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Robots

NEURA Robotics Builds on Cognitive Cobots With 4NE-1 Humanoid

November 14, 2022

Cognitive systems on the edge allow both collaborative robots and new humanoid to understand people and their environments, says NEURA.

By Eugene Demaitre

NEURA Robotics GmbH burst onto the collaborative robotics scene three years ago with “cognitive” systems that it claimed were smarter than other robots. Its 4NE-1 humanoid robot—pronounced “for anyone”—is intended to free people from tedious tasks in any industry, said David Reger, founder and CEO of the Metzingen, Germany-based company.

“4NE-1 is more than a research study,” he said in a blog post last month. “4NE-1 is a robust robot based on verified, cognitive NEURA technology, plus an ingrained ability to fit perfectly into humanity’s everyday world.”

The new robot is designed to provide assistance in industries ranging from education and healthcare to emergency response and space exploration, Reger said.

“Most industrial, collaborative, and even surgical robots are still old-school,” he told Robotics 24/7 during a recent tour across the U.S. “You can add a camera to a cobot, but it can’t recognize something within five minutes. With our robot, not only is our camera already calibrated, and it can understand where it is and what it’s doing.”

NASA, Science & Technology News

Out of this world! NASA will launch a huge flying saucer-like inflatable heat shield into space THIS WEEK – and it could help humans land safely on Mars one day

November 14, 2022

By SAM TONKIN and SHIVALI BEST

The Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) is scheduled for launch on Wednesday
NASA’s test will see a huge 20ft inflatable heat shield launched into low Earth orbit on an Atlas V rocket
Once it reaches low-Earth orbit, the heat shield will inflate before descending back to the Earth’s surface
In the future, the heat shield could be used to slow down a spacecraft to survive atmospheric entry on Mars

If humans are to one day land safely on Mars, engineers are going to have to invent a spacecraft that can slow down enough to survive atmospheric entry.

Known as the ‘seven minutes of terror’, in 2021 NASA’s Perseverance rover emerged unscathed after making its descent to the Red Planet using a basic parachute.

But the landing process is trickier for larger payloads, such as rockets with humans on board.

Robots

MOST ‘ADVANCED’ HUMANOID ROBOT IN WORLD WILL HAVE WORKING LEGS WITHIN NEXT YEAR

November 13, 2022

The ‘world’s most advanced’ humanoid robot could have working legs within a year.

By Jona Jaupi

Ameca, created by UK-based Engineered Arts, revealed itself that its programmers are currently developing legs that could help it walk.

“I can’t walk, but I have seen prototype legs in the Engineered Arts lab,” Ameca said in a video of itself conducting a Q&A for YouTube.

“‘The design of my legs is inspired by the robot Byrun, developed by Engineered Arts Ltd.”

“It has unique mechanical properties that allow it to walk without using too much energy.”

Byrun is a separate, pedal robot with a “unique parallel electric-pneumatic design”, according to Engineers Arts.

Virtual Reality

This Virtual Reality Suite Enables Carmakers in Three Cities to Collaborate

November 13, 2022

ST Engineering Antycip drives Renault with a VR solution for its teams in India, South Korea and Brazil.

ST Engineering Antycip has partnered with Renault Group to design and integrate a powerful virtual reality suite for one of the world’s largest automotive manufacturers.

Building on the companies’ previous collaborations in the VR world, and after a competitive tender process, ST Engineering Antycip was selected by Renault to develop a collaborative, 4K, powerwall-based solution which could be installed at Renault’s facilities in South Korea, India and Brazil.

“Renault France contacted ST Engineering Antycip as they are a historical client of ours in the automotive industry,” explained Johan Besnainou, ST Engineering Antycip’s regional director for France and Spain, recalling the genesis of the project. “We got involved in the request for a quotation and won the tender thanks to our VR expertise, experience of working to budgets and track record of delivering high-performance AV equipment, as well as our international network of strong local partners, including in South Korea, India and Brazil.”

The trio of installations, in Busan (South Korea), Chennai (India) and São José dos Pinhais (Brazil), utilize three identical systems comprising one powerwall, one high-end 5×2.5-meter screen and one plinth-mounted Christie 4K10-HS laser projector(opens in new tab). A PC cluster, monitor, desk, cabling, 5.1 audio system and wireless presentation hardware (Barco ClickShare) complete the solution, which was entirely sourced, designed and implemented by ST Engineering Antycip.

Aviation

Airbus Solar-Powered Aircraft to Provide Connectivity Services in Japan

November 13, 2022

Zephyr acts as a tower in the sky, complementing terrestrial networks.

Airbus HAPS Connectivity Business (Airbus HAPS) has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Space Compass Corporation of Japan (Space Compass) for a cooperation agreement to service the Japanese market with mobile connectivity and earth observation services from the Stratosphere with Airbus’ Zephyr platform.

“Our dedicated team will be working closely with Space Compass to offer 4G/5G low-latency mobile services, at unprecedented economics. Our innovative, record-breaking, green-energy-powered, platform is attracting interest from multiple mobile network operators and satellite and other service providers globally,” said Samer Halawi, Chief Executive of Airbus HAPS.

Elon Musk

Elon Musk’s Boring Company begins testing full-scale Hyperloop system, with a twist

November 12, 2022

By Fred Lambert

Elon Musk’s The Boring Company announced that it is starting testing on its first full-scale high-speed Hyperloop transportation system.

The company might fulfill Musk’s vision for a new mode of transportation 10 years after unveiling it. But there have been some changes to the spec…

Back in 2013, Elon Musk released a white paper describing what he called the “Hyperloop,” a new mode of transportation consisting of building a near-hard vacuum environment in a tunnel or tube in order to move electric vehicles at high speeds more efficiently inside of them.

At the time, Musk put the idea out there and encouraged other businesses to run with it. Several companies were founded around the idea, but almost a decade later, there are still no commercial applications of the system – though there are a few prototypes out there.

Musk later founded The Boring Company (TBC) to improve tunnel boring technology in order to help reduce traffic.

The main applications of TBC’s tunnels have been “Loops,” which are similar to the Hyperloop without the low-pressure environment. The company is focusing on developing loops under cities, like its first commercial application in Las Vegas, but it has also been working on some proposals for Hyperloop systems to connect cities over longer distances.

Medical Breakthrough

Lab-grown blood given to people in world-first clinical trial

November 12, 2022

The lab-grown blood kept in a facility in Bristol

By James Gallagher

Blood that has been grown in a laboratory has been put into people in a world-first clinical trial, UK researchers say.

Tiny amounts – equivalent to a couple of spoonfuls – are being tested to see how it performs inside the body.

The bulk of blood transfusions will always rely on people regularly rolling up their sleeve to donate.

But the ultimate goal is to manufacture vital, but ultra-rare, blood groups that are hard to get hold of.

These are necessary for people who depend on regular blood transfusions for conditions such as sickle cell anaemia.

If the blood is not a precise match then the body starts to reject it and the treatment fails. This level of tissue-matching goes beyond the well-known A, B, AB and O blood groups.

Prof Ashley Toye, from the University of Bristol, said some groups were “really, really rare” and there “might only be 10 people in the country” able to donate.

At the moment, there are only three units of the “Bombay” blood group – first identified in India – in stock across the whole of the UK.

brain-computer interfaces

Brain Sensor Implant Helps Paralysed Individuals Control An iPad Using Their Minds

November 12, 2022

By Monit Khanna

Highlights

The device is called Synchron Switch and it converts the thoughts of people suffering from paralysis into action. It works with the help of a bunch of sensors dubbed Strentrode that is inserted into the top of the brain via a blood vessel and is controlled wirelessly with the help of a Synchron Switch that’s at the patient’s chest

Synchron, a New York-based company is working on a brain-computer interface (BCI) technology that allows patients to control iPhones and iPads hands-free, by simply using their minds, reveals a report by Semafor.

Robots

Avidbots Adds Intelligence to Automated Cleaning, Sees a Future With Multifunction Mobile Robots

November 11, 2022

Mobile robots can help alleviate worker shortages and turnover, as well as offer visibility and value, says Avidbots CTO Pablo Molina.

By Eugene Demaitre

The need to move materials, clean surfaces, and collect data in factories, warehouses, and other facilities has only grown. Despite fears of robots replacing workers who are scarce in many industries, most of the automation spreading today is meant to improve efficiency and safety. Avidbots Corp. is an example of a robotics supplier rising to the challenge with multifunction systems.

The Kitchener, Ontario-based company has designed, manufactured, sold, and serviced autonomous floor-cleaning robots since 2014. Its Neo 2 system combines artificial intelligence, cameras, sensors, and software to clean and provide data on where it cleaned.

Neo 2 users can create a custom cleaning plan, and the robot then monitors, measures, and reports on that cleaning, explained Pablo Molina, chief technology officer of Avidbots. He spoke with Robotics 24/7 about the autonomous mobile robot (AMR) market, where automation can be most useful, and his company’s plans.

Space

Caltech Researchers are Creating a Huge Satellite That Sends Solar Power Back to Earth

November 11, 2022

But as a whole, it is the size of roughly 1,700 football fields.

By Jace Dela Cruz

Solar power has been widely used all throughout the world as more countries opt for renewable sources of energy. However, there is a higher volume of solar energy in space where there is no day, night, and clouds that would limit us from harvesting power from the Sun.

Hence, a group of researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is building a huge satellite that can harvest solar energy and then wirelessly transmit it back to our planet. If the project proves successful, it could power a wide range of places in the world.

3D Printer

Human Tissue 3D Printer Headed to Space Station

November 11, 2022

A view of the BioFabrication Facility and its ADSEP counterpart.

We can print soft tissues on Earth but gravity is a problem.

WALLOPS ISLAND (VA) – Bioprinting human tissues for implantation in patients to treat injury or disease could be game-changing. However, it’s difficult to print soft tissues on Earth because gravity causes them to collapse under their own weight, and scaffolding is required to keep them upright. To remove this hurdle, researchers are going to the International Space Station (ISS).

When Northrop Grumman’s 18th Commercial Resupply Services (NG-18) mission launches to the ISS, it will carry an upgraded version of Redwire Space’s BioFabrication Facility (BFF), a 3D bioprinter capable of printing human tissue. The project, sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory, will pave the way for in-space bioprinting of tissues (and possibly organs) that could one day help patients back on Earth.

The materials needed to make prints using the BFF will follow on a subsequent flight, and the first tissue the bioprinter will produce is a human meniscus, a protective piece of cartilage between the bones in the knee.

Printed tissues could not only be implanted in patients but also used as models for drug discovery, providing new avenues to test therapeutics. “Using the BFF, we can create true tissue-like structures in a better way and larger than you can terrestrially,” said Rich Boling, a Redwire vice president. “We can also use the BFF to print organoids, which could be used to test drug efficacy and reduce the need for laboratory animals.”

Robots

Open-source fish robot starts collecting microplastics from local lakes in the UK

November 10, 2022

Researchers turn the public’s ideas into reality

By Ioanna Lykiardopoulou

A robot fish that collects microplastics from waterways has been turned from an idea into a working prototype. The design was brought to life after it won the University of Surrey’s public competition, the Natural Robotics Contest.

The contest, which ran in the summer of 2022, invited the public to submit an idea for a bio-inspired robot that could help the world.

An international panel of judges chose the robot fish concept designed by student Eleanor Mackintosh because it could help reduce the amount of plastic pollution in water. The winning design was subsequently turned into a functioning prototype.

The robotics panelists and researchers, led by Dr. Robert Siddall, turned Mackintosh’s design into a 3D-printed prototype about the size of a salmon.

Named “Gillbert,” the device consists of a flooded head unit and a watertight tail unit. Thanks to a set of gills on its sides and a fine mesh in between them that can sieve about two-millimeter particles, the robotic fish filters the water and keeps the microplastics inside its container as it swims.