Category: Robots

Nanosized robots will traverse the slender dentinal tubules and target the hard-to-reach bacteria.

By Rajeev Chitguppi

An indigenously developed nanorobotic technology will deploy nanosized robots that will traverse the slender dentinal tubules and target the hard-to-reach bacteria, which are primarily responsible for the root canal treatment failures.

Many root canal treatment cases fail due to incomplete debridement of certain pathogenic bacteria – inaccessible to instrumentation due to their deep location inside the dentinal tubules. Researchers, including those from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, have developed nanorobotic technology to solve this problem. The technology involves nanosized robots that will traverse the slender dentinal tubules and target the hard-to-reach bacteria.

Skunk Works’ knack for innovation enters the “digital” age with a factory able to spit out advanced aircraft faster and cheaper than ever before.

BY JOSEPH TREVITHICK

Lockheed Martin’s famous Skunk Works advanced projects division has opened a new cutting-edge manufacturing facility at its campus in Palmdale, California, which is part of the U.S. Air Force’s Plant 42. The company says that the technologies it will employ in this new “factory of the future,” blandly named Building 648, will help it drastically speed up and otherwise improve how it designs and produces advanced aerospace vehicles, including stealth fighters and drones, hypersonic missiles, and more. Beyond that, however, this factory is the centerpiece of a larger transformation going on within Skunk Works that could potentially revolutionize the development and production of even very advanced aerospace concepts, industrial capabilities that could be increasingly essential for the U.S. military to maintain its competitive edge.

The War Zone was among a select group of outlets given an opportunity to visit Skunk Works and attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the 215,000-square foot Building 648, which Lockheed Martin representatives have described as an “intelligent, flexible, advanced manufacturing facility,” on Aug. 10, 2021, as well as tour other relevant portions of the overall facility at Palmdale. The factory is the “cornerstone” of approximately $400 million worth of investments the company has made to help expand its capabilities and capacity at what is formally known as Plant 10 in recent years, which has already led directly to the creation of 1,500 new jobs since 2018

by Chris Albrecht

Typically when we write about food making robots, they fall into either one of two categories: Smaller countertop devices meant for the home, or larger, more industrial robots meant for restaurant kitchens. But a restaurant called Bots&Pots in Zagreb, Croatia, is combining those two ideas and using a number of GammaChef cooking robots to make meals for its customers. 

GammaChef, also based in Croatia (and also a former Smart Kitchen Summit Startup Showcase finalist), makes the eponymous robot capable of creating one-pot dishes such as stews, risottos and pastas. The device stores ingredients, dispenses them into the pot, and stirs the food as it cooks. According to Total Croatia News, customers at Bots&Pots choose their meal via touchscreen at one of five GammaChefs inside the restaurant and they’ll be able to see their meal prepared. According to the story, with five robots running, the restaurant can make up to 60 meals per hour. Human chefs at Bots&Pots are also creating new recipes for the robot to “learn.”

Researchers studying rodents’ leaping abilities suggest findings could help them create nimble artificial intelligence systems

ByJoe Pinkstone

Squirrels use techniques similar to those of parkour athletes when leaping from one branch to another, a study has found.

Parkour, a form of freerunning, is a popular sport where people jump over and under obstacles at speed and often involves leaping long distances.

A team of US-based researchers at University of California, Berkeley studied the biomechanics of bounding squirrels in eucalyptus trees and observed how and when they flung themselves from one branch to another. 

By Nathan Bernier

Riley Pakes, with Refraction AI robotics company, monitors a REV-1 delivery robot on South Congress Avenue in Austin, TX on June 16, 2021. Gabriel C. Pérez/KUT News

Austin, Texas, is one of the latest American cities where robots are now making deliveries — and competing with people for space on the road.

A fleet of 10 such robot vehicles, which look like futuristic ice cream carts, has started deliveries for the Austin chain Southside Flying Pizza. 

The company behind the robots is Michigan-based Refraction AI, which has been operating in Ann Arbor since 2019. The company’s REV-1 robot can go up to 15 miles an hour with somebody monitoring journeys over the internet. For now, an attendant follows the robot on an electric scooter while the AI learns Austin’s streets.