Monthly Archives: April 2020

To lessen constant exposure between covid-19 patients and caregivers, and intensify screening, hospitals in India are turning to robots of all kinds. Delhi-based AIIMS hospital has deployed a floor disinfectant and a humanoid robot in covid-19 wards. Fortis Hospital, Bengaluru has also deployed an interactive robot at its entrance to screen everyone, including medical staff, entering the premises.

We have seen an increase in demand for our robots coming from hospitals across India. We are already in talks with several hospitals including Fortis, CloudNine and Max. Some hospitals have shown interest in how robots can be leveraged in the long run," said Rajeev Karwal, founder chairman, Milagrow, the Gurugram based robotics company that made the robots deployed at AIIMS.

According to UK-based data analytics firm, GlobalData, adoption of robots to treat covid-19 patients is expected to grow in India due to shortage of PPE or personal protective equipment.

Universal Robots has also seen demand for cobots or collaborative robots for manufacturing high-quality face masks in government-run assembly lines. Doctors are exploring how cobots can be used to remotely test patients for the virus to lower risks for healthcare workers.

A Jaipur-based hospital is in talks with robotics companies to deploy a robot to deliver food and medicines to covid-19 patients in isolation wards.

The interactive humanoid robot deployed at AIIMS stands 92 cm tall, has cameras and sensors to detect obstacles and can monitor and interact with patients. The second robot deployed at AIIMS can disinfect floor surfaces using sodium hypochlorite solution. Both robots can move autonomously and operate without human intervention.

The robot at Fortis uses face and speech recognition to ask questions and thermal scanners to take temperature reading. Once it has screened and cleared a person, it issues a pass to enter. In case it detects higher body temperature, it will alert the doctors, and patient can consult a hospital doctor directly through the screen on the robot.

The medical industry is especially embracing cobots, which allow humans and robots to work safely together something that is especially crucial in a time like this when human-to-human contact must be limited," said Pradeep David, general manager, South Asia, Universal Robots.

Karwal points out, AIIMS wanted a robot that can prevent healthcare workers from going inside the covid-19 ward too many times, as every time a person goes in and comes out of the ward, they are supposed to change the PPE.

Deploying robots to reduce human contact is being tried in other countries as well. The field hospital in Hongshan Sports Center, Wuhan has deployed multiple robots for almost everything from screening people when they enter hospitals to delivering food and medicine in isolation wards and entertaining patients. They are also being used to spray disinfectants and clean hospital floors.

Robots have been used by hospitals in India before. For instance, it was used in the precision surgery performed by doctors at PGIMER Chandigarh on a two-year-old baby who was born without a food pipe. However, the use has been limited to a few hospitals and tasks. The ongoing crisis has made the world grasp the importance of many of the emerging technologies such as 3D printing, drones and robots.

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," Bhaskar Vittal, medical devices analyst at GlobalData said in a press statement.

Faisal Kawoosa, founder and chief analysts at techARC points out, going forward hygiene will be very critical, especially at hospitals. This level of hygiene cannot be managed without automation and so-to-say human less intervention. That is when robots will step in.

Read more:

Adoption of robots in India hospitals to grow during and post covid - Livemint

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The coronavirus has dealt a stunning blow to supply chains, logistics and fulfillment, shutting businesses and economies down and revealing many of the vulnerabilities they contain. Like other epidemics and pandemics, but unlike most other disasters we commonly encounter (earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, fires, political unrest) that involve physical destruction of buildings and infrastructure, COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on supply chains because it has knocked people out of the game. Factories, warehouses, fulfillment centers, vehicles and roads are not under water or caved in on themselves. They are withstanding COVID-19 just fine.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people are falling ill globally, social distancing is the rule of the day and most non-essential businesses are temporarily (or permanently) closing their doors. Not surprisingly, consumers, sheltering in place, have quickly ramped up their online shopping. According to a consumer survey conducted by IDC from March 23-31, online shopping is up by 47%, with 35.4% expecting to spend more on retail, whether in store or online, because of COVID-19 concerns. Moreover, fears of scarcity as well as the ability to acquire goods are likely whats behind a significant increase in bulk buying that goes well beyond toilet paper. Overall, 55.8% of consumers are loading up or expect to load up on bulk quantities of goods. The increase in e-commerce is putting extra pressure on supply chains already strained to the max, requiring as it does more individual picking, packing and shipping of goods, and increased last-mile delivery.

As business executives begin to map out immediate, near- and long-term strategies to improve fulfillment, many of them are looking to increase automation and robotics in warehouses and DCs. This will eliminate some of the risk of slowdowns or shutdowns that arise when workforces are partly or entirely knocked out of the picture.

But even before COVID-19 reared its ugly spikes, the adoption of robotics, automated material handling equipment, artificial intelligence (AI), voice, and other advanced technologies into warehouses and distribution centers (DCs) was on the rise, driven by the need to manage high-velocity operations with limitedand increasingly expensivelabor resources while meeting the ever-changing demands generated by digital commerce.

High competition for labor and talent has been a challenge for organizations across most industries for at least a decade, with businesses struggling to find and retain delivery drivers, warehouse workers, factory workers, mechanics, and retail sales associates, to name just a few of the job roles that are in constant need of people to fill them. Literally hundreds of thousands of jobs remain open in these fields. Some workers recently left unemployed by the pandemic may fill some roles in the near-term but the problem is likely to persist.

Moreover, as technology has advanced and some companies have made significant steps to automate and digitally transform their enterprises, some of the skills those new systems require are more advanced and more difficult to find or recruit. Industries that are typically regarded as less sexy, such as manufacturing and retail, often struggle to draw talent in technical expertise. Many of the people highly skilled in areas such as AI and analytics, automation and robotics gravitate toward Silicon Valley companies such as Facebook and Google. According to the IDC Manufacturing Insights April 2019 Industrial Talent Management Survey, industrial organizations reported that they are experiencing issues with supply chain talent and that more than 50% of the employees in this area lack skills needed to perform as required.

CXOs across industries report that this crisis is prompting them to accelerate plans to invest in automation and robotics to better manage operations, despite facing revenue declines that will result from the pandemic.

In the supply chain, automation, digital connection and edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics, to name a few, all integrated and working together, are critical to achieve the speed, efficiency and resiliency needed to meet both the demands of todays complex markets and to keep the lines of supply moving and open both in times of normalcy and time of crisis, such as what we are experiencing now with COVID-19. Nearly 28% of respondents to IDCs 2020 Supply Chain Survey ranked improving supply chain resiliency/responsiveness as a top concern driving strategic change in their supply chains.

Among the changes coming to todays supply chains, expect to see an acceleration of automation and robotics into warehouses. That will likely include more operations converting to dark warehouses, those that operate 100% autonomously, but the greater changes will come not in eliminating humans from distribution centers altogether but in replacing non-value-added movement with automation and robotics that can speed processes and make them more efficient.

Todays intelligent robots are particularly well suited to the complex demands of omni-channel supply chains. Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) are built with more agile navigational abilities, able to move about anywhere in a warehouse by navigating with built-in sensor and laser scanners, retrieving goods and bringing them to people. As they move, AMRs can maneuver around obstacles in their path, including people, but also can work in collaboration with people, unlike more traditional automated guided vehicles (AGVs). Thats significant, because it means that AMRs can adjust to new layouts and patterns. They are not fixed.

Given the eaches nature of e-commerce and the variability of SKUs and orders that characterize them, this class of robots offers businesses the ability to flex and scale as needed without major infrastructure changes. This is true, too, for intelligent robot arms that are getting better at assessing a wide variety of objects in front of them and grasping with the correct force and grip. They can be used to quickly sort items into appropriate bins or packages for shipping. These two developments are particularly significant when you consider the soaring demand for smaller, more local warehouses located closer to point of delivery, which need to operate quickly and flexibly.

We are not going to wake up tomorrow and find that robots have replaced humans in the warehouse. But we are going to see robots improve the fulfillment process by eliminating labor that is redundant, physically taxing and non-value-added, and by doing it faster and more efficiently. A full 72.8% of respondents to IDCs 2020 Supply Chain Survey say that robotics will be important or very important to their organization in three years. Intelligent robotics will speed and improve the flow of goods through the warehouse and DC while freeing humans to focus on other tasks that involve human strengths such as creativity, critical thinking, fine-motor coordination and customer engagement.

Jordan K. Speer is a research analyst with the IDC Retail Insights practice, covering global connected supply chain execution and fulfillment across the retail and manufacturing industries.

Continued here:

Intelligent Robotics: What to Expect in the Post-COVID-19 Era - Material Handling & Logistics

Duncan Davidson thinks the recovery from the coronavirus downturn could spur a rise of the robots.

The pandemic has made clear the shortcomings of the global supply chain. In response, governments around the world are likely to push their companies to shift production out of China and back to their home countries, Davidson, a general partner with venture firm Bullpen Capital, told Business Insider in a recent interview. In the United States and in other mature economies, the only way that's going to work, economically, is via automation, he said. Thus, the robots.

"The biggest implication [of the coronavirus outbreak] is going to be more rapid adoption of automation," Davidson said. "We've been talking about AI, robotics, additive manufacturing. I think that now accelerates."

The COVID-19 epidemic and the resulting economic shutdown will almost certainly reshape the venture capital and startup landscape. Companies that seemed to be sure bets a few months ago may no longer make much sense. Startups that seemed to have off-the-wall ideas might now look like obvious winners.

Venture capitalists are likely to move money out of certain sectors and redirect it to others in response to, and in anticipation of these trends, Davidson said. Only a select few sectors will stand to reap the lion's share of the redirected money, he said. Like other venture capitalists, Davidson and his colleagues at Bullpen have been trying to figure out just what those sectors are likely to be.

One of the big ones is likely to be robotics and related areas such as advanced automation, Davidson said.

Bullpen Capital general partner Duncan Davidson is bullish on automation and ecommerce. Bullpen Capital Countries and companies around the world are rethinking their supply chains in the wake of the pandemic. Early this year, in an effort to contain the epidemic in its beginning stages, China shut down large numbers of factories. The move delayed or throttled production of numerous products. Apple, among other companies, warned that it wouldn't meet its revenue targets in part because of constraints in the production of iPhones.

But when the pandemic hit the US, it showed that relying so heavily on China for manufacturing could do more than cause business problems. It was a threat to health. Personal protective equipment such as surgical masks and respirators, much of which are made in China, have been in short supply around the country, as have cleaning supplies, which are often made with chemicals that come from China.

In response to such supply-chain issues, Japan has already committed to spending $2.2 billion to shift production out of China. The US and European countries will almost certainly follow suit, Davidson said.

Part of the reason why China has been able to dominate manufacturing for the last 20 years is that it has cost less to produce goods there than in the US or other countries, in part because wages have been considerably lower. One way to counteract that advantage would be through the use of automation, which would limit the amount of labor required.

"Everybody knows we're going beat the crap out of Chinese supply chains," Davidson said. "To make it come back home," he continued, "you've got to believe in automation robotics, AI, 3D printing. That's another whole industrial sector that becomes a lot more interesting to invest in."

But it's certainly not the only one.

One of the biggest beneficiaries of the coronavirus crisis thus far has been Zoom. With schools and workplaces closed, million of people have been using the company's video conferencing software to get their lessons, or work from home.

Remote work and remote learning won't go away when the pandemic is over, Davidson said. Many corporations, in particular, have learned from the experience that employees can be just as productive when they're working remotely as when they're in the office. That's going to create a lot of demand for collaboration software and also for tools that companies can use to monitor what their employees are doing at home, he said.

Companies are going to be "more inclined to accept remote work as a normal thing," Davidson said.

Another sector that's seen a surge in demand thanks to the health crisis has been ecommerce. Most brick-and-mortar retail stores are closed. And many people now avoid going to the grocery and other stores that remain open, for fear of contracting the virus or simply from dread at having to stand in long lines. So, instead, they've been shopping online.

That's not likely to change when life goes back to normal, Davidson said. If anything, shopping online for many people is going to be the new normal, he said. And while Amazon has been the poster child for the trend, other companies are likely to benefit too, particular the companies that sell their own branded products directly to consumers, he said.

"I think we're about to see step-function [increase] in ecommerce," Davidson said.

One surprising area that he's bullish about is travel. That sector has been hit hard by the pandemic, as governments around the world have limited the movement of their citizens in an effort to control the spread of the disease. But Davidson thinks it's going to bounce back strong when the economy recovers.

However, some parts of the travel sector will benefit more than others, he thinks. People are likely going to want to avoid big cities and airline travel to a certain extent. Instead, travelers are likely going to pile into their cars and get out on the road, he said.

"Drive vacations will become huge," he said. That's going to make vacation homes and related services for such travelers much more in demand, he said.

"We'd look at that," he said.

Got a tip about a startup or the venture industry? Contact this reporter via email at twolverton@businessinsider.com, message him on Twitter @troywolv, or send him a secure message through Signal at 415.515.5594. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

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Bullpen's Davidson thinks robotics and automation will be in demand - Business Insider

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Vision Guided Robotics Software Market 2020: Emerging Top Key Player Like ABB Ltd., ASIMOV Robotics, Automation Anywhere, Bluewrist, Cognex, Energid...

Behind every good idea for a drug to fight COVID-19, theres often a good library of chemicals.

At Yale, that library is at the Yale Center for Molecular Discovery (YCMD) home to collections of 300,000 small molecules and 18,000 genomic probes. Researchers are already using these collections to look for existing drugs that could be repurposed to treat people with the novel coronavirus.

Obviously, many Yale investigators are trying to understand the biology of the virus and develop therapeutic approaches to treat COVID-19, said Yulia Surovtseva, the centers director. YCMD has the infrastructure, robotics, compound libraries, and technical expertise for high-throughput screening to rapidly test hundreds of thousands of drug-like molecules, including known drugs, for biological activity against coronavirus.

High-throughput screening, used frequently in drug discovery, is often a starting point for identifying therapeutic candidates to treat illness and disease. Individual screening approaches called assays are tailored to ideas that researchers want to explore.

For example, YCMD can help researchers who are looking for existing drugs that kill a particular cancer cell, inhibit an enzyme that becomes hyper-activated during fibrosis, or disrupt two proteins that allow a virus to enter a human cell.

Each year, researchers from more than 40 Yale departments work with staff at YCMD, led by Surovtseva and executive director Craig Crews, Yales John C. Malone Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology. The center currently has two staff members on site at Yales West Campus and three staff members working remotely, due to public health concerns amid the pandemic.

There are generally two screening approaches for drug discovery to treat a specific illness or disease, Surovtseva said.

One approach is to screen large collections of synthetic, little-known compounds that have drug-like properties. If a good chemical candidate emerges, the researcher will devise experiments to potentially optimize a new drug therapy.

Alternatively, a researcher can search for an existing compound from a collection, such as the library of 640 drugs already approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat other diseases. Compounds from these collections may have a quicker route to clinical testing because much of their safety and toxicology profiling has already been completed for other uses.

Weve made great progress and already found several existing drugs that inhibit viral entry of multiple coronaviruses.

Yulia Surovtseva

Two Yale researchers are using the latter approach in their COVID-19 work with YCMD with experiments from additional Yale laboratories on the way.

Dr. Craig Wilen, assistant professor of lab medicine and of immunobiology, has an assay with YCMD for screening COVID-19 and other coronaviruses against a collection of FDA-approved drugs. The goal is to prevent the virus from infecting human cells.

Weve made great progress and already found several existing drugs that inhibit viral entry of multiple coronaviruses, Surovtseva said. It is still a work in progress and we are repeating the screens and actively validating the results.

YCMD also is working with assistant professor of neuroscience Junjie Guo. The Guo lab has developed new viral reagents that YCMD is using in a high-throughput microscopy assay to find known drugs that affect viral protein production. Testing of approved drugs is under way.

For these and other COVID-19 assays, part of the challenge is in converting an academic experiment into a industry-style experiment that investigates many compounds at once. Among the sophisticated instruments used for this are robotic liquid handlers that dispense tiny, five-nanoliter drops about 10,000 times smaller than a raindrop into palm-sized microplates that conduct 384 tests at a time.

The human element of the work is just as remarkable at this particular moment in history, Surovtseva said: We are living in a time of real uncertainty, but our mission of service to society remains crystal clear. This work is of tremendous value and we feel honored to support it.

Read the original post:

Battling COVID-19 with robots and a library of chemicals - Yale News

The 2019 Dragon Skin Pavilion at the UBC campus was made during the annual Robotic Fabrication workshop. Photo by David Correa.

Spots are available for professional architects to participate in a technical workshop on full-scale robotic fabrication, scheduled to be held at UBC from October 3-7, 2020. The workshop qualifies for AIBC continuing education credits.

The workshop is run by Assistant Professor David Correa from University of Waterloo, Director of Technology Oliver David Krieg from Intelligent City, and Associate Professor AnnaLisa Meyboom from UBC SALA, in collaboration with UBC Centre for Advanced Wood Processing (CAWP).

While many industries have made leaps and bounds in adopting highly flexible and fully automated fabrication workflows using robotics, the construction and design industry are only just starting to open the door to these technologies, write the organizers.

Recent developments in robotics combined with more accessible design-to-fabrication tools can now offer architects, designers and fabricators unprecedented access to a new design paradigm. We are pleased to welcome experts to share their knowledge and experience with students and practicing architects here at UBC.

Using a state-of-the-art eight-axis industrial robotic work cell in the CAWP pilot manufacturing pilot, the workshop will guide participants through the unique technical and conceptual foundations that underpin robotic milling in wood, through the development and construction of a full-scale fabrication project.

Participants will be part of a full-day robotic fabrication seminar and robot training, which provides an overview of robotic fabrication in timber, introduction to the computational design tools used in the workshop, and introduction to robot operations.

They also have the option to join for the two-day fabrication prototyping workshop, which will directly engage the participants in the design and fabrication process. Participants will start with base geometry during the design phase and generate a buildable structure using computational design tools. A prototype structure will be machined and assembled on the UBC Campus.

The workshop has been held annually since 2016. Last years pavilion was built with traditional wood-on-wood joineryusing no screwsand will be on exhibit at the UBC campus until October 2020.

For more information and to register, visit this link.

More:

Call for participation in robotic fabrication workshop - Canadian Architect

Global Robotic Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Market: Overview

The global robotic rehabilitation and assistive technologies market is likely to witness robust growth owing to the increasing incidences of limited mobility amongst many people. Rehabilitation robotics and assistive technologies enable utilization of robotic devices for the purpose of recovery of patients affected with limited mobility. This technology enables robotic applications to be used in therapeutic processes to assist in the recovery of patients suffering from spinal cord injury, orthopedic traumas, strokes, neuromotor disorders, and cognitive diseases. This type of robots enable people affected with degenerative cognitive and motor capabilities lead a self-dependent life.

The global robotic rehabilitation and assistive technologies market has been segmented based on product type, portability, application, and region. The main of such a comprehensive report is to provide a deeper understanding into the market.

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Global Robotic Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Market: Notable Developments

The global robotic rehabilitation and assistive technologies market has witnessed quite a few developments over the last few years. One such development is mentioned below:

Some of the leading market players of the global robotic rehabilitation and assistive technologies market are

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Global Robotic Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Market: Growth Drivers

Increased Prevalence of Various Types of Disabilities to Bolster its Demand

The global robotic rehabilitation and assistive technologies market is expected to thrive on the increased need of people with mobility challenges to lead an independent life. Modern technology in robotics is helping in making the lives of disabled people easier. It is also making the functionalities of their body better.

Well-designed technology to develop companionship and care robots together with assistive speech technology is likely to propel the growth of the global robotic rehabilitation and assistive technologies market. The stakeholders are carrying on research and development to figure out how assistive robots are capable of effectively assisting differently able people. They are trying to find out ways to design innovative robots that would help them overcome the challenges of limited mobility.

Innovations such as robotic trousers are helping patients walk normally. These trousers are developed utilizing soft artificial muscles that are conditioned electrically to instigate bodily movements like standing up. Innovations such as this are likely to open up new avenues of growth for the global robotic rehabilitation and assistive technologies market in years to come.

Global Robotic Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Market: Regional Outlook

In terms of region, North America is estimated to account for a large chunk of the global robotic rehabilitation and assistive technologies market over the timeframe of forecast. Such dominance of the region is driven by the adoption of highly advanced robotic rehabilitation & assistive technologies. In addition, favorable reimbursement policies from the healthcare industry are likely to emerge as another important growth factor for the market in the region.

The global robotic rehabilitation and assistive technologies market is segmented as:

Product Type

Portability

Application

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Robotic Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Market End User, Demand and Consumption By 2028 - Cole of Duty

Joining the fight against coronavirus (COVID-19), the government-run Industrial Training Institute (ITI) in Cuttack has developed two low-cost robots, which can save health workers from the infectious virus and reduce the need for personal protective equipment.

The cost of each robot is expected to be around 2.5 lakh, ITI-Cuttack principal Hrushikesh Mohanty said.

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the institute had constituted an innovation team that developed the robots in its laboratory, in association with SAK Robotics Lab, a start-up, Mr. Mohanty told the PTI.

One of the two robots is a service robot, named CO-BOT (Corona Combat Robot), which can move on wheels and has a humanoid structure. Its hand-like structures can hold a tray and carry a load up to 20 kg, the principal said.

It can be used in COVID-19 hospitals for carrying food, water and medicines to and from patients. This will reduce the risks to attendants serving the COVID-19 patients, he said.

The wireless communication protocols being used to control the robot can be further programmed with navigation and mapping to make them work autonomously in a hospital ward, Mr. Mohanty said.

The second one, named NIGA-BOT, is a tele-presence robot which can be used for surveillance and tele-consultation by doctors who can interact remotely with patients through live video-streaming. This robot is also enabled with a wheeled mobile platform and has an interactive device for video calling.

NIGA-BOT can be used by health workers who have to make several rounds to the patients bed for monitoring their health.

This will protect the doctors and nurses from contracting the virus during such interactions.

All these innovations would lead to reduced need for more Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits and could be a saviour for health workers, he said.

These are low cost robots developed by the institute to meet the emergent needs following the coronavirus outbreak, Mr. Mohanty said.

Once medical professionals spell out their specific requirements, new features will be integrated to the robots, he said.

The office of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has also hailed the job done by ITI, Cuttack in collaboraton with SAK Robotics for using their skill to strengthen Odishas fight against COVID-19.

T.N. COVID-19 isolation wards to get robots

Founder and CEO of SAK Robotics Lab, Sakyasingha Mohapatra said, the start-up has provided the required technology in the joint venture to strengthen the battle against the deadly virus.

The institute has a dream and desire to use industry automation to impact the lives of ordinary people, the ITI principal said.

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ITI Cuttack develops low-cost robots to combat COVID-19 - The Hindu

The COVID-19 pandemic will accelerate the usage and adoption of robots, according to new research from GlobalData.

It comes as artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics company Brain Corp announced yesterday that it has raised $36 million in funding to help meet the growing demand on the front lines of the crisis for autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in retail, healthcare, airports, education and other industries.

We have always envisioned a world where robots make the lives of people safer, easier, and more productive, says Brain Corp CEO Eugene Izhikevich.

Autonomous robots are playing a vital role in supporting essential businesses and their workers during this health crisis. This investment will help us continue our pace of innovation and fuel our growth as we execute on the opportunity in front of us.

Brain Corp says the new funds will be used to further expand Brain Corps growth into new robotic applications beyond floor care, including inventory delivery, shelf analytics, and other applications that improve employee productivity, reduce costs, and enhance customer experiences.

The company says manufacturing and sales efforts in new markets will also be bolstered by the new capital, with the company planning a foray into the European and Asia-Pacific (APAC) markets.

GlobalData thematic analyst Wafaa Hassan says the emphasis around the world put on social distancing and little human-to-human contact will hasten the mainstream introduction of robots into industrial and retail workflows.

Robots have been replacing humans in certain jobs for some time, but the COVID-19 crisis is accelerating the process, says Hassan.

Robots will show their worth by performing tasks that human workers are unwilling or unable to do.

Retail giants such as Walmart and Kroger have been using Brain Corps cleaning robots for years, with Walmart announcing plans to add an additional 1,500 robotic floor cleaners to its existing fleet earlier this month.

Keeping stores and warehouses clean has become a priority during the pandemic.

But Hassan says people need to get more comfortable with interacting with robots during their everyday life to see true widespread adoption.

The COVID-19 crisis will ultimately increase the use of robotics across all industries. Primarily, they will be used for support functions such as cleaning and packing.

However, as consumers get more familiar with them and the robots themselves become smarter, they will increasingly be used to support customer-facing tasks.

Brain Corp has revealed that retailers have significantly ramped up their use of robotic floor scrubbers as the COVID-19 outbreak grew this year.

According to the companys data, autonomous usage of BrainOS-powered machines in retail locations in the U.S. spiked 13.6% in March 2020, compared to the same month last year, and 13% during Q1 of this year.

The company says BrainOS-enabled robots are on its way to deliver more than 250,000 hours of work over the next month.

Read more:

COVID-19 will accelerate widespread adoption of robots - report - IT Brief Australia