Motion Control/​Automation

Pioneering Precision: The Fusion of AI Vision and Cobots in Manufacturing

The integration of collaborative robots, or cobots, into manufacturing has revolutionized traditional processes, offering an unprecedented blend of precision, productivity, and safety. Now, with advancements in AI and visual detection systems, cobots are evolving further, equipped to adapt their actions based on visual cues. Read on to learn more.

Improving Surveying Efficiency by Using Robots and Precision Positioning

In partnership with Point One, Civ Robotics is ensuring that precise construction layouts won’t be at odds with efficiency. Land surveying is a critical stage in the construction layout process, during which workers use various forms of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) to mark specific locations for builders. Read on to learn more.

Snail-Inspired Soft-Suction Climbing Robots

The team demonstrated that the sliding suction is a low-cost, energy-efficient, high-payload, and clean adhesive locomotion strategy, which has high potential for use in climbing robots, outdoor inspection robots, and robotic transportation.

Generative AI that Imitates Human Motion

An international group of researchers has created a new approach to imitating human motion through combining central pattern generators (CPGs) and deep reinforcement learning (DRL). The method not...

Teaching Robots to Move by Sketching Trajectories

Getting robots to perform even a simple task requires tons of behind-the-scenes work. Part of the challenge is planning and executing movements, everything from turning wheels to lifting a...

Jet-Propelled Sea Creatures Could Improve Ocean Robotics

Scientists at the University of Oregon have discovered that colonies of gelatinous sea animals swim through the ocean in giant corkscrew shapes using coordinated jet propulsion, an...

Giving Household Robots Common Sense

Whereas prior works have focused on leveraging LLMs directly for planning in symbolic spaces, this work uses LLMs to guide the search of task structures and constraints implicit in multi-step physical demonstrations.

NASA’s Network of Small Moon-Bound Rovers Is Ready to Roll

A trio of small rovers that will explore the Moon in sync with one another are rolling toward launch. NASA JPL’s CADRE rovers will soon map the lunar surface together as a tech demo to show the promise of multirobot missions.

Humanoid Robots: The Next-Generation Robotic Workforce

While the adoption of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and collaborative robots (cobots) has increased in logistics and manufacturing industries, mobile manipulation robots (MMRs) — or...

Tech Focus: Leveraging Generative AI for Industrial Environment

Del Costy, President and Managing Director at Siemens Digital Industries (Plano, TX), unveiled how the company is making automation easy with their first generative AI-powered...

Product Focus: New Order Fulfillment Solution Helps Reduce Intralogistics Footprint

Intralogistics solutions provider Kardex (Zurich, Switzerland) demonstrated one of the fastest order fulfillment solution per square foot on the market at...

Product Focus: Small, Fast, and Element-Resistant Industrial Robots

Comau (Southfield, MI) debuted its new S-Family of small yet powerful robots at Automate 2024. The first two high-speed robots, with payloads of 13 kg and up to 18 kg, are...

3D Printing Flexible Devices Sans Mechanical Joints

Manufacturing elastomers that can be shaped into complex 3D structures that go from rigid to rubbery has been unfeasible until now.

Product Focus: Modular Large Robots for High Payload Assembly

ABB Robotics (Auburn Hills, MI) is continuing the expansion of its modular large robot portfolio with the introduction of the new IRB 7710 and IRB 7720 that made their debut at...

How Platforming is Making Industrial Automation Accessible to Everyone

“The problem with industrial automation today is that it’s very costly, said Etienne Lacroix, CEO of Vention, the Canada-based cloud robotics company. “It’s not...

Product Focus: Redefining Material Handling with AI-Driven Pallet Detection

At Automate 2024, Denmark-based Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR) showcased its latest MiR1200 Pallet Jack — an AI-powered autonomous mobile robot (AMR) solution...

Technology Focus: Turning Robot Operations Data into Actionable Insights

InOrbit.AI (Mountain View, CA), a provider of robot operations (RobOps) solutions, introduced InOrbit RobOps Copilot™ at Automate 2024. This innovative technology...

Jeff Burnstein on the Transformative Impact of AI and Automation

Automate, the flagship educational conference and tradeshow for robotics and automation professionals, has returned to Chicago for the first time in five years. The event...

Product Focus: Innovative Low-Profile AMR for Flexible Manufacturing

AFORMIC (Duncan, SC) is showcasing its latest cutting-edge autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for flexible manufacturing and warehousing during the Automate Show. The...

Product Focus: One Kilowatt Wireless Charging for Mobile Robots

WiBotic (Seattle, WA) is demonstrating its new 1kW (1000 Watt) wireless charging system at the Automate Show. WiBotic’s new platform will provide a larger class of mobile...

Tech Focus: A New Generation of Mechanical Axes

Festo (Islandia, NY) introduced its newest generation of Cartesian-handling-system mechanical axes at Automate 2024. The ELGD-TB, tooth belt, and ELGD-BS, ball screw, axes feature an...

Robot Reads Braille Twice as Fast as Humans

Although the robot braille reader was not developed as an assistive technology, the researchers say the high sensitivity required to read braille makes it an ideal test in the development of robot hands or prosthetics with comparable sensitivity to human fingertips.

AI Helps Robots Manipulate Objects with Their Entire Bodies

Humans are generally good at whole-body manipulation, but robots struggle with such tasks. Now, MIT researchers have found a way to simplify this process, known as contact-rich manipulation planning.

A Bioinspired Multimaterial Soft Robotic Hand

A research paper by scientists at the University of Coimbra proposed a soft robotic hand comprising soft actuator cores and an exoskeleton, featuring a multimaterial design aided by finite element analysis to define the hand geometry and promote finger’s bendability.

Portable Laser-Guided Robotic Metrology (PLGRM)

Innovators at the NASA Glenn Research Center have developed the PLGRM system, which allows an installed antenna to be characterized in an aircraft hangar. All PLGRM components can be packed onto pallets, shipped, and easily operated.

Towards More Accurate 3D Object Detection for Robots and Self-Driving Cars

Researchers from Japan have developed DPPFA–Net, an innovative network that overcomes challenges related to occlusion and noise introduced by adverse weather.

Better LIDAR in Autonomous Systems Starts with MEMS

The global market for automotive LIDAR is expected to grow from $332 million in 2022 to more than $4.5 billion by 2028. We interviewed Eric Aguilar, co-founder and CEO of Omnitron Sensors, Los Angeles, CA, to learn about a new MEMS scanning mirror that could accelerate the market adoption of LIDAR.