Monthly Archives: May 2022

Tribal Land Is Suddenly at the Center of the Fight for Abortion Access – Jezebel

Posted: May 17, 2022 at 7:54 pm

Photo: Getty (Getty Images)

Across the country, Republican governors are champing at the bit to end abortion rights in their states once Roe v. Wade falls. And in Oklahoma, the state with the second highest population of Indigenous people, Gov. Kevin Stitt is taking this crusade a step furtherthreatening tribes that continue to offer abortion care on their sovereign land.

Oklahomans will not think very well of that if tribes try to set up abortion clinics, Stitt said in a Fox News interview on Sunday. They think that you can be 1/1,000th tribal member and not have to follow the state law.

In fact, as Rachael Lorenzo, executive director of Indigenous Women Rising, has told Jezebel, abortion has always existed in Indigenous communities. We were already raising our families the best ways we knew how, and we knew based on the circumstances we were inthrough famine, drought, whether it was time for migrationwhen it was not time to expand our family, they said. It was just since 1492 since Columbus and his dumb ass arrived at this part of the world, that was the beginning of the removal of our bodily autonomy.

Gov. Stitt clearly did not get the memo that Indigenous communities and tribal governments transcend the two-party system and are older than the US, Lorenzo told me in a second interview this week. You know, the tribes in Oklahoma are super liberal. They go to Washington, D.C. They talk to President Biden at the White House, Stitt told Fox.

Stitt has notably signed a total abortion ban in Oklahoma that would go into effect when Roe is reversed, on top of a Texas-style, six-week ban, enforced by citizen surveillance and costly civil lawsuits. That Stitt has now all but declared a notably very illegal war on the political and bodily autonomy of Native American people is jarring, but not surprising. The bodies and reproductive decisions of Indigenous people have always been policed by the U.S. as part of this countrys enduring, indelible legacy of colonialism and white supremacy.

Throughout the 20th century, at the height of the eugenics movement, Indigenous people were disproportionately targeted with forced sterilization efforts by the US government. Prior to the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, nearly 25 percent of Native American youth were separated from their families and placed in the custody of the state or in foster care, as a transparent extension of the United States decades-long attempts at cultural genocide through kidnapping and violently forcing assimilation onto Indigenous children.

Today, this violence persists through the extensive policing of Native American women and pregnant people for their pregnancy outcomes. Last October, Brittney Poolaw, a 21-year-old Oklahoma woman and member of the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes, was convicted of first-degree manslaughter after losing a pregnancy in her second trimester, allegedly due to substance use, and was sentenced to four years in prison. Her conviction came just a few years after Oklahomas attorney general announced heightened measures to prosecute pregnant people who are alleged to have used criminalized drugs, resulting in the disproportionate targeting of Indigenous communities. These measures were to be enforced by weaponizing felony child neglect and fetal homicide laws, which were designed to protect pregnant people from domestic violencenot punish them for pregnancy loss.

Abortion bans and pregnancy criminalization are essentially modern forms of colonization, Lorenzo tells Jezebel, and Stitts threats to subject sovereign Indigenous communities to his laws of forced birth are entirely illegal. But some liberal reproductive rights advocates responses to Gov. Stitts threatsnamely, calling for tribal land to become abortion havens for non-Indigenous peoplehave also prompted IWR to warn against white and non-Indigenous Americans turning to Indigenous communities to save them. Our lands are not just places to skirt laws, Lorenzo said. I get how well-meaning people are desperate to protect access, but were failing to acknowledge whether or not tribes have the power and resources to be sued. Lorenzo added that opening tribal land to non-Indigenous people for abortion access is something tribes should talk about internally as sovereign nations.

They also note that there are a number of risks involved with increased presence of non-Indigenous people on tribal land. One of the factors that contributes to the many, many missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls is that many of our abusers and predators are non-Native people, who know and take advantage of how tribes often dont have the legal standing to charge them or to prosecute them.

Then, of course, there are cultural differences that are disrespected when non-Indigenous reproductive rights advocates try to use tribal land as a quick fix for abortion access. We have a saying colloquially, of Indian time, which means it happens when it happens, and when it happens, thats when its supposed to happen, Lorenzo said. In western culture, theres such emphasis on urgency and needing a quick solution, which is just not how Native communities operate. Our land isnt just a place to avoid laws without taking into consideration that individual Indigenous communitys views about justice, connection to land, birth, death, health of pregnant people.

Lorenzo is right: Indigenous communities cant be subjected to greater state surveillance, persecution, and criminalization so that non-Indigenous people can come to their land to get abortion care. Due to a lack of economic investments in tribal land, as well as the Hyde Amendment, which bans the Indian Health Services from funding most abortion services, access to tribal health care including abortion has long been severely strained. Yet, until right about now, white and non-Indigenous advocates have long erased or de-centered Indigenous people in mainstream reproductive rights activism.

Stitts threats against Indigenous abortion access are a harrowing reminder of who is most impacted by state reproductive oppression. Its clear Stitt willfully knows abortion is one way to limit tribes sovereignty altogether, and considering about half of Oklahoma is tribal land, theres a lot at stake, Lorenzo said. Simultaneously, the sudden centering of tribal land in the fight for abortion access is also a reminder of the shortcomings of white, non-Indigenous-led reproductive rights activism, and the importance of following the leadership of Indigenous activists and pregnant people.

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Archaic Obstetrics: Revisiting Jug Face in The Wake Of Increasing Abortion Restrictions – Dread Central

Posted: at 7:54 pm

Ada: Has anyone ever said no?

Sustin: About what, being joined? Is that why youre so quiet? Its a womans job to have babies, you gotta be joined to do that.

Ada: Is that all Im good for?

Sustin: Its an amazing thing bearing babies, something no man will ever get to do. Once Bodey gives you a little one, youll be beside yourself youll see.

Ada: What if I cant?

Sustin: Pitll make it right, it always does.

Ada: Has the pit ever taken a baby?

Sustin: Yeah, sure has.

Those that viewed Chad Crawford Kinkles debut feature-length film Jug Face when it was released in 2013 probably cant recall all of the details about the indie horror movie, but are sure to remember how it made them feel. The premise alone is enough to elicit a myriad of reactions.

An impoverished and isolated backwoods community worships a mystical pit that has healed them in times of sickness and injury for hundreds of years. The catch is they must periodically sacrifice their own members to keep the pit satisfied. The unlucky martyrs identities are revealed through visions seen by the local potter, who then sculpts their likeness onto a ceramic jug made from clay extracted from the pit itself. The jug face is then presented to the community and they all gather at the pit for a sacrificial ceremony. The chosen ones throat is slashed and their blood drains into the ground, feeding the pits thirst for lifeblood and satisfying it for the time being.

Teenager Ada, who discovers that she is pregnant due to an incestuous relationship with her brother, is chosen to be the next jug face. Unwilling to go happily to the chopping block, she hides her jug face from the others which causes the pit to enact its revenge by killing off members of the community until it gets what it wants: Ada and her unborn child.

This may sound like a tale from a bygone era, but Kinkle chose to set it in the present, and by doing so he highlights societal issues that are still evident in America today. Over eight years after Jug Faces release, its themes of religious fervor, conception through incest, and control over bodily autonomy lamentably resonate with millions of Americans in the passing of Senate Bill 8.

Senate Bill 8, otherwise known as The Texas Heartbeat Act, went into effect in September of 2021. It is one of the strictest abortion bans in the country, prohibiting abortions after a heartbeat is detected, which is about six weeks into pregnancy, and before most people are even aware that they are pregnant. The legal specifics of the law are dense and complicated. But we do know that no exceptions are made for cases of fetal anomaly diagnoses, rape, sexual abuse, or incest. Those who aid and abet in the commission of an abortion are liable to be sued by, well, any private citizen.

On October 6th, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman temporarily blocked S.B. 8, stating, women have been unlawfully prevented from exercising control over their lives in ways that are protected by the Constitution. Two days later, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an administrative stay on Judge Roberts ruling, effectively allowing S.B. 8 to be enforced. In response, Planned Parenthood, a leading nonprofit organization that provides sexual healthcare in the United States and globally, stated:

This is a major loss for Texas patients and abortion providers, who have navigated the laws devastating effects on abortion access for over a month now. In putting S.B. 8 back in effect, the Fifth Circuit has again disregarded half a century of precedent upholding the constitutional right to abortion. On Wednesday, October 6, a federal district court in Austin granted the DOJs request to block the law. The State of Texas immediately appealed to the Fifth Circuit and today asked that court to stay the district courts order which it did only hours later, putting S.B. 8 back in effect and continuing to deprive Texans of constitutionally protected health care.

This may sound like something from a horror movie. But we live in a terrifying reality where the bodies of people assigned female at birth (AFAB) are regulated by the government, though this is anything but new. We see this chillingly depicted in Jug Face, as our protagonist Adas sex life and reproductive health are constantly commented on and controlled by those around her. It is the business of her family as well as the concern of the community at large. Not only do they view the concept of a womans virginity as a measure of her integrity, but it is also used as a bargaining chip. Its a metaphorical dowry for her family to leverage into an arranged marriage with one of the (few) eligible bachelors in the community.

When she learns that her family has arranged for her to join [marry] a boy named Bodey, she comments, Should have seen it coming, not like theres anyone else who could have asked. Any sort of agency is completely denied to Ada. No one ever asks if she wants to marry Bodey, or what she wants for her life and future in general, for that matter. She is simply expected to do what she is told to maintain the communitys status quo: stay abstinent until it is time to join a man who is chosen for you, bear his children, and worship the pit. Every aspect of Adas life is controlled by her parents, and when she is married that control is transferred to her husband. At no point in her life is she allowed to have any kind of personal freedom; she is fundamentally prohibited from autonomy of any kind. This is explicitly illustrated in the film when Ada is talking to her mother, Loriss, and says, I do what I want. Loriss angrily replies, You will do what Bodey tells you to! Now thats the way it is, you best get used to it.

With the passing of S.B. 8 into law, and the recent leaked draft from the Supreme Court, we as a country are reminded that the long-standing American tradition of cisgender men determining what AFAB people can and cannot do with their own bodiesand in doing so completely stripping them of bodily autonomyis far from over. Whats even scarier is that religion plays an integral role in the creation of restrictive abortion bans like S.B. 8.

In Jug Face, the basis for the communitys entire structure and way of life is the pit. It is a divine force, healing when placated and vengeful when unsatisfied. They pray to it, swear on it, and submit to its whims without question. Those, like Ada, who choose to disobey it are made to atone for their misdeeds. Just as the community allows the pit to dictate their beliefs, thoughts, and actions, so does Christianity dictate the beliefs, thoughts, and actions of millions of Americans, some of which hold positions of great power and authority in the United States government.

As he signed the bill into law, Texas Governor Greg Abbott stated, Our creator endowed us with the right to life, and yet millions of children lose their right to life every year. His choice of words invoking the Christian God is not accidental. It confirms that personal religious views absolutely played a critical part in the creation of S.B. 8. Christian churches, businesses, and organizations consistently condemn abortion and have actively opposed entities that support and provide abortions, like Planned Parenthood, while backing politicians who reflect similar conservative values to their own. You would be hard-pressed to drive down any southern or midwestern American highway and not come across at least one billboard displaying anti-abortion rhetoric along the lines of, All children are Gods children, or Choose Life, Pray Pray Pray.

When these beliefs make their way into government policies that is when the issue of a lack of separation between church and state specifically inhibits the reproductive rights of people with uteruses. Conservative lawmakers continually push against the precedents set by Roe v. Wade, and in the current political climate, it only seems to be getting worse. According to The Guttmacher Institute, a United States-based research and policy organization focused on sexual and reproductive health and rights, more than 100 abortion restrictions were enacted in 2021 so far. This is the highest number of abortion restrictions passed since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973. There is no denying that religion can be crucial to how certain legislative decisions are made, whether the lawmakers themselves believe in it or are trying to appease voters that do.

Just as Ada is at the mercy of the pit, the US citizens are having their constitutional rights taken away all because the powers that bebe they God or the governmentdeem it so. Abortion is healthcare, and many people who need it will be forced to go without or seek it elsewhere. And just as Ada tries to escape her controlling community to protect her bodily autonomy, Texans are fleeing the state to receive the reproductive care they are unable to obtain where they live.

Ada attempts to sneak into town to see a real doctor, but she is soon discovered and swiftly brought back to the community by her father, Sustin. In a society that has no want or need for trained medical doctors, Loriss acts as Adas self-appointed OB/GYN, from checking her underwear for menstrual blood to ensure that she isnt pregnant, to giving her a vaginal exam to determine if she has engaged in penetrative sex. She performs the latter in the familys bathroom, lit cigarette in hand, all too ready to burn Adas inner thigh with the smoldering butt when she refuses to cooperate. Loriss says, I wanna see if youve been fooling around before you shame all of us.

After determining that Ada has been sexually active, she exclaims, You little slut! and proceeds to torture her by cutting her hand with a pocket knife so she will reveal the person with which she has been intimate.

Adas value as a person is directly determined by her sex life, a concept that remains pervasive in America, from Christian purity culture of saving yourself for marriage, to slut shaming women for having multiple sexual partners. American society as a whole has always been fixated on chastity, especially that of those assigned female at birth. AFAB people that partake in premarital sex are often subject to being hurled with epithets, told that no one will want to marry them, and/or that they deserve any negative consequences they may experience as a result of being sexually active.

We see this in Jug Face when Adas parents discover that she was pregnant with Jessabys child. At this point in the film, they are arranging for Ada to join Corber, Bodeys father, because both Bodey and his mother, Corbers wife, are killed in previous scenes. As we know, the options of single men for Ada are limited. They say they will pay Corber whatever he wants in order to get rid of her. Loriss even says, Maybe we shouldnt tell Corber. Hell just say shes ruined anyway, and screams at Ada, he probably wont want your sorry ass now!

Lorisss cruel words remind us not only that American society continues to judge AFAB people based on their sexual activity to this day, but that men are not alone in orchestrating and maintaining sex-based oppression. The alarming fact is some women are just as responsible for perpetuating this kind of regressive and harmful ideology, and do so by actively opposing the right to abortion.

One of the most sinister aspects of Jug Face is the intensely dogmatic and cruel approach Loriss takes when interacting with her daughter. It is she, not Sustin, who is quick to verbally and physically abuse Ada when she does something that Loriss perceives to be sinful or disobedient. After Ada is brutally whipped for trying to escape, she ends up miscarrying her baby in the bathtub while Loriss cleans her wounds. Sustin shows remorse, saying, I shouldnt have beaten her like I did. Loriss responds, You did what was right.

In Jug Face, the women of the community are shown upholding the patriarchal standards that have been in place for hundreds of years. They relegate themselves to the positions of loyal and unquestioning wives and mothers, and in doing so are agents of their own oppression. Even when Sustin is killed by the pit, Loriss steps into his place and continues to enforce the communitys self-imposed rules. In this way, she in particular represents the type of women who aid in the writing, passing, and enforcing of laws like S.B. 8. It is not just cisgender men who aim to control AFAB peoples bodies, fellow AFAB people are often right beside them, upholding the patriarchal system upon which America is built.

In the footage of Governor Abbott signing the bill into law, we see a cluster of people behind him, several of them women, all smiling with pride at what is being done. However, the aspect that is conspicuously missing in legislation that effectively punishes AFAB people for unintended pregnancies is any kind of responsibility on the part of the father.

Jessaby, Adas brother and the father of her child, refuses to talk about their relationship. He tells Ada that shes on her own in regards to reconciling for her sexual activity. When word gets out that she has been fooling around, he threatens, Dont even try to hold this over me. He completely shirks all responsibilities for his actions, even though he is equally as culpable as her for what they have done. Ada shoulders all of the responsibility, and when the pit eventually kills Jessaby, she alone is made to atone for both of their transgressions. Jessaby dies before anyone finds out about their incestual relationship and the resulting pregnancy, and thereby does not have to face the consequences of his actions.

The pit even plagues Ada with visions of it eviscerating members of the community one by one, Jessaby included; a cruel form of punishment for her perceived insolence. She is left to suffer alone and is subjected to the full weight of the blame and vitriol from the community. The character of Jessaby can be interpreted as a personification of men in America who take no responsibility for an unintended pregnancy that they caused.

His unwillingness to support Ada in any way is an example of how, with the passing of S.B. 8, a person who experiences an unintended pregnancyregardless of whether the conception was due to rape or incestwill literally have to bear all of the emotional and physical trauma of carrying that baby to term and going through labor, not to mention supporting and caring for the child for a minimum of 18 years if they do not or cannot give it up for adoption. But even if they do happen to have a personal support system made up of friends or family, people who cannot access proper reproductive healthcare due to laws like S.B. 8 are essentially being shunned by the American government itself.

Shunning occurs when a group chooses to avoid, ignore and/or reject a specific person or people. In Jug Face, those sacrificed to the pit are dubbed the shunned. Theyre doomed to wander the backwoods as ghosts in eternal purgatory. Ada is visited by one of the shunned after her miscarriage. He asks her, You are no longer with child, why do you resist [being sacrificed]? insinuating that if she doesnt have her baby she shouldnt feel the need to cling to life. Ada replies, I dont know. She is unable to qualify all the things that would make a childfree life worth living, but she does recognize that her desire to live did not end with the loss of her child; she is not solely defined by her status as a mother.

Eventually, Ada relents to the pit and the film ends with Corber ceremoniously slitting her throat over its earthly chasm. Her blood drains into the ground, restoring peace to the community that is until the next jug face is chosen. Through her death, Ada is transformed into one of the shunned, never able to leave the woods that isolated her in life. She is punished for attempting to assert her agency. Ada is ultimately prevented from ever escaping the controlling environment from which she was so desperately trying to free herself.

This is the frightening reality for Texans in the passing of S.B. 8, especially for those who lack the money and resources required to seek abortion services out of state. They are stuck in a devastating situation with no way out, and their cries for help fall on deaf ears as far as the politicians behind S.B 8 are concerned. They become ghosts themselves, merely vessels for the life they carry, a life that is apparently vastly more important than their own. In this way, the government is especially punishing the already marginalized poor, aiding in perpetuating the cycle of poverty which is much like the generational poverty that the members of Adas community experience.

Looking back on Jug Face in todays climate, we see the desperation, fear, and shame that Ada experiences as a woman with an unintended pregnancy caused by incest while living in a controlling patriarchal society, and it hits all too close to home. Abortion bans like S.B. 8 weaponize religion in order to control AFAB peoples bodies, much like the communitys antiquated customs that are put in place to satisfy the pit. These bans are especially detrimental to those living in poverty, as impoverished peoples have fewer resources and often lack the ability to travel out of state to seek a safe abortion.

In Jug Face, Ada wanted to save her baby but was prevented from doing so. She was ultimately prevented from living the life she desired, all because her ability to choose was stripped from her. But, what if the story was written in such a way that Ada was trying to escape in order to seek a safe abortion from a licensed doctor? Ultimately, whether she wants to keep the baby or not shouldnt matter; at the end of the day it all boils down to the fundamental right to choose; to choose what is best for your family, your body, your mind, yourself.

When we view Jug Face with a 2022 lens and we watch as Ada is sacrificed to the pit, our hearts should ache at the resounding injustice. Through her death she becomes a symbol, a representation of the people that will perish when their ability to choose is denied and they are forced to carry out a pregnancy that will kill them either literally or metaphorically, all for the sake of appeasing a higher entitywhether that be a pit in the ground, a God in the sky, or politicians in the United States government. That is a terrifying notion that is scarier than any horror film.

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LA Robotics Competes at VEX World Championships – The Lincoln County News

Posted: at 7:51 pm

The 2021-22 Robotics team. From left: Grady Burns, Henry Maddox, Ryan Naylor, coach Susan Levesque, Ryan Sullivan, Connor Parson, Joseph Levesque, Owen Dyer, Jake Shaw, Austin Levesque, Jackson Ross, and C.J. Colomb. (Courtesy photo)

Twelve members of the Lincoln Academy Robotics team traveled to the VEX Robotics World Championships in Dallas, Texas last week. At the tournament, they competed with their state runner-up robot, 8030A, in the 2021-22 VEX Robotics Competition challenge, which involved building and programming a robot to place rings on goals and balance robots, rings, and goals on a platform.

The World Championships included approximately 800 teams who traveled from all 50 states and 40 countries around the world. The teams were divided into 10 divisions, and most of the competition took place within those divisions. LAs team competed in 10 matches, and of those they won five and lost five, placing them in the middle of the pack in their division and the competition overall.

I was happy with how we did, said senior Owen Dyer, a team captain who led the construction of robot 8030A. Being able to compete at that level, and seeing what the best teams in the world had to offer their strategies and what they did with their robots was really cool to see. There was a team who had a coach who was a VP at Google, a team coached by one of the founders of VEX robotics, and then us, and other small schools from all over.

Dyer plans to study engineering at Embry Riddle College in Arizona, where he hopes to participate in collegiate robotics.

Each year the VEX competition challenge is similar for middle school, high school, and collegiate levels, according to Dyer, but colleges can have bigger robots and fewer restraints, and they compete one on one instead of as an alliance.

In Dallas, the team stayed at the Embassy Suites Hotel and spent their days at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center. LA Robotics instructor and coach Sue Levesque and math teacher Shelly Richardson traveled with the team.

This was an incredible educational experience for everyone involved, said Levesque. To see students from all over the country and the world solving the same creative challenge in so many different ways was eye opening for all of us. We will be a better team for having seen the bigger world of robotics that is out there.

One of the highlights of the trip, according to Dyer and Levesque, was the final competition, which took place in a huge auditorium with a high tech light show. The LA team also enjoyed watching their Maine State Championships alliance partner, Thornton Academy, progress to their division finals.

Major donors who made the trip possible included the Lincoln Academy Boosters, Masters Machine Co., Washburn and Doughty Associates, Sabre Yachts & Back Cove Yachts, and The Burns Family Foundation, as well as families of team members and other local supporters.

What is the future for Robot 8030A? It will be taken apart and repurposed for next year, said Dyer.

Next years VEX Robotics challenge, which was announced at the end of the World Championships event, uses the principles of disc golf, where robots will toss or place discs into baskets.

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How AI-driven robots and drones bring cognitive intelligence to Industry 4.0 – VentureBeat

Posted: at 7:51 pm

We are excited to bring Transform 2022 back in-person July 19 and virtually July 20 - 28. Join AI and data leaders for insightful talks and exciting networking opportunities. Register today!

Over the past few years, smart manufacturing initiatives such as digital twins and the internet of things (IoT) has caused Industry 4.0 the trend toward digital transformation in manufacturing and industrial sectors to explode. However, robots and drones tasked with visually inspecting machines havent yet seen the same growth.That is set to change in a big way, Bill Ray, vice president and analyst, emerging technologies and trends at Gartner, told VentureBeat.

The robots, drones and cameras that inspect machines to perform predictive maintenance and relay analog information to operations staff can now function autonomously. Even better the longer theyre at their jobs, the better they do.

AI and machine learning tools bestow moving inspection systems that is, robots and drones with the capability to read the analog output from industrial machines that havent been digitized. In this way, they act as a bridge between Industry 4.0 and the analog age it will replace.

With cognitive intelligence, Ray said, robots and drones can make proactive decisions. And, he added, this is still early days. We expect it to be standard for Industry 4.0 in the next five years, Ray said.

In fact, Gartner expects asset inspection and human augmentation (helping out human inspectors) to be the fastest growing use of robotics. The inspection robots market size reached $940 million in 2020, according to a report from Allied Market Research. The report predicts the industry will grow at 31 percent to reach $1.4 billion by 2030.

Rays words underscore todays announcement from Florida-based Levatas that it has raised $5.5 million in a seed round led by Castellan Group. The company provides cognitive intelligence for automating industrial inspection equipment. It does not make robots, drones or vision systems. Instead, it partners with those makers to instill equipment with cognitive intelligence, said Chris Nielsen, CEO of Levatas.

The Levatas software guides these autonomous systems to learn how to do the everyday, mundane operational tasks that keep manufacturers running. For example, they learn to read gauges and to inspect and report abnormal temperature changes. Over time, through the use of machine learning, cognitive machines get better and better at their jobs.

The company competes with other makers of robotic cognitive intelligence systems for a piece of the growing industry. Levatas boasts annual revenues at around $21 million. Competitors include makers of robotics inspection systems for smaller businesses, including Stradigi AI, ReadSense, MotionCloud and Visenze.

Levatas also competes with companies that have a much larger share of the smart robotics inspection sector, said Ray, including Karsh Hagan, with annual revenues of about $19 million and industry giant Profero, which returns annual revenues around $132 million.

This summer, the company plans to roll out a new feature: change detection. Inspection systems will be able to report negative changes in the plant environment, such as a missing fire extinguisher, Nielsen said.

The Levatas system results in higher efficiencies, more uptime, safer workplaces and measurable ROI, Nielsen added: We sit at the heart of Industry 4.0, at the intersection of advanced robotics and inspection systems.

Levatas-trained robots, drones and vision systems are already in place at automakers, oil refineries, energy producers and a large U.S. brewery.

That is precisely the kind of growth Ray expects to see in the future for cognitive intelligence. It has the potential to take inspection and other plant operations to a different level.

You can imagine a robot inspecting the outside of a building and it sees a wet patch, he explained. Maybe AI will highlight the patch, but the drone knows it needs to fly in closer and maybe change the angle to see the patch. These proactive decisions, he explained, totally changes the inspection mission.

This kind of feedback can be folded into Industry 4.0, which will digitize the entire factory floor, using data returned by everything from sensors to conveyor belts to optimize plant performance. But many factories havent digitized every last machine. Upgrades like that would be way too costly especially when analog machines still work fine and would mean significant downtime.

That was true for Global Foundries, one of the worlds leading semiconductor manufacturers, which uses Boston Dynamics Spot robots to improve manufacturing efficiency with help from Levatas.

Global Foundries has around 2000 filter pumps that would cost millions to upgrade to digital sensors. The company put a roving robot on the job with mobile sensors to spot pump malfunctions that, if left unattended, could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs and downtimes.

As Industry 4.0 advances, these analog-reading robots like Spot wont be pushed out of their jobs. Organizations will simply find other ways to put their cognitive intelligence to work, Ray said.

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Advanced Robotics, Life Science Today; Station Boosts Orbit for New Missions – NASA (.gov)

Posted: at 7:51 pm

Astronaut Kayla Barron, posing with astronauts (from left) Samantha Cristoforetti, and Jessica Watkins, is pictured in her SpaceX flight suit before departing for Earth on May 5.

Robotics and human research were the dominant research themes aboard the International Space Station on Monday. The Expedition 67 crew also began the workweek maintaining a variety of exercise equipment and life support gear aboard the orbiting lab.

NASA Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren turned on the Astrobee robotic free-flyers and let them roam around inside the Kibo laboratory module on Monday. The cube-shaped devices, powered by fans and programmed using algorithms, photographed imagery of Kibos racks and systems to demonstrate their ability to autonomously monitor and maintain spacecraft systems. Lindgren also tended to the XROOTS space botany study before tightening gas connections on the Combustion Integrated Rack.

NASA Flight Engineer Jessica Watkins wore the Bio-Monitors vest and headband today testing its ability to monitor crew health without interfering with crew activities. Watkins also assisted NASA astronaut Bob Hines who began the six-month maintenance and inspection tasks on the COLBERT treadmill located in the Tranquility module.

ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti spent Monday testing the rHEALTH ONE medical device demonstrating its ability to identify cells, microorganisms, and proteins in microgravity. She also shared photographs of the lunar eclipse from the station as it orbited above the Pacific Ocean northeast of New Zealand.

Station Commander Oleg Artemyev joined Flight Engineer Denis Matveev on Monday on ventilation systems and radiation detection tasks in the orbiting labs Russian segment. Roscosmos Flight Engineer Sergey Korsakov started his day exploring future planetary piloting techniques before servicing a Russian oxygen generator.

The space station is orbiting higher after the ISS Progress 79 cargo craft fired its engines on Saturday afternoon. The orbital reboost places the station at the correct altitude for Russias next cargo craft, the ISS Progress 81, slated to launches on June 3 and docks to the Zvezda service modules rear port about three-and-a-half hours later.

NASA and Boeing are still proceeding toward the launch of the uncrewed Orbital Flight Test-2 mission at 6:54 p.m. EDT on Thursday. Boeings Starliner crew ship is targeted to dock to the Harmony modules forward port about 24 hours later where it will stay for up to 10 days of cargo and test operations.

Learn more about station activities by following thespace station blog,@space_stationand@ISS_Researchon Twitter, as well as theISS FacebookandISS Instagramaccounts.

Get weekly video highlights at:http://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/videoupdate/

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Deals relating to robotics decreased in the tech industry in H2 2021 – Verdict

Posted: at 7:51 pm

In the second half of 2021 the number of deals relating to robotics decreased by 8.7% from the same period in 2020.

This marks an acceleration in growth from the 25% decrease in deals that occurred in H1 2021 relative to the same period a year earlier.

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

During second half of 2021, deals relating to robotics accounted for 2.9% of all deals taking place in the sector. This represents a decrease from the figure of 3.3% in second half of 2020.

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

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

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Worldwide Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Industry to 2031 – by Product, Application, End-user and Region – GlobeNewswire

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Dublin, May 17, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Global Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Market 2021-2031" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

A recent market study on the medical rehabilitation robotics market offers a global industry analysis for 2016-2020 and an opportunity assessment for 2021-2031.

The report consists of a comprehensive assessment of the most important market dynamics. On conducting thorough research on the historical as well as current growth parameters of the medical rehabilitation robotics market, growth prospects of the market are obtained with maximum precision.

The report features unique and salient factors that may make a huge impact on the development of the medical rehabilitation robotics market during the forecast period. It can help market players modify their manufacturing and marketing strategies to envisage maximum growth in this market in the coming years.

The report provides detailed information about the current and future growth prospects of medical rehabilitation robotics market in the most comprehensive way for better understanding of readers.

Key Segments of Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Market

This study on the medical rehabilitation robotics market offers information divided into seven important segments - product, therapy type, extremity, patient type, application, end user and region. This report offers comprehensive data and information about the important market dynamics and growth parameters associated with these categories.

Product

Application

End User

Region

Key Topics Covered:

1. Executive Summary

2. Market Overview2.1. Market Coverage / Taxonomy2.2. Market Definition / Scope / Limitations

3. Key Market Trends3.1. Key Trends Impacting the Market 3.2. Product Innovation / Development Trends

4. Key Success Factors4.1. Technology Assessment4.2. Strategic Promotional Strategies4.3. Recent product Launches4.4. Regulatory Landscape 4.5. Reimbursement Outlook4.6. Supply Chain Analysis

5. Market Background and Foundation Data points5.1. Macro-Economic Factors5.1.1. Key Facts and Prevalence5.1.2. Global GDP Growth Outlook5.1.3. Global Healthcare Expenditure Outlook5.1.4. Per-Capita Healthcare Expenditure5.1.5. Medical Robot Market- Parent Analysis5.2. Forecast Factors - Relevance & Impact5.2.1. Rising Prevalence of Neurological Disorders and Traumatic Brain Injuries 5.2.2. Growing Technological Advancements and Increasing demand for Rehabilitation Robots to support market growth5.2.3. Aging Population and increase in cases of stroke to drive market growth5.2.4. Integration into Developmentally Informative Research Designs to Increase Ease of Use in Neurodevelopmental Populations5.3. Market Dynamics5.3.1. Drivers5.3.2. Restraints5.3.3. Opportunity

6. COVID19 Crisis Analysis6.1. Current COVID19 Statistics and Probable Future Impact6.2. Current GDP Projection and Probable Impact6.3. Current Economic Projection as compared to 2008 financial analysis6.4. COVID19 and Impact Analysis6.5. 2020 Market Scenario

7. Global Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Market Demand (in Value or Size in US$ Mn) Analysis 2016 - 2020 and Forecast, 2021 - 20317.1. Historical Market Value (US$ Mn) Analysis, 2016 - 20207.2. Current and Future Market Value (US$ Mn) Projections, 2021 - 20317.2.1. Y-o-Y Growth Trend Analysis7.2.2. Absolute $ Opportunity Analysis

8. Global Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Market - Pricing Analysis8.1. Regional Pricing Analysis By Product Type8.2. Global Average Pricing Analysis Benchmark

9. Global Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Market Demand (in Volume or in Units) Analysis 2016 - 2020 and Forecast, 2021 - 20319.1. Historical Market Volume (in Units) Analysis, 2016 - 20209.2. Current and Future Market Volume (in Units) Projections, 2021 - 20319.2.1. Y-o-Y Growth Trend Analysis

10. Global Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Market Analysis 2016 - 2020 and Forecast 2021 - 2031, by Product Type 10.1. Introduction / Key Findings10.2. Historical Market Size (US$ Mn) & Volume Analysis By Product Type, 2016 - 202010.3. Current and Future Market Size (US$ Mn) and Volume Forecast By Product Type, 2021 - 203110.3.1. Exoskeleton10.3.2. Therapeutic/ Assistive10.4. Market Attractiveness Analysis By Product Type

11. Global Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Market Analysis 2016 - 2020 and Forecast 2021 - 2031, by Extremity 11.1. Introduction / Key Findings11.2. Historical Market Size (US$ Mn) Analysis by Extremity, 2016 - 202011.3. Current and Future Market Size (US$ Mn) Analysis and Forecast By Extremity, 2021 - 203111.3.1. Upper extremity11.3.1.1. Arm11.3.1.2. Wrist11.3.1.3. Shoulder11.3.1.4. Elbow11.3.2. Lower extremity 11.4. Market Attractiveness Analysis By Extremity

12. Global Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Market Analysis 2016 - 2020 and Forecast 2021 - 2031, by Therapy Type 12.1. Introduction / Key Findings12.2. Historical Market Size (US$ Mn) Analysis by Therapy Type, 2016 - 202012.3. Current and Future Market Size (US$ Mn) Analysis and Forecast By Therapy Type, 2021 - 203112.3.1. Limb mobility12.3.2. Gait12.3.3. Sensory12.4. Market Attractiveness Analysis By Therapy Type

13. Global Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Market Analysis 2016 - 2020 and Forecast 2021 - 2031, by Patient Type 13.1. Introduction / Key Findings13.2. Historical Market Size (US$ Mn) Analysis by Patient Type, 2016 - 202013.3. Current and Future Market Size (US$ Mn) Analysis and Forecast By Patient Type, 2021 - 203113.3.1. Adult13.3.2. Paediatric 13.4. Market Attractiveness Analysis By Patient Type

14. Global Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Market Analysis 2016 - 2020 and Forecast 2021 - 2031, by Application 14.1. Introduction / Key Findings14.2. Historical Market Size (US$ Mn) Analysis by Application, 2016 - 202014.3. Current and Future Market Size (US$ Mn) Analysis and Forecast By Application, 2021 - 203114.3.1. Neurorehabilitation14.3.2. Physical Rehabilitation14.3.3. Others 14.4. Market Attractiveness Analysis By Application

15. Global Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Market Analysis 2016 - 2020 and Forecast 2021 - 2031, by End User 15.1. Introduction / Key Findings15.2. Historical Market Size (US$ Mn) Analysis by End User, 2016 - 202015.3. Current and Future Market Size (US$ Mn) Analysis and Forecast By End User, 2021 - 203115.3.1. Hospitals15.3.2. Wellness Centers15.3.3. Rehabilitation centers15.3.4. Home care15.4. Market Attractiveness Analysis By End User

16. Global Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Market Analysis 2016 - 2020 and Forecast 2021 - 2031, by Region16.1. Introduction16.2. Historical Market Size (US$ Mn) & Volume Analysis by Region, 2016 - 202016.3. Current Market Size (US$ Mn) Analysis and Volume Forecast by Region, 2021 - 203116.3.1. North America16.3.2. Latin America16.3.3. Europe16.3.4. South Asia16.3.5. East Asia16.3.6. Oceania16.3.7. Middle East and Africa (MEA)16.4. Market Attractiveness Analysis by Region

17. North America Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Market Analysis 2016 - 2020 and Forecast 2021 - 2031

18. Latin America Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Market 2016 - 2020 and Forecast 2021 - 2031

19. Europe Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Market 2016 - 2020 and Forecast 2021 - 2031

20. South Asia Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Market 2016 - 2020 and Forecast 2021 - 2031

21. East Asia Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Market 2016 - 2020 and Forecast 2021 - 2031

22. Oceania Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Market 2016 - 2020 and Forecast 2021 - 2031

23. Middle East and Africa Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Market 2016 - 2020 and Forecast 2021 - 2031

24. Emerging & Key Countries Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Market Analysis

25. Market Structure Analysis25.1. Market Analysis by Tier of Companies 25.2. Market Share Analysis25.3. Market Presence Analysis25.3.1. Regional footprint of players25.3.2. Product footprint of players25.3.3. Channel footprint of players

26. Competition Analysis26.1. Competition Dashboard26.2. Competition Benchmarking26.3. Competition Deep Dive 26.3.1. Ekso Bionics Holdings Inc.26.3.1.1. Overview & Key Financials26.3.1.2. SWOT Analysis26.3.1.3. Sales Footprint26.3.1.4. Analyst commentary26.3.1.5. Strategy Overview26.3.1.5.1. Marketing Strategy26.3.1.5.2. Product Type Strategy26.3.1.5.3. Channel Strategy26.3.2. AlterG, Inc.26.3.3. Bionik Laboratories Corp.26.3.4. Cyberdyne Inc.26.3.5. ReWalk Robotics26.3.6. Instead Technologies Ltd.26.3.7. Hocoma AG26.3.8. Fourier Intelligence26.3.9. Tyromotion26.3.10. Toyota Motor Corporation26.3.11. BeatBots LLC26.3.12. LEADERS REHAB ROBOT Co. Ltd.

27. Assumptions and Acronyms Used

28. Research Methodology

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/txqu4o

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Worldwide Medical Rehabilitation Robotics Industry to 2031 - by Product, Application, End-user and Region - GlobeNewswire

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FIRST LEGO League Teams With Amazon On Robotics Competition – 91.9 The Bend

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FIRST Lego League, an international robotics competition, where students build robots to perform tasks, and develop an innovation project to help tackle world issues held a competition at Rothesay Netherwood School. Image submitted.

Students are using LEGO and robotics to solve real-world problems.

FIRST LEGO League teamed with Amazon to tackle challenges involving cargo with a competition held at Rothesay Netherwood School in April.

Julie Letkeman is a homeschool teacher in the Kennebecasis Valley and entered a team in the virtual component of the competition.

Teams were challenged to come up with an idea on how to change something about how cargo is moved.

The kids then come up with a problem, research it, and then develop and design a solution.

Letkeman said their team decided to tackle the issues that delivery drivers face like falls, dog bites, and porch pirates.

The students did research, chatted with airspace and drone specialists, and designed a prototype drone, that the driver could launch safely from their truck, to deliver packages.

In one aspect of the competition, the students had to design, build, and code a robot to interact with a plane.

[They] have it travel to the airplane, lift its arms so it can pull down a lever so that it can unload the plane cargo, back up and go back to base and then go out and do another mission, Letkeman said.

She said interest is growing in the program.

A couple of years ago there were only a couple of teams in New Brunswick. This year it seems like there were five or six first-year teams from school throughout New Brunswick, Letkeman said.

Letkeman would love to see robotics get more attention since STEM learning science, technology, engineering and mathematics has become so important in todays world.

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Researchers design ‘socially aware’ robots that can anticipate and safely avoid people on the move – University of Toronto

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A team of researchers led by University of Toronto ProfessorTim Barfootis using anew strategy that allows robots toavoid collidingwith people by predicting the future locations of dynamic obstacles in their path.

The project, which is supported byApple Machine Learning, will be presented at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Philadelphia at the end of May.

The results from a simulation, which are not yet peer-reviewed,are available on the arXiv preprint service.

The principle of our work is to have a robot predict what people are going to do in the immediate future, saysHugues Thomas, a post-doctoral researcher in Barfoots lab at the U of TInstitute for Aerospace Studies in Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering. This allows the robot to anticipate the movement of people it encounters rather than react once confronted with those obstacles.

To decide where to move, the robot makes use of Spatiotemporal Occupancy Grid Maps (SOGM). These are 3D grid maps maintained in the robots processor, with each 2D grid cell containing predicted information about the activity in that space at a specific time.The robot choses its future actions by processing these maps through existing trajectory-planning algorithms.

Another key tool used by the team is light detection and ranging (lidar), a remote sensing technology similar to radarexcept that it uses light instead of sound. Each pingof the lidar creates a point stored in the robots memory.Previous work by the team has focused on labeling these points based on their dynamic properties. This helps the robot recognize different types of objects within its surroundings.

The teams SOGM network is currently able to recognize four lidar point categories:the ground; permanent fixtures, such as walls; things that are moveable but motionless, such as chairs and tables; and dynamic obstacles, such as people. No human labelling of the data is needed.

With this work, we hope to enable robots to navigate through crowded indoor spaces in a more socially aware manner, says Barfoot. By predicting where people and other objects will go, we can plan paths that anticipate what dynamic elements will do.

In the paper, the team reports successful results from the algorithm carried out in simulation. The next challenge is to show similar performancein real-world settings, wherehuman actions can be difficult to predict. As part of this effort, the team has tested their design on the first floor of U of Ts Myhal Centre for Engineering Innovation & Entrepreneurship, where the robot was able to move past busy students.

When we do experiment in simulation, we have agents that are encoded to a certain behaviourand they will go to a certain point by following the best trajectory to get there, says Thomas. But thats not what people do in real life.

When people move through spaces, they may hurry or stop abruptly to talk to someone else or turn in a completely different direction. To deal with this kind of behaviour,the network employs a machine learning technique known as self-supervised learning.

Self-supervised learning contrasts with other machine-learning techniques, such as reinforced learning, where the algorithm learns to perform a task by maximizing a notion of reward in a trial-and-error manner. While this approach works well for some tasks for example, a computer learning to play a gamesuch as chess or Go it is not ideal for this type of navigation.

With reinforcement learning, you create a black box that makes it difficult to understand the connection between the input what the robot sees and the output, or the robot does, says Thomas. It would also require the robot to fail many times before it learns the right calls, and we didnt want our robot to learn by crashing into people.

By contrast, self-supervised learning is simple and comprehensible, meaning that its easier to see how the robot is making its decisions. This approach is also point-centric rather than object-centric, which means the network has a closer interpretation of the raw sensor data, allowing for multimodal predictions.

Many traditional methods detect people as individual objects and create trajectories for them.But since our model is point-centric, our algorithm does not quantify people as individual objects, but recognizes areas where people should be. And if you have a larger group of people, the area gets bigger, says Thomas.

This research offers a promising direction thatcould have positive implications in areas such as autonomous driving and robot delivery, where an environment is not entirely predictable.

In the future, the team wants to see if they can scale up their network to learn more subtle cues from dynamic elements in a scene.

This will take a lot more training data, says Barfoot. But it should be possible because weve set ourselves up to generate the data in more automatic way: where the robot can gather more data itself while navigating, train better predictive models when not in operationand then use these the next time it navigates a space.

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Insurance As The First Step In Financial Planning – Forbes

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Financial planning simply means you need to take charge of your finances. This includes you charting out your incomes, expenses, assets, liabilities along with your financial goals. Thereafter, you create a financial portfolio and invest in different avenues to meet your goals. With high inflationary expenses looming and the rising cost of lifestyle, insurance appears inevitable, especially with the shift toward nuclear families in India..

As a first step towards creating your financial plan, you need to identify your goals, their horizon and your disposable income (income expenses). Next you need to allocate your disposable income to different investment avenues to create a fund for goal fulfilment. However, in all your planning, where does insurance fit in? The question that you may need to answer is insurance important, and if yes, how important?

To protect your family from any form of financial stress in your absence, insurance assumes importance. Insurance works as your safety net and it could be a good time to consider taking an insurance plan, heres why.

Insurance, as a product, is beneficial in safeguarding your finances. Here are some reasons which make insurance a quintessential part of your financial portfolio:

Insurance is a risk mitigation tool. So, it prepares you to face the financial loss that you may incur in any unforeseen event such as death or hospitalization.

By compensating for the loss that you suffer in an emergency, insurance policies provide financial security. You are secured in the knowledge that if an emergency strikes, the insurance policy would shoulder the loss. This helps you plan your finances and accumulate a corpus for your goals. It also ensures that the planned corpus is secured and is not used in emergencies.

There are different types of insurance plans to cover the different types of risks that you might face. Life insurance policies cover the risk of premature death while health insurance policies cover medical emergencies. Similarly, motor insurance plans cover the risk of road accidents or theft of the vehicle and travel insurance plans cover trip-related contingencies.

You can, thus, choose different policies based on the risks that you face and create yourself a 360-degree layer of financial protection.

Life and health insurance plans are tax saving too. Life insurance premiums qualify for a deduction under Section 80C while health insurance premiums qualify for deductions under Section 80D. Both these deductions help you lower your taxable income by INR 2.5 lakh (INR 1.5 lakh under Section 80C and up to INR 1 lakh under Section 80D). If you fall in the 30% tax bracket, this deduction helps you save a tax of INR 75,000.

Furthermore, under life insurance plans, the death benefit is completely tax-free. Even the maturity benefit is tax-free (subject to specific terms and conditions) under the provisions of Section 10 (10D). This means, by investing in insurance plans, you can also plan your taxes.

Insurance plans give you peace of mind knowing that your savings would not be threatened in emergencies. This gives financial independence to you and your family.

According to the financial planning pyramid, a derivation from Maslows Hierarchy of Needs, the five steps can be categorized as:

These are the five stages of financial planning wherein insurance comes in the second step, before accumulating wealth.

The choice of insurance policies depends entirely on your needs. You need to assess the financial risks that you face and then buy suitable plans to insure such risks. However, some insurance plans are universally relevant and demand a place in everyones portfolio. These plans are as follows:

A term insurance policy is a basic life insurance plan that covers the risk of premature death. The policy comes with a specified tenure and if the insured dies during the tenure, a death benefit is paid.

Term insurance plans are a must simply because of the fact that death is uncertain. If the breadwinner of the family dies prematurely, the family might suffer a considerable financial loss. A term plan covers such loss. It pays the family a death benefit enabling them to meet their lifestyle expenses and also fulfil their goals.

Moreover, modern-day term plans have become all-inclusive. You can find different coverage variants that not only secure you against the risk of premature death but also against critical illnesses, terminal illnesses and accidental deaths. You can also opt for the whole life option and enjoy coverage up to 99 or 100 years of age.

Health insurance plans prove relevant because of the incidence of medical contingencies and the coverage that these plans provide. If you suffer an illness or are injured in an accident and require hospitalization, a health plan covers your medical bills.

In todays age, medical costs are increasing considerably and are rapidly becoming unaffordable for most families. According to official inflation data, medical inflation jumped to 8.4% in May 2021 compared to 3.8% in December 2019. The report also stated that the cost of medicines jumped 8.6% YoY while those of medical tests increased by 6.2%. Similarly, hospital charges jumped 5.9% YoY while consultation charges increased by 4.5%.

In such a scenario, having a health insurance plan has become a must. It ensures financial protection when medical emergencies strike.

A motor insurance policy becomes relevant if you own a vehicle. Whether you drive a two-wheeler or a four-wheeler, a motor insurance plan is mandatory under the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988.

Motor insurance plans protect you from the financial liability that you might face if you injure someone else or damage third party property. The plan handles the financial obligation and compensates the third party for the loss suffered.

Furthermore, if you opt for comprehensive plans, you also get coverage for the damages that your vehicle suffers in an accident or in any other calamity. The plan also covers the theft of the vehicle and provides you with a lump sum benefit to help you replace the stolen vehicle.

These three policies are a must for your financial portfolio and should not be given a miss. They help you secure your finances if an emergency strikes.

The problem of underinsurance is very common in India since the penetration and the density is below the global average. Moreover, when it came to health insurance, General Insurance Councils data showed that between March 2020 and 14th May 2021, policyholders paid 40% of their medical bills out of pocket despite having health insurance.

Numbers dont lie. First, the penetration of insurance is low and, second, even those who have insurance are grossly underinsured. In such situations, buying optimal coverage is as important as buying insurance in the first place. If the coverage is not sufficient, the whole purpose of insurance stands defeated.

When buying insurance, opting for optimal coverage is important. Here are some simple formulae to consider:

Opt for a sum assured of at least 10 to 12 times your annual income. For instance, if your annual income is INR 25 lakh, you need coverage of at least INR 2.5 to 3 crore.

Opt for a sum insured which is equal to 50% of your annual income and the aggregated hospital bills over the last three years.

So, if your annual income is INR 25 lakh and you have suffered hospitalisation over the past three years the bill of which amounted to INR 2.5 lakh, your sum insured should be at least INR 15 lakh.

Remember, these are basic calculations that do not take into consideration other variables. Ideally, the coverage should depend on your financial needs that can be ascertained from different factors. Some such factors are as follows:

So, when buying insurance, do not make a hasty decision. Assess how much coverage you need and then pick the right plan.

The best-laid plans can go awry. Life has a tendency to throw the regular curveballs your way. You, thus, need a contingency plan. Insurance is that contingency plan which helps your portfolio absorb the financial shocks of emergencies.

Emergency planning is the first step of financial planning and insurance plans allow you to do just that. So, before you make elaborate savings and investment plans for your goals, do the insurance planning groundwork. Lay the foundation of secured financial planning, immune to emergencies. Thereafter, embark on your financial planning journey, plan your portfolio and watch your investments help you meet your goals.

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