.

How will they open safely? According to Rachel Loh, the Singapore Tourism Boards regional director of the Americas, the board is working with the National Environmental Agency to create an SG Clean certification process for hotels, food and beverage establishments, tourist attractions and more. Starting May 12, the government is also requiring open businesses to participate in the SafeEntry system, which will track all employees and visitors who enter and exit a location, to continue contact tracing efforts. The country is also testing the efficacy of using a robot dog to enforce social distancing.

What are the major obstacles? Opening up safely, Ms. Loh said, will be dependent on ramping up testing and harnessing technology for faster contact tracing. But tourism comes with its own brand of risk. We recognize that tourism businesses attract high human traffic and social interactions.

While cases remain relatively low 625 total with 17 deaths as of May 5 the states government has proceeded cautiously. The economic losses from tourism are worrisome, too, in a place that relies so heavily on the industry. A 2020 Strategic Plan published by the Hawaii Tourism Authority at the beginning of this year credited tourism with $17.75 billion spent in the state in 2019, and 216,000 local jobs.

Is there an opening date? On May 7, the first wave of nonessential businesses were allowed to open, including astronomical observatories, carwashes and some retail services. The required 14-day quarantine for air arrivals was also extended until at least May 31.

What are the current restrictions? Residents and visitors to Hawaii are asked to stay home, or in their place of residence, as much as possible, venturing out only for essential business or activities. Outdoor exercise, including running, walking and surfing, is allowed, as long as social distancing is practiced. While there is not currently an active ban on traveling to Hawaii, it is strongly discouraged. Visitors and residents who arrive by airplane are required to self-quarantine for 14 days (some of those who havent followed the rules have received a free ticket home); the same applies to travel between the Hawaiian islands.

How will they open safely? Gov. David Iges reopening plan differs by island. For example, retail establishments will not open on Oahu until May 15; retail in Maui still does not have a targeted opening date. All openings may be rolled back or paused if cases begin to sharply increase.

Few countries have been hit harder by Covid-19 than Italy (the United States being a notable exception), which, as of May 6, has seen well over 200,000 cases and some 30,000 deaths. As the country cautiously begins to reopen, tourism officials insist that tourism in Italy will start again this year.

Is there an opening date? Following the recent limited openings of some establishments, further openings are planned for May 18 namely, additional shops, museums and libraries and June 1, when bars and restaurants may be allowed to reopen for eat-in service, if infection rates continue to slow.

What are the current restrictions? This week, Italys lockdown, which began March 10, slowly began to lift, as parks reopened along with bars and restaurants for takeout. Some Italians are allowed to return to work, and while group gatherings are still banned, family visits are allowed. Residents may travel across different provinces to return home, but cannot go back and forth. In a televised statement on April 26, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte urged Italians to maintain one-meter social distancing, or about three feet. Anyone who enters Italy from outside the country must self-quarantine for two weeks. Travelers from the United States have not been explicitly banned, but travelers must prove that they are returning to their residence or entering the country for justifiable work reasons, special needs or health emergencies.

How will they open safely? Social distancing rules stand, and masks are required, even for the family visits mentioned above. Schools are expected to remain closed until September.

What are the major obstacles? Again, the need to balance health considerations and a desperate need to boost the economy. Italys already suffering economy has taken an enormous hit following nearly two months of shutdown and a 95 percent drop in tourism (the national tourism industry is predicting 20 billion euros in losses from tourism this year in comparison to 2019).

Lauren Sloss is a San Francisco-based writer who covers travel, food and music. Follow her on Instagram: @lsloss and Twitter: @laurensloss

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Travel Reopenings Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic - The New York Times

Youll Probably Never Know If You Had the Coronavirus in January – The Atlantic

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Danzig

SARS-CoV-2 is highly contagious, but a few dozen imported cases would probably not be enough to spark many major undetected outbreaks. Based on related diseases such as SARS and MERS, epidemiologists suspect that the coronaviruss spreading potential is irregular. In all likelihood, some sick people infect many others, but most infect just a handful. Alessandro Vespignani, a network scientist and public-health professor at Northeastern University, estimates that in each American city that later became a hot spot for COVID-19, perhaps 10 to 20 local transmission events occurred in January. Aside from the one or two infections that did seed major outbreaks in places such as Seattle and New York, most infections that arrived from outside the country in January would have been transmitted to at most a few people, then quickly fizzle out, Bedford told me.

Read: Why America is uniquely unsuited to dealing with the coronavirus

Establishing a more precise number of how many sick people carried SARS-CoV-2 to the U.S. early this year would require data that can be difficult or impossible to collect, especially during a major global-health crisis. For one: how many people were actually sick with COVID-19 around the world in January (or earlier). The official data out of Wuhan have been unreliable from the start. And countries that have since ramped up their coronavirus-detection efforts were not looking as carefully for cases at the beginning of the year. The World Health Organization did not declare a global-health emergency until January 30.

Researchers would also need to know where people traveled around the world in the early weeks of the pandemic. One of the big challenges of looking at actual global spread of this disease is that, from January on, travel patterns have been massively disrupted, Gardner said. When researchers dont have perfect travel data for a time and place theyre studying, she explained, they often substitute or extrapolate from data in the recent past. Sometimes you can say, Well, I dont have 2016 data, but Im using 2015 data. Thats representative. That does not apply anymore. The Chinese government shut down Wuhan on January 23; even before then, individual peoples movement patterns might have begun to shift in ways that are difficult to track.

When the living cannot be fully accounted for, one way to move forward is to tally the dead. Testing shortages mean that some COVID-19 deaths have gone undetected, but researchers can get a better handle on just how many people the virus killed during a given time period by looking at the excess mortality: how many more people died than would have been expected to under normal circumstances.

Last week, the National Center for Health Statistics published preliminary data on weekly excess deaths since January 2017, which will be updated as the pandemic wears on. Bob Anderson, the chief of the NCHSs mortality-statistics branch, told me that its the first time weve done something like this before the data were final. The hope is that researchers can use the gross numbers to estimate how many Americans died of COVID-19 over a particular period, and from there estimate how many Americans were infected. But picking out excess deaths in the first few weeks of this year will be difficult. Compared with the hundreds of thousands of deaths the country experiences in a typical month, a handful of COVID-19 deaths would hardly be a blip. Indeed, by the NCHSs count, the United States did not exceed the expected number of deaths by a significant margin until the week of March 22.

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Youll Probably Never Know If You Had the Coronavirus in January - The Atlantic

May 8 evening update: The latest on the coronavirus and Maine – Bangor Daily News

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Danzig

Andree Kehn | AP

Nancy Leeman assembles Mother's Day bouquets for customers at Blais Flower & Garden Center during the coronavirus pandemic, Friday, May 8, 2020, in Lewiston, Maine.

Click here for the latest coronavirus news, which the BDN has made free for the public. You can support our critical reporting on the coronavirus by purchasing a digital subscription or donating directly to the newsroom.

Another 44 cases of the new coronavirus have been detected in the state and one more Mainer has died after testing positive for COVID-19.

There have now been 1,374 confirmed and likely coronavirus cases across all of Maines counties, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Thats up from 1,330 on Thursday.

[Our COVID-19 tracker contains the most recent information on Maine cases by county]

The most recent death was a resident of Hancock County, according to the Maine CDC. Its the first death reported in that county. The statewide death toll now stands at 63.

So far, 194 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Of those, 44 people are currently hospitalized, with 23 in critical care and 10 on ventilators, according to the Maine CDC.

Meanwhile, another 836 people have fully recovered from the coronavirus, meaning there are 475 active and likely cases in the state. Thats down from 481 on Thursday.

Heres the latest on the coronavirus and Maine.

On Friday, Gov. Janet Mills announced that in 12 of the states more rural counties, retail establishments would be able to reopen on Monday and restaurants would be able to open for limited dine-in service on May 18, so long as they follow a number of new health guidelines.

Maine has become one of at least a dozen states that are beginning to ease restrictions on businesses in rural areas with fewer cases of the coronavirus while many rules will be in place in more heavily populated areas until June.

A group of Maine business owners on Friday sued Gov. Janet Mills over her unprecedented shutdown orders to limit the spread of the coronavirus, claiming they are unconstitutional.

Read the full lawsuit from Maine business owners against Gov. Janet Mills.

Maines agriculture commissioner has called on the federal government to loosen the rules about the interstate shipping of meat during the coronavirus pandemic. She said that would smooth out bottlenecks in the local food chain, reduce the need to cull healthy livestock and poultry and support our food-insecure during this extremely difficult time.

While the full extent of the economic impact that all the licensed sugarhouses around Maine will face from the pandemic is still unknown, its likely to take a big bite out of maple syrup consumption this year.

Despite the global halt of all cruise ship operations, a near-empty 785-foot cruise ship could be on its way to Maine to tether at a large breakwater pier in Eastport for much of the summer. There have not been any passengers on board the ship, Oceania Cruises Riviera, for more than a month. After being moved to Eastport the ships crew would be reduced to maintain basic ship operations only, according to the citys port authority.

Uncle Andys Diner in South Portland, which has twice appeared on the Food Network, is closing for good after 66 years in business. Owner Dennis Fogg said Friday hell keep the diner open until the end of May for takeout. Being closed to sit-down customers by pandemic restrictions has devastated his business, since the diner is mostly known for serving breakfast and lunch.

To survive coronavirus lockdowns, this Richmond food truck set up shop in its owners front yard. Then the complaints began.

As of early Thursday morning, the coronavirus has sickened 1,281,246 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 76,901 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

Elsewhere in New England, there have been 4,702 coronavirus deaths in Massachusetts, 2,874 in Connecticut, 399 in Rhode Island, 121 in New Hampshire and 53 in Vermont.

Watch: Gov. Janet Mills, Maine CDC coronavirus press conference, May 8

May 8 evening update: The latest on the coronavirus and Maine - Bangor Daily News

Do Antibodies Against The Novel Coronavirus Prevent Reinfection? : Shots – Health News – NPR

Posted on May 9, 2020 by Danzig

A medical worker walks in front of Transform MD Medical Center in White Plains, N.Y., where antibody testing was being offered. Pablo Monsalve/VIEW press/Corbis via Getty Images hide caption

A medical worker walks in front of Transform MD Medical Center in White Plains, N.Y., where antibody testing was being offered.

Most people infected with the novel coronavirus develop antibodies in response.

But scientists don't know whether people who have been exposed to the coronavirus will be immune for life, as is usually the case for the measles, or if the disease will return again and again, like the common cold.

"This to me is one of the big unanswered questions that we have," says Jeffrey Shaman, a professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University, "because it really says, 'What is the full exit strategy to this and how long are we going to be contending with it?' "

He's one of many scientists on a quest for answers. And the pieces are starting to fall into place.

Antibodies, which are proteins found in the blood as part of the body's immune response to infection, are a sign that people could be developing immunity. But antibodies are by no means a guarantee a person will be protected for life or even for a year.

Shaman has been studying four coronaviruses that cause the common cold. "They're very common and so people seem to get them quite often," Shaman says. Ninety percent of people develop antibodies to those viruses, at least in passing, but "our evidence is those antibodies are not conferring protection."

That may be simply because colds are relatively mild, so the immune system doesn't mount a full-blown response, suggests Stanley Perlman, a pediatrician who studies immunology and microbiology at the University of Iowa. "That's why people get colds over and over again," he says. "It doesn't really tickle the immune response that much."

He's studied one of the most severe coronaviruses, the one that causes SARS, and he's found that the degree of immunity depended on the severity of the disease. Sicker people remained immune for much longer, in some cases many years.

For most people exposed to the novel coronavirus, "I think in the short term you're going to get some protection," Perlman says. "It's really the time of the protection that matters."

Perlman notes that for some people the symptoms of COVID-19 are no worse than a cold, while for others they are severe. "That's why it's tricky," he says, to predict the breadth of an immune response.

And it's risky to assume that experiences with other coronaviruses are directly applicable to the new one.

"Unfortunately, we cannot really generalize what kind of immunity is needed to get protection against a virus unless we really learn more about the virus," says Akiko Iwasaki, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the Yale University School of Medicine.

An immunobiologist, she is part of a rapidly expanding effort to figure this out. She and her colleagues are already studying the immune response in more than 100 patients in the medical school hospital. She's encouraged that most people who recover from the coronavirus have developed antibodies that neutralize the coronavirus in a petri dish.

"Whether that's happening inside the body we don't really know," she cautions.

Research like hers will answer that question, eventually.

But not all antibodies are protective. Iwasaki says some can actually contribute to the disease process and make the illness worse. These antibodies can contribute to inflammation and lead the body to overreact. That overreaction can even be deadly.

"Which types of antibodies protect the host versus those that enhance the disease? We really need to figure that out," she says.

The studies at Yale will follow patients for at least a year, to find out how slowly or quickly immunity might fade. "I wish there was a shortcut," Iwasaki says, "but we may not need to wait a year to understand what type of antibodies are protective."

That's because she and other immunologists are looking for patterns in the immune response that will identify people who have long-term immunity.

Researchers long ago figured out what biological features in the blood (called biomarkers) correlate with immunity to other diseases, says Kari Nadeau, a pediatrician and immunologist at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She expects researchers will be able to do the same for the new coronavirus.

Nadeau is working on several studies, including one that seeks to recruit 1,000 people who were previously exposed to the coronavirus. One goal is to identify people who produce especially strong, protective antibody responses. She says the antibody-producing cells from those people can potentially be turned into vaccines.

Another critical question she's zeroing in on is whether people who become immune are still capable of spreading the virus.

"Because you might be immune, you might have protected yourself against the virus," she says, "but it still might be in your body and you're giving it to others."

It would have huge public health implications if it turns out people can still spread the disease after they've recovered. Studies from China and South Korea seemed to suggest this was possible, though further studies have cast doubt on that as a significant feature of the disease.

Nadeau is also trying to figure out what can be said about the antibody blood-tests that are now starting to flood the market. There are two issues with these tests. First, a positive test may be a false-positive result, so it may be necessary to run a confirmatory test to get a credible answer. Second, it's not clear that a true positive test result really indicates a person is immune and, if so, for how long.

Companies would like to be able to use these tests to identify people who can return to work without fear of spreading the coronavirus.

"I see a lot of business people wanting to do the best for their employees, and for good reason," Nadeau says. "And we can never say you're fully protected until we get enough [information]. But right now we're working hard to get the numbers we need to be able to see what constitutes protection and what does not."

It could be a matter of life or death to get this right. Answers to these questions are likely to come with the accumulation of information from many different labs. Fortunately, scientists around the world are working simultaneously to find answers.

You can contact NPR Science Correspondent Richard Harris at rharris@npr.org.

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Do Antibodies Against The Novel Coronavirus Prevent Reinfection? : Shots - Health News - NPR

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