Category Archives: Robotics

Thousands of Texas students will now have access to robotics, skill-based learning

The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation announced today that it is partnering with the Texas Workforce Commissions Texas Youth Robotics Initiative to expand access of competitive robotics to traditionally underrepresented high school students for the 2020/2021 academic year.

The REC Foundation has been awarded a nearly $750,000 grant to bring competitive robotics to rural and Title 1 schools around the state which will impact up to 4,800 high school students who wouldnt otherwise have access to evidence-based STEM programming.

The grant will assist rural and Title 1 schools in the development of 150 new robotics teams, comprised of students who have not participated in competitive robotics previously, and to sustain 50 existing teams. Additionally, this grant will focus on inclusion for deaf and hard of hearing students across Texas. The REC Foundation is partnering with the Texas School for the Deaf to expand robotics by creating 25 new teams and holding a signature competition event for the deaf community, next spring in Austin.

"Were thrilled to receive a grant from the Texas Workforce Commission to increase participation in competitive robotics in our home state of Texas," said Dan Mantz, CEO of the REC Foundation. "This investment will offer the opportunity for thousands of students to access science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills. It will also help prepare the next generation of innovators to have a rewarding career which will ultimately help enhance Texass workforce."

Through the creative process of designing, building, and programming robots for competition, students gain a wealth of technical knowledge and develop communication and teamwork skills that will serve them well throughout their lives. To learn more about the REC Foundation and how your high school can apply for this grant, visit https://www.roboticseducation.org/grant/twc-grant/.

About the Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation

The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundations mission is to increase student interest and involvement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by engaging students in hands-on, affordable, and sustainable robotics engineering programs.

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The Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation Receives a Nearly $750K Grant from Texas Workforce Commission to Expand Robotics Throughout...

IOWA CITY, Iowa, Sept. 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --iotaMotion Inc., an early-stage medical technology startup spun out of the University of Iowa's Otolaryngology Department, announced today that the company has been awarded a $1.65M grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The Company is applying this grant towards the continued development of real time tissue trauma sensing capabilities in the iotaSOFT robotic surgical system, which is intended to assist surgeons with cochlear implantation surgery.

iotaMotion, Inc. Logo. (PRNewsfoto/iotaMotion, Inc.)

In recognition of the Company's continued success, iotaMotionhas additionally received the inaugural Iowa Biosciences Med-tech Award. The first award of its kind, iotaMotion received $20,000 in recognition for significant progress and investor support over the past year. These funds will be used to support the Company's continued regulatory and pre-commercialization efforts.

"This grant award is incredibly exciting as the Company makes significant progress developing truly novel robotic-assisted technologies," said iotaMotion Medical Director and Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology at University of Iowa Marlan Hansen, MD, FACS. "We expect the iotaSOFT system to deliver a marked clinical impact on how we perform cochlear implantation surgery upon commercialization."

The iotaSOFT system is a robotic-assisted insertion device, which will allow surgeons to advance cochlear implant electrodes with control and precision. iotaMotion anticipates that controlled insertion will allow for less surgical variability in outcomes and results. Given the growing development of hearing preservation implant solutions, assistive technologies like iotaSOFT become critical in achieving surgical goals while navigating the patient's retained residual hearing capacity.

"These NIH funds will be used to advance technology development to support real-time feedback and monitoring during cochlear implant electrode insertion," said co-founder and President of iotaMotion, Chris Kaufmann. "We appreciate the support of the NIH as well as the local investor community as we make meaningful progress towards commercialization of our first suite of solutions."

IOTAMOTION, INC.

A privately-held Iowa based company, iotaMotion is developing robotic technologies with the goal of focused, individualized, hearing loss treatment. The company's solutions aim to standardize cochlear implant insertion, and to provide unprecedented control in the surgical and post-surgical care settings with the goal of expanding access to cochlear interventions for both surgeons and patients. For more information, visit http://www.iotamotion.com or contact Christopher Kaufmann at pr@iotamotion.com.

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iotaMotion Awarded $1.65M NIH Grant To Further Development Of Its Robotics-assisted Surgical Technology For Cochlear Implantation - Yahoo Finance

The global healthcare market size was estimated USD 3.76 Billion in 2014 and is expected to witness significant growth over the forecast period. Healthcare robots are used in various applications which include drug manufacturing, dispensing drugs to patients and moving inventory in medical supply facilities.Growing demand for the surgical robots such as da Vinci surgical systems is projected to enhance the market growth over the forecast period. These robots offers 3D HD vision systems for a clear ad magnified view of patients body and also assist surgeons in various complex procedures with high precision and flexibility.The healthcare centers are investing enormously in the robotics industry for minimizing the high cost manual label of surgery and for greater flexibility functioning of the healthcare. The centers are investing in automatic guided vehicles (AGV) for transporting the patient needs which include linens, delivering meals, packages, nursing supplies, sterile items, oxygen and gases and pick-up trash.

The Final Report will cover the impact analysis of COVID-19 on this industry.

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Rising government subsidiaries for installing and implementing the healthcare robots in the countries such as India and China is further projected to fuel the market growth. Furthermore, shortage in workforce in the sector is also driving the industry growth. According to World Health Organization (WHO) report, 83 countries fall below the threshold of 22.8 skilled healthcare professionals per 10,000 population and 100 countries fall below the threshold of 34.5 skilled healthcare professionals per 10,000 population.The market is segregated into two major segments which include rehabilitation robots and robotics surgery market. Further, the rehabilitation robotics consists of prosthetic robotics, exoskeleton robotic system, orthotic robotics, and therapeutic robotics.

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The robotics surgery market is segregated based on the components and services which include robotic surgical systems, instruments and accessories, and services.The robotic surgery segment holds the significant share in the market owing to the comprehensive scale improvements in patient monitoring, and the ability to deliver better medical results with high accuracy and precision while replacement and component implantation in orthopedics is projected to enhance the market growth over the forecast period. Gynecology, Urology and general surgery are few applications of the robotic surgery.

Moreover, the high cost associated with healthcare robotics encourages the patients to go for normal treatment. However, emerging trends which include implementation of robotic in-patient rehabilitation programs and replacement of manual surgical assistance indicate the immense growth over the forecast period.

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North America region is estimated to dominate the industry owing to the increasing government spending in the healthcare infrastructure sector. Densely increasing aging population in metropolitan cities of U.S. has led to the huge investments in healthcare sector. According to the American Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery report in 2014, a total of 1,764,956 procedures have been carried out in cosmetic procedures.Asia Pacific region is expected to grow enormously as the industries in China, South Korea and India has been adopting healthcare robots in hospitals and rehabilitation centers. Furthermore, Japan is expected to lead the healthcare robotics industry owing to increase need for reduced lead time for addressing the patients and for aging population.

The key vendors dominating the market include Elekta, Mazor Robotics, Intuitive Surgical, Tecan Group, Qiagen, and Varian Medical System. Other companies include Titan Medicals, Curexo Technology, THINK Surgical, Hansen Medical, and Health Robotics. Latin America: Brazil and Rest of Latin America

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Healthcare Robotics Market Projected to Deliver Greater Revenues during the Forecast Period until 2025 | Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic - StartupNG

Robotics and AI have already begun to shape humanity, and even one of mans oldest industries, agriculture, is now being affected. What problems do farmers typically face, what robotic and AI solutions are currently under development, and how will they change agriculture in the future?

Of all the inventions and discoveries by man, agriculture was the most important of all. The invention of agriculture, whereby crops are planned, and animals are domesticated, meant that people could settle into strong communities, with well-defined borders that kept predators at bay. The creation of settlements also saw humans move away from their nomadic days, and this allowed for proper planning of food and supplies. The ability to store food also provided people with free time, and free time lead to thinking. Thinking lead to other discoveries, including metalworking, astronomy, and mathematics, and from there, the modern world was created. Agriculture is so vital for society to grow that most technological revolutions are as a result of a surplus of food. For example, the industrial revolution (which brought steam power), was only possible thanks to improvements in agriculture as well as ideal weather conditions in the UK.

The agriculture industry is faced with a wide range of problems, and yet it is amazing that the public never face most of these issues. To start, price volatility can cause issues with regards to profit margins, something that many farmers already struggle with to stay competitive. Secondly, agriculture practices are heavily dependent on weather conditions (a particularly dry season can kill off an entire crop). Thirdly, pests and disease can quickly rampage across whole lands, requiring the culling of crop and livestock.

While price volatility is more of an economic issue, environmental factors are a result of mother Earths mood and something that can be difficult to fight against. The mass use of pesticides can ensure that a crop remains undamaged by pests, but can also cause ecological harm by killing off useful insects such as bees, wasps, and spiders. Droughts can be fought off by watering, but the quantity of water used can be astronomical, and large portions of water can go into growing unwanted plants (such as weeds). Weeds can be removed using herbicides, but these again come with their faults. Some can be carcinogenic to life, while others may cause damage to the environment as they are washed into rivers and streams.

To make matters worse, increasing wages and living standards is increasingly making it harder to find workers for farms at profitable rates. While many argue that those working on farms should be paid decent wages, those same individuals would be upset to pay three times the amount on food than they already do. While one solution to ensuring fair practices is to accept that food should be more expensive than it currently is, another lies in the form of technology.

By removing the human element in farming, agriculture businesses can not only improve their yields, but they can also do it at a reduced cost. Despite large advances in robotics, the use of automated robotic systems in farming is far and few between. Reasons for this include the difficulty in penetrating the agriculture market (which itself may see resistance against modern technology) and the low-profit margins that make it difficult to invest in new technology. Robotic systems can be used to replace a wide range of tedious tasks that require manual work, including tiling of land, planting, watering, and harvesting. While not entirely robotic, a combine harvester is an example of machinery that can automatically cut wheat, and separate the grain from the stems.

The Ecorobotix is an example of a robotic system that is designed to minimise the usage of herbicides used by farmers. The drone is automated, solar-powered, and uses visual technology to identify individual weeds. Once identified, herbicides are directed towards the weed, instead of dusting the entire crop, and not only does this improve environmental safety, it also uses up to 90% less herbicide, thus making it 30% cheaper than traditional treatments.

The LettuceBot2 is a robotic attachment to a traditional tractor that utilises weed identification systems to minimise herbicides. The system also can thin out lettuce crop to ensure that each plant has the space needed to grow, and selective watering ensures that only lettuce plants are watered, leaving surrounding land difficult for weeds to establish themselves.

AI technology is often used hand-in-hand with robotic technologies as it allows for visual tasks to spot and catalogue plants. The ability to learn allows for such robotic systems to improve their performance over time, and eventually become entirely independent from human interaction. Not only can they learn about identifying plants, but they also can gather large amounts of data regarding water to yield ratios, temperature logging, precipitation rates, and soil nutrition. From there, AI systems could improve farm yield over time and help to reduce dependencies on fertilisers, herbicides, and pesticides. The two previous examples, Ecorobotic and LettuceBot2, both integrate AI technologies to help identify weeds for precise farming methods. Thus, AI solutions often coincide with robotic developments as opposed to being stand-alone products.

There is no doubt that AI-driven robotic systems will become mainstream in the agricultural industry, and its introduction will significantly help to improve yields while also helping the environment. Climate change will bring about unpredictable weather patterns, including long droughts and extreme rain, thus potentially harming global food production. History tells us that an army marches on its stomach, and the same appears to be true for technology; after all, even engineers need to eat sometimes.

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How Robotics and AI will Change Agriculture - Electropages

VENTURA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Qobotix announced today the introduction of its new universal AI operating system to transform collaborative robots (cobots) into intelligent coworkers on the manufacturing floor. After two years of R&D, including active installations of the OS industrial appliance at major auto manufacturers, Qobotix officially unveiled its technology to make existing robots smarter and self-learning.

Click to see the media kit including a video on how Qobotix works.

Just as Android OS and Apple iOS offer application platforms that run on smartphones, the Qobotix OS platform coordinates industrial automation between manufacturers robotic capabilities. Powered by proprietary AI, machine vision, and kinematics, the Qobotix OSs agnostic plug and play technology enables intelligent factory applications to perform complex tasks that were considered only possible by humans. The company also offers complete robot stations, which are ready for immediate deployment on manufacturing lines with the flexibility to be deployed rapidly for different tasks.

With Qobotix OS, manufacturers can boost their manufacturing productivity, reduce costs and simplify manufacturing processes, such as precision inspection, picking, packing and assembly tasks. Qobotix Cloud provides a factory management platform with a centralized repository of work intelligence that can be shared between machines to manage production analytics and provide managers with deep analysis of robotic performance. Qobotix already has active OS installations in major auto manufacturing operations. The company is seeking early adopters of their technology and aims to distribute 20-50 robot stations in the first year with deployment, training and testing that can be done on the same day.

One of Qobotixs central innovations is that it enables robots to learn independently - humans can train robots by interacting with them and robots can learn from other robots, unlike existing industrial robots that are pre-programmed to perform only one task. This capacity enables robots to be programmed in hours or days rather than weeks. Companies can deploy their robots faster with greater flexibility to perform functions with accelerated human-machine collaboration, enabling humans to take on other roles.

Qobotixs introduction comes right as the Covid-19 pandemic is shaking up supply chains to their core. Companies are re-examining their reliance on massive repetitive production offshore, and seeking more flexible, localized manufacturing options. Qobotix helps companies meet the challenge of becoming better equipped to meet these new conditions and move away from inflexible factory designs and manufacturing processes. With Qobotix, factories can use cobots to more easily switch between projects quickly, produce at a high volume for a shorter time, while keeping workers safe through social distancing.

Qobotix is the brainchild of Avi Reichental, a 3D printing pioneer and long-time industry veteran; Egor Korneev, a serial entrepreneur and a pioneer in the field of machine learning and vision systems; and George Votis, the Chairman, CEO and founder of Galt Industries, Inc.

During our many years involved in industrial manufacturing, we experienced robots that were meant to be collaborative and quickly concluded they were not like that at all - they couldnt see or hear, and they were very inflexible, said Reichental.

The team recognized a major gap in the market and decided to develop their own technology with the aim of bringing vision and intelligence to collaborative robots, freeing humans from repetitive tasks to enable them to achieve more complex and strategic roles.

Our aim is to take robotics out of the late 1990s with the Qobotix operating system, said Qobotix Co-founder and CEO Egor Korneev. In the early 2000s, hardware companies dominated the mobile phone and device markets and the mobile applications ecosystem was weak with no common OS options. The advent of iOS and Android led to an explosion in mobile software applications based on open OS platforms. We are now in a similar place with cobots with Qobotix offering a universal operating system for industrial robots driven by AI as a platform for automation applications.

Qobotix marks a milestone in the manufacturing and services industries, said Reichental. Qobotix changes the game for manufacturing and services by eliminating time-consuming processes such as programming to significantly lower costs and increase output. This presents a huge opportunity for all manufacturers in their everyday operations.

Qobotix offers a strong return on investment by freeing up people for higher level tasks, said Qobotics co-founder George Votis. With Qobotix, robots can more easily collaborate with each other, and allow manufacturers to deploy production stations within different production lines each day, saving time and costs while boosting productivity.

About QobotixQobotix delivers the most intuitive and cost effective industrial-grade factory automation solutions for manufacturers of all sizes. The companys integrated and collaborative robotics solutions are powered by a proprietary machine vision and intelligence technology and patented kinematics that together deliver manufacturing floor adaptability, utility and human and machine collaboration at a fraction of the cost and complexity of traditional factory automation. The companys solutions reduce the time and cost required to commission and run demanding multitasking manufacturing operations that include precision inspection, picking, packing and assembly tasks compressing the time, cost and complexity of manufactures final products. To learn more, visit http://www.qobotix.com.

About the Qobotix FoundersAvi Reichental, Co-founder and ChairmanReichental founded XponentialWorks in 2015, after serving as president and CEO of 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) for 12 years. Under his leadership, 3D Systems became a global leader, ranking second in Fortune Magazines list of the fastest growing tech companies in 2013, and 13th on Forbes Worlds Most Innovative Growth Companies in 2014. Reichental is a recognized Additive Manufacturing pioneer and a leading authority on tech convergence. He also served on the board of Harman (NYSE:HAR) till its successful acquisition by Samsung.

Egor Korneev, Co-founder & CEOKorneev is a serial entrepreneur and a pioneer in the field of machine learning and vision systems. He works to merge applied Artificial Intelligence research with practical needs to deliver effective industrial solutions to customers around the world. Korneev brings two decades of proven track record in successfully commercializing technologies at the edge of innovation. He is also founder and CEO of Ordinal Science, a company that is focused on developing impactful AI solutions that advance the capabilities of the industry.

George Votis, Co-founder and Board MemberVotis is the Chairman and founder of Galt Industries, a private family office with expertise in the consolidation of fragmented industries and, through Galt Ventures, is an active technology investor, incubator and founder of businesses focused primarily on industrial transformation. Votis is also the founder and former owner of Techniplas, a global tier 1 supplier to the automotive industry which was exited in the first half of 2020. He is a Global Leader for Tomorrow as nominated by the World Economic Forum and was an Innovation Board member of the XPrize Foundation. He has an MBA from The Wharton School and a BA from Tufts University.

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New Universal OS Transforms Robots into Intelligent Collaborators that Interact and Learn from Humans, Other Robots - Business Wire

Debilitating diseases such as cancer and osteoarthritis could be identified and treated faster and more effectively, thanks to 1 of 6 projects benefiting from 32 million government funding.

As part of a keynote speech on research and development at London Tech Week 2020, the Science Minister Amanda Solloway will today (Monday 7 September) announce 6 new projects aimed at developing revolutionary new technological approaches that aim to transform care and treatments in the NHS by 2050, helping to improve peoples quality of life as they age.

InlightenUs, led by the University of Edinburgh, will receive 5.4 million to use a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and infra-red lasers to produce fast, high resolution 3D medical images, helping to identify diseases in patients more quickly.

Working with the universities of Nottingham and Southampton, the new research will initially be developed for use on hospital wards and GP surgeries, and by 2050 aims to scale up to walk through airport style X-Ray scanners, which will be able to pick up detailed images of structures often hidden within the human body that can reveal tumours.

Another of the 6 projects, emPOWER, will be led by researchers at the University of Bristol, and will receive 6 million to develop artificial robotic muscular assistance to help restore strength in people who have lost muscle capability. This could include patients who have suffered a stroke or are living with degenerative diseases such as sarcopenia and muscular dystrophy.

Using these highly targeted robotics will help overcome the limitations of current wearable assistive technology of regenerative medicine. Often, these technologies can be bulky and uncomfortable to wear, and can require 2 people to put on and take off. Users can also find the movements too slow. Through using robots, emPOWER will provide life changing benefits for sufferers, restoring their confidence, independence and quality of life, all while reducing the cost to the NHS.

Ahead of her keynote speech on R&D at London Tech Week, Science Minister Amanda Solloway said:

The pioneering projects we are backing today will help modernise healthcare, improving all of our lives now and into the future.

Todays announcement is part of our ambitious R&D Roadmap and underlines our commitment to back our incredible scientists and researchers and invest in ground-breaking research to keep the UK ahead in cutting-edge discoveries.

The funding is being delivered through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, through the Transformative Healthcare Technologies for 2050 call.

As part of her speech, Minister Solloway will set out the governments ambitions for research to address significant issues such as advancing healthcare outcomes for patients and ensuring the UK is at the forefront of transformational technologies like artificial intelligence.

It follows the launch of the governments R&D Roadmap in July 2020 which detailed plans to make the UK the best place in the world for scientists and researchers to live and work, building on the governments commitment to increase R&D public spending to 22 billion per year by 2024 to 2025.

Innovation minister Lord Bethell said:

Throughout this global pandemic, the NHS has continued to be there for us all and to treat cancer patients and those living with chronic illness as a priority.

These pioneering new projects will help us further improve care for patients and make life easier for NHS staff, cementing the UKs status as a world leader in research and technology and ultimately saving thousands of lives.

EPSRC Executive Chair, Processor Dame Lynn Gladden, said:

The projects announced today will develop new approaches which could become routine in the NHS and community and home care in the coming decades.

Harnessing the latest technologies and the UKs world-leading expertise will allow us to deliver a step-change in how healthcare is delivered and benefit millions of people, emphasising the critical role the UKs R&D sector plays in improving the health of the nation.

Led by Imperial College London, it will receive 5.5 million to develop a Non-Invasive Single Neuron Electrical Monitoring technology, which when combined with AI will allow researchers to monitor the brain in a way never achieved before. This will help scientists gain a better understanding of neurological diseases such as Parkinsons and Alzheimers. Currently approaches to monitoring the brain are invasive and so this new method would enable new pharmacological and neurotechnology-based treatments to be developed which are far more effective than any current treatments.

Led by Edinburgh Napier University, it will receive 3.2 million, to develop hearing aids designed to autonomously adapt to the nature and quality of their surroundings. Currently only 40% of people who could benefit from hearing aids have them, while most current devices make only limited use of speech enhancement. These hearing aids would be able to adapt to the nature and quality of the visual and acoustic environment around them, resulting in greater intelligibility of noise and potentially reduced listening effort for the listener.

Led by the University of Glasgow, it will receive 5.5 million to develop a project which aims to create a home of the future, providing homeowners with feedback on their health and wellbeing. Bringing clinically approved sensors into the living environment will enable individuals, carers or healthcare professional to monitor blood flow, heart rate and even brain function, in the home. Monitoring physical and emotional well-being in the home will enable tailored programmes to be built for lifestyles improvement, as well as rehabilitation.

Led by Heriot-Watt University, in partnership with the universities of Bath and Edinburgh, it will receive 6.1 million to exploit new laser, optical fibre and imaging technologies, delivering therapy for bacterial diseases and viruses in confined regions of the body such as the lungs, catheters inserted into the body for prolonged periods and areas of the body that have been subject to surgical procedures. The platform will be able to cut out single cells leaving the cells around it undamaged in cancer surgery, aiming to offer a cure for currently unresectable tumours tumours that are too close to critical structures and cannot be cut away safely with current approaches.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), in collaboration with the Medical Research Council, will shortly be inviting proposals for adventurous projects as part of the second phase of the Transformative Healthcare Technologies for 2050 call.

This call will target projects that that are guided by a longer-term vision to pursue new, high risk high reward ideas and develop thinking and approaches supported by the next generation of underpinning science, engineering and emerging technologies in the healthcare space. We seek and encourage adventurous ideas, new thinking and collaborations that have the potential to significantly improve healthcare delivery by 2050. Read further details.

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Walk-through cancer diagnoses and robotics muscles among groundbreaking projects backed by government - GOV.UK

The 1980s wasn't just the era of synthpop, bright clothing, and huge hairdos. It was also a time when the U.S. Army was thinking ahead of its time to develop new technologies to carry its troops to the next step, quite literally.

And so it worked on the development of a massive six-legged hydraulic robot truck that was operated by one person. It was called the Adaptive Suspension Vehicle(ASV) and it looked something out of the Star Wars movies.

The Army worked alongside Ohio State University (OSU) researchers to create the vehicle, along with a number of outside contractors.

The Drive published an extensive report on the vehicle.

SEE ALSO: U.S. NAVY MIGHT HAVE ROBO-SHIPS WAY TOO SIMILAR TO STAR DESTROYERS

The ASV was impressive in size and automation for its time, unfortunately, it was also very slow and couldn't carry a big payload. That said, it's still a rather impressive piece of engineering and robotics.

The project kicked off in 1981 and was led by Robert McGhee and Kenneth Waldron from OSU, and was developed over nine years, per the Drive's report.

At the time, it took 17 OSU computers to run the behemoth robot and ensure its operator wasn't exhausted from conducting six separate robot legs by the end of the day. The computers managed a number of tasks, such as cathode ray tube (CRT) displays in the cockpit, choosing the best footing, and analyzing the data brought together by the six feet.

All of the collected data was then processed by an operating software, which was written in Pascal and created 150,000 lines of source code.

The driver used a keypad and a joystick to select the vehicle's direction. As per the original article covering the ASV's capabilities, the end goal was to make it drive autonomously, however, that day never arrived.

The ASV was able to move thanks to a 900cc motorcycle engine placed in the center of the machine, offering 91 horsepower at its peak. There were a whopping 18 variable displacement pumps that were driven by a complex operating system.

The vehicle could move at 8 mph (13 km/h), and even though it was moving slowly, it wasn't a smooth ride. As per the original OSU article, the regular cruising speed was closer to 4 mph (6.4 km/h).

What was also cool was that it boasted six drive modes: utility, precision footing, close maneuvering, follow the leader, terrain following, and cruise.

It weighed 5,952 pounds (2,700 kg), and could only carry 485 pounds (220 kg) worth of payloads. It was 17 feet (5 meters) long, 7.9 feet (2.4 meters) wide, and went up 9.8 feet (2.9 meters). A pretty big truck unable to carry much payload or many people.

It could, however, walk over obstacles up to 6.9 feet (2.1 meters) tall, and stretch over trenches as wide as 23 feet (7 meters).Regardless of some of its impressive features, especially its time, the project was stopped in 1990, and the ASV has been lost out of sight.

Instead, the U.S. Armyand DARPA have been working on some other interesting projects.

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Ahead of Its Game, the US Army Developed Six-Legged Walking Robots in the 1980s - Interesting Engineering

Robots have been able to supplant humans to help stem the tide of coronavirus infections and artificial intelligence has been able to interpret data related to Covid-19 at alarming speed. While this might seemingly pose a threat to jobs, the disruption could actually help create new jobs, according to a Venture Beat article.

Contrary to some beliefs, I see robots as creating vast amounts of new jobs in the future, said Slamcore co-founder and CEO Owen Nicholson. Just like 50 years ago a website designer, vlogger, or database architect were not things, over the next 50 years we will see many new types of job emerge.

One example where employment opportunities could open up is via robot pilots. While robotic technology is advancing, humans still play an integral role in their optimal operation.

Ubiquitous, truly autonomous robots are still a long way from reality, so with semi-autonomous capabilities with humans in the loop, we can achieve much better performance overall and generate a brand-new job sector, he added.

The article mentioned that robots also have the ability to generate a significant amount of performance data, which is automatically compiled into reports that need to be interpreted, assessed, and analyzed to improve operation and fleet performance. While much of this work could be incorporated into existing roles, such tasks may eventually require dedicated employees, leading to the creation of new jobs.

Managers can view the routes being cleaned, take a look at quantitative metrics such as run time and task frequency, and receive notifications around diagnostics and relevant software updates, Brain Corp executive Michel Spruijt told VentureBeat. An understanding of these reports and how to successfully interpret and apply this data will be imperative in order to improve store operations using automated technologies.

^MSACWIIMIR data by YCharts

Exchange-traded fund investors can take advantage of the proliferation in robots and AI via the Global X Robotics & Artificial Intelligence Thematic ETF (NasdaqGM: BOTZ). BOTZ seeks to invest in companies that potentially stand to benefit from increased adoption and utilization of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), including those involved with industrial robotics and automation, non-industrial robots, and autonomous vehicles.

Additionally, BOTZ seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Indxx Global Robotics & Artificial Intelligence Thematic Index. The index itself captures large and mid cap representation across 23 Developed Markets (DM) and 24 Emerging Markets (EM) countries.

For more market trends, visit ETF Trends.

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The Increased Use of Robotics and AI Can Help Create New Jobs - ETF Trends

East Kentucky Advanced Manufacturing Institute student Tim Miller poses for a photo while using READY Robotics software at eKAMI on Aug. 18.

PAINTSVILLE The new executive director of the East Kentucky Advanced Manufacturing Institute has announced a new way that the institute is preparing the Appalachian workforce for a transformative future through robotics programming.

New eKAMI Executive Director Barbie Bussey was handpicked by eKAMI Founder and CEO, Kathy Walker, and said that she is passionate about her work for the institute.

Ive been involved up here since the beginning as just a community partner as a volunteer, basically, Bussey said. After 20 years of being in the legal profession as a paralegal, I accepted the position to come up here and help make a difference for our area and continue the mission of eKAMI.

She continued, The mission of eKAMI is to reskill the talented workforce that we have here in Appalachia and to draw industry to our area, because we have the workforce that they need. Im excited. Its definitely something that Im passionate about.

Bussey said a company called READY Robotics is helping to shape the workforce for which eKAMI is responsible.

READY Robotics is an industry leading robotic arm developer, she said. They started from cutting edge research in robotics from Johns Hopkins and theyre headquartered out of Columbus. They are the creators of the worlds first universal operating system for industrial automation.

Bussey continued, This is now their third week here training our students as well as our instructors, because we are integrating this into the program. The eKAMI students will now not only receive their CNC certification, theyll also receive their National Institute of Metalworking Skills certification and theyll also receive their Haas certification in addition with their READY Robotics certification.

Were sending out people who are at the top of their game. Its amazing. Theyre integrating it to work with the CNC machines, she said with a smile.

Tim Miller, a student with eKAMI who has accepted a job with Hartland Automation upon graduating, shared Busseys excitement for the new program.

Robotics was new to me, said Miller. It was just amazing that anything a human can do you can program a robot to do. It still requires a human to program it, but it just shows how far technology has come and its just amazing to have this opportunity here at eKAMI.

Kaylee Maynard, another upcoming graduate of eKAMI from West Liberty, spoke highly of both the new robotics training and the opportunities that eKAMI creates for its students of all backgrounds, ages and genders.

I started eKAMI this last program and its been a wonderful career opportunity for me. I absolutely love it and enjoy it. The robots are awesome. I have so much fun with it. Now that were on our final week of training and were out here in the lab, the whole program has come together and to see the program finished and how it can work, its amazing to me that something can do that, she said. Im usually not nervous doing things that are typically considered a mans job because thats something Ive done all my life, but I was a little nervous to come in to a career thats typically for men. Coming in as the only female in this class, I feel like Ive held my own and Ive done well. I graduated top of the class. Its for anyone young or old, for any gender, for anyone to do. Ive watched so many people come here from different backgrounds and different ages. I think its cool that we can bring anyone here and we can all learn the same skill in such a short amount of time.

Maynard will be employed at Hartland Automation in Georgetown after graduating from eKAMI as a mobile robot installer, traveling across the United States to install robots at various manufacturing companies.

READY Robotics Cofounder Kel Guerin, who has been in Eastern Kentucky for the past several weeks training eKAMI students, said the program helps fill a gap between the needs of manufacturers and the available personnel.

If you look at the robotics space, a lot of it is very fragmented, so theres a lot of different robot brands and every robot brand has its own programming and language, Guerin said. So what we do is make a piece of software that enables anyone to program a robot very easily in a very simple, sort of drag and drop system, that runs on all different kinds of robots.

What that means is that in terms of upscaling, which is a huge thing of interest right now because theres a lot of people entering the job market who want to get into manufacturing, is that theres a huge skills gap, Guerin continued. Manufacturing cant find enough people with the knowledge to do the work. Thats a massive problem. Theres also a skills gap in the automation space, so its kind of a vicious cycle, because theres not enough people who know how to do manufacturing tasks and theres not enough people in automation who know how to program robots to do it instead.

Barbie Bussey, the newly-appointed executive director of East Kentucky Advanced Manufacturing Institute, pictured above, spoke highly of the manufacturing institute's new robotics training program.

That, Geurin said, makes Eastern Kentucky an opportunity for the company.

We have the amazing raw talent that exists in East Kentucky, because people have been working in really intense industries like mining, they know how to problem solve and are really creative, Geurin said. They know how to dig in and fix things. They come to a place like eKAMI where theyre now trained with really hardcore CNC skills so that theyre able to do the manufacturing work, and then we come in on top of that. Because our software is so easy to use, we give them an additional skillset for manufacturing with robots as well. So now not only are they programming these manufacturing components, but theyre programming the robot to do the work to manufacture those components. The fact that theyre doing both is really whats transforming. Theyre able to use their CNC skillset that theyve learned from eKAMI with our easy to use software, so were kind of able to instantly, comparatively turn them into a robotics engineer, and now you see the result. Theyre standing here with little assistance from me and program the robot to build the part that they make.

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eKAMI boasts new executive director and robotics training program - Appalachian News-Express

The Boston Mechanical Dog has recently been the talk of the robotics industry for a number of reasons. Huawei, a company that is leading in smartphone innovations, has also come up with its own version of a robotic dog. Huaweis robot dog is very similar to that of the Boston team.

The news came to the surface after a digital blogger wrote about Huaweis interesting robot product on August 23 at the offline store of Huawei in Shenzhen. According to the blog-post of the blogger, offline communication activities at the Shenzhen Huawei Store, Huawei Central Research Institute, put up an AI robot dog intelligent technology. It is the brainchild of both Huawei and Yushu Technology for a full-scene AI technology solution.

As exciting as that sounds, the blogger was quick to mention that the new robotic dog is not yet up for the personal consumer terminal but mad for a mechanical device for enterprises. If Huawei robotic dog is used in certain scenarios such as intelligent recognition and target positioning then the robot can achieve dynamic multi-target tracking and active target following with full technological content.

Huaweis robot dog makes use of Huaweis AI technology which includes leading-edge AI technology exploration, mature AI technology application, and full-scenario AI technology solutions. The design team at Huawei too made the end product one of its kind. The dog is designed in such a way that it is very flexible and can even perform forward somersaults.

In contrast, there had been years of research and development behind the success of the Boston mechanical dog. The technology behind the Boston Mechanical dog has not matured, and now it can function tasks such as maritime patrolman, frontline anti-epidemic assistant, park security, and herder. Moreover, the Boston mechanical dog has been released to the public. Since Huaweis robotic dog is very similar to that of Bostons, it should go public soon too.

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Huawei is soon to launch its dynamic tracking Robotic dog - TechGenyz