Category Archives: Robotics

LONDON, Sept. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Smith+Nephew (LSE:SN,NYSE:SNN), the global medical technology company, today announces the first cases for revision knee replacement utilizing its CORISurgical System. Dr. Thorsten Seyler of Duke University performed the first cases on August 17, 2022, combining Smith+Nephew's handheld robotics technology with its LEGIONRevision Knee System. Smith+Nephew is the first orthopaedics company to receive FDA 510(k) clearance for a revision indication using a robotics-assisted platform.

RI.KNEE ROBOTICS utilizes image-free smart mapping, eliminating the need for pre-operative CT/MRI scans and the potential for image distortion due to in situ components from the primary procedure. Instead, surgeons are able to build patient-specific 3D models of the joint, register anatomy and bony defects after implant extraction, intra-operatively gap balance in real-time, and accurately precision mill for final placement of components.1-4

"The ability to visualize and create symmetric and balanced flexion and extension gaps with the CORI handheld robotic system has made one of the most challenging tasks in revision TKA an easier undertaking. I have never used more posterior stabilized over constrained bearings in a revision scenario. Additionally, the image-free system also allows for accurate mapping of bone defects after implant removal and enables surgeons to use a bone preserving approach to revision TKA," said Dr. Seyler.

Revision knee surgery using robotics expands opportunity for health care professionals

Surgeons can now experience the power and versatility of one robotics platform when using the CORI Surgical System. With broader capabilities and expanded indications, it can address robotic-assisted total, partial, and now revision knee arthroplasty, along with computer-guided total hip arthroplasty. By coupling robotics with Smith+Nephew's clinically-proven LEGION RK System with OXINIUMTechnology5*, surgeons can experience a truly comprehensive implant and technology portfolio.

"Beingfirst to market with a revision indicationfor robotic-assisted knee replacement surgeryis a significant milestone in orthopaedics," said Randy Kilburn,Executive Vice President & General Manager, Orthopaedic Reconstruction, Robotics and Digital for Smith+Nephew."Our ability to offer a robotic-assisted solution for partial, total, and now revision knee arthroplasty using a single platform is a true differentiator, especially when it potentially simplifies a complex procedure and maximizes the system's capabilities for surgeons to restore patientlives and live Life Unlimited."

Over the last six months, Smith+Nephew has launched RI.HIP NAVIGATION, RI.HIP MODELER, "Cementless" CONCELOC Advanced Porous Titanium 3D printing technology with LEGION CONCELOC Cementless Total Knee System, and now a revision knee indication. All are supported by the CORISurgical System.

To learn more about the latest advancements in orthopaedic reconstruction and robotics, please click here.

References

* We thank the patients and staff of all the hospitals in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who have contributed data to the National Joint Registry. We are grateful to the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP), the NJR Steering Committee and staff at the NJR Centre for facilitating this work. {Additional Contributors to be added where necessary}. The views expressed represent those of Smith+Nephew and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Joint Registry Steering Committee or the Health Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) who do not vouch for how the information is presented.

The data used for this analysis was obtained from the National Joint Registry ("NJR"), part of the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership ("HQIP"). HQIP, the NJR and/or its contractor, Northgate Public Services (UK) Limited ("NPS") take no responsibility (except as prohibited by law) for the accuracy, currency, reliability and correctness of any data used or referred to in this report, nor for the accuracy, currency, reliability and correctness of links or references to other information sources and disclaims all warranties in relation to such data, links and references to the maximum extent permitted by legislation including any duty of care to third party readers of the data analysis.

About Smith+Nephew

Smith+Nephew is a portfolio medical technology business focused on the repair, regeneration and replacement of soft and hard tissue. We exist to restore people's bodies and their self-belief by using technology to take the limits off living. We call this purpose 'Life Unlimited'. Our 18,000 employees deliver this mission every day, making a difference to patients'lives through the excellence of our product portfolio, and the invention and application of new technologies acrossour three global franchises of Orthopaedics, Sports Medicine & ENT and Advanced Wound Management.

Founded in Hull, UK, in 1856, we now operate in more than 100 countries, and generated annual sales of $5.2 billion in 2021. Smith+Nephew is a constituent of the FTSE100 (LSE:SN,NYSE:SNN). The terms 'Group' and 'Smith+Nephew' are used to refer to Smith & Nephew plcand its consolidated subsidiaries, unless the context requires otherwise.

For more information about Smith+Nephew, please visitwww.smith-nephew.comand follow us onTwitter,LinkedIn,InstagramorFacebook.

Forward-looking Statements

This document may contain forward-looking statements that may or may not prove accurate. For example, statements regarding expected revenue growth and trading margins, market trends and our product pipeline are forward-looking statements. Phrases such as "aim", "plan", "intend", "anticipate", "well-placed", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target", "consider" and similar expressions are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from what is expressed or implied by the statements. For Smith+Nephew, these factors include: risks related to the impact of COVID-19, such as the depth and longevity of its impact, government actions and other restrictive measures taken in response, material delays and cancellations of elective procedures, reduced procedure capacity at medical facilities, restricted access for sales representatives to medical facilities, or our ability to execute business continuity plans as a result of COVID-19; economic and financial conditions in the markets we serve, especially those affecting health care providers, payers and customers (including, without limitation, as a result of COVID-19); price levels for established and innovative medical devices; developments in medical technology; regulatory approvals, reimbursement decisions or other government actions; product defects or recalls or other problems with quality management systems or failure to comply with related regulations; litigation relating to patent or other claims; legal compliance risks and related investigative, remedial or enforcement actions; disruption to our supply chain or operations or those of our suppliers (including, without limitation, as a result of COVID-19); competition for qualified personnel; strategic actions, including acquisitions and dispositions, our success in performing due diligence, valuing and integrating acquired businesses; disruption that may result from transactions or other changes we make in our business plans or organisation to adapt to market developments; and numerous other matters that affect us or our markets, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive or reputational nature. Please refer to the documents that Smith+Nephew has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including Smith+Nephew's most recent annual report on Form 20-F, for a discussion of certain of these factors. Any forward-looking statement is based on information available to Smith+Nephew as of the date of the statement. All written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to Smith+Nephew are qualified by this caution. Smith+Nephew does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect any change in circumstances or in Smith+Nephew's expectations.

Trademark of Smith+Nephew. Certain marks registered US Patent and Trademark Office.

SOURCE Smith & Nephew plc

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Smith+Nephew first to market with revision knee indication on robotics platform - PR Newswire

By oht_editor | on September 28, 2022

LAPEER The 2023 FIRST Robotics season is right around the corner, and Lapeers Chimeras are looking to add a few members.

One way to attract members is with flying produce at least, thats the idea behind last Saturdays second annual Pumpkin Chunkin Workshop. The teams Open House doubled as a hands-on catapult construction event for visitors, and attendees were tasked with developing a launching device, determining angles and materials and selecting the perfect produce projectile.

The roughly 30 attendees were divided into two age groups, the Eagle Division of ages 8-12, and the Panther Division of ages 13-andup.

Earning the coveted Pumpkin Chunkin Champ trophies were Team Flying Potatoes of the Eagle Division and Team Team of the Panther Division.

Produce was set aside for launch and donated by the Reger/Laidler Farm.

For those unable to attend the event but are still interested in joining the team for its upcoming competition season, theres still time, said lead mentor Bernadette Storts. The Chimeras team orientation meeting is Monday, Oct. 10 at 6:30 p.m., held at the Center for Innovation, and team organizers said all are welcome to attend. Visitors will have the chance to meet the team and learn about FIRST Robotics as well as sign up to become a member.

For more information, email chimerasfrc1684@gmil.com.

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Chimeras robotics team holds pumpkin launch event - The County Press - Thecountypress

Most of us can tell the difference between a belly-busting laugh in reaction to a cat video and a weak chuckle following a coworkers corny joke. But can robots?

In a recent study published in the journal Frontiers in Robotics and AI, researchers designed a new AI system to detect peoples laughs, decide whether to giggle in response, and choose the type of laugh thats appropriate for the context.

This new design might help liven up chats between people and robots in an increasingly digital world.

I hope we can foster the idea that laughter should be a fundamental part of any conversational robot, says study author Divesh Lala, a researcher who studies conversational robots at Kyoto University in Japan. We have proposed the idea of shared laughter as one way to attack this issue.

Heres the background The past decade has brought freaky, ultra-realistic AI-powered robots that can gab relatively easily with people. And it seems like each new gadget dives even deeper into the uncanny valley.

Take, for example, Sophia: the humanoid device was created by Hong Kong-based Hanson Robotics in 2016. She has since served as an ambassador for the United Nations and spoken at conferences around the world (including an infamous appearance at SXSW in which she claimed she will destroy humans).

Theres also the upcoming Tesla Optimus that the company will preview on September 30. Musk thinks robots will eventually mow lawns, care for the elderly, and serve as friends as well as sex partners.

The humanoid robot Sophia has captivated (and creeped out) audiences worldwide.DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP/Getty Images

Nowadays, these conversational agents and interactive avatars and so on are becoming more than just mere tools its becoming much more than what we used to have when interacting with computers, says zge Nilay Yaln, a cognitive scientist at Simon Fraser University in Canada.

Despite recent breakthroughs, scientists have struggled to make robots laugh a crucial step that some experts feel could foster a genuine, empathetic relationship between humans and humanoids.

Previous work has mostly aimed to design robots that can detect peoples laughter, Lala says. But he and his team wanted to take things a step further. If you can do this, then you can simply make a shared laughter system which just laughs when a person does, he says.

Whats new The Kyoto University scientists have created what they call a shared-laughter system that they hope to eventually program into talking robots.

Heres how it works: When a person laughs, neural networks pick up on the sound. Then, a series of models that classify data decide whether to chuckle in response, and if so choose the type of laugh that's appropriate to reply with.

More specifically, the system can pick between a social or mirthful laugh, categories based on previous studies that have classified our chuckles.

Social laughs which most people are unfortunately all too familiar with fill silence rather than expressing genuine delight, while we use the mirthful variety in response to something genuinely funny (like a good DALL-E Mini meme).

Why it matters This recent work is just the latest attempt to make robots appear more empathetic and help them form meaningful relationships with humans. After all, talking robots could one day care for our aging relatives and follow us around our homes, along with other particularly intimate applications.

Some experts claim that computers can only offer superficial empathy, and that its a doomed mission from the start. Now machines are not content to show us they are smart; they pretend to care about our love lives and our children, wrote Sherry Turkle, a sociologist and psychologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in her 2021 memoir The Empathy Diaries.

Researchers have debated whether truly empathetic robots are possible, or should even be attempted in the first place.Daryl Solomon/Photodisc/Getty Images

But according to Lala, the AI laughter system isnt intended to replicate the real thing. We do not claim that our robot can show true empathy, since this requires them to understand human nature as such, he says. During an interaction, the robot is merely trying to simulate what an empathetic human would do.

In fact, Lala cautions that the AI system doesnt necessarily detect humor. It might do this inadvertently but it cannot know if what you are saying is funny, especially if you don't laugh yourself, he explains. Although this would be great if it can be accomplished, we do not want to oversell what we are doing.

He still thinks the simulation could help robots better benefit humans, especially those experiencing social isolation, such as senior home residents. Even if a humanoid truly doesnt understand its human companion, he says, it helps to have someone (or, rather, something) there to listen.

One ethical issue is whether or not we want robots to lie and explicitly say things like I understand what you're going through, and this is something we should consider, he says.

What they did The researchers trained the AI system with data gathered from a speed-dating experiment conducted between Kyoto University students and ERICA, a person-like android that was designed by the lab to study human-robot interaction. In this scenario, ERICA was voiced by amateur actresses sitting in another room.

They examined the audio from these sessions and identified over 3,000 individual laughs, which they sorted into the social and mirthful categories. The team also noted when the actress-operated ERICA copied the human chortles.

To test the finished product, the team crowdsourced over 30 people to listen to an audio recording of the AI system chatting with human subjects, including study author Koji Inoue.

They ran three different conditions: the main shared laughter system, one with no laughter at all, and a less nuanced one that always responds to human laughs solely with a social laugh. After listening, the crowdsourced subjects rated the shared laughter system the highest of all in terms of empathy, naturalness, human-likeness, and understanding, according to the study.

Whats next Now, Lala and his colleagues are currently working on incorporating the AI system into the ERICA android, along with other conversational robots theyre tinkering with in their lab.

These future studies will be important to prove whether this system actually works, says Khiet P. Truong, a computational linguist at the University of Twente in the Netherlands who studies laughter. After all, she points out, the concept could go south pretty quickly.

If [the robot is] laughing at the wrong moment, thats going to crush your relationship with the agent, she says. Its so difficult to create a laughing agent because the cost for error is very high.

Looking into the future, the researchers think the robots could theoretically laugh on their own not just when prompted by people. But that would require AI to actually pick up on humor. Researchers working in natural language processing, a field of AI that focuses on understanding how people write and speak, are now attempting to do that.

Shared laughter could help us see robots in a completely different light, but its a high-risk endeavor.Hector Roqueta Rivero/Moment/Getty Images

Yaln wonders how we could ever explain, say, absurdist humor like the kind found in Monty Python to a computer.

It is not very straightforward. It requires you to create a dataset that has all the cultural and social and personal interactions and all the complexity of the world, she says. But I would say that as a first step, this is a good study.

Until we reach that point (if we ever do), the new AI system may prove to be highly beneficial as is.

Based on current technological progress, though, Lala says it could take up to two decades for humans to enjoy a bona fide conversation with robots. Besides the laughter component, machines also need to improve on skills like eye contact, taking turns talking, and showing interest in the other speaker.

I think progress is incremental, but we still have a bit to do before we can all human-robot conversation a solved problem, he says.

LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERY DAY.

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Horrifying: Robots may have just gained a creepy new skill - Inverse

Self-cleaning Autonomous Robot Cooks Chicken Wings, Fries and Other Food Items

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill., Sept. 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nala Robotics, an AItechnology company fueling restaurant cooking automation, today introduced The Wingman, an autonomous fry station that can easily be added or configured to any restaurant or commercial food service operation.

The Wingman by Nala Roboticscan pick up and load the frying baskets with chicken wings, French fries and other food items, dip them in oil and shake off any excess. The multi-fryer configuration allows different cooked foods to simultaneously be sent to individual seasoning bins where spices or sauces are added and properly mixed to ensure every wing or food item is evenly coated. Each dish is then subsequently plated, ready to be served.

"The Wingman is our latest robot to help restaurants and other food providers boost efficiency in the kitchen and scale production, while minimizing the potential for contamination," said Ajay Sunkara, CEO of Nala Robotics. "It's no secret that chicken wings are a very popular food choice in America and across the globe, prepared in a variety of styles and cuisines. This is where our technology is essential, where we can cook an endless array of dishes, while at the same time meet high consumer demand as labor shortages continue to challenge the industry worldwide."

With its built-in clean in place functionality, The Wingman uses artificial intelligence and high-performance camera and vision systems to significantly improve efficiency for high-volume deep frying, while maintaining high-quality consistency.

Monthly rental options for The Wingman start at $2,999 per month. Email info@nalarobotics.com for more information on pricing and customized solutions.

Download a short video of The Wingman here or by visiting https://vimeo.com/749619393.

About Nala Robotics

Nala Robotics is an AI technology company disrupting the culinary industry. Its innovations include the world's first fully automated multi-cuisine chef, a customizable robot that uses machine learning to cook infinite recipes replicated with exact precision anytime, anywhere. The company's line of autonomous robotic solutions are ideal of multiple cuisines including American, Chinese, Indian and Thai. Based in Arlington Heights, Ill., Nala Robotics has offices in California, India and Ukraine. For more information, visit https://nalarobotics.comor follow the company on LinkedIn and Twitter @nalarobotics.

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(PRNewsfoto/Nala Robotics)

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AI Company Nala Robotics Introduces The Wingman - Yahoo Finance

In 2019, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos predicted that within a decade, robotic systems will be advanced enough to grasp items with the dexterity of a human hand. Three years later, Amazon looks to be making progress toward that goal.

A recent video published on the companys science blog features a new pinch-grasping robot system that could one day do a lot of the work that humans in Amazon warehouses do today. Or, potentially, help workers do their jobs more easily.

The topic of warehouse automation is more relevant than ever in the retail and e-commerce industries, especially for Amazon, which is the largest online retailer and the second-largest private sector employer in the US. Recode reported in June that research conducted inside Amazon predicted that the company could run out of workers to hire in the US by 2024 if it did not execute a series of sweeping changes, including increasing automation in its warehouses.

At the same time, the company is facing the prospect of US workers starting to unionize after the victory by the Amazon Labor Union in the historic Staten Island vote, and another upcoming union election in October in Upstate New York. Labor activists have long speculated that Amazon might ramp up automation efforts in response to unionization activity.

In a statement provided by an Amazon spokesman, the companys director of Robotics AI, Siddhartha Srinivasa, said: [W]e have an incredible opportunity to help advance the science of robotic manipulation in ways that meaningfully benefit our employees and our customers. Our investments in robotics and technology are helping make jobs in our facilities better, easier, and safer, as well as creating new career opportunities for our people.

The robotic arm in question does not look as futuristic as you might imagine. The proof-of-concept machine uses an off-the-shelf metal pincher rather than some novel grasping device. But it can pick up a new item and deposit it on a metal chute every three seconds. At the rate its going in the video, Amazon says the robot could handle more than 1,000 items an hour, meaning it could pick and stow items at rates several times faster than a human worker could. From a box of crayons to a container of what looks like garlic powder to a whisk broom, each item is grasped and moved with no human direction. The robot utilizes multiple cameras to help it see the assortment of items in front of it, as well as machine learning to help it decide the best way to pick up a given item, and motion-planning algorithms to help the robot navigate the crowded scene without bumping or damaging any of the goods. Preliminary tests also found that the robot damages certain products at a much lower rate than other manipulation robots Amazon has tested.

The video and the robotic system in it were created late last year in a controlled lab test by Amazon technologists. This robot prototype can only move items weighing less than two pounds. In testing, the robot was asked to handle hundreds of different items in this weight group and successfully grasped and moved around 95 percent of them, according to Amazon spokesman Xavier Van Chau. On a larger scale, the two-pound weight restriction would still allow the robot to grasp a selection of items making up about half of Amazons total product assortment. But the company is working on grasping solutions that would be able to handle any and every type of item that could fit inside an Amazon box, perhaps by combining a pincher attachment with a popular suction method, and having the system trained to know which hand should be used for which item.

How long it will take for Amazon to create a single robot that can handle the vast majority of products is up for debate, but its a question of when, not if. And when the when becomes now, well have an answer to one of the great unknowns of this era of automation: Will a new generation of warehouse robots that can grasp goods almost as well as human hands make work better or easier for the people doing these jobs? Or will the technological evolution eliminate the need for these workers and their jobs?

An Amazon spokesperson said the company is betting on the latter, based on the way it has utilized other types of robots in its warehouses up to now. In June, Amazon announced a prototype of a robotic system called Cardinal that lifts and sorts already-packaged orders and, the company claims, reduces the risk of employee injuries by handling tasks that require lifting and turning of large or heavy packages or complicated packing in a confined space. The company says it expects to introduce the system into an unspecified number of fulfillment centers in 2023. And last year, the company unveiled another robot arm that it calls Robin, which handles a similar task with lighter packages. Van Chau, the company spokesperson, declined to provide details on the deployment of either the Cardinal or Robin robots.

Amazons history in robotics dates back to when it bought a company called Kiva for $775 million. In the decade since, it has rolled out more than 500,000 roaming warehouse robots. During the same period, the company says it has hired more than a million workers and points to this fact to try to dispel the notion that warehouse advancements are leading to worker elimination.

From the early days of the Kiva acquisition, our vision was never tied to a binary decision of people or technology, the company said in a recent blog post. Instead, it was about people and technology working safely and harmoniously together to deliver for our customers. That vision remains today.

The Kiva robots did make some Amazon warehouse jobs easier. For those workers in picker or stower roles, robots now transport shelves to them at a stationary workstation, where they stand for 10 hours a day with padding beneath their feet. In Amazons pre-Kiva days, these workers would walk 10 to 20 miles a day, plucking merchandise from, or adding goods to, aisle after aisle of inventory shelves.

Kiva robots also brought downsides. Before the robots arrived, a picker might have had a goal to handle 100 items an hour; Amazon tripled those expectations when the robots, not the workers, did the traveling. And with the addition of robots, injury rates increased as workers were forced to move faster to keep up with higher quotas.

The tasks being completed by Amazon test robots like the pinch-grasping one in the new video potentially have more direct overlap with existing worker tasks. The robot, like an Amazon picker or stower, is retrieving a piece of merchandise from one location and moving it to another, as quickly as possible without damaging it. That said, while the robot prototype is picking items at a rate of more than 1,000 an hour around triple the typical rate of human pickers in Amazon warehouses its not an apples-to-apples comparison. Amazon pickers in warehouses with robots have to pull each item out of a cluttered shelving unit, and sometimes have to use a step stool to reach merchandise at the top. Similarly, Amazon stowers have to fit each piece of merchandise into an open space on the mobile shelving unit, versus the robot that is simply moving it from one open space to another. Van Chau, the Amazon spokesperson, said the prototype in the video was neither tested nor designed to pick items from shelves as workers do in the companys current robotic warehouses.

Still, robotics experts are paying attention. Martin Ford, the author of multiple books about robotics including Rule of the Robots, said while its unclear how Amazons most recent robot prototype would perform in a high-volume warehouse, it still seems to show remarkable progress. With advancements like Amazons, as well as those of many well-funded startups building robotic systems to try to solve for challenge of grasping with the dexterity of humans, its inevitable that the problem will be solved perhaps sooner than many of us expect, Ford told Recode.

And once that happens, Ford added, theres little doubt that Amazon warehouses, as well as many other environments, are going to become a lot less labor intensive.

Amazon maintains that robots and people will continue to work together inside its warehouses. But robotics experts say that one day, the company may have a real option to depend on robots to do a lot of the work it currently depends on human employees to do.

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Amazon warehouse robots are getting closer to replacing human hands - Vox.com

Aurora Autonomous Vehicle Company in Pittsburghs Strip District needs to hire more employees who can build and fix the tech-heavy cars and trucks the company designs.So they called Pittsburgh Technical College to help create a brand-new degree.Pittsburgh Technical College offers robotics classes, but there wasn't a comprehensive program graduating the kind of employee Aurora needs until now.Watch the video player above to learn more about this dynamic new degree.These service engineers are "really at the heart of what we do," said Matt Blackburn, senior manager of government relations at Aurora.He described the hardware that goes into what the company makes for vehicles: "Somebody has to build that, somebody has to repair that, somebody has to replace that. So that's what these technicians will be doing.""It's an opportunity to really integrate key components from major programs, like computer-aided design, engineering, electronics, to really create the technician of the future," Alicia Harvey-Smith, president and CEO of Pittsburgh Technical College, said.Students like Calle Barrett have a mind for robotics. She said that students would begin with a box with pieces for a robot. From there, "you build the robot from basically the wheels up, and you wired it and everything."A year ago, Aurora reached out to PTC to develop an associate degree in robotics and autonomous engineering. It will take 18 months to graduate and start working. Harvey-Smith estimated the starting salary range to be in the mid-to-high-$50,000's, "which is not bad for a student with an associate certification degree. But I think that will continue to grow as the demand increases and as this particular industry increases."David Becker, academic chair of Electronics, Trades and Technology for PTC, said that "Robotics is in its infancy." He added that "there's not enough students trained" in this "exploding" field.Not only are scholarships available, but the final part of the course can include a paid internship at Aurora.Aurora executives say this new associate degree, called robotics and autonomous engineering technology, or RAET, will also help fill positions across other Pittsburgh companies.Blackburn reminded potential students that "you don't have to work at Aurora" after completing this program. In fact, "you could work at any of the robotics/tech companies here in Pittsburgh.""The best part of this job is watching students get jobs, period," said Becker.The first session begins in October, but students can apply anytime through the link here.

Aurora Autonomous Vehicle Company in Pittsburghs Strip District needs to hire more employees who can build and fix the tech-heavy cars and trucks the company designs.

So they called Pittsburgh Technical College to help create a brand-new degree.

Pittsburgh Technical College offers robotics classes, but there wasn't a comprehensive program graduating the kind of employee Aurora needs until now.

Watch the video player above to learn more about this dynamic new degree.

These service engineers are "really at the heart of what we do," said Matt Blackburn, senior manager of government relations at Aurora.

He described the hardware that goes into what the company makes for vehicles: "Somebody has to build that, somebody has to repair that, somebody has to replace that. So that's what these technicians will be doing."

"It's an opportunity to really integrate key components from major programs, like computer-aided design, engineering, electronics, to really create the technician of the future," Alicia Harvey-Smith, president and CEO of Pittsburgh Technical College, said.

Students like Calle Barrett have a mind for robotics. She said that students would begin with a box with pieces for a robot. From there, "you build the robot from basically the wheels up, and you wired it and everything."

A year ago, Aurora reached out to PTC to develop an associate degree in robotics and autonomous engineering. It will take 18 months to graduate and start working.

Harvey-Smith estimated the starting salary range to be in the mid-to-high-$50,000's, "which is not bad for a student with an associate certification degree. But I think that will continue to grow as the demand increases and as this particular industry increases."

David Becker, academic chair of Electronics, Trades and Technology for PTC, said that "Robotics is in its infancy." He added that "there's not enough students trained" in this "exploding" field.

Not only are scholarships available, but the final part of the course can include a paid internship at Aurora.

Aurora executives say this new associate degree, called robotics and autonomous engineering technology, or RAET, will also help fill positions across other Pittsburgh companies.

Blackburn reminded potential students that "you don't have to work at Aurora" after completing this program. In fact, "you could work at any of the robotics/tech companies here in Pittsburgh."

"The best part of this job is watching students get jobs, period," said Becker.

The first session begins in October, but students can apply anytime through the link here.

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Pittsburgh Technical College offering new degree in automation and robotics repair - WTAE Pittsburgh

The world is constantly changing, and as new challenges arise for society to face, we risk failing to make the changes necessary to meet them. Education is how we prepare children to face the challenges of the future, and extracurricular supplements help students become well rounded individuals. Extracurricular activities for kids often focus on sports, yet there are so many new opportunities that have the capacity to prepare the next generation to thrive as constructive members of the 21st century. However, these opportunities are sadly often overlooked. Some people reading this will have never heard of For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), while others have found their experience with FIRST Robotics programs to be life changing. FIRST Robotics is an international organization that runs robotics programs for students in pre-K all the way through high school, but what this simple definition doesnt reveal are the true benefits that students receive hidden in the nuances of these programs.

According to firstinspires.org 81% of FIRST alumni declare a STEM major, compared to only 58% of people in a comparison group. But what students learn in FIRST goes beyond the science and technology knowledge they gain. Anyone who has been on a FIRST team at any age level can see how opportunities for students to develop real-world skills and associate what they are learning with methods of improving their world are integrated into the program. In the FIRST Lego League Challenge, the elementary and middle school program, one of the major components of the program involves students looking at an actual problem and developing a solution. Last season challenged students to find a problem in the area of transporting goods, and students were able to explore problems with packaging, delivery time and a variety of other topics, and then develop an innovative solution in that area. In the high school program, FIRST Robotics Competition, also known as FRC, the highest award a team can win doesnt involve the robot they develop, but instead focuses on the quality of the team itself. This usually involves looking at how the team has used their STEM knowledge to improve their communities and help others. This has led many FRC teams to become extremely involved in their community. The benefits of FIRST are unlimited, whether its STEM knowledge, practical skills such as critical thinking, leadership, and teamwork or students learning how they can make a positive change in their community and world.

Despite programs such as FIRST truly working to better prepare students to become positive influences in the world, many kids end up in other activities, namely sports. The Little League has over two million children participating worldwide, while FIRST hasnt even reached 700,000. The benefits of the FIRST programs are clearly larger than the science and technology skills learned and students tendency to pursue these fields; but simply looking at the two programs from a career perspective, the difference is astronomical. Less than 1% of Little League Participants end up playing Major League Baseball. Yet, as mentioned before, 81% of FIRST alumni declared a STEM major. One extracurricular activity provides students with the basic skills and inspiration needed to start a sustainable career something many students end up pursuing while the other activity gives students a crapshoot in that field. Even for the students who dont major in a STEM field, FIRST undeniably has a benefit for any student who goes through its programs; yet it is still hard to believe that in a society plagued with as many problems as ours, there isnt more of a premium on a program that has such a focus on good citizenship this is a shift that needs to happen. Simply taking a look at the students participating in FIRST compared to other youth organizations and then examining the benefits that these programs provide, its fair to say that FIRST is underrated. It would be worth any parents time to look into these programs.

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More kids should be in FIRST robotics - UConn Daily Campus

Having a 3D printer or a CNC machine available for projects is almost like magic. Designing parts in software and having them appear on the workbench is definitely a luxury. But for a lot of us, these tools arent easily available and projects that use them can be out-of-reach. Thats why one of the major design goals of this robotics platform was to use as many off-the-shelf components as possible.

The robot is called the OpenScout and, as its name implies, intends to be a fully open-source robotics platform for a wide range of use cases. It uses readily-available aluminum extrusion as a frame, which bolts together without any other specialized tools like welders. The body of the robot is articulating, helping it navigate uneven terrain outdoors. The specifications also call for using an Arduino to drive the robot, although there is plenty of space in the robot body to house any robotics platform you happen to have on hand.

For anyone looking to get right into the useful work of what robots can do, rather than spending time building up a platform from scratch, this is an excellent project. Its straightforward and easy to build without many specialized tools. The unique articulating body design should make it effective in plenty of environments. If you do have a 3D printer, though, that opens up a lot of options for robotics platforms.

Read more:

Robotic Platform Is Open Sourced And User Friendly - Hackaday

The desire for gadgets or machines that can keep up with the challenges of todays world and increasingly function in simpler and smarter ways is evident. Automation and autonomy have enabled this by producing and delivering products and services that require the least amount of human intervention, making certain jobs easier than ever before even when information is incomplete and uncertain. The emergence of new service robots and their ongoing evolution into new applications has further facilitated the world of automation. Due to the dynamic nature of robotics, numerous application sectors are now using robotics to carry out predetermined tasks and enhance human efforts in both physical and cognitive ways. Robotics has fuelled task efficiency, dependability, and quality, all of which were earlier, products of a laborious procedure. Being a crucial component of automation, robotics is currently used in an ever-growing variety of fields, including manufacturing, transportation, healthcare & medical care, utilities, defence, facilities, operations, and more recently, information technology. According to reports, the Indian industrial robotics market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.3% between 2019-2024. With its growing industry applications and productivity benefits, the study of cybernetics is likely to be a vital element in the advancement of robotics.

What is Cybernetics and what makes it different from Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

Cybernetics is a branch of science that focuses on creating technologies that behave or think like humans by researching how electrical devices or machines and the human brain function to add value to the task to be performed. Cybernetics, one of the best workaround physical embodiment of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and predictive analysis and control, investigate underlying systems/structures, possibilities, and limitations of complex mechanisms, including robotics, and develops autonomous innovations that require minimal to no human interaction. AI and cybernetics are two different perspectives on intelligent systems or systems that may act to achieve a purpose. Making computers simulate intelligent behaviour using pre-stored world representations is the main goal of AI. In general, cybernetics is the study of how systems control themselves and can take actions autonomously based on environmental signals even when the information is minimal and subject to significant uncertainty or noise. These systems go beyond simple computation; they can also control biological (body temperature regulation), mechanical (engine speed regulation), social (managing a huge workforce), and economic (controlling a national economy) systems.

How does Cybernetics work?

Every cybernetic systems objective is to be set up so that its operations are linked in a variety of input-output system configurations which are normally driven with reference control signasl. This is achieved by employing feedback-based automatic closed-loop control systems can decide which behaviours should be changed, which actions should be tracked, how to compare the actions to the reference, and how to adapt the relevant behaviours in the most effective way. In natural cybernetic systems, this regulatory mechanism develops or organises by itself via self-learning. On the other hand, artificial cybernetic systems react or are influenced by human-implemented automatic control systems. Essential elements of cybernetic systems are sensors, the controller, actuators and the system to be controlled.

Cybernetic systems, both natural and artificial, are subject to the controller, which must possess all of the capabilities necessary for its functions to analyse and model the static and dynamic characteristics so it can understood and properly classified so that a appropriate controller can be developed. The system starts to act in a goal-oriented way once the model and controller are coupled. The process can adapt to changing situations where the model and controller changes to stay tuned to the changing system. A good example to consider is an auto-pilot for an aeroplane whose weight is changing due to the on-board feul being consumed causing the plans behaviour to change. In addition, the objective is to maintain all essential system properties in agreement with the reference input regardless ofsystem disturbances which could be severe gusts of wind or storms. The controller must be able to operate the system appropriately and change the relevant variables in order to maintain good and safe performances.

When the regulatory structure of the system notices an abnormality in its behaviour, it makes an effort to correct it by analysing the differences between its desired goal and the actual behaviour to alter controlling inputs to gthe system to make up for the discrepancies. This process of error discovery and correction is repeated as the now purposeful system starts to make advances toward achieving its goal.

Cybernetics in robotics

Cybernetics in robotics aims to use AI and machine learning in the sense-plan-act paradigm normally used to design robots so they can operate effectively in real-world scenarios. Getting a robot to understand and differentiate complex situations in everyday is extremely demanding and getting the situation awareness correctly identified is critical to ensuring the desired reference control signal can be identified for implementation. This can range from making sure an industrial robot identifies and picks up the correct item for the next stage of the manufacturing process from a selection of parts to ensuring the requests of the human to be served a variety of beverages will get the correct drink. Sensors and sensor systems which are correctly calibrated are essential for ensuring the situation awareness is achieved correctly and in real-time using AI-based models which can be learnt and applied in various situations such as driverless cars, medical robots, automated manufacturing and home care robots.

As per MarketStudy Oct. 2021 report, the industrial robotics market is expected to grow to $87.79 billion at a CAGR of 10.35%. Similarly the service and medical robotics sectors are expected to grow at fast rates.

Views expressed above are the author's own.

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Cybernetics will drive the future of robotics - Times of India

ELKINS A local educator is creating a robotics team program for young students.

I am starting a Lego Robotics Team Program in Elkins and I want to get the word out because I have the materials and the experience, and I am looking for students to comprise the teams, said Eric Eisenbrey, the director and lead guide for the Eyes and Brains STEM Center, the Elkins areas first microschool and STEM-based school.

Starting in the first week of October and running until March, I am offering an after-school program for Kindergarten to first-, second- to fifth-, and sixth- to eighth-graders, he said.

The fifth- to eighth-grade will be registered to compete in the First Lego Robotics League state competition to be held in March at Fairmont University.

Kindergarten to first-graders will meet from 3:45-4:45 p.m. on Wednesdays. There will be a registration fee.

The second- to fifth-graders will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:45-5:15 p.m. There will also be a registration fee.

The sixth- to eighth-graders will meet on Mondays and Fridays from 3-4:30 p.m. There will be a registration fee.

The kindergarten to first-graders program is focused on giving children a build on their natural curiosity and developing problem-solving skills when they build solutions to scenarios using Lego Duplo bricks. The second- to fourth-grade program introduces programming with motors and sensors. This program also adds a research element that drives the design challenge for this group.

The fifth- to eighth-grade program focuses on the fundamentals of engineering as they will explore real-world problems, learn to design, and code, and create unique solutions made with Lego bricks. This group will finish out the season with a competitive challenge that has them building and programming a Lego robot that navigates the missions of a robot game.

Those interested can register at linktr.ee/eyesandbrains. For more information, call 304-801-3272.

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