Category Archives: Robotics

Nominations are now open for companies and groups to apply for the 2022 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards. Categories include 1) Business and Management Innovation, 2) Technology, Services, and Research Innovation, or 3) Application and Market Innovation.

By RBR Staff | January 10, 2022

For over a decade, Robotics Business Reviews RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards have highlighted the most creative and influential innovations from around the world that have advanced the state of robotics. Robotics Business Review is currently seeking nominations for the 2022 Robotics Innovation Awards.

Many Innovation TypesRobotics innovation can take many forms technological, business, market, and investment that act individually, or in confluence, to accelerate robotics sector growth. The sources for robotics innovation can be technology, product, and services providers, but also academics and researchers, governmental and private business development groups, and the investment community.

How to ApplyThe editors of Robotics Business Review are seeking submissions from companies, research and development organizations, business development and investment groups, and others for consideration for the 2022 RBR50 awards.

Three Categories

Business and Management InnovationEntries should describe business and management initiatives or practices that enhance a companys commercial standing, foster robotics sector growth, or improve society. Innovative business and management categories include:

Research, Product Technology, and Services InnovationSubmissions should describe innovative technologies or services that entered the commercial market after January 2021.

Application and Market InnovationThese RBR50 entries should feature newly developed applications for specific sectors that deliver value, provide entry to new markets, or improve performance over existing approaches by improving productivity, increasing quality, reducing costs, etc. Markets include:

Benefits for RBR50 HonoreesThe RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards presents technology, product, and services providers, along with researchers, business development organizations and investment groups, a unique branding, marketing and education opportunity. Benefits for RBR50 honorees include:

Examples

Questions?For questions regarding the 2021 RBR50 innovation awards, please contact editors Dan Kara or Steve Crowe

Submission Form for the RBR50 2022 Innovation Awards Please fill out the fields below to submit your company or organization for consideration in the RBR50 2022 Innovation Awards.

(www.yourcompanyname.com)

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Please Select 1 Among All Options

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About WTWH MediaWTWH Media LLC is an integrated media company serving engineering, business, and investment professionals through more than 50 Web sites, five print publications, and many other technical and business events. The WTWH Network includes The Robot Report, Collaborative Robotics Trends, and Robotics Business Review, online technical, business, and investment news and information portals focused on robotics and intelligent systems. WTWH Media also produces leading in-person robotics conferences, including the Robotics Summit & Expo, RoboBusiness, and the Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum, as well as the RoboBusiness Direct online webinar program.

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Nominations Open for the 2022 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards - Robotics Business Review

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ouster, Inc. (NYSE: OUST) (Ouster or the Company), a leading provider of high-resolution digital lidar sensors, announced today that it has signed a strategic customer agreement with Vecna Robotics, an intelligent material handling automation company. The agreement includes a non-binding forecast for approximately three thousand OS digital lidar sensors through 2025 as Vecna Robotics scales production to meet increasing customer demand for warehouse and logistics automation.

Vecna Robotics plans to fuse Ouster lidar into its multi-sensor autonomy stack to equip self-driving pallet trucks, tow tractors, and lift trucks for high-capacity material handling operations. The lidar helps the system confidently navigate dynamic environments, safely detect and avoid obstacles while working alongside human operations and manually driven vehicles, and intelligently map its path through real-time topological reasoning.

We completed an exhaustive evaluation of all 3D lidar sensors on the market and found the Ouster OS0 to be our strong favorite, said Zachary Dydek, Chief Technology Officer at Vecna Robotics. We believe Ousters best-in-class customer service and proven scalability will enable Vecna Robotics to meet customer demand for high-volume production and further extend our technology leadership in the industrial AMR space.

Vecna Robotics works with some of the worlds leading distribution, warehousing, and manufacturing companies to alleviate global supply chain challenges through automated solutions that increase throughput and efficiency in material handling. Manufacturing and logistics companies rely on over four million human operators to move nearly two billion pallets in the U.S. each day and approximately five billion pallets worldwide. Currently, less than one percent of material handling vehicles are automated, representing a significant opportunity to capture demand for warehouse automation within the $2.5 billion total addressable market (TAM) estimated for the industrial lidar market by 2025.

Warehouse and logistics automation is critical to improving supply chain operations. Businesses are facing unprecedented shipping delays, labor shortages, and price inflation and the demand to safely automate key aspects of the value chain is only accelerating, said Ouster CEO Angus Pacala. We are excited to partner with Vecna Robotics as they scale to serve the market opportunity for intelligent material handling equipment.

About Vecna Robotics

Vecna Robotics is an award-winning flexible intelligent material handling automation company with solutions engineered for seamless work between autonomous mobile robots (AMR) and the labor, equipment, facilities, and systems that make business go. Our self-driving fork trucks, pallet trucks, and tuggers powered by proprietary Pivotal orchestration software and our 24/7/365 command center help distribution, warehousing, and manufacturing organizations automate their most critical workflows, maximize throughput and scale operations fast. For more information, visit http://www.vecnarobotics.com. Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Ouster

Ouster (NYSE: OUST) is building a safer and more sustainable future through its high-resolution digital lidar sensors for the automotive, industrial, smart infrastructure, and robotics industries. Ousters sensors offer an excellent combination of price and performance with the flexibility to span hundreds of use-cases and enable revolutionary autonomy across industries. With a global team and high-volume manufacturing, Ouster supports approximately 600 customers in over 50 countries. Ouster is headquartered in San Francisco, CA with offices in the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East. For more information, visit http://www.ouster.com, or connect with us on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including but not limited to, statements regarding Ousters strategic partnerships, its ability to meet supply requirements, the scalability of its production, and its strategy and market positioning. Forward-looking statements give Ousters current expectations and projections relating to its financial condition, competitive position, future results of operations, plans, objectives, future orders and business. You can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements may include words such as anticipate, estimate, expect, project, plan, forecast, intend, believe, may, will, should, can have, likely and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of the timing or nature of future operating or financial performance or other events. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those that we expected, including: Ousters limited operating history and history of losses; the negotiating power and product standards of its customers; fluctuations in its operating results; cancellation or postponement of contracts or unsuccessful implementations; the adoption of its products and the growth of the lidar market generally; its ability to grow its sales and marketing organization; substantial research and development costs needed to develop and commercialize new products; the competitive environment in which it operates; selection of its products for inclusion in target markets; its future capital needs; its ability to use tax attributes; its dependence on key third party suppliers, in particular Benchmark Electronics, Inc., and manufacturers; ability to maintain inventory and the risk of inventory write-downs; inaccurate forecasts of market growth; its ability to manage growth; the creditworthiness of customers; risks related to acquisitions; risks related to international operations; risks of product delivery problems or defects; costs associated with product warranties; its ability to maintain competitive average selling prices or high sales volumes or reduce product costs; conditions in its customers industries; its ability to recruit and retain key personnel; its use of professional employer organizations; its ability to adequately protect and enforce its intellectual property rights; its ability to effectively respond to evolving regulations and standards; risks related to operating as a public company; risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic; and other important factors discussed in the Companys final prospectus dated August 19, 2021, and in other reports the Company files with or furnishes to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any such forward-looking statements represent managements reasonable estimates and beliefs as of the date of this press release. While Ouster may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, it disclaims any obligation to do so, other than as required by law, even if subsequent events cause its views to change.

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Ouster Signs Strategic Agreement with Vecna Robotics as Material Handling Automation Accelerates - Business Wire

Dont miss Fenix Group on Dawn of Drones Wednesday, January 12 at 11:00 AM EST. Dawn speaks with Savanna Horan, Senior Robotics Engineer, on whats next for drones and robotics. Stream below:

Join Dawn and Senior Robotics Engineer Savanna Horan of the Fenix Group Inc, leaders in creative applied intelligence as they discuss the Mobile Robotic LTE Network and the future of commercial & military robotics, drones and networked communications.

Savanna Horan has an MS in Robotics Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and has worked for a variety of companies from the Department of Navy to iRobot. Savanna also has her A&P and Remote Pilot certifications from the FAA, and is a volunteer with the Women in Technology (DC area) mentor/protege program, and with AUVSIs Grassroots Advocacy Network.

With her current company, Fenix Group Inc, Savanna has a patent pending for a robotic concept called MRLN (Pronounced like the wizard Merlin). Savanna is a proponent of continual learning, collaboration and over-communication for humans and robots, and believes the future of robotics is heterogenous multi-domain teaming, to include teaming with humans. Robots are useful tools that can help humanity to continue moving forward, says Horan.

Missed the last Dawn of Drones episode? Catch up here: Draganfly CEO Cameron Chell, the record-breaking FAA and NASA episode, and the Best of 2021 show!

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Fenix Group on Dawn of Drones this Week! - DRONELIFE - DroneLife

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HAI ROBOTICS and Voyatzoglou System Join Forces to Offer Smart Warehousing Solutions in E. Europe - Brazosport Facts

(TNS) As with all the Ivy Tech Community College campuses throughout the state, Andersons also offers the Smart Manufacturing and Digital Integration coursework in an effort to support emerging needs of local manufacturers.

Christina Collins, executive director of Ivy Tech-Andersons Career Coaching Employer Connections, said the campuss first cohort of students already completed the coursework and earned certification during the fall semester.

We are building our course programming and updating our lab to be able to deliver the full SMDI pathway, she said. Based on industry demand, we are also growing our Advanced Automation and Robotics Technology program, which the SMDI certificate stacks to at the associate level.

Courses offered this spring include key principles of advanced manufacturing plus technology in advanced manufacturing, both of which are offered through traditional in-person classroom settings and online.

After decades of sending work overseas, Collins said, many companies now are nearshoring because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the well-documented supply chain and labor shortage issues it has caused.

Though some have expressed concerns about potential job availability shortages in manufacturing caused by automation, Collins said the situation often is the opposite. Smart manufacturing will allow for fewer employees who can maintain the supply chain.

Its actually growing at a higher rate than health care. It actually mans more opportunity.

Additionally, the certifications offered through the smart manufacturing program are not industry-specific and can be used nationwide, Collins said.

It allows our students to have a nationally recognized certification, regardless of which type of sector they are going into. Employers will know the level of competency our students have.

2022 The Herald Bulletin (Anderson, Ind.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Ivy Tech-Anderson Expanding Advanced Automation and Robotics - GovTech

I have always been very interested in building objects and creating robots, but who isn't? Robots are the coolest. I've always thought they were great and wanted to work on them, but it took me a while to get to robotics.

I was very interested in the arts early on and in high school I was more focused on computer graphics and photography. But when I went to college I began to wonder how good at art I really was and whether it was perhaps more of a hobby, so I fell back on math. I then worked for three years as a data scientist for an insurance company. That is not exciting; there are no robots there!

At 25, I went back to school and studied computer science and robotics. It was what I had always wanted to do but it took me a while to realize that I could do it. It seems kind of daunting, like you must have to be a child prodigy at coding. That's not trueat least I hope it's not!

I built my first robot in graduate school, when I was in my late 20s. It was a soft robot made from rubber, which was something I was interested in during my PhD studies.

What makes a robot different from your laptop computer is that robots move themselves through the world like animals. Just like animals, robots can come in all matter of shapes and sizes, depending on what they are designed to do and what materials they are made of.

One of the characteristics of animals is that they are created from soft materials, but we normally build robots out of metal or plastics. Unfortunately, those aren't so great because eventually they break and become trash and pollution. I began to think about how we could make robots out of a material that is biodegradable and biocompatible. Perhaps it is naive, but a solution seems to be to build robots out of the same things animals are built out of, which is cells.

My colleagues and I at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University began thinking that there could be a lot of advantages to soft robots; perhaps they could interact better with humans and be safer? Or, maybe they could be more intelligent or perform certain tasks better because they could use soft materials like animals do? But soft robots can be difficult to design so we use AI and computers to help understand what they should look like.

Normally you have an objective for a robot: you want it to walk or clean your floor, for example. Then comes the questions of what to make it from, what it will look like and how it is going to perform the task. "What should my robot look like?" is a question that most of my work has been trying to address.

Building robots out of cells really arose spontaneously out of a collaboration. I knew we had Xenopus Laevis frogs in our biologist collaborator, Doug Blackiston's lab at University of Vermont, Tufts University. These eggs are used for all kinds of important developmental biology, and in 2018, Doug bet me we could build robots out of them, so I dove into it full time.

The two simplest to use were skin cells and heart muscle cells and the ethics behind it are really sound. You take one day old frog eggs but there's nothing in that egg, there aren't neurons in there and it can't feel pain. A lot of times they are thrown away before they develop into anything. Doug developed all the biology methods to build robots out of cells, which are simple enough that I can follow them without previous biology training, and we then asked how we could get this robot to do what we wanted it to do.

That's where an AI comes into this, it's like a collaborator and design tool. It offers up all these different ways to put these cells together to create a robot that does what you want; walking, for example. It's very much like using Lego blocks, but the Legos are cells and tissues.

The computer puts the cells together in random ways and determines which of these configurations does more or less of what we want the robot to do. As you can imagine, a random conglomeration of cells is probably not going to do what you want. Some won't move at all, but some might fall down, which is a little closer to walking or moving along. The computer takes those good designs, modifies them and deletes the bad designs.

Once we showed that we could design living robotswhich we have called Xenobotsto behave in specific ways, we were then able to observe that they can do all these amazing things that it's not so easy for regular robots to do.

The Xenobots can self-heal, which is amazing from a robotics standpointthough maybe not so surprising to a biologist, because we all self heal. You can cut this robot almost in half and it just zippers up and starts moving as it was before. No other robot can do that. Some of these behaviors that seem obvious to biologists become really amazing ideas and perspectives to roboticists.

But the way the Xenobots reproduce was surprising to both roboticists and biologists. Every single organism on the planet that we know of, reproduces either sexually or asexually. Reproduction involves parents or a parent organism giving part of itself, and from that small part, or parts, a baby or offspring grows.

We saw there was something really amazing that Xenobots could do. If we sprinkle loose stem cells in their dish Xenobots will move around in the dish, pushing those cells together into piles that develop into more Xenobots. They are able to reproduce in an entirely different waythis was more like Xenobots building other Xenobots.

When we gave their children more cells to build with, they sometimes produced grandchildren. But then reproduction stopped. So, we wanted to see if it could last longer.

We asked our computer what we could do to amplify the reproduction and make it last longer, and the most successful alteration was changing the shape of the parent Xenobots. You can carve them into any shape you want, even a little dog! But after weeks of trying different shapes, it gave us a very simple design that looks like Pac-Man. This Xenobot has a "mouth" carved out and moves around, and because of that, it traps cells in there and is better at being a snowplow; pushing cells into larger piles. These larger piles are more likely to develop into offspring and this process of self-replication lasts longer.

In 2020, we had discovered we could build robots out of cells and started to see early evidence of this self-replication. But it took a while to make sure it wasn't just chance and to prove that Xenobots really were really building other Xenobots, so we didn't release our findings until the end of 2021.

It's much simpler than most people realize, and it's probably important to emphasize that. A Xenobot is not the most complicated and useful robot, there's a lot it cannot do and there are lots of conditions that have to be perfect. However, roboticists all recognize that this is a robot and a kind of self-reproduction. It's not a robot dancing on the internet or doing construction outside, it's very limited, but our description is accurate.

People ask if the Xenobots are going to take over the world? We are very confident that this technology is safe because they can't reproduce unless they're in a petri dish and we keep giving them more cells to build with. Even if we do that, the self-replication stops after about five rounds. And even that took months; it was a lot of effort and there are still humans in the loop. It's also extremely safe because it's just frog skin cells. Frogs shed their skin all the time in lakes and streams and we don't really care about that. This is contained within a lab and there are very strict policies here. But, I think it's healthy for people to be skeptical of this kind of science and about technologies getting out of control. I also understand there is something about it that might bother people; it's a robot made of frog skin. But I think if you dig a little deeper, you can see how simple it is and how much potential good it can do.

We've only been building robots made entirely out of living cells for three years now, but in many ways they are already much better than robots we've been making since the 1940s. These are self-healing, biodegrading and self-replicating robots.

Right now, Xenobots have to be in an aquatic environment. So, if they're going to be useful robots they will probably have underwater applications. Maybe they will end up cleaning up lakes, streams and oceans, because there are many small contaminants in waterways that are difficult to see. We know the Xenobots are very good at making piles, and they are also self powered. They come pre-loaded with fat and protein that they burn. They live off that energy for about two weeks and then they biodegrade.

Science isn't easy, most experiments do not work out as expected. You fail 100 times in a row, then the 101st experiment goes really well and the world may take notice, which happens sometimes and that's amazing. It's really rewarding. At first it's overwhelming, but of course I'm very thankful for all this support and interest. A lot of science research goes without any recognition, which is sad.

My hope is that this is exciting for people. In particular, we've seen young people getting extremely excited about Xenobots. I get dozens of emails every month from students aged from middle school through to undergraduate and I'm very passionate about getting the next generation involved in this work. We have been creating soft robot kits for the classroom and more recently we've been trying to do the same with the Xenobots. We hope to make a really simple kit so that many people can see first hand that this is not something to be worried about because they built one in their biology class.

There's a lot you can learn from this, and who knows what the next generation will do with it. Probably way more than I can imagine now.

Sam Kriegman PhD is a computer scientist with a joint postdoctoral appointment at the Wyss Institute at Harvard and the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts. His work on Xenobots has been developed with senior scientist Doug Blackiston PhD. You can follow Sam on Twitter @Kriegmerica.

All views expressed in this article are the author's own.

As told to Jenny Haward.

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'We Created Living Robots That Self-Replicate' - Newsweek

The longstanding relationship between art and technology has evolved in the last few decades to the point where many artists today are making groundbreaking work using robots and artificial intelligence. Where the crossover field of art and robotics was once somewhat of a tech art niche, the capacity for artists to harness technology means that the field is expanding to a broader number of players.

Within the realm of robotic art, one of the early pioneers was Nam June Paik, who used radios and television monitors to create his Bakelite Robot (2002), a humanoid sculpture made from nine vintage Bakelite radios. Among other early proponents are Angela Bulloch, who began her ongoing Drawing Machine series in 1990, and Michael Landy, who developed moving sculptures described as robotic saints for an exhibition at Londons National Gallery in 2013.

Today, more artists are experimenting with bespoke technology to make installations and sculptures. Indeed, Anicka Yis current installation for the Hyundai Commission at Tate Modern, In Love With The World, involves machines based on ocean-life forms and mushrooms, which the artist calls aerobes, floating around the museums Turbine Hall.

We spoke to five artists using robots in their work to give us an idea of how it works, the costs involved, and their top tips for others hoping to experiment with technology.

ORLAN, ORLANode (2018), installation in the Artists & Robots exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris.

Who: The French multi-media artist ORLAN, famous for filming her surgery-performances in 19901993, has forged her career by making avant-garde works that interrogate the body. Ive always been interested in innovation and societal phenomena, and as soon as I heard about artificial intelligence, I looked into it, asking myself how I could say something important and in what way, she said. It was important for me to conceive a sculpture in my image, and that this moving, animated body could talk. To find the budget, I needed to find a well-known infrastructure to invite me to create an artwork.

Referring to Luc Julia, author of There is no such thing as Artificial Intelligence, ORLAN added. For me, artificial intelligence doesnt exist, at least not yet; one could rather talk about augmented intelligence or auxiliary intelligence.

What: In 2018, ORLAN was commissioned by Laurence Bertrand Dorlac and Jrme Neutres, curators of the exhibition Artists & Robots at the Grand Palais in Paris, to create ORLANode,a self-resembling robotic sculpture programmed to speak with her voice. I recorded 22,000 words that we put into separate MP3 players, ORLAN said about ORLANode, which spoke and interacted with video images from her performances.

To make ORLANode, ORLAN collaborated with the French fabrication company Animatronix and with Nicolas Gaudelet from Voxels Productions. Following the exhibition, ORLANode has been to Science Gallery Dublin, part of Trinity College Dublin, whose experts installed new features. ORLANode is now capable of translating live everything I say into English. I could therefore take it with me as my translator whenever I go to give a conference, ORLAN said. Id welcome other AI experts giving ORLANode further competences.

Cost: ORLANode cost more than 140,000 ($158,000) to make. There were people who worked [pro bono] as well as my interns and technicians at the Grand Palais, ORLAN said.

Top Tip: An artist shouldnt make a robot just to make a robot and be on trend, ORLAN said. Its about inventing something singular, not just researching the best technology, but developing a position and discourse on this technological phenomenon of society.

Ai-Da. Image Courtesy Aiden Mellar.

Who: Aidan Meller is a gallery director based in Oxford who has worked with the estates of Camille Pissarro, Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall. Branching out from the historical western canon, he created Ai-Da, a humanoid, robotic artist with artificial intelligence in 2019. Meller collaborated on the project with Engineered Arts in Cornwall as well as PhD students from Oxford, Birmingham and Leeds, bringing together an international team of more than 30 people.

What: Meller commissioned bespoke algorithms to enable Ai-Da to draw, paint, write, speak and see; Ai-Da can draw thanks to having cameras in her eyes and a robotic arm. Two years ago, Ai-Da had a solo show, Unsecured Futures, at the Barn Gallery at the University of Oxford. Other exhibitions include Londons Design Museum earlier this year, where Ai-Da made a self-portrait using mirrors. The Design Museum hailed her as the worlds first convincing humanoid robot capable of creating artworks.

Cost: Meller said he was unable to provide information on the cost of the project due to non-disclosure agreements made with the companies that he collaborated with.

Top Tip: Meller encourages more artists to get involved in the remarkable area of artificial intelligence. For a cross-disciplinary project to be successful, communication is key, he said. Meller is emphatic about the need to consider the impact of technology. Philosophical and ethical questions are so important, he insisted. As Ai-Da was detained when entering Egypt recently, we know technology is feared. Its very wise to question it so that we have a safer world.

Sougwen Chung, Exquisite Corpus (2019).

Who: Sougwen Chung is a 36-year-old Chinese-born, Canadian-raised artist based in New York. A former research fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she began programming and building robots named D.O.U.G. (Drawing Operations Unit Generation) in 2014. Together they have produced drawings and paintings in performances with the robots mimicking her gestures. In 2016, she won the Excellence Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival for her work. Last year, she live-streamed a robot collaboration to Srlandets Kunstmuseum in Norway, where it was exhibited as a video installation. And in October, she presented abstract paintings, sculpture, video and performance made in collaboration with robots during her exhibition Entangled Origins with Gillian Jason Gallery at Asia House in London. Developing new approaches to embodiment, memory and improvisation is what excites me about technology, she said.

What: Chung works with biosensors from Open BCI and Muse, and VR headsets such as Oculus and Vive, among other technologies. Were developing bio-inspired robots that can embody human traits, focus on collaboration, co-creation and care, and steward natural ecosystems with regenerative power sources, she said. Chung was invited by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation in Athens to perform the first phase of her multi-robotic system linking to bio feedback and satellite data at the Greek National Opera last August. Chung is also exploring links between machines and ecology in her project Floral Rearing Agricultural Network.

Cost: Chung writes bespoke software using a variety of robotic arms from Ufactory (which cost $10,999.00$11,999.00) and Kuka.

Top Tip: Start with a ritual, task or practice that means something to you like mark-making, dance, sculpting, or singing and try to find ways to invigorate that existing practice with robotic development, Chung said. Most of these technologies are designed for automated tasks but really beautiful and strange things can happen when you approach it like a human-machine duet. You need to let go of control and trust the process. However, the artist warned: Robots dont always do as theyre told.

Patrick Tresset, Human Study #1 (2011).

Who: Patrick Tresset is a Brussels-based artist with an MPhil in Arts and Computational Technologies from Goldsmiths College in London. He participated in the group exhibition Artists & Robots at the Grand Palais in Paris in 2018, and has shown his work at the Haus Der Kunst in Munich and Mori Museum in Tokyo, among other venues. He integrated robots into his practice in 2010 after becoming fascinated with new technologies. Tresset creates robots for his performative installations where robots take on the role of actors. For instance, in Human Study #1 (2011), based on a life-drawing class, several robots have sheets of paper on their desks and are tasked with sketching the human being sitting in front of them. The robots produce the drawings live, prompted by an assistant who twists their arm so they start drawing.

What: Tresset buys components, such as motors, from the Korean company Robotis, which enables him to create bespoke robots. The most complicated thing is writing the software, which I develop myself, he said.

Cost: Components from Robotis cost 50600 ($56$678). Costs to make a large installation with 20 robots can reach 20,000 ($22,600).

Top Tip: Be patient, focused and dont reinvent the wheel, Tresset said. Using robots takes a lot of time, far more than just developing software. Technical complications can arise, so testing and preparation is required. The first time that I exhibited robots in an art fair, they didnt work for the private view, Tresset recalled. However, the advantage is clear: Robots are always well received by audiences worldwide.

So Kanno, Lasermice Dyad installation (2021). Art Laboratory Berlin. Photo by Masashi Kuroha.

Who: Born in Japan in 1984, So Kanno has been based in Berlin since 2013. He began making digital art in the late 2000s and started developing robots six years ago when he recognized the potential for creative expression using sensors, motors, displays and speakers. After initially making interactive pieces, his interest shifted to generative and autonomous systems. His latest pieces are based on a swarm robotics system inspired by the synchronous behavior of insects like fireflies. At the group exhibition Swarms, Robots and Post-nature at Art Laboratory Berlin this year, he presented the installationLasermice Dyad (2021), involving several dozen small furry robotic creatures powered by electromagnets whose movements were illuminated by laser lights.

What: Kanno designed the robots himself after consulting the open-source platform Arduino and used Seeed Studio to produce the printed circuit boards (PCBs). I would love to collaborate with companies that produce social robots or toy robots, he said. Creating a mechanism such as an algorithm, and controlling its behavior by adjusting its parameters, is a unique experience.

Cost: The material cost of the 130 original boards produced for Lasermice Dyadwas around $7,000. The total material cost, including materials such as motors, lasers and printed plastic, was about $22,700, prior to developing costs.

Top Tip: Buy more components than necessary in case some of them stop working and cannot be replaced. Maintenance is a challenge and its often difficult to get the same parts a few years later, Kanno advised.

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5 Artists Who Work Extensively With Robotics Offer Tips on How to Do It (and Reveal How Much It Costs) - artnet News

It is the first time that JD.com has opened a physical retail store in Europe.

With the rich experience in retail and cutting-edge logistics technologies that we have accumulated over the years, we aspire to create an unprecedented shopping format for customers in Europe with better price and service, says Pass Lei, General Manager at ochama, JD Worldwide.

Shoppers can order via ochama's mobile app, where a range of A-brand products are offered, covering the likes of fresh and packaged food, household appliances, beauty, maternal and child products, fashion, and home furnishings.

An automated warehouse includes AGV (automated ground vehicles), robotic arms etc that engage in picking, sorting, and transferring merchandise.

By scanning the app's QR code atcheck-out, shoppers can watch as their orders are carried to them on a conveyer belt.

Ochama's Chief Operation Officer Mark den Butter notes that by tapping logistics and supply chain management technologies, the stores can bring down product prices by an extra 10%.

People can also visit a showroom to experience ochama's product assortments, or they can choose a next-day home delivery service without going to a store.

Dutch people are passionate for innovation and a green environment, and ochama's shopping format is designed to contribute to both aspects, says den Butter.

There will be no queue and fewer traffic jams to do the chores as they can go for convenience, benefits and everything in one stop at ochama.

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JD.com launches ochama robotics stores in the Netherlands Retail Technology Innovation Hub - Retail Technology Innovation Hub

The field Tipping Point is played on at Brooke High School. (Photo Provided)Jackson Simmons, 15, practices driving the robot at Parkersburg High School. (Photo Provided)Two alliances are shown competing with their robots at Tipping Point at Brooke High School. (Photo Provided)The Parkersburg High School Robotics team is shown after winning first and second place in the Dec. 11 robotics competition at Brooke High School. From left to right, Logan Miller, 15; Bradley Leonard, 18; Jackson Simmons, 15; Jace Cox, 14; Logan Richard, 14; Paidin Evans, 15; and Peyton Snider, 14. (Photo Provided)

The Parkersburg High School Robotics team is shown after winning first and second place in the Dec. 11 robotics competition at Brooke High School. From left to right, Logan Miller, 15; Bradley Leonard, 18; Jackson Simmons, 15; Jace Cox, 14; Logan Richard, 14; Paidin Evans, 15; and Peyton Snider, 14. (Photo Provided)

PARKERSBURG The Parkersburg High School VEX Robotics team won first and second place in their first ever competition at Brooke High School on Dec. 11.

The students competed in a game called Tipping Point, which is played over two minutes on a 12-by-12-foot field. Students use remote-controlled robots that they spend their spare time designing, building and coding.

Two alliances that are each composed of two separate teams, go head to head in this game mode. The goal is to collect more points than the opposing alliance by scoring rings, moving mobile goals and elevating on balanced platforms at the end of the match. There are 72 rings that can be scored and seven mobile goals that can be moved to different alliance zones for points. Tipping Point can also be played in skills challenges, where one team competes against the clock.

They did a fabulous job, said Steve Reiner, robotics program teacher at PHS.

One Parkersburg team is comprised of upperclassmen and the other freshmen, though they all work together on their robots and preparing for events. They took first and second place in the competition, and received three out of the five awards available. They also earned a spot in the 2021-22 West Virginia State Championships on March 12 at the Fairmont State University Falcon Center.

Jackson Simmons, 15, practices driving the robot at Parkersburg High School. (Photo Provided)

So were really excited to have that opportunity to have the kids interested in wanting to compete, said Reiner. As advisers, we dont tell them how to build a robot; were just here for guidance and support, but they do the rest of it. Its all of their hard work and dedication that theyve put in over the countless hours that they do after school.

Bobbi Gelpi, a math teacher at PHS, also supports the team.

I usually see someone in the morning before school starts, she said. They come up for sixth period lunch, and they spend their entire lunch period every day five days a week working. And theyll stay after school for as many nights as well stay with them.

She said they dont normally leave the school until after 5:30 p.m..

Sophomore Logan Miller said the team has put more than 200 hours into one of two robots and is working on building the fourth variation to get ready for states.

Two alliances are shown competing with their robots at Tipping Point at Brooke High School. (Photo Provided)

Were constantly working on it and upgrading, redesigning it, making sure everything is good to go for another competition, he said.

Reiner said the robots are designed from the ground up and must meet the regulations manual the VEX robotics competition team creates every year.

The team recounted an intense moment had during the competition at Brooke High School. Team captain Bradley Leonard had to fix one of the bots in between rounds and cut his hand in the process.

One of the bots broke down, when the motor died, and I was carrying part of the bot with my hand bleeding while taking it apart, said Leonard, a senior. I only had like five minutes to put it together, and I tore it off and put it back on while my hand was bleeding.

Miller said they were running across the gymnasium for parts, tools and motors in order to fix the bot in time for the next round.

The field Tipping Point is played on at Brooke High School. (Photo Provided)

Miller said the team feels nervous after winning its first competition.

Motivation is high, but this next competition were going to go and come out with our heads up high, because even though weve gotten into states already, we can take more from it with practice and experience, he said.

Freshman Paidin Evans said the competition was incredibly nerve-wracking and scary, but he feels more confident after the win.

Now that we know that we can do good, we know we can do better, and know that someday we could take robotics in college, he said.

Their next robotics competition is at PHS on Jan. 29.

People who would like to support the team or volunteer to help can call 304-420-9595 and ask for Gelpi.

James Dobbs can be reached at jdobbs@newsandsentinel.com

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Parkersburg High School robotics team crushes the competition, moves on to states - Parkersburg News

Among credits (several in realpolitik) the Chinese deserve, is self-actualization of both aspiration and achievement. Never mind reliability or efficacy. In recent days the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) has deployed machine gun carrying robots to the functioning border with India.

Its conscripted troops dithered on the Line of Actual Control (LAC); its lethal robotics will not. The Sharp Claws and The Mule 200s are operable wirelessly.

Of The Mule 200s, 120 have been stationed for supplies to the 38 combatant Sharp Claw. Beyond topicality and its implications, theres nothing unique about this. Major militaries are harnessing robotics.

The most obvious aspect is the go on endlessly without rest, replenishment, or human casualty aspect. Self-evident, minor issues of re-charging, re-fuelling notwithstanding. Wuhan Virus was a threshold crossed and mainstreamed in world discourse.

As its novelty wears off and the world resigns to smokescreens of denial and shift, non-conventional war-craft will gain wider currency. Not in the mainstream yet, but it will nibble fast at the fringes. Already is.

The vanguard is robotic warfare buttressed by AI and cyberspace. Robot soldiers: agnostic to biological, chemical, radioactive environments. In the air, they can flip and flick high G turns which would render a human pilot useless.

Under potential command, unmanned systems fly faster, turn harder. Robotic sailors have proven mettle in sea-state six which sees the roughest possible seas with waves at 20 + feet. And then, the whole aspect of digital speed and quicker learning curves with scrambled intelligence.

All of this is immensely scalable, can be improvised rapidly, is immune to honey traps or subversion. Technology has made reasonably affordable robots useful, deployable, expendable. From armies and battle-cries to suicide bombers, the robotic soldier is infallible.

An argument, which I would like to believe and hold dear, but cannot, is that human beings are special. Robotics and AI are eager to disprove this. Howsoever, remarkable you and I may be, howsoever distinct, we are nothing but a bunch of arranged atoms.

We and our brains are physical entities, obeying physical laws. For all, thats remarkable about us and for all that wed like to believe, from creations point of view, we are nothing special.

Much of our decisions are not led by explicit or rigorous reasoning. Many of our decisions do not pass muster on articulate reasoning. AI can learn from experience and make effective reasoning.

Perhaps beyond our time, there will be machines with a human-level theory of mind. And there will be soldier machines. The Robotic Soldier heralds this fantastic future throw. The Chinese offensives with quibbling robotic soldiers will be a sardonic example of robotic war genesis.

From a human view, there are seven basic plots for all stories in existence. I see the rise of robots spawned and led by AI as the plot of slaying the beast. In the rise of robotic marches, the beast has been an abstract mathematical theory of computational complexity. It posed the terribly hard-to-solve problems of AI.

The plot of the quest would also work since it has been akin to medieval knights searching for the Holy Grail. Well, here it is. Faster than we thought. Growing bigger than we imagined. The PLAs tinkers on the Line of Actual Control are mere pegs and lead-ins to a changing military ecosystem.

In Prague during the 1600s the head rabbi created the Golem a magical being intended to protect the citys Jewish population from anti-Semitic attacks. From Alan Turings musing in the 1950s. Can machines think? To the emerging answer of they can and with increasing complexity, the Robotic Warrior is on the horizon. It doesnt care for any Golem.

War has evolved much faster than we thought and its applications have evolved faster. The smart, gallant, valiant flesh and blood soldier will yield flesh to smart material and smarter non-human soldiers who dont care for medals, badges, or mentions in dispatches.

Or for that matter the honor codes of soldiers. Without quarters, asked or given, the Robotic Soldier will epitomize the dehumanization of humanity and the ascendance of cold hard insensate result machines. Dystopia as battlefield reality.

OPED By Amit Chaudhery

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Chinese PLA Deploys Machine Gun Wielding Robots Near Indian Border; Will Robotic Warriors Change The Battles Of Future? - EurAsian Times