Monthly Archives: September 2021

It has long been known that making eye contact with a robot can be an unsettling experience. Scientists even have a name for the queasy feeling: the "uncanny valley".

Now, thanks to researchers in Italy, we also know it's more than just a feeling.

A team at the Istituto Italiano Di Tecnologia (IIT) in Genoa has shown how a robot's gaze can trick us into thinking we are socially interacting and slow our ability to make decisions.

"Gaze is an extremely important social signal that we employ on a day-to-day basis when interacting with others," said Professor Agnieszka Wykowska, lead author of the research published on Wednesday in the journal Science Robots.

"The question is whether the robot gaze will evoke very similar mechanisms in the human brain as another human's gaze would".

The team asked 40 volunteers to play a video game of "chicken" - where each player has to decide whether to allow a car to drive straight towards another car or to deviate to avoid a collision - against a humanoid robot sitting opposite them.

Between rounds, players had to look at the robot, which would sometimes look back and other times look away.

In each scenario, the scientists collected data on behaviour and neural activity via electroencephalography (EEG), which detects electrical activity in the brain.

"Our results show that, actually, the human brain processes the robot gaze as a social signal, and that signal has an impact on the way we're making decisions, on the strategies we deploy in the game and also on our responses," Wykowska said.

"The mutual gaze of the robot affected decisions by delaying them, so humans were much slower in making the decisions in the game".

The findings have implications on where and how humanoid robots are deployed in future.

"Once we understand when robots elicit social attunement, then we can decide in which sort of context this is desirable and beneficial for humans and in which context this should not occur," said Wykowska.

According to a report by the International Federation of Robotics, worldwide sales of professional service robots had already jumped 32 per cent to $11.2 billion (9.4 billion) between 2018 and 2019.

Original post:

Robots can trick us into thinking we are socially interacting and slow our reactions, scientists say - Euronews

Do you know? According to the latest report from 2020 to 2027, the global space robotics market is likely to surge at a growth rate of 5.2%. This is due to the growing demand for autonomous space robots that are not only cost-effective but are also capable of working even in any kind of conditions. As exploring outer space has always been an interesting area, many researchers across the globe are working on robots in space and their benefits. Lets explore the latest robots in space in this article.

Vyommitra is a humanoid robot made in India. This robot is designed for an ambitious project of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the Gaganyaan mission. This first human spaceflight program is scheduled for 2022. This is one of the latest robots which can perform all crew procedures like environmental and life support systems monitoring.

This is going to be one of the robots in space that can mimic certain astronaut postures, which are essential during the launch. ISRO researchers are also working to make Vyommitra able to chat with fellow astronauts.

Deep Autonomy of Lunar Underground Structures (DAEDALUS) is designed and created by the European Space Agency which looks like a hamster ball that is equipped with a stereoscopic camera, a radiation dosimeter, temperature sensors, and 3D mapping LiDAR device.

Kibo is one of the latest robots which was developed by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and launched the second Kibo Robot Programming Challenge (KRPC) in March. The goal of this challenge is to allow scientists on the ground to capture images and video remotely using a robot that can travel around in space autonomously and capture still and moving imagery.

Rosalind is developed by the Roscosmos agency in Russia in collaboration with the European Space Agency. This is one of the latest robots designed to navigate across Mars autonomously. This rover mission is scheduled for 2022 having two pairs of cameras (NavCam and LoCam) helping the rover prepare a 3D map of Mars terrain. The rover is also equipped with PanCam Optical Bench with two wide-angle cameras for good color resolution imaging.

Perseverance rover has been landed on Mars in July 2020 which has a sensitive microphone to record the sound of its movement over the hard martian surface. This rover has recorded the first bump of the robot with six wheels that beamed back to earth.

Perseverance Rover provides an easy way to conduct research with the help of a stereoscopic imaging system, a Raman spectrometer for mineralogy, microphones for sound recording and to process real-time data.

Change 5 is a robotic spacecraft that was launched by China. It is the first of its kind robots for asteroid mining in 2020. This robot has also collected rocks from the Moons surface. China is the third country after the US and Soviet Union to collect rocks from the moon.

Share This ArticleDo the sharing thingy

Follow this link:

Latest Robots in Space Agencies to Know and Watch About - Analytics Insight

Software industry veteran and ex-Google exec Victor Lin to head engineering and computer vision teams as Symbio adds highly experienced leaders to accelerate company growth and scale

EMERYVILLE, Calif., September 01, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Symbio Robotics, a pioneer in the future of industrial manufacturing through a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and industrial robotics, today announced the addition of key executives to its leadership team. On the heels of the companys official launch in February 2021, armed with $30M, Symbio is quickly focused on expanding its team to meet tremendous customer demand for its SymbioDCS framework. The expansion of its leadership roster and appointment of four new vice presidents demonstrates strong momentum, growth trajectory and Symbios deep commitment to serve as a leader in modernizing industrial manufacturing.

"Symbio presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to apply my experience to ignite a new wave of innovation in the industrial manufacturing space," said Victor Lin, Vice President of Engineering, Symbio. "The company is incredibly well-positioned to fundamentally change this decades-old industry by utilizing new software and AI technology developed for Internet, SDN, and robotics."

Symbios growing leadership team

Victor Lin, a software engineering pioneer, joins Symbio as vice president of engineering after a decade at Google and an earlier career in networking and semiconductor startups. While at Google, Victor worked on a number of groundbreaking products, such as Google Assistant and Google Air, and Software Defined Network. Victor will be responsible for scaling the engineering organization and culture and leading the strategic technical vision.

David Wong joins the growing executive bench as vice president of finance. with 20 years of global experience in finance and operations. In his early career, he was a Big 4 Accounting Manager for technology, media and entertainment startups in Asia, the UK, and San Francisco. For the past 5 years, he has held a variety of Finance roles at high-growth startups including Planet.com, and most recently Zipline, where he led the company from its Series C to Series E. David will play a pivotal role in Symbios growth and funding milestones.

Patrick Pylypuik has been tapped to be Symbios vice president of sales. As a technology and manufacturing sales industry veteran, Pylypuiks team will support company growth by building key relationships with new and existing customers-- including partners. Before joining Symbio, Patrick was vice president of sales and marketing at autonomous vehicle supplier NAVYA Group. He also held executive sales and COO positions at Kibo Partners, B2X Global Group, Blackmore Partners, Inc., and Fullfillment.com, amongst others.

Cassie Roblin, a key partner in Symbios initial growth phase, has been promoted to vice president of people. Moving forward, her role will focus on accelerating Symbios growth and impact through targeted recruiting and a people-first approach to HR. Cassie will build around the exceptional team at Symbio, and will make Symbio the epicenter for engineers working in industrial robotics, edge computing and AI. Before discovering her love of startups, Cassie recruited globally for technology, financial services and media companies, including the NBA, Pandoras early team (when it was called Savage Beast), NBC Universal, Charles Schwab, Polycom, and Microsoft among others.

"At Symbio, we are laser-focused on breathing new life into existing industrial robots, making them faster, more capable, and more flexible," said Max Reynolds, Symbio CEO and co-founder. "Each one of these new executives brings a breadth and depth of experience that will help energize our entire organization to sustain our momentum and keep pace with our continued growth in the market."

Story continues

In addition to these leadership hires, Symbio is expanding its team of engineers and program managers with aggressive hiring goals in those roles. More information on open positions can be found at https://symb.io/company/careers/.

More about Symbio

Symbios focus is on providing generalized solutions that enable companies to adopt AI as a core competency, as opposed to the traditional automation approach, which is to provide a custom solution to a specific problem. This means that AI solutions will look very different because its not just about creating the automation, its about creating and providing the tools that empower teams to design their own solutions through the use of AI, and easily adapt to the task at hand.

SymbioDCS, the companys robot agnostic platform runs on edge computing infrastructure through industrial networks to inform and instruct current factory systems to make final assembly tasks available that were never automated before. This allows, for the first time, the development of new sets of applications and programs that can inform and instruct current factory systems to perform more complex and dexterous tasks, in addition to improving automation that already exists like door, wheel and windshield assembly, fastening, welding and painting.

Symbio currently is working with top brands including Ford Motor Company, Nissan Motor Corporation and Toyota Motor Corporation in addition to other major companies and outside of the automotive sector.

For more information about Symbio Robotics, click here. Get access to the press kit here.

About Symbio Robotics

Founded in 2014, Symbio Robotics is dedicated to strengthening and revamping the fundamentals in industrial manufacturing through the creation of Al and Robotics technologies. Located in Emeryville, Calif., the companys core product, SymbioDCS enables automation teams to build and deploy high-quality applications in any factory, at any scale that can assemble anything.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210901005365/en/

Contacts

Michaela Johndrowmichaela.johndrow@aircoverpr.com

Continue reading here:

AI Industrial Automation Company Symbio Robotics Announces Key Executive Hires to Support Growing List of Manufacturing Customers - Yahoo Finance

Engineering news 800 450 robothand4873

UK manufacturers are increasingly interested in robotic automation, as the impact of Covid-19 and Brexit hits the labour market.

It comes amid a background of reduced production capacity firstly due to lockdowns and social distancing measures, and subsequently by labour shortages due to Brexit. When asked whether the pandemic has been game-changing for their business, 90.8 per cent of the respondents said yes.

Part of the problem was a lack of contingency planning. Research by the CIPDs People Management magazine found that two in five organisations had no plans in place to manage the outbreak, and now theyre scrambling to adjust to the new normal.

Robots are seen as a potential solution 48.8 per cent of respondents said they were likely to invest in automation in the next five years, and 50.4 per cent said robots would help them comply with social distancing requirements. Health and safety rules and staff shortages were other considerations driving the increased interest in automation.

The huge impact that COVID-19 has had on the economy will be felt long after the virus has gone and will permanently influence the way businesses conduct themselves moving forward, says Nigel Platt of ABB Robotics. The inherent flexibility and high performance of todays robots, coupled with the expanding range of options on offer, from small cobots through to heavy duty industrial robots, enables manufacturers to better prepare themselves against future uncertainties caused by impending pandemics or economic instabilities.

Those already using automation cited flexibility and consistency as key benefits. While the UK has lagged behind other countries when it comes to embracing robotic automation in manufacturing applications, those companies that have made the switch to robots have reported a range of benefits that underline their ability to transform productivity, efficiency and competitiveness, says Julian Ware, a sales manager at ABB. The results of our survey provide hope that these benefits will be realised by a growing number of companies in the next few years as robotic automation becomes recognised for its ability to provide a greater degree of certainty in challenging times.

Want the best engineering stories delivered straight to your inbox? TheProfessional Engineeringnewslettergives you vital updates on the most cutting-edge engineering and exciting new job opportunities. To sign up, clickhere.

Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

View post:

Will Covid-19 spark the rise of the robots? - Professional Engineering

DUBLIN, Sept. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Outdoor Delivery Robot Market, By Component (Hardware, Software, Services), Robot Type (2 & 3 Wheel, 4 Wheel, 6 Wheel), Operations (Autonomous, Remote Operated), Payload (< 0.5 Kgs, 0.5kgs-2 kgs, 2-10 kgs, 10-50 kgs, 50-100 kgs, >100 kgs), Application (Food Delivery, Cargo" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global outdoor delivery robot market valued at a market size of USD 4.071 Million in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 105.079 Million by 2027. The outdoor delivery robot market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 17.3% over the forecast period.

The landscape of robotics technology is evolving rapidly, across many industries for various applications. The outdoor delivery robot is a substitute for a delivery person. The robot is powered by an electric battery, and moves at a moderate pace. It uses a camera as well as sensors to plan an effective route, autonomous navigation, and smart obstacle avoidance technologies.

These robots offer various advantages over the traditional method of delivery including, cost efficiency, faster services to the customers, accuracy of delivery, and safety & support to delivery person. Also, Covid-19 posed a big challenge to hospitality industry. Lockdown across the globe has resulted in slowdown of all activities. Restaurants and food chain companies are facing major challenge to sustain in the current scenario. Outdoor delivery market presents an enormous opportunity to deliver food at home without any personal contact. This is one of the most important factors driving the demand for outdoor delivery robots in hospitality industry.

Significant number of investments are being made by the market players to provide additional features to the outdoor delivery robots in order to serve their client's requitements in a better way.

Growth Influencers

Covid-19 is one of the most important factors fueling the market demand.

One of the most important factors fuelling the growth of delivery robot market is growth number of Covid-19 cases across the globe. The growing cases of corona virus has resulted in shortage of manpower. This has resulted in increased demand for technologies which can help in safe delivery to the customers. Increasing use of technologies such as digitization, artificial intelligence, GPS technologies have made it possible for the companies to ensure fast, secure, and cost-effective delivery of products to the clients.

Reduction in labor cost is expected to drive the demand for outdoor delivery robots

The usage of outdoor delivery robot is expected to reduce the overall cost of labour to a great extent. These robots can substitute a delivery person and can carry a payload of more than 100 kgs in one go.

Legal considerations related to traffic and road safety is anticipated to create a hindrance in the market growth

The developers of delivery robots are required to consider the laws, related to usage of robots in public traffic. Robots can result in traffic accidents and also hurt the pedestrians. The outdoor delivery robots are also attracting criticisms, as robots would compete with pedestrians and wheelchairs for space. The manufacturers are investing huge funds into R&D activities in order to make sure, the safety of robot usage in public space and traffic.

Segments Overview

The global outdoor delivery robot market is segmented into component, robot type, operations, payload, application, and industry.

By Component

The hardware segment accounted for the major share of the outdoor delivery robot market. It is estimated to cross a market size of USD 74 Million by the year 2027.

By Robot Type

Based on robot type, 4-wheel segment captured the largest market share of more than 45% of outdoor delivery robot market. The segment is expected to continue this dominance during the forecast period.

By Operations

The autonomous segment is anticipated to grow at a highest rate, at a CAGR of 18.0% during the forecast period.

By Payload

Based on payload, 10-50 kgs segment is estimated to capture the largest market share in 2020. Whereas < 0.5 kgs segment is expected to grow at a highest rate of 27.1%, during the forecast period.

By Application

Food delivery segment is estimated to capture the largest market share of application segment in 2020, and is expected to continue this dominance during the forecast period.

By Industry

Retail industry is estimated to capture the largest share of in 2020. Whereas healthcare segment is expected to grow at a highest CAGR of 16.4% during the forecast period.

Regional Overview

On the regional basis, the global outdoor delivery robot market is segmented into Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa.

America is dominating the global outdoor delivery robot market, with the largest share of around 57% in 2020. The region is expected to continue its dominance during the forecast period. The presence of a large number of technology providers in the region is one of the most important factors, attribute to this dominance. Whereas, the Middle East is expected to be the fastest growing region, during the forecast period.

Competitive Landscape

Prominent players functioning in the market include Amazon Scout, Alibaba DAMO, ANYbotics AG (ANYmal), BoxBot (Toyota), CATRobotics (Marble+Caterpillar), Cleveron, DHL International GmbH (POSTBot), Dispatch AI (WelcomeAI), Domino's Robotic Unit, Eliport, FedEx bot, Ford Motor Corp, JD Logistics (JD.com, Inc.), KiwiBot, Locus Robotics, Meituan Dianping, Neolix, Nuro, Postmates Inc (Serve) Uber, Rakuten Inc., Refraction AI, Robby Technologies Inc., Robomart, Segway Robotics, Starship Technologies, TeleRetail, TinyMile, TwinsWheel, Woowa Brothers Corp, Zhen Robotics (Robopony), ZMP Inc. (Patoro) among others.

Key market players are actively engaged in strategic partnerships to strengthen their market position. The monopolistic nature of the market is owing to the presence of few companies with their delivery robots at the commercial stage

The global outdoor delivery robot market report offers insights on the below pointers:

The global outdoor delivery robot market report answers questions such as:

Key Topics Covered:

Chapter 1. Research Framework

Chapter 2. Research Methodology

Chapter 3. Executive Summary: Global Outdoor Delivery Robot Market

Chapter 4. Global Outdoor Delivery Robots Market Overview

Chapter 5. Outdoor Delivery Robots Market Analysis, By Component

Chapter 6. Outdoor Delivery Robots Market Analysis, By Robot Type

Chapter 7. Outdoor Delivery Robots Market Analysis, By Operations

Chapter 8. Outdoor Delivery Robots Market Analysis, By Payload

Chapter 9. Outdoor Delivery Robots Market Analysis, By Application

Chapter 10. Outdoor Delivery Robots Market Analysis, By Industry

Chapter 11. Outdoor Delivery Robots Market Analysis, By Region/Country

Chapter 12. North America Outdoor Delivery Robots Market Analysis

Chapter 13. Europe Outdoor Delivery Robots Market Analysis

Chapter 14. Asia Pacific Outdoor Delivery Robots Market Analysis

Chapter 15. Middle East Outdoor Delivery Robots Market Analysis

Chapter 16. Africa Outdoor Delivery Robots Market Analysis

Chapter 17. South America Outdoor Delivery Robots Market Analysis

Chapter 18. Company Profile (Company Overview, Financial Matrix, Key Product landscape, Key Personnel, Key Competitors, Contact Address, and Business Strategy Outlook)

Companies Mentioned

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/z1130i

Media Contact:

Research and Markets Laura Wood, Senior Manager [emailprotected]

For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

U.S. Fax: 646-607-1904 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets

http://www.researchandmarkets.com

Read the original post:

Global Outdoor Delivery Robot Market 2020-2027: Reduction in Labour Cost Expected to Drive Demand - PRNewswire