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Category Archives: Robotics

One of the first ‘hands-free’ farms is using AI, smart sensors, and lettuce-picking robots – Business Insider

Posted: August 14, 2021 at 1:04 am

Technological innovation isn't just spreading to smart cities, intelligent buildings, or new hybrid work models; robots are also revolutionizing agriculture with artificial intelligence, autonomous tractors, sensors that monitor crops in real time, drones, or fruit and vegetable-harvesting robots.

In Australia, innovators have just presented the country's first fully automated farm.

It cost $20 million to set up, according to ABC News.

Conducted by researchers at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga, Australia in partnership with the Food Agility Cooperative Research Centre, the project could see farmers sat behind screens while the robots pick the crops.

Hands-free farming, the future of farming is nigh

The automated farm spans 1,900 hectares and could set a precedent for what robotics and AI have to offer for "hands-free" farming.

Among the tech on the farm are drones, robot tractors, harvesters, and smart sensors to measure, for example, carbon emissions released into the atmosphere.

The hope is that artificial intelligence will improve decision-making around planting, conditioning, and harvesting.

"It won't be long before technology takes farmers out of the field and immerses them in the world of robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence," Food Agility CEO Richard Norton said in the press release. "Full automation is not a distant concept; there are already mines in the Pilbara operated entirely in this way."

The researchers will also set up a state-of-the-art cyber secure environment to address emerging cybersecurity risks in food production.

Sensors will measure interactions between plants, soils, and animals and together, robots, AI, and algorithms will be able to establish evidence-based food sustainability practices and models.

The farm is already operating at a commercial level, and early trials will keep it running at night while farmers sleep.

This smart farm isn't the only recent invention to be driving change in food production: vertical farms save space in cities, smart greenhouses can be run with few resources, and artificial meat companies are stopping a lot of greenhouse gas emissions from being released into the atmosphere.

Documents like the recent life cycle assessment report from sustainability firm Quantis show that Impossible Foods' burgers created 89% fewer emissions during the production process compared to traditional animal rearing.

As for concerns about jobs being potentially lost to robots, World Economic Forum short-term estimates show that automation will create 97 million jobs, more than it will displace.

In addition to the fact that automation will complement farm work rather than replacing farmers, some laborers could go from the orchard to sitting at a desk managing farming software.

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Innovative education and outreach: K-12 Robotics Center | University of Nevada, Reno – Yahoo Finance

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With support from Tesla and EDAWN, a new and unique University facility for robotics-based education and competition teams will strengthen the path to degrees and careers

RENO, Nev., Aug. 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A vision to create a unique space that encourages young people's interest in robotics, computer science, engineering and automation and create a pathway to degrees and careers is now reality in downtown Reno. Development of the new K-12 Robotics Center | University of Nevada, Reno was supported by Tesla and the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN).

Nevada Lt. Governor Kate Marshall and University of Nevada, Reno President Brian Sandoval visit with members of FYRE Robotics, a Reno-area FIRST Robotics Competition team, at the K-12 Robotics Center opening event. Photo by David Calvert.

K-12 robotics competitions spark students' interest and development in these critical fields of study, and competition teams need specialized equipment and large, open areas as they design, build and test their creations. The K-12 Robotics Center provides the necessary tools and space.

"It is a place where kids and parents, coaches, teachers and University faculty all come together," said Mridul Gautam, the University's vice president for research and innovation and professor of mechanical engineering. "The kids will learn to design and build, and they'll see the opportunities and the support for their future success."

"We need our students at all levels of our educational systems and from all backgrounds to see and understand the opportunities ahead," said University President Brian Sandoval.

The K-12 Robotics Center is in the Southside Studio, an historic school building across the street from the University's Innevation Center.

Gautam sees the Southside Studio, and the K-12 Robotics Center within it, as expanding the Innevation Center's impact and energy, as well as the University's footprint. The Southside Studio building also helps meet the demand for work-space available to early-stage entrepreneurial companies engaged with the Innevation Center.

Recently completed remodeling of the Southside Studio addressed ADA accessibility and added a competition practice area and new Woodshop that complements the Innevation Center's Makerspace.

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More information about the K-12 Robotics Center is available at unr.edu/innevation/k12-robotics-center.

@unevadareno

Media Contact:Jane TorsResearch Communications DirectorUniversity of Nevada, Reno775-240-8686jtors@unr.edu

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Innovative education and outreach: K-12 Robotics Center | University of Nevada, Reno - Yahoo Finance

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SwRI awarded $34M contract for R&D of autonomous and robotic vehicles for US Army – Green Car Congress

Posted: at 1:04 am

Southwest Research Institute received an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract valued at up to $34 million over five years to support the US Army Ground Vehicle Systems Center through research and development of autonomous and robotic vehicles.

SwRI develops autonomous drones and ground vehicles, such as this high mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicle (HMMWV), for the US Army.

Through the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) Information Analysis Center Multiple Award Contract (IAC MAC), SwRI will support project management, research and development, modeling and simulation, software development, systems integration, testing and data analysis services. The contract offers clients options to procure services under specific task orders focusing on robotics and autonomous systems.

SwRIs work in this space focuses on mobile platforms ranging from compact, purpose-built autonomous vehicles to automated high mobility multi-purpose wheeled vehicles (HMMWVs) and even larger tactical vehicles. SwRI has also developed aerial drones to be integrated with military ground vehicles.

SwRI began developing automated vehicle (AV) technology in 2006 through a multidisciplinary internal research program known as MARTI (Mobile Autonomous Robotics Technology Initiative). The project has evolved to serve military and commercial clients with development of automated systems using sensing, machine learning, and connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technologies.

For more than a decade, SwRI has supported the Army with development of autonomous robotic vehicle systems. SwRIs robotics systems have been integrated onto more than 15 unique military ground vehicle platforms, some of which were deployed overseas as part of the Dismounted Soldier Autonomy Tools (DSAT) program.

SwRI has also played a key role in the development of the Robotics Technology Kernel (RTK), an autonomy software library that provides a set of common robotic capabilities across a variety of vehicle platforms.

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Hyphen Launches the World’s First Robotic MakelineAllowing Restaurants and Foodservice Operators to Make Meals Within Seconds – Business Wire

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SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today Hyphen, formerly known as Ono Food Co. announced its plan to transform the foodservice industry across the country with the launch of its new platform. The platform consists of an Automated Makeline and companion OS that fulfills digital orders (pick-up, delivery, drive-thru, QR code), manages inventory, and eliminates order issues such as missing ingredients and cross-contamination. The Makeline can produce 350 meals per hour and requires just one staff member. Hyphen was built by some of the worlds top talent in robotics, foodservice, and food-tech from companies like Apple, Sweetgreen, SpaceX, Tesla, Uber, Instacart, Postmates, and more. Hyphens Makelines will deploy across the country this winter.

The first incarnation of Hyphen was a company called Ono Food Co., a robotic food truck with a mission to make healthy and delicious food as affordable and as ubiquitous as fast food. Within months of Onos launch, the COVID-19 pandemic forced shelter-in-place, and co-founder and CEO Stephen Klein decided to halt operations, take a step back, and think about what a post-COVID world meant for the restaurant industry. Within months, they decided to pivot the business to focus on an enterprise solution.

When we took a step back, we realized that we had built a very effective way to automate food production and run a very efficient and profitable business, said Klein. We had demonstrated the value, but we had a unique opportunity to accelerate our mission by enabling restaurants to make their kitchen operations more profitable and efficient. Now we really see ourselves like Shopify, but instead of enabling merchants to compete with the likes of Amazon, were enabling restaurants to compete with the likes of DoorDash as well as other services and ghost kitchens that have decided to compete with their own customers by offering their own food brands.

Hyphens Makelines will deploy in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Phoenix over the coming months with their first set of customersmostly restaurant brands with over 300 locations in total.

About Hyphen

Hyphen uses software and robotics to increase profitability and efficiency in foodservice by putting kitchen operations on autopilot. Hyphens robotic makeline produces over 350 meals an hour with zero order defects or cross-contamination, and can easily be swapped with a restaurants existing makeline without the need for plumbing or drainage. Through its KitchenOS, the platform enables restaurants to create recipes, fulfill multiple orders from third-party delivery services, and help with other kitchen-specific tasks like telling line cooks what food to prep next. Customers include some of the worlds most innovative restaurant chains, food brands, and co-packers.

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Hyphen Launches the World's First Robotic MakelineAllowing Restaurants and Foodservice Operators to Make Meals Within Seconds - Business Wire

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‘I’ll be back’ says Yokohoma as city clinches 2024 robotics show – Conference and Meetings World

Posted: at 1:04 am

The Yokohama Convention & Visitors Bureau (YCVB) has announced, 12 August, that Yokohama has been chosen to host the 2024 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (IEEE ICRA 2024).

Organised by the IEEE Robotics & Automation Society, the event will be a hybrid conference with 25,000 participants: 5,000 in-person, and 20,000 online. This will also be the first time the event has been held in Japan since 2009.

The YCVB, PACIFICO Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, City of Yokohama, Japan Tourism Agency, and Japan National Tourism Organisation attracted the conference, with the economic spill over expected to be approximately US$9.2m.

The YCVB claims Japans standard of research and Yokohamas safety and convenience were among the deciding factors in this decision to award the conference to the city. Yokohama aims to facilitate exchange between researchers and Yokohama-based businesses and academia at IEEE ICRA 2024.

Makoto Batori, executive director of PACIFICO Yokohama, commented: We are confident we can provide a safe environment and the right technical support.

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'I'll be back' says Yokohoma as city clinches 2024 robotics show - Conference and Meetings World

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6 of the worst robots ever conceived and built by mankind – DIGIT.FYI

Posted: at 1:04 am

The promise of robotics is indeed a lofty one a tireless worker, a loving child for those who cant conceive, a problem solver operating almost limitlessly beyond human biomechanical limitations.

Few of these aspirations have thus far been realised. In fact, based on the following what DIGIT considers to be the worst robots ever dreamt up we should, as a species, never again attempt to make another robot/abomination.

Last year, scientists in Japan developed a highly realistic looking robot child, named Affetto, which can detect changes in pressure via its synthetic skin, enabling it to feel pain.

Affetto is able to feel and distinguish between a light touch or a hard hit and, while this might seem cruel, the team behind the robot said it will help robots to understand and empathise with humans. Or, more likely, help them understand our deep love for hitting things.

Affetto has been equipped with a pain nervous system that is powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and custom skin tech that allows it to react to sensations using a variety of facial expressions.

Judging by the image, the scientists appear to have opted to make Affettos default expression, smug this is likely to make it easier to deploy the hard hits on the robots face.

A cushion with a tail that wags when its touched. The future is now. The idea behind it is stress relief. Ironically, it may achieve this as its so bad youll likely laugh the stress away as your cushion pointlessly wiggles in your lap.

Qoobo is a pillow-shaped companion that heals your heart. Best of all, it only costs roughly 90 more than listening to whale sounds for free on YouTube.

Ever been in the toilet and thought, man, that paper roll is getting dangerously low. I wish a robot could wheel a new one in here, no questions asked. Elegant, discreet, effective not even sure why Charmin is on this list.

For $30,000, you would think Sally would source, plant, cultivate, harvest, clean, mix, dress and serve salads. Alas, nay. Sally does but one of those tasks mix. Thats right, this is basically a Mr Frosty for rocket. Surely one of the worst robots in a list of worst robots.

Flexing its ability to read movement cues at a pace that makes humans look frankly pathetic, Janken will beat you at rock, paper, scissors 100% of the time.

Developed at the Ishikawa Watanabe Laboratory in Tokyo, Janken is able to counter a move one millisecond before a human is able to complete a move.

Theres probably altruistic implications to the technology, but for now, it just feels like it exists to make us feel bad about ourselves.

1976 classic (yes, classic), Logans Run envisions a future where everyone has to die at age 30. The supercomputer that runs society also deems that the existence of Box a robot that keeps runners frozen in ice naked, essential.

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From individual robots to robot societies | Science – Science

Posted: August 2, 2021 at 1:50 am

Most of todays robots operate in isolation. The coordinated motion of tens of robotic arms in manufacturing plants, hundreds of wheeled robots on warehouse floors, or thousands of drones in night skies is no different: Each of those robots is unaware of its conspecifics and obeys orders issued by a central computer that leaves no room for unexpected interactions or unsolicited initiatives of the individuals, not to speak of emerging collective behaviors.

Robotic and biological individuals, however, have limited energetic autonomy, strength, perception, and decision-making abilities when taken on their own. The transition from solitary individuals to societies has been described as one of the eight major transitions in the evolution toward higher levels of biological complexity (1). There is ample evidence from biology that self-organized groups of individuals with limited capabilities can act as super-organisms that are more robust to individual failures and more resilient to environmental change and that can carry out more complex tasks and build more complex structures.

Computer scientists have taken inspiration from principles of biological self-organization among interacting agents with limited capabilities, loosely labeled as swarms, to devise distributed and adaptive algorithms capable of solving complex, noisy, and changing computational problems (2). The more recent field of swarm robotics shares similar scientific roots and ambitions (3), as described by

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THE RISE OF ROBOTS – The Star Online

Posted: at 1:50 am

A ROBOT is defined as an autonomous machine that can sense its environment, compute to make decisions and interact with the real world.

Recently, a video from Boston Dynamics highlighted the features of robots Atlas, Spot, and Stretch dancing to the song, Do You Love Me.

This viral video captures the essence of the advancement in the field of robotics and showed the dexterity of multiple robots in a music video.

In Malaysia, the picture that comes to mind when one is talking about robots, is an automobile production line a line of coordinated autonomous robots working precisely to weld and assemble parts that would otherwise take hundreds of skilled workers to achieve.

The adoption of robots by the automobile industry such as Proton and Perodua has proven the viability of using robots in the manufacturing process.

Another established use of robots is in the warehousing or material handling section where fleets of robots are used to move and manage huge stocks in the warehouse.

One good example of robot warehousing is the facility set up by Mr DIY for e-commerce fulfilment early this year.

Robots are also increasingly being introduced into households and the most common use of robots at home is the robot vacuum. The vacuum uses sensors to avoid objects while moving around to clean the house.

These are just some of the notable examples of how robots are used in our country. Depite that, we have barely even scratched the surface of the potential robotics holds in local industries.

The Covid-19 pandemic, however, has created greater awareness on the importance of automation as the way forward.

Due to the dependency on human labour, production capacities of factories shrunk when restrictions were imposed on the number of people allowed at the workplace.

The government recently launched the National Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) Policy and the use of emerging technology. Robotics was emphasised in the policy.

Indeed, there is enormous potential for growth in industries that are labour intensive. The agricultural sector is an example where the use of robots for planting, weeding, harvesting, and packing, can improve productivity.

More research and development must be conducted locally to ensure that the robots developed are able to fulfill the needs of the countrys many industries.

In a survey conducted by the World Economic Forum on the Future of Jobs 2020, 73% of companies surveyed in Malaysia said they would be adopting the use of robots (such as non-humanoid industrial automation and drones) in the next five years.

This will undoubtedly lead to a shift in the demand for new skill sets in the workforce and create new job opportunities.

Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) has started to work on projects related to robots and automation to ensure that advancements in the fields of robotics can be adopted for practical use locally.

Talents in the field of designing, building, commissioning, and maintenance are crucial in robotics. Knowledge in mechanical, electronics, programming, control system, and artificial intelligence are essential to those planning to work with robots.

We must be prepared and equipped with the right knowledge to adapt to a future where the use of robots will be increasing pervasive.

This article is contributed by Danny Ng Wee Kiat, a lecturer at the Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering & Science (LKC FES). Registered with the Board of Engineers Malaysia, he lectures at the varsitys Department of Mechatronics and Biomedical Engineering. His research interest is in the field of robotics and engineering. His area of speciality is robotics and automation. He holds a Bachelor of Electronics Engineering (Hons) from Multimedia University and Master of Engineering Science from UTAR. The views expressed here are the writers own.

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> Topic: Increased use of robots and automation An impending feature for future industries

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> Presented in three parts: The evolution of robots; robots and automation in industry; and the future of robotics

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This 3D-printed soft robotic hand beat the first level of Super Mario Bros. – Ars Technica

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A team led by University of Maryland mechanical engineering Professor Ryan Sochol has created a soft robotic hand agile enough to manipulate a game controller.

A team of engineers at the University of Maryland has built a three-fingered soft robotic hand that is sufficiently agile to be able to manipulate the buttons and directional pad on a Nintendo controllereven managing to beat the first level of Super Mario Bros. as proof of concept, according toa recent paper published in the journal Science Advances. The same team also built two soft robotic turtles (the terrapin turtle is UMD's official mascot) using the same multimaterial 3D-printing process that produced the robotic hand.

We traditionally think of robots as being manufactured out of hard, rigid materials, but the subfield of soft robotics takes a different approach. It seeks to build robotic devices out of more flexible materials that mimic the properties of those found in living animals. There are huge advantages to be gained by making the entire body of a robot out of soft materials, such as being flexible enough to squeeze through tight spaces to hunt for survivors after a disaster. Soft robots also hold strong potential as prosthetics or biomedical devices.Even rigid robots rely on some soft components, such as foot pads that serve as shock absorbers or flexible springs to store and release energy.

Harvard researchers built an octopus-inspired soft robot in 2016 that was constructed entirely out of flexible materials. But soft robots are more difficult to control precisely because they are so flexible. In the case of the "octobot," the researchers replaced the rigid electronic circuits with microfluidic circuits. Such circuits involve regulating the flow of water (hydraulics) or air (pneumatics), rather than electricity, through the circuit's microchannels, enabling the robot to bend and move.

Although this solution is ingenious, it brings its own set of challenges. These include the high cost (clean room facilities are required) and time necessary to fabricate those microfluidic systems and then integrate them with the system as a whole."Recently, several groups have tried to harness fluidic circuits to enhance the autonomy of soft robots," said co-author Ruben Acevedo. "But the methods for building and integrating those fluidic circuits with the robots can take days to weeks, with a high degree of manual labor and technical skill."

As an undergraduate, Acevedo worked in the lab of University of Maryland mechanical engineer Ryan D. Sochol, who was interested in moving beyond having to manually connect fluidic circuitry components to soft robots in favor of embedding these functions directly in the soft robotic systems. His team found the answer in PolyJet 3D printing, in which several different layers of materials are stacked on top of each other. The printer sets down one liquid layer, lets it solidify, then sets down the next layer, and so on.

YouTube/UMD A. James Clark School of Engineering

"The incorporation of materials that differ in rigidity serves to enhance performance by allowing the material properties of specific features to be tailored to complement desired functionalities," Sochol et al. wrote in their paper. Components like diaphragms and O-rings must be able to deform during operation, so a soft rubber-like material was used to make them, while a more rigid, plastic-like material was chosen to make components that need to be stable (fluidic channels, access ports, and structural casings, for instance). Finally, the team used a water-soluble material to serve as scaffolding during the printing process, which was then removed from both the exterior and internal voids and channelsfirst by dissolving the stuff with water, then manually removing whatever scaffolding material remained.

Microfluidically controlled soft robots typically require distinct control inputs for every independently operated soft actuator. By integrating the fluidic circuit, the UMD team could operate the hand by varying the pressure strength between low, medium, and high. In other words, a single source of fluid could send different signals just by changing the pressure so that each finger could move independently.Even better, the one-step 3D-printing process for the hand and the two turtle-botsencompassing soft actuators (moving parts), the fluidic circuits, and robot bodytook a matter of hours, not days or weeks.

The team tested the performance of the robotic hand by having it play Super Mario Bros. To make Mario walk, the team used a low pressure, so only the first finger pressed the controller. The researchers used a medium pressure to make Mario run and a high pressure to make the hand press the correct button on the controller to get Mario to jump.

YouTube/UMD A. James Clark School of Engineering

As for why they chose Super Mario Bros., Sochol told Scientific American that it was the very first Nintendo game he had played as a child. But the choice wasn't just a matter of nostalgia. The timing and specifics of the game are well-established; the robot hand simply needed to time its responses in accordance with the preprogrammed moves. And there are actual consequences for failure: a single mistake will cost Mario a life. The hand performed so well, it was able to successfully beat the first level of the game in less than 90 seconds.

"We are freely sharing all of our design files so that anyone can readily download, modify on demand, and 3D printwhether with their own printer or through a printing service like usall of the soft robots and fluidic circuit elements from our work," said Sochol, who estimates that printing one's own soft robots would cost about $100 using the team's software on GitHub."It is our hope that this open source 3D printing strategy will broaden accessibility, dissemination, reproducibility, and adoption of soft robots with integrated fluidic circuits and, in turn, accelerate advancement in the field."

DOI: Science Advances, 2021. 10.1126/sciadv.abe5257 (About DOIs).

Listing image by University of Maryland

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Suction Cups in Robotics: Introducing Wall-Climbing Robots – Analytics Insight

Posted: at 1:50 am

Robotics is one of the major disruptive technologies helping multiple industries and organizations to boost productivity efficiently and effectively with moving, gripping, cleaning, and lifting objects. The world has already seen the development of multiple types of robots ranging from big industrial ones to micro-robots for assistance in the manufacturing, automotive as well as healthcare sectors. Recently, scientists and Robotics engineers have discovered that suction cups can be used in Robotics and their mission was also successful. Lets explore how suction cups in Robotics introduced wall-climbing robots into the world.

It has been observed that multiple robots are assisting human employees in some horizontal areas such as a body, object, water, floor, etc. But there are vertical failures when the robots are climbing high walls of tanks, dams, or boilers. Researchers have infused magnets into the robots for climbing walls made of certain metals. But the robots fail to climb walls that are made of stainless steel, aluminum, glass, and so on. Yet, multiple industries use these materials to build tanks and boilers with high vertical walls. Thus, human employees tend to risk their lives for manually cleaning these walls regularly.

That being said, researchers and scientists have introduced suction cups in Robotics for building wall-climbing robots to protect these human employees from a hazardous environment and occupational injuries. These modern robots can adhere to a surface through the functionalities of suction cups. Implementing suction cups in Robotics is helping robots to reach impossible places efficiently and effectively. Suction cups do not require a vacuum pump or reducing weights and power consumption of robots for specific purposes. Multiple companies are filing for patents in implementing suction cups in robots an actuator can depress the suction cups in a direction of a vertical surface where the outside of the cup is made of a friction coefficient low material that enables the cup to slide. Industries can utilize these wall-climbing robots to detect small stress cracks in the boilers or tanks.

A New Zealand-based Robotics company known as Invert Robotics is developing wall-climbing robots with the help of US$8.8 million financings from an agtech firm Finistere and Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley. Some researchers and scientists at Zhejiang University, China have developed wall-climbing robots to stand on any kind of surface through a vacuum suction unit. Gecko Robotics is utilizing robots to inspect and detect any thickness, cracks, or other degradations inside tanks, boilers, pipes, and so on with magnetic adhesion. Simon Fraser University in British Columbia utilizes Van der Waals forces for robots to climb walls efficiently with a dry adhesive and a silicon-like polymer that enable adhesion without any chemical or energy.

Researchers Xin Li and Kaige Shi from Zhejiang University have utilized water and centrifugal forces to overcome the surface restrictions with a rotating ring of water. It usually fails to be on the surface due to the flow of air from the atmosphere into a vacuum zone. They have built confined seals to slightly deform and close the gaps between the sealing ring and the texture of the surface. This creates smaller gaps for the flow resistance and gaps in the seals become bigger. The suction cups are dependent on a rotating stream of water to maintain a seal over different surfaces. This will prevent vacuum leakages remove pressure differences in the vacuum zone. The scientists have named this method the Zero Pressure Difference or ZPD. These researchers have tested the new suction cups in robots through three machines spider-man style robot, a wall-climbing robot with ZPD as well as a robotic arm. A whole lot of water was pushed out of these machines when the cups were moving. Each time wall-climbing robots move forward on a wall sufficient water creates a constant flowing seal for suction cups to stick to.

Yes, introducing wall-climbing robots through the implementation of suction cups has revolutionized the way industries clean their boilers, tanks, pipes, and high-walled objects. It has helped Robotics to gain a new perspective on the functionalities of robots.

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