Archive 25.08.2023

As industries adopt data-driven operations, there is increased demand for advanced technologies. These technologies maximize the potential and returns on investment in industrial automation systems.

Scientific exploration of the deep ocean has largely remained inaccessible to most people because of barriers to access due to infrastructure, training, and physical ability requirements for at-sea oceanographic research.

Imagine you want to carry a large, heavy box up a flight of stairs. You might spread your fingers out and lift that box with both hands, then hold it on top of your forearms and balance it against your chest, using your whole body to manipulate the box.

Flying robotic systems have already proved to be highly promising for tackling numerous real-world problems, including explorations of remote environments, the delivery of packages in inaccessible sites, and searches for survivors of natural disasters. In recent years, roboticists and computer scientists have introduced a multitude of aerial vehicle designs, each with distinct advantages and features.

As anyone in the know can tell you, machine tending is incredibly important to the manufacturing process. A well-functioning manufacturing workflow relies on machinery consistently being loaded and unloaded with parts or materials.

An innovative bimanual robot displays tactile sensitivity close to human-level dexterity using AI to inform its actions.

Ever wonder why the most advanced robots always seem to have hard bodies? Why not more pliable ones, like humans have?

The search for innovative materials will be greatly assisted by software that can suggest new experimental possibilities and also control the robotic systems that check them out.

A tailsitter is a fixed-wing aircraft that takes off and lands vertically (it sits on its tail on the landing pad), and then tilts horizontally for forward flight. Faster and more efficient than quadcopter drones, these versatile aircraft can fly over a large area like an airplane but also hover like a helicopter, making them well-suited for tasks like search-and-rescue or parcel delivery.

The company’s autonomous robot carriers (ARCs), powered by T-Mobile connectivity, are designed to collect orders at warehouses, retail stores, dark stores and micro fulfillment centers, and then deliver those goods to people and businesses around the city.

Most adult humans are innately able to pick up objects in their environment and hold them in ways that facilitate their use. For instance, when picking up a cooking utensil, they would normally grab it from the side that will not be placed inside the cooking pot or pan.

An instance of reshoring within a wider policy of genuine corporate social responsibility, and one which paid off. This is a story about robots, to be sure, but one in which humans are never far away...

In the last decade we have seen more robotics innovation becoming real products and companies than in the entire history of robotics.

Furthermore, the greater Silicon Valley and San Francisco Bay Area is at the center of this ‘Cambrian Explosion in Robotics’ as Dr Gill Pratt, Director of Robotics at Toyota Research Institute described it. In fact, two of the very first robots were developed right here.

In 1969 at Stanford, Vic Sheinman designed the first electric robot arm able to be computer controlled. After successful pilots and interest from General Motors, Unimation acquired the concept and released the PUMA or Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly. Unimation was eventually acquired by Staubli, and the PUMA became one of the most successful industrial robots of all time.

Shakey was the first mobile robot able to perceive and reason. Also called the world’s first electronic person by Time Magazine in 1972. Shakey was developed at SRI International from 1966 to 1972 and pioneered many advances in computer vision and path planning and control systems that are still in use today.

These companies have been at the heart of Silicon Valley Robotics, the regional robotics ecosystem/association, but we have also seen enormous growth in new robotics companies and startups in the last decade.

And all of them are hiring.

This volume serves as a guide to students who are interested in studying the field of robotics in any way. Robotics jobs range from service technician, electrical or mechanical engineer, control systems and computer science, to interaction or experience designer, human factors and industrial design.

All these skills are in great demand in robotics companies around the world, and people with experience in robotics are in great demand everywhere. Robotics is a complex multidisciplinary field, which provides opportunities for you to develop problem solving skills and a holistic approach.

The robotics industry also requires people with skill sets in growing businesses, not just robotics, but product and project management, human resources, sales, marketing, operations.

Get involved in robotics – the industry of the 21st century.

The guide

Georgia Tech Ph.D. student Niranjan Kumar has created the Cascaded Compositional Residual Learning (CCRL) framework, enabling a quadrupedal robot to perform increasingly complex tasks without relearning motions, mirroring human learning. Kumar showcased by the robot opening a heavy door using energy transfer, a remarkable achievement in robotics.

Some facilities struggle to achieve a substantial return on investment for their automation initiatives. Remote control systems can change that by making the most of robots’ significant advantages while mitigating their biggest challenges.