The Heat-Up Game of Robotic Surgery Companies

The multi-limbed da Vinci can be utilized in a variety of procedures, including cardiovascular, colorectal, gynaecological, head and neck, thoracic and urologic medical procedures, however, only if they’re minimally invasive.

How large the market could be is as yet hazy, yet experts concur the potential still can’t seem to be tapped. So more players are moving in, and rapidly. As the beginning of robotic surgery offers an approach to increasingly precise control and better patient results, early pioneers like Intuitive Surgical Inc. are seeing increased pressure from large organizations like Johnson and Johnson and Medtronic PLC, which have made major M&A investments to break into the market as of late.

Intuitive’s da Vinci system was first affirmed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2000 for urology. From that point forward, the number of organizations staking their future on the developing space, either in general surgery or orthopaedic has just grown. Examination firm GlobalData reported in November 2019 that the surgical robot market is relied upon to reach $275 billion by 2025, nearly significantly increasing in size compared with 2018 when the market represented $98 billion.

The reason behind this mind-boggling growth rate is that robotics can revolutionize practically any kind of medical surgery, including cardiology, oncology and neurology. It is simply an issue of how the advancements can be applied.

Medical clinics are adopting the surgical robots at increasing rates, with general surgery procedures techniques utilizing the da Vinci system rising 32% from 2017 to 2018. GlobalData said robotics is one of the most encouraging technologies changing the essence of healthcare services.

Medtronic, Johnson and Johnson, Siemens Healthineers, Stryker, Zimmer Biomet and others have systems in different phases of advancement or commercialization, as robot-helped surgical procedure moves past general surgery into progressively novel regions, for example, lung biopsy.

The rising investment in the sector will keep on boosting both awareness of the innovation and the number of surgeons trained on robotic surgery platforms,” EY said in a recent industry report. Furthermore, the intensifying rivalry will cut down the expenses related to robotic surgery procedures.

J&J’s $3.4 billion acquisition of Auris Health in 2019 gave the medtech goliath a robotic diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy platform called Monarch for applications in lung cancer. As a major aspect of the deal, J&J likewise picked up the services of previous Auris CEO and founder of Intuitive Frederic Moll and his group.

J&J CEO Alex Gorsky said in January its Auris and Verb Surgical teams are teaming up to build a platform that will be set up for the next several decades. More details on the project are scheduled to be shared at the organization’s medical devices investor day on May 13.

In the meantime, Intuitive is hoping to reinforce the case for its advances to address a more extensive scope of conditions, including lung cancer. The organization is considering a way to deal with robotic surgery procedure with its Ion platform, for lung biopsy of suspicious nodules that includes access through the patient’s mouth. Separate investigations are assessing lobectomy in lung cancer patients utilizing da Vinci.

In the meantime, J&J has collaborated with Google on an organization called Verb Surgical. Experts are uncertain about what system the team is making. They do anticipate that it should enter the robotic surgery market in 2020, however. Simultaneously, Medtronic is banded together with Mazor. Medtronic likewise anticipates its own robotic surgery system to launch in 2020.

It’s not unreasonable to recommend Intuitive could keep 80% of the market. New robotic surgery companies should differentiate themselves. They can’t have a clear, ‘me too’’ product. Financial specialists have put a pretty punchy attractive valuation on Intuitive Surgical on the grounds that they’re still in the early stages of this robotic conversation. This market is sufficiently large to support various players. That’s where organizations like Mazor and Zimmer Biomet, which makes systems called ROSA, come in. Both have systems that surgeons use in the cerebrum and spinal surgeries.

While Medtronic is the early leader in the space, others are getting ready to mount challenges, keeping in mind the hopes of stimulating demand in what for a considerable length of time has been a slow market in spinal procedures. Stryker, Zimmer Biomet and NuVasive all are working on robotic systems for the spine, however, when those contributions will hit the market is muddled.

Stryker has said it is seeking after a sign for its Mako platform in the spine segment, however, has not yet uncovered a course of events to market for the application. Zimmer Biomet got FDA clearance in March 2019 for its Rosa system for spine medical surgeries yet is concentrating on launching its robotic partial knee and hip applications before it directs its concentration toward the spine.

NuVasive has additionally been chipping away at a robotics application for its integrated spine surgery platform, called Pulse. In an update to investors a week ago, NuVasive executives said the organization has been working through beta assessments of the innovation for the last few quarters, with plans presently to launch the system in 2021.

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Robots Lend Assistance to the COVID-19 Pandemic; Soon to Leverage in India

Robots

Today, as the entire world is disrupted by the outbreak of Covid-19, technology is playing a key role in the time of crisis. From Artificial Intelligence to Big Data and Face recognition, all are being used by countries across the world to contain the spread of the virus. In this way, robots emerge as savior technology for medical staff in hospitals where they cannot step in, in some countries, including a ward where Covid-19 patients have been admitted. Robots are being leveraged for activities like sanitising hospitals and delivering food and medicines in many parts of the world. Now it can soon be used in India where experiments are underway to enhance their role in fighting against Covid-19.

The Sawai Man Singh Government Hospital in the Rajasthan is conducting a series of trials on a humanoid robot for services like delivering medicines, and food to the Covid-19 patients admitted there. It is said that this could potentially lessen the chances of the healthcare staff contracting the infection. Even, the World Health Organisation has advised physical distancing for people worldwide to avoid the community-level spread of the virus.

On the other hand, a Kerala-based startup Asimov Robotics has built a three-wheeled robot that it claims can be used to help patients in isolation wards. This can assist with things like food and medication, something that nurses and doctors have been doing so far that put them at a larger risk of contracting the virus.

Though the idea of robots taking up jobs done by humans in the past may feel dystopian but scientists believe machines can free up hospital medical staff while confining the spread of the virus.

According to the executive dean of Science and Technology in Punjab’s Lovely Professional University (LPU), Lovi Raj Gupta, robots can play a vital role during the present pandemic as they can minimise human intervention at all levels, starting from patient examination to patient care and drug delivery mechanism.

Currently, India has reported 1,347 confirmed cases, including 32 deaths, and 101 recovered, according to the COVIDIndia.org.

Moving ahead, robots can act on an array of tasks, ranging from disinfecting surfaces to taking temperature of people in public areas or at ports of entry and providing social support for quarantined patients. As per the researchers from Carnegie Mellon University in the US, robots can also accumulate nasal and throat samples for testing, and enable people to virtually attend conferences and exhibitions. In each case, the use of robots can reduce human exposure to pathogens, which will become increasingly important as epidemics escalate, they explained.

Earlier this month, a field hospital staffed with 14 robots opened in the Hongshan Sports Center in Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus. Supplied by Beijing-based robotics company CloudMinds, the robots can clean and disinfect, deliver medicine to patients and measure their temperature.

As the pandemic started from the China city of Wuhan, it has now reached across over 196 countries around the globe. Currently, most countries have temporarily been imposed lockdown, restricting citizens to stay at home and maintain social distancing to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Places like malls, cinema halls, markets, airports, and railway stations all are forced to shut down due to the virus.

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Top Robotics Funding and Investments in March 2020

robotics

From sci-fi movies depicting the dystopian future of robotics to robots being our reality in current times, we all have accepted a futuristic world with human-robot collaboration. Moreover, businesses, big organizations, rising startups, and even investors are realizing the importance of automated technology in the contemporary market. In the present scenario of a pandemic where chaos and quarantine are becoming a new normal for people, innovative robots out there are serving mankind with great purpose. They are being deployed in various hospitals to assist doctors and nurses in providing treatment coronavirus patients. Amid these circumstances, more and more robotics-powered startups and businesses are growing to bring about a revolution in the collaborative world of humans and machines.

Therefore, here are top robotics funding and investments that took place in March 2020, aiding the upcoming healthcare innovations and significant others.

Diligent Robotics last month announced the close of a $10 million round to expand its fleet of nurse assistant robots for hospitals. The round was led by DNX Ventures, with participation from True Ventures, Ubiquity Ventures, Next Coast Ventures, Grit Ventures, E14 Fund, and Promus Ventures.

Moxi is designed to reduce nurse workloads by handling tasks like collecting supplies, gathering soiled linens, and delivering fresh ones, and it’s coming to market during the COVID-19 crisis when nurses are in short supply. In addition to tackling mundane aspects of the job, the robot can also help reduce health care professionals’ exposure to disease.

Moxi was created by Diligent Robotics at the University of Texas, Austin by CEO Dr. Andrea Thomaz, a roboticist and professor who previously ran the Georgia Tech Socially Intelligent Machines Lab.

“It’s a really good time to be working on this problem,” Thomaz told VentureBeat in a phone interview. “Now more than ever there’s kind of a spotlight on how overworked [nurses are] and what a shortage there is of frontline hospital staff, so we’re anxious to get more robots out there to help.”

Moreover, Dexai Robotics, an artificial intelligence, and robotics company focused on commercial kitchen automation, says it has raised $5.5 million in an oversubscribed seed round, led by Hyperplane Venture Capital.
New investors Rho Capital, Harlem Capital, Contour Venture Partners, and NextView Ventures also participated in this financing round. Vivjan Myrto, a managing partner at Hyperplane, joined Dexai’s board of directors.

The company will use the funding to expand its engineering, sales, and product teams, allowing it to serve new cuisines and fuel its growth in the foodservice space.

Dexai was born out of research collaboration in artificial intelligence for robotics among researchers at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, MIT, and Harvard.

This work, led by David Johnson, Dexai’s CEO and co-founder, resulted in breakthrough software innovations that enabled robots to control, for the first time, deformable materials such as ice cream, sushi-grade tuna, pico de gallo, and so on.

Healthcare software startup Olive has closed a $51 million funding round to scale its AI-enabled robotic process automation solution.

The funding round was led by General Catalyst with existing investors Drive Capital, Oak HC/FT, and Ascension Ventures also participating. The company has raised about $123.8 million to date.

The Columbus, Ohio-based company also announced Ronald Paulus, M.D., former president and CEO of Mission Health, will join its board.

The funding will enable Olive to accelerate its growth, and the company plans to use the financing to invest in R&D and engineering, CEO Sean Lane told FierceHealthcare.

Furthermore, Israeli robotic orthopedic device developer OrthoSpin has raised $5 million in a Series B financing round. OrthoSpin is a portfolio company of The Trendlines Group which led the round together with Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc.

The company is developing a robotic, digitally-enabled external fixation system for orthopedic treatments. External fixation devices are a common treatment choice for bone lengthening, setting complex fractures, and correcting deformities.

OrthoSpin CEO Oren Cohen said, “We are delighted to have this investment and support from JJDC and Trendlines as we continue the development of OrthoSpin’s Gen 1 and Gen 2 systems. We continue to receive very promising feedback from physicians in the field regarding the Gen 1 system. The funding and close ongoing relationship with JJDC will enable us to accelerate Gen 2 product development and move into clinical use with the Gen 2 system later this year. This investment is an important step in bringing OrthoSpin’s system to market.”

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Use of Automation and Robots to Fight Coronavirus

From the first detailed outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) in China to the spread of it over the globe, Medtech organizations are turning out robots and drones to help battle it and offer types of services and care to those isolated or practicing social distancing. This pandemic has optimized the “testing” of robots and drones in broad daylight as authorities search out the most catalyst and safe approach to think about the outbreak and limit contamination and spread of the virus.

As one of the world’s most compelling tech trendsetters and a nation that had organized the headway of robotics technology as a key segment in its Made in China 2025 activity, when COVID-19 broke out in China it into a perfect time to see what robots and drones could do to help people in battling the virus.

Zoom’s video conferencing platform has detonated in popularity as stay-at-home commands have cleared the globe and some of the credit for having the option to keep up with demand goes to automation. “We have automation set up so we can rapidly scale our foundation, the network as well as the compute infrastructure with next to no human intercession,” said Alex Guerrero, senior manager of SaaS operations at Zoom.

That has made an interpretation of having the option to keep up with service levels when traffic levels are in transition and physical access to network infrastructure is constrained. Guerrero participated in a virtual panel a week ago intended to give an inside look at network operations at Zoom, Netflix, Dropbox and Equinix during the pandemic.

UVD Robots, a Danish organization formed from Odense University Hospital and Blue Ocean Robotics, has been at the front line of giving disinfection robots to China to help battle the spread of the virus. The organization consented to an arrangement with Sunay Healthcare Supply in February and has since shipped a considerable lot of its self-driving robots that disinfect hospitals and different areas with ultraviolet light. The organization said this confines the spread of coronaviruses without exposing medical clinic staff to the risk of contamination.

From that point forward, the organization has offered robots to areas in more than 50 organizations, expanding offerings beyond China to areas in Europe and the U.S. that are experiencing outbreak issues. “In an extreme emergency like this where the world health is undermined, our inventive innovation truly demonstrates its value,” said Per Juul Nielsen, the CEO of UVD Robotics.

UVD is additionally observing demands from beyond the hospital and healthcare space, including a prison that was having issues with Covid-19 cases among the prisoner population, said Claus Risager, CEO of Blue Ocean Robotics. He said the organization is getting enthusiasm for purchasing robots to clean office spaces, production floors, retail locations, grocery stores, airports, lodgings and cafés.

“On the medicinal services side, we developed from certain nations to numerous nations, and each customer is requesting more robots,” said Risager. “Yet, each one of those other market segments is even a much bigger market segment than healthcare.”

At Dropbox, network teams are likewise depending on automation capacities to stay up with increasing demand for the company’s cloud storage platform. Automation is one of the primary things that we’re doing with systems networking today,” said Dzmitry Markovich, senior director of engineering at Dropbox. “We seldom touch those devices physically.” Going from working in an office to working from home, without the typical social interactions, can be difficult progress that needs help, Markovich said. “I’ve seen it in our organization. I’ve seen it in various organizations. I perceive how individuals struggle. With the goal that’s imperative to remember.”

Dropbox is accepting the opportunity to take in best practices from its employees who are accustomed to working remotely. Monitoring efficiency is likewise significant. “We track our efficiency each and every week since we settle on various decisions within the organization on what the next week will resemble,” Markovich said. “At the point when everybody is working from home, it’s easy to lose energy. You have to have an unmistakable measurement to comprehend.”

Due to the infectiousness of COVID-19, it’s more secure if human-to-human contact is limited. Since robots are safe to infection, tech organizations, for example, JD.com and others have ventured capable of getting more robots marching through the main street to deliver for example medical supplies within healthcare environments. Robots are likewise ending up being important while delivering fundamental things to individuals who shop and buy online and are isolated at home. Meituan Dianping, a delivery application, increases their “contactless delivery” options through autonomous vehicles and robots. Shenzhen-based startup Pudu Technology intended to decrease cross-infection by implementing home delivery of drugs and meals via robot.

Within warehouses that support online shops, robots are likewise used to automate and streamline order fulfillment. The logistics affiliate of Alibaba, regularly referred to as China’s version of Amazon utilizes robots in its warehouses and has been engaged with getting medical aid donations to areas of China, for example, Wuhan that needs them for testing and treatment of the coronavirus.

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How Robots Can Help in Battling the Current Pandemic Situation

Cases overall of coronavirus are increasing each hour with the most recent figures close to half a million. Deaths are climbing quickly and the figure has come to more than 20,000 around the world. The day by day the number of contaminations overall is higher than in China with more deaths in Iran, Italy, Spain and now the US. A huge number of new cases have been accounted for every day, except the true scale could be multiple times higher. Virus episodes are raising panic about a pandemic. It will require some investment to recognize and analyze so as to isolate potentially sick from healthy.

A group of leaders in the field of robotics, including Henrik Christensen, director of UC San Diego’s Contextual Robotics Institute, say truly and outline various models in an article in the March 25 issue of Science Robotics. They state robots can be utilized for clinical consideration, for example, telemedicine and decontamination; logistics, for example, delivery and handling of contaminated waste; and reconnaissance such as monitoring compliance with voluntary quarantines

“As of now, we have seen robots being deployed for sanitization, delivering drugs and food, estimating imperative signs, and helping border controls,” the analysts write. Christensen, who is a teacher in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at UC San Diego, especially featured the job that robots can play in disinfection, cleaning and telepresence.

Other co-creators incorporate Marcia McNutt, president of the National Research Council and president of the National Academy of Sciences, as well as various different robotics experts from international and U.S. universities.

“For disease prevention, robot-controlled noncontact ultraviolet (UV) surface disinfection has just been utilized in light of the fact that COVID-19 spreads not just from individual to individual by means of close contact respiratory droplet transfer but also via contaminated surfaces,” the researchers write.

“Opportunities lie in intelligent navigation and detection of high-risk, high-touch areas, combined with other preventative measures,” the researchers add. “New generations of huge, little, smaller scale, and swarm robots that can ceaselessly work and clean (i.e., evacuating dust as well as really disinfecting/sanitizing all surfaces) could be created.”

Although numerous individuals around the globe are practicing social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic, those on the cutting edges battling the infection can’t remain at home. Experts concur that robots could take control over the “dull, grimy and risky” jobs people are as of now doing. Nations, for example, China have already deployed robots to help with specific tasks during the pandemic, such as taking individuals’ temperatures.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science Foundation composed workshops in 2015 that distinguished three-wide regions where robotics technology can have any kind of effect: clinical care, for example, telemedicine and cleaning; logistics, for example, delivery and handling of contaminated waste; and reconnaissance including monitoring compliance with voluntary quarantines.

“The experiences with the Ebola outbreak recognized a wide range of use cases, yet funding for multidisciplinary research, in partnership with agencies and industry, to meet these use cases stays costly, uncommon and coordinated to different applications,” the specialists noted. We could have been prepared, and now we’re trying to play catchup during a pandemic, the scientists said.

One of the leading worldwide developers of autonomous robot technologies – SMP Robotics, headquartered in Sausalito, California – has introduced its most recent models of patrol robots.

Presently, robots can unpretentiously examine faces, analyze human behavior and measure body temperature from a distance of 90 feet. They are outfitted with intelligent 360-degree video surveillance cameras and built-in predictable analytic systems. This could be a perfect arrangement in helping governments and healthcare authorities to stop the spread of present and future virus pandemics. The deployment of these robots would assist with monitoring crowded and public areas as well as to watch the premises of industrial or commercial facilities.

SMP Robotics robots are definitely more proficient and less intrusive than humans doing the same procedures. Fueled by Swarm Intelligence, AI for human face and behavior recognition technology and Video Management System robots can give fully autonomous 24/7 surveillance and video recording, without breaks, sick days or vacations, in a wide variety of terrains and under any weather conditions. Interim, the technical staff can work remotely from anyplace on the planet performing duties productively and securely.

Not at all like different robots that are intended to move across the smooth floors in shopping centers, the robots manufactured by SMP Robotics are intended to patrol expansive, open areas of land, as well as industrial facilities.

SMP Robotics robots will wipe out the problems for the management engaged with working with controlling the spread of the coronavirus. Regardless of whether it’s in processing plants, at the nation’s border walls and gates, this detection solution will be speedier and more powerful than people.

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State of Disruptive Technologies in Futuristic Market

Disruptive Technologies

The innovations brought in by industry 4.0 technologies, also termed disruptive technologies are at the core of various businesses, organizations, sectors, industries, countries, and human-tasks as well. New age disruption induced by such technologies sweeps away the systems or replaces consumer or market habits through a recognizably superior behavior. Cloud Consulting, Cyber Security, Business Intelligence and Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Virtual & Augmented Reality are among the top disruptive technologies leading way towards better business prospects.

Besides, McKinsey considers mobile internet, automation of knowledge work, the internet of things, cloud technology, Advanced robotics, Autonomous, and near-autonomous vehicles, next-generation genomics, energy storage, 3D printing, advanced materials, advanced oil and gas exploration and recovery, and renewable energy as the top twelve potentially economically disruptive technologies.

The American management consulting firm, estimated the potential economic impact of 12 technologies across a set of promising applications, based on feasible scenarios for technology advancement, reach, and resulting productivity or value gains that could be achieved by 2025. It estimated the potential (rather than realized) value in 2025 by assuming that addressable barriers to technology adoption and value creation (such as the need for supporting regulations) can be overcome and that reasonable, necessary investments can be made.

McKinsey’s estimates represent annual value, including consumer surplus, that could be realized in 2025 across sized applications. These estimates are not potential revenue, market size, or GDP impact. Here are the estimations regarding the economic value at the stake of 12 potentially economically disruptive technologies:

Mobile Internet:

US$1.7 trillion GDP related to the Internet

US$25 trillion Interaction and transaction worker employment costs, 70% of global employment costs

Automation of Knowledge Work:

US$9+ trillion Knowledge worker employment costs, 27% of global employment costs

The Internet of Things:

US$36 trillion Operating costs of key affected industries (manufacturing, health care, and mining)

Cloud Technology:

US$1.7 trillion GDP related to the Internet

US$3 trillion Enterprise IT spend

Advanced Robotics:

US$6 trillion Manufacturing worker employment costs, 19% of global employment costs

US$2–3 trillion Cost of major surgeries

Autonomous and Near-Autonomous Vehicle:

US$4 trillion Automobile industry revenue

US$155 billion Revenue from sales of civilian, military, and general aviation aircraft

Next-Generation Genomics:

US$6.5 trillion Global health-care costs

USUS$1.1 trillion Global value of wheat, rice, maize, soy, and barley

Energy Storage:

US$2.5 trillion Revenue from global consumption of gasoline and diesel

US$100 billion Estimated value of electricity for households currently without access

3D- Printing:

US$11 trillion Global manufacturing GDP

USUS$85 billion Revenue from global toy sales

Advanced Materials:

US$1.2 trillion Revenue from global semiconductor sales

US$4 billion Revenue from global carbon fiber sales

Advanced Oil and Gas Exploration and Recovery:

US$800 billion Revenue from global sales of natural gas

US$3.4 trillion Revenue from global sales of crude oil

Renewable Energy:

US$3.5 trillion Value of global electricity consumption

US$80 billion Value of global carbon market transactions

McKinsey says, “Based on our analysis, however, we are convinced that collectively the potential for our sized technologies and applications is huge: taken together and netting out potential overlaps, we find that they have the potential to drive direct economic impact on the order of US$14 trillion to US$33 trillion per year in 2025.”

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Unlocking the Power and Significance of Vision Guided Robotics

robotics

Automation technology has significantly advanced over the last few years, making things easier and convenient for businesses. Robots, in this way, have emerged as an effective solution within sophisticated areas and have become fast, more precise and more capable of automating various numbers of tasks. When integrating this automation solution with vision technology, it becomes cheaper, faster and more intelligent. However, this has led the new way of automation in manufacturing with vision guided robotics (VGR), consisting of technologies needed to classify, process and control objects based on visual data, such as lighting, cameras and software to provide reference points for the robot.

Applications of vision guided robotics are rapidly becoming widespread thanks to the steadily decreasing cost of the latest technology. In today’s advanced world, rapid innovations are introducing sophisticated technologies for vision guided robotics, taking robot functionality to the next level. Earlier, for conventional robots, picking and placing a random part from a bin on time wasn’t an easy task. However, with the evolution of next-gen imaging systems, combined with the availability of more compact, highly efficient and less expensive robots, sensors and advanced technologies, it has become easier to deploy robotic solutions for a large range of applications, particularly within small and mid-size manufacturing companies.

Moreover, as manufacturers consider the potential of Industry 4.0, machine vision for industrial robotic guidance remains to be critical allowing technology to understand the diverse needs of flexible automation and smart manufacturing. This is when the technologies and tools for vision guided robotics are providing their full potential. Most manufacturing companies in the past had refused the use of robotics but thanks to the advancements in precision and accuracy of machine vision, they are now looking to leverage this for a new opportunity.

While manufacturers seek to use vision guided robotics, majorly for a pick and place application, they must first consider the 2D vision system. This can often be a more reasonable and more affordable option, compared with 3D vision. Despite its increasing capabilities, the 2D vision system still requires a traditional lighting source, availability of contrast and color, and slower processing speeds than 3D imaging.

Demands of Vision Guided Robotics from End-Users

Since vision guided robotics applications are quickly becoming common, the demand for this technology from customers is upsurging more than ever. This enhanced demand helps define the future of the technology. Also, customers are demanding a number of capabilities from their VGR technology, including random picking that can replace dedicated operators and simplify the assembly line; the ability to pick and place objects with variations in part orientation in location to minimize costs associated with fixtures; higher flexibility; and high integration.

These requirements from end-users create opportunities to drive technological innovation and for manufacturers and suppliers of vision guided robotics, it paves ways to come up with their abilities to meet these demands.

Considering a report from market research firm Allied Market Research, the global market of Vision Guided Robotics was noted at US$3,834 million in 2015 and is expected to rise to US$7,718 million by 2022, at a growing CAGR of 10.7 percent.

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Defeating Pandemic Barriers, Japan Felicitates Students Using Robots

Robots

The impediments induced by COVID-19 has undoubtedly created havoc across nations, however, it cannot be denied that the coronavirus is pushing some great innovative endeavors at the forefront. The interesting applications of disruptive technologies are one such captive sight to look out for. Where artificial intelligence (AI), big data, cloud computing, and significant others are helping stay put the lockdown well, robots have been deployed on field of action to provide physical assistance to doctors and nurses working late hours to serve COVID-19 patients. For example, one team of robots temporarily cared for patients in a makeshift hospital in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the COVID-19 outbreak began. Meals were served, temperatures taken and communications handled by machines, one of them named “Cloud Ginger” by its maker CloudMinds, which has operations in Beijing and California.

“It provided useful information, conversational engagement, entertainment with dancing, and even led patients through stretching exercises,” CloudMinds president Karl Zhao said of the humanoid robot.

“The smart field hospital was completely run by robots.” A small medical team remotely controlled the field hospital robots. Patients wore wristbands that gathered blood pressure and other vital data.

Besides, according to a Reuters report, spring graduation ceremonies in Japan have been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, but students at one school were able to attend remotely by controlling avatar robots while logged on at home.

The robots, dubbed “Newme” by developer ANA Holdings, were dressed in graduation caps and gowns for the ceremony at the Business Breakthrough University in Tokyo. The robots’ “faces” were tablets that displayed the faces of the graduates, who logged on at home and controlled the robots via their laptops.

One by one, the robots motored toward the podium to receive their diplomas. School staff clapped and said “congratulations!” as University President Kenichi Ohmae placed the diplomas on a rack mounted on the robot’s midsection.

“I think this is truly a novel experience to receive a certificate in a public area while I am in a private space,” Kazuki Tamura said via his computer avatar when receiving his master’s degree diploma.

The university hopes its approach can be adopted by other schools looking to avoid mass gatherings. Reflecting the human world, however, the school limited the ceremony to just four graduates so that the robots could practice social distancing amid the pandemic.

Moreover, one of the unnamed students said in a statement, “When I enrolled, I never thought I would operate my avatar and attend the graduation ceremony. However, receiving a diploma in public is a novel experience.”

The Newme telepresence robots aren’t just useful for attending graduations, they also come in handy if you want to travel without leaving home.

Last year, All Nippon Airways revealed that it would use Newme telepresence robots to allow people to experience faraway places without having to travel there in person. The robots would transmit high-definition 2K videos that let its human users see and interact with the bot’s surroundings.

Newme robots have also helped people with debilitating paralysis to return to the workplace as robot waiters in Japanese cafes.

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Three Ways How Drones Are Helping in the Battle Against COVID-19

drones

The global pandemic COVID-19 or commonly known as coronavirus diseases is creating massive frictional ripples in almost every sector. From tourism, transportation, the supply chain of export and import, healthcare, IT industries, etc., are either reeling under pressure or in standstill phase across the borders. Therefore there is a constant strain of science and technology to come up with innovative solutions to mitigate the situation. And in the race of addressing the demands and the opportunities to outdo other competing firms, we end up with new emerging techs and trends. One such disruptive solution is the usage of drones.

As the COVID-19 changed and challenged how the society functions in time of an emergency, drones are keeping up with their promising usability in healthcare and surveillance. This demonstration can lead to a huge growth in how we see its future scope. Let us break down the vital use cases in these unprecedented times.

In Manhattan, USA, a drone was seen in East River Park, reprimanding people who were not maintaining the social distancing protocol. Named as ‘the Anti-COVID-19 Volunteer Drone Task Force’, it asked the gathered crowds to maintain a minimum of six feet distance among each other. Pedestrians could hear a continuous message of, “‘Please help stop the spread of this virus. Reduce the death toll and save lives.”

In Kazakhstan, KazUAV drones are helping the Nur-Sultan Police Department by patrolling the capital city. Equipped with the vision and infrared sensors on drone-mounted cameras, KazUAV is helping with ensuring people to follow lockdown measures. It has helped authorities identify multiple road bypass and irregular activity taking place in the target areas.

In India, IdeaForge, a leading manufacturer of UAVs has deployed drones to monitor, Sangli, Maharashtra and Guwahati, Assam to survey public places. While in Spain, France, and China drones are used to broadcast messages, requesting people to stay indoors, use masks before going out, etc. At Noida, New Delhi, GarudaUAV is helping local police force to manage vehicular traffic and public overcrowding.

Besides in some cities, thermal camera drones are employed to scan the body temperature of people over a large area. This helps to identify new likely cases without having to touch those who are already infected.

When it comes to deliveries, a Chinese drone delivery company, Antwork Robotics is ensuring safe transportation of medical and other supplies from Xinchang County’s disease control center to the Xinchang County People’s Hospital. This means less exposure to humans to infection. Further, it cuts down trips by 4 wheelers from 20 minutes to a mere 6 minutes.

Along with it, drones are also used to deliver groceries and other essential items.

At Zipline Center, Suhum, Ghana drones are used to deliver blood, vaccines and other medical supplies to remote areas that are not accessible by road at this time. This reduces patient travel and saves expenses to spend on-road transportation by a huge margin. In Virginia, USA, Google is using its Wing drone delivery system to deliver toilet paper and medicines.

To enable sterilization, DJI repurposed its agricultural drones to spray disinfectants at public places. Its’ Agras agriculture drone, which previously dispersed liquid pesticides, fertilizers, and herbicides on-farm plants, is now used to spray chlorine alcohol-based disinfectant in affected areas. Soon after this XAG agricultural drones and the drones from Fly Dragon Drone Tech, joined hands to regulate the situation.

Digital Aerolus, an autonomous technology company has recently developed Aertos 120-UVC, the first indoor drone with C-band ultraviolet (UVC) lights. It shall be used to disinfect critical places like hospitals, market stores, airports and bus stops, etc. It is highly stable and does not rely on GPS or external sensors to fly indoors. This paves a path for futuristic age for unmanned disinfection tools.

While it is uncertain how coronavirus will change its route in the coming days, we can count on these flying objects that will be present to save the day.

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Top 10 Autonomous Delivery Robots Coming Soon to Your Neighborhood

robots

In the current times where human to human interaction can be fatal in many areas and everything is dependent on one-touch away services through mobile apps, service providers must facilitate customers with the best service and delivery experiences. It is high time that vendors should enhance their last-mile delivery services with efficiency. The movements of goods from the transportation hub to the final destination, specifically personal residence in most of the cases, are termed as last-mile delivery. The last mile logistics are currently focusing on delivering items to end-users as fast as possible. Here are the top 10 most innovative companies building autonomous delivery robots that may come soon to your neighborhood.

Starship Technologies

With a combination of mobile technology, autonomous robots and partnerships with stores and restaurants, Starship Technologies makes local delivery faster, smarter and more cost-efficient. Starship robots are advanced devices that can carry items within a 4-mile (6km) radius. The company’s delivery platform enables a new era of instant delivery that works around your schedule at much lower costs.

Savioke

Savioke’s Relay is the safest, most secure autonomous indoor delivery robot for the busy, dynamic environments of logistics and manufacturing. A single-piece-flow solution, Relay autonomously navigates through busy work areas and down narrow aisles, even those too tight for mobile racks, to deliver higher employee satisfaction and more efficient and uniform workflow.

Eliport

Eliport was born out of a desire to solve the ‘unsolvable’ in last-mile delivery services. The company aims to solve the last-mile logistics problem by providing a fleet of ground-based, robotic delivery machines that will change the face of cities overnight. Eliport is creating autonomous robots for the delivery industry that will change cities for the better, saving everyone time, stress and money.

TeleRetail

TeleRetail AutoPilot Software Aito™ drives vehicles of almost any size, automating industrial, urban and rural logistics. Shaping the future of autonomous driving, Aito reduces the cost of transport by up to 90% while enabling cost-efficient 24/7 on-demand logistics services.

Aethon

Aethon robots deliver food, linen, banquet supplies, and luggage in hotels and hospitality environments. It is as comfortable in the front-of-house as it is capable in the back-of-house. Best of all it can show up at a guest’s door to make a room service delivery something truly memorable.

Postmates

Postmates’ Serve navigates sidewalks to deliver your favorite anything, on-demand. Serve’s personality is all about understanding people. Nothing about Serve’s intelligence is artificial. Whether you’re grabbing a late-night burrito or on your morning run, Serve is designed from the wheels up to join you in your neighborhood. Serve safely walks alongside pedestrians, navigates around fire hydrants, and respects the sidewalks.

BoxBot

Boxbot is a last-mile logistics startup that has recently come out of stealth mode and announced its plans to roll out an end-to-end automated last-mile delivery system. The plan includes placing automated local fulfillment hubs near residential neighborhoods that could reduce the cost and accelerate the speed of last-mile delivery.

Effidence

Effidence optimizes your logistics flows with collaborative and autonomous robots. EffiBOT, a robotic trolley, a real logistics assistant with multiple uses for many sectors of activity: logistics, industry, construction, last-mile delivery, etc. It collaborates with operators and makes their work easier while improving their working conditions, productivity and profitability.

Robomart

Consumers simply tap a button to request the closest Robomart. Once it arrives, they shop checkout-free for all their daily goods. Each Robomart carries a full selection of goods in its category and goes back to restock at its local replenishment center when low on inventory. Traditionally, to buy groceries you would either physically go to the store or order goods online. Now there’s a third way to shop — store-hailing. With robomarts there’s no standing in line, no need to create a basket, you get to pick goods at your doorstep, and robomarts show up in minutes rather than an hour or longer.

Cleveron

Cleveron is creating the world’s most innovative, robotics-based BOPIS (or buy online pick-up in-store) parcel delivery solutions to help retail and logistics companies manage their operations effectively. This, in turn, saves time for everyone. Cleveron is the innovation leader in retail click & collect pickup solution companies by developing intelligent parcel lockers and robots. With its products, you can reduce last-mile parcel delivery costs, enhance parcel delivery and return operations and improve the omnichannel customer experience.

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