Category: Robots

By Emily Henderson, B.Sc.

What if your next surgery was planned and performed by a robot? A team at Johns Hopkins University is working to turn this idea into reality.

The concept of robot-assisted surgery is not new: several systems have already been developed and are being used to treat human patients. One example is the da Vinci surgical system, a laparoscopic device with robotic arms that are remotely controlled by a surgeon. This system is not autonomous-;the robot does not perform any surgical tasks independently. Other robotic systems with higher levels of autonomy have been developed, such as the TSolution One^®, which uses a robot to precisely cut bone according to a pre-specified plan. Existing autonomous robotic systems have largely been used to assist in surgeries involving hard tissues, such as drilling into bone for hip or knee implants. But these systems haven’t been used for soft tissue surgeries, which pose unique challenges, like accounting for unpredictable tissue motions that occur when the patient breathes, or size limitations of the surgical tools.

Now, NIBIB-funded researchers are developing an autonomous robot that can perform bowel surgery with minimal assistance from a surgeon. What’s more, the robot outperformed expert surgeons when compared head-to-head in preclinical models. A study detailing the development of this robot, which showcases the first known autonomous laparoscopic soft tissue surgery, was recently published in Science Robotics.

Continue reading… “Autonomous robot performs laparoscopic soft tissue surgery with minimal assistance from a surgeon”

Robin uses its suction gripper to pick packages from a conveyor belt.

By Brianna Wessling

Thousands of packages pass through Amazon’s fulfillment centers every day. More and more of those packages are picked up, scanned, and organized by Amazon’s Robin robotic arm. 

Robin picks packages from a conveyor belt with its suction gripper, scans them and then places them on a drive robot that routes it to the correct loading dock. Robin’s job is particularly difficult because of its rapidly changing environment. Unlike other robotic arms, Robin doesn’t just perform a series of pre-set motions, it responds to its environment in real-time. 

“Robin deals with a world where things are changing all around it. It understands what objects are there — different sized boxes, soft packages, envelopes on top of other envelopes — and decides which one it wants and grabs it,” Charles Swan, a senior manager of software development at Amazon Robotics and AI, said. “It does all these things without a human scripting each move that it makes. What Robin does is not unusual in research. But it is unusual in production.”

Amazon’s team decided to take a unique approach when teaching Robin how to recognize packages coming down a conveyor belt. Instead of teaching computer vision algorithms to segment scenes into individual elements, the team allowed the model to try to find objects in an image on its own. After the model finds an object, the team provides feedback on how accurate it is. 

Continue reading… “How Amazon trained its robot Robin to sort packages”

Like an octopus, it wraps around objects. It can also swallow things inside your stomach and even “self heal.” This ooze could be the future of surgery.

By Claire Reilly

When you think of robotic surgery, you might think of remotely controlled robotic arms whirring over a patient, or tiny endoscopic cameras that help surgeons navigate with precise instruments.

You probably don’t think of a magnetically controlled slime robot slithering through your gastrointestinal tract and swallowing objects, like some kind of sci-fi ooze. 

But that’s the exact idea behind the Reconfigurable Magnetic Slime Robot — a stretchy, sluglike robot that can squeeze through tight spaces, wrap around objects and even “self heal” after it’s been cut in two. 

Continue reading… “Your Next Surgeon Could Be a Slime Robot”

David Mantey 

Javier is an autonomous mobile robot, specifically a KUKA robot on wheels. Named by Ford’s additive manufacturing operators, the mobile robot autonomously operates 3D Carbon printers without any human interaction. 

Ford has filed several patents over the technology, which, unlike traditional stationary robots that tend a lone machine, can service multiple. 

According to Jason Ryska, director of global manufacturing technology development at Ford, Javier is going to change the way the carmaker uses robotics in its manufacturing facilities. The robot will not only scale 3D printing operations but the technology will be moved into other parts of the manufacturing and assembly processes. 

Ford is learning from the robot; improving accuracy by using Javier’s feedback to reduce errors. Ford has filed several patents regarding the robot’s communication interfaces and positioning. For example, Javier doesn’t need a camera vision system to see.

Continue reading… “Ford Accomplishes Lights-out Manufacturing with Javier, an Autonomous Robot”

Tiny robots can be carefully guided through the brain using magnets

By Agence France-Presse

BIONAUT LABS PLANS ITS FIRST CLINICAL TRIALS ON HUMANS IN JUST TWO YEARS.

• The robit is a metal cylinder in the shape of a bullet
• It will follow a pre-programed trajectory through a gel-filled container
• Robots could offer advantages over existing treatments for brain disorder

Sending miniature robots deep inside the human skull to treat brain disorders has long been the stuff of science fiction — but it could soon become reality, according to a California start-up.

Bionaut Labs plans its first clinical trials on humans in just two years for its tiny injectable robots, which can be carefully guided through the brain using magnets.

“The idea of the micro robot came about way before I was born,” said co-founder and CEO Michael Shpigelmacher.

“One of the most famous examples is a book by Isaac Asimov and a film called ‘Fantastic Voyage,’ where a crew of scientists goes inside a miniaturised spaceship into the brain, to treat a blood clot.”

Just as cellphones now contain extremely powerful components that are smaller than a grain of rice, the tech behind micro-robots “that used to be science fiction in the 1950s and 60s” is now “science fact,” said Shpigelmacher.

“We want to take that old idea and turn it into reality,” the 53-year-old scientist told AFP during a tour of his company’s Los Angeles research and development center.

Continue reading… “California Startup Bionaut Labs Wants to Send Tiny Robots Inside Human Skull to Treat Brain Disorders”

SHENZHEN, China

Elephant Robotics has begun mass producing its bionic Al robot pet, the MarsCat, to provide comfort to more people confined to their homes during the pandemic. The long-term home office due to COVID-19 continues to amplify people’s sense of loneliness and isolation. In the absence of human contact, more people are turning to robots for mental healing and social comfort. However, due to technical barriers, most companion robots in the market act more like robot than companion, as they are not emotionally responsive.

With the advancement of AI technology, robot pets have becoming more bionic and intelligent. An AI-powered robot has the ability to understand and respond to human emotion. In 1998, Sony introduced the world’s first robotics dog, AIBO, a dog-like smart robot pet with the capability of interacting with humans. The cloud-based AI engine not only empowers the robot with advanced features such as facial recognition and deep learning, but also allows users to name the robot, witness their growth and add new tricks. Despite a growing use of smart robot as home companions for kids or senior, the price of an AI robot pet like AIBO is still prohibitive.

Back in 2020 at CES, a bionic AI robot pet MarsCat caught the attention of journalists and cat lovers worldwide for its highly forward-looking concept, and its vivid design and received unanimous praises and recognition. Likewise, this robot pet can walk, run, sit, stretch, express meows and other gestures independently. After two years’ ongoing R&D, MarsCat has started mass production to meet the increasing demand from the community, especially those with cat allergies and sense of isolation.

Continue reading… “Elephant Robotics Launches Mass Production of Bionic AI Robot Pet — MarsCat to Provide Comfort During Pandemic”

By Fred Lambert

Elon Musk gave a timeline to production for the first time for the Tesla Optimus project, a humanoid robot capable of doing general tasks.

The CEO believes the company can bring the ambitious project to production as soon as next year. It’s an ultra-ambitious timeline even for him.

When Tesla announced the “Tesla Bot” project at its A Day last year, Elon Musk presented it as something the company could do by leveraging existing work and parts from the development of self-driving technology, and if they don’t do it, someone else will.

At the time, it certainly didn’t sound like a priority for Tesla and many saw it mainly as a recruitment tool as the automaker is trying to boost its AI team to deliver its full self-driving system.

A few months later, the project’s priority level went up fast.

Musk announced that Tesla is now prioritizing product development of Tesla Bot, which he now calls Optimus, in 2022over some of its upcoming vehicles.

The CEO appeared a lot more excited about the project and its potential to impact labor shortage and eventually the broader economy.

When first announcing the project, Tesla was aiming to have a prototype of the humanoid robot ready by the end of 2022, but there was no talk of a production timeline just yet.

Continue reading… “Tesla is aiming to start production of its Optimus humanoid robot in 2023”

PickNik Robotics and Sierra Space have agreed a collaboration which will explore the implementation of robotic autonomy and controllability for autonomous maintenance of space habitat environments.

 BY SAM FRANCIS 

PickNik Robotics is a robotics software and engineering services company, while Sierra Space is a commercial space company with 1,100 employees, more than 500 missions and over 30 years of space flight heritage.

The companies anticipate that the robotic autonomy solutions developed with this collaboration will significantly improve the ability to support low Earth orbit (LEO), lunar and deep space missions. 

PickNik Robotics’ expertise in robotic manipulation paired with Sierra Space’s LIFE habitat (Large Integrated Flexible Environment) product lines will help enable extended mission durations that benefit from remote-controlled automation.

Sierra Space aims to build the future of space transportation and destinations to enable a vibrant, growing commercial space economy in LEO.

Continue reading… “PickNik Robotics partners with Sierra Space to build robots for deep space missions and space habitats”

By Scott Heidler Reporter

It crawls along the beach sifting the bad from the good. 

The solar-powered BeBot is a remote-controlled robot that pulls out dangerous microplastics and other small trash from the sand.

Bryan Bobbitt is with Keep Brevard Beautiful, the organizers of BeBot’s tour in the county.

“This is the first of its kind. There is not another robot like this in the United States. And we are very honored to be the first to actually try it on American beaches,” Bobbitt said.

It only goes down about two inches, but locals and tourists agree, there’s plenty to clean up.

Continue reading… “Beach-cleaning robot collects tiny plastic waste to clean Brevard beaches”

The ouroboros—the ancient symbol of a snake swallowing its own tail—generally represents infinity and the natural, endless cycles of the universe.

By Northeastern University 

But for members of Northeastern’s Students for the Exploration and Development of Space club, the ouroboros-like design of their moon-destined robot is merely practical—the robot can slither like a desert snake across the loose soil of the moon and, when needed, connect head-to-tail to form a wheel that can tumble down the steep slopes of the moon’s craters.

Any metaphors for the unity of the solar system or the orbit of the moon around the Earth are happy coincidences.

The student-led team of 13 undergraduates recently won an award from NASA’s BIG Idea Challenge to further develop its design, which fulfilled this year’s competition requirements for robots that can traverse extreme terrains, such as the enormous craters on the moon’s south pole.

“We want to explore the Shackleton crater, which is massive—20 kilometers in diameter—because it might contain water,” says Matt Schroeter, the undergraduate bioengineering student who is leading the team.

“But if you want to send a robot into that crater, it needs to be really energy efficient because there’s no sunlight, no potential for solar energy.”

The tumbling-wheel design allows gravity to do most of the work on the way down to the base of the crater, saving most of the robot’s energy for the journey back. Once the robot is on level ground, it can unwind itself and resume slithering through the soil in search of water.

Continue reading… “This snake-like robot will search for water on the moon”