Рубрика: Robotics

Robots for the home? This is every futuristic dream come true! If you enjoy watching sci-fi movies, there must have been a point in your life where you wondered “when will I have a robot?” Well, while there is time for a future where we can live alongside a life-like robot or where we coexist with robots walking and chatting on the streets, you can be a proud owner of personal robots who will make your everyday life easier, especially in 2021 and a pandemic.

2020 had the world grappling with COVID-19 and its serious implications on the economy and people’s lives. Many lost jobs due to the economic crashes, lost money in stocks, and unfortunately died and fell ill due to the spread of the disease. This brought the realization of replacing humans with robots wherever possible, be it at work or at home. For example, hospitals and clinics adopted telemedicine practices where they gave the responsibility of providing first-stage healthcare to AI-powered machines. For people who were quarantined at home, robotic help was needed in the house in the form of robotic mops.

With this realization, companies responded to meet these demands by producing personal robotic devices. Here are the top 5 devices that you can own.

Pet Dog Robot

Manufactured by Sony, this Sony Aibo Intelligent Dog Robot Pet is for those people who debated between having a pet and having the time and patience to take care of it. Truly a man’s best friend, this robotic dog mimics a living dog. The robotic dog follows simple commands and works on voice commands. For example, if you say, “I’m home” when you are back from work, it will greet you by jumping and wagging its tail. The robot dog will perform tricks, move and scratch like a real dog, and you can train him to respond to a name, too. If your little one wants a puppy to play with, this is a great choice if you cannot afford to adopt an actual pet.

Personal Robot Platform

Here’s a robot that can manage your smart home devices and be your personal butler. Meet Misty II Personal Robot Platform. She is a robot software with human characteristics. She can express emotions, recognize your face, and because she is a personal butler/assistant, you can program her to perform any tasks you want.

Air Purifying Bot

More than a want, this is a necessity. We live in a time where pollution has affected the air quality and in turn, our health. The air in our houses contains lead, radon, and other harmful chemicals. Samsung’s Bot Air is an air-purifying robot that moves around in your home, cleaning air. When this bot detects unhealthy air, a red light is emitted from the bottom and changes to green once the air is purified. This bot is equipped with LiDar sensors that help it navigate smoothly, avoiding objects and pets in its way.

Star Wars Droid

This one is for all the fans of Star Wars fans out there. Would you miss a chance to own an R2-D2? A company called LittleBits is selling a kit that can be used to build an R2-D2 lookalike.

It comes with a step-by-step guide, electric blocks, parts, and a nine-volt battery to bring this bot to life. With this customisable R2-D2, kids can learn basic coding. The droid is capable of learning new skills and performing tasks, too.

Companion Robot

Similar to the AIBO dog, Sharp RoBoHon is a companion robot that can be used to provide instructions, information, and assistance to people via apps. Currently, this robot can store up to 30 apps. This robotic device has WiFi and LTE connectivity and it can walk, interact through voice commands, and control a smart home.

The post Be One Step Closer To A Futuristic Home With These Awesome Home Robots appeared first on Analytics Insight.

Analytics Insight has listed Top 10 robotic start-ups that are working on diverse robotic trends in 2021

Robots are coexisting with people in various settings by entering the nook and corner of the modern technological world. In the coming decades, technology is expected to fundamentally change the world for good, and remarkably, robots will be at the core of these shifts. The idea of collaboration between humans and machines is being widely accepted as a futuristic source for next-generation improvement. Robots are already performing various tasks starting from optimizing warehouse production to cleaning homes, assisting surgeons and tackling loneliness. A recent news report indicates that the robotics market will be worth US$73 billion by 2025, and the current pandemic decreased the initial growth projection only by 3%. However, running an organization that supports robotics is no easy task. Fortunately, in recent years, several start-ups are also entering the robot race. They are working on diverse ideas like autonomous vehicles, mobile robots, toy robots and software to give robots common sense and make them easier to use. Analytics Insight has listed Top 10 Robotic start-ups that are making a breakthrough in 2021.

Top 10 Robotic Start-ups making a breakthrough in 2021

Soft Gripping

Soft Gripping is a futuristic robotics start-up that helps customers build their own individual gripper or multi-actuator system with the help of the company. Soft Gripping’s pneumatically powered elastic gripper allows easy, robust and very light designs. The company works on a motive that soft and adaptive surfaces are ideal for fault-tolerant handling and a safe collaboration with humans. The US-based start-up serves logistics and food industry with appropriate robots. Soft Gripping is developing working on collaborative robots for consumers.

Covariant

Covariant is a developer of artificial intelligence for robotics. The company is building the Covariant Brain, a universal AI to give robots the ability to see, reason and act on the world around them. Founded in 2017, Covariant brings Covariant Brian to commercial viability, starting with the industries that make, move and store things in the physical world. In June 2020, the company secured a US$40 million in Series B funding round led by Index Ventures to push its total funding to US$67million.

Brain Corp

Brain Corp is a San Diego, California-based AI start-up that is creating transformative core technology for the robotics industry. Founded in 2009, the company’s comprehensive solutions support builders of today’s autonomous machines in successfully producing, deploying and supporting robots across commercial industries and applications. Brain Corp envisions a world where the lives of people are made safer, easier, more productive and more fulfilling with the help of robots. The company is innovating quickly and powering the world’s largest fleet of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) operating in commercial public spaces.

Robust.AI

Robust.AI is a robotics start-up building the world’s first industrial-grade cognitive engine. Founded in 2019, the company runs around, automates some day-to-day tasks, and even converses with people on a very basic level. The California-based start-up is engaged in developing a cognitive engine, which robots use to serve for different purposes like manufacturing, healthcare, etc. In October 2020, Robust.AI has closed a US$15 million Series A investment round taking the company’s total funding to US$22.5 million.

Sastra Robotics

Sastra Robotics India Pvt Ltd is a technology and robotics company that builds and delivers robotic solutions for human-like automated functional testing of real physical devices. Founded in 2013, the company aims to develop and market novel and high-end robotics technologies for a wide range of applications aimed at the welfare of humanity. Sastra Robotics’ products are being used by OEMs and Service Providers to expedite test cycles and reduce the time-to-market for their products.

Aegeus Technologies

Aegeus Technologies is one of India’s major start-ups that strive to develop friendly robotics systems to conserve the environment. The company builds technologies and solutions for protection and efficient use of energy across industries and utilities. Aegeus aims to make electrical power safe, reliable, efficient and sustainable. After all the R&D and successful tests of Waterless Robotic Panel Cleaning Technology on commissioned products in India, Aegus announced its plans to launch its robots for ground mount and rooftop projects in the middle east.

Saildrone

Saildrone is a California-based robotics start-up designing wind and solar-powered autonomous surface vehicles called Saildrones. Saildrones make cost-effective ocean data collection possible at large scale. The company’s measurement and observations from above and below the ocean surface provide intelligence and insight for subjects ranging from maritime security to mapping and earth system processes such as weather forecasting, carbon cycling, global fishing and climate change. Saildrone’s patented wind technology was born from ten years of R&D in pursuit of the land speed record.

Furhat Robotics

Furhat Robotics is a Conversational AI and Social Robotics start-up that has developed the world’s most advanced social robotics platform. The company envisions building a human-like computer interface that enables people to interact with machines in the same way that humans interact with each other. Based in Stockholm, Furhat Robotics is making the promise of social robots a reality.

Pickit

Pickit offers vision solution for automated bin picking, depalletizing and part localization. The robotics start-up helps customers automate picking and placing parts of varying size, shapes and materials. Pickit is a plug and play product that guides robots to pick and place a wide range of things in different applications. The 3D camera and Pick-it software detects the 3D position, orientation and dimensions.

Digital Dream Labs

Digital Dream Labs is a pioneer in STEAM technology that develops entertaining games to teach the core pillars of education. The high-tech firm specializes in creating engaging language and system-agnostic products that connect with kids of all ages. Imbued with personality and spirit, the line of robots is more than a simple educational tool. In December 2019, the company broke the silence and announced that it has plans to acquire Anki’s assets and revive all of Anki’s product lines.

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Robots are slowly taking up space in operating rooms by assisting in surgical procedures and performing repetitive tasks.

We have witnessed a boom in artificial intelligence and its use cases across various industries. Healthcare is one of the important benefactors of AI, automation, and robotics. AI is already prevalent in drug development, diagnostics, medical imaging, etc., and it has had great impacts on the healthcare industry.

Robots have also started taking baby steps by providing assistance to patients, personalizing treatments, and also providing assistance in surgical procedures. Yes, you read it right. Robots are slowly entering the operating rooms. Will you let a robot perform medical procedures on you? Maybe you won’t but there is a long way to go for robots to replace human doctors in operating rooms. Many fictions and movies have shown robots taking over the human race. Well, they remain in fiction since robots are never going to replace humans unless they completely replicate human intelligence, which is a far fetched thought.

Robots Aiding Surgical Procedures

The DaVinci surgical system created by Intuitive Surgicals in the year 2000 is a robotic surgical system that facilitates procedures like prostatectomy and heart valve repair. This surgical system is minimally invasive and can be controlled through a console. There are tiny robotic arms that assist in surgery and act as scalpels and 3D camera vision for better visibility. This is just one example of robot-aided surgical operations and there are more.

Robots in the operating room can increase efficiency by better precision and reduced risk factors. They can assist doctors with faster, accurate arms and help in post-operative recovery. Human hands might have tremors while performing surgeries, which can be fatal. With robots, there is no such disadvantage, and they reduce human errors in operating procedures.

A Guardian report from 2018 that covered a surgical robot Vercius has an interesting lead which goes, “Trainee surgeons typically require 60 to 80 hours of practice, but in a mock-up operating theatre outside Cambridge, a non-medic with just a few hours of experience is expertly wielding a hook-shaped needle – in this case stitching a square of pink sponge rather than an artery or appendix. The feat is performed with the assistance of Vercius, the world’s smallest surgical robot, which could be used in NHS operating theatres for the first time later this year if approved for clinical use.”

The medical robot company CUREXO, has developed surgical robots that can assist in joint surgeries. The system pre-plans the surgery by developing a 3D image of the affected area and provides guidelines through virtual surgery and assists in precise cutting. Well, it is not a nascent initiative since the company’s surgical robots performed its first robotic hip joint relocation back in 1992.

Another area that equips robots is surgical sutures, is in laparoscopic surgeries where the field of vision is limited for the surgeon. Robots have a better degree of freedom which enables them to move without constraints. A research team from John Hopkins University and Washington based Children’s National Health System published research in 2016 regarding the suturing abilities of surgical robots. The research developed a system called Smart Tissue Automation Robot (STAR) that can perform soft tissue suturing. According to a report in IEEE Spectrum, in 2016 the STAR system sewed together two segments of the pig intestine with stitches that were more regular and leak-resistant compared to experienced surgeons.

A Wall Street Journal report mentions another milestone in the robotic surgery systems. The report says that Researchers from the National University of Singapore and Intel Corp. are trying to mimic the sense of touch with a robotic silicon finger. Sense of touch is important in surgical procedures to identify organs and with the robots being able to handle this, doctors can perform remote surgeries. These silicon fingers will operate with the help of AI and sensors.

What Does the Future Look Like?

Robots can effectively assist surgical procedures with maximum accuracy and minimum errors. The arrival of more efficient technologies like 5G will enable these robots to function more impactfully and will gradually lessen human intervention. As mentioned in the above section, more innovations are coming our way which will enable remote surgeries with the help of robots.

Although there are abundant advantages, AI and robots have many ethical concerns that need to be addressed in order to gain a wider range of acceptance.

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With the upward trajectory of industries adopting robots and automation, it is best time for investing in robotics stock

Robots today, are most definitely helping humans. Apart from hurried yet precise work at assembly lines, they are also toiling in dangerous, dull settings – much to our relief and safety. From tiny surgeon robotic assistants, to supplies delivery to recycling, the wide applications of robotics has earned robots huge demand across industry verticals. Robots are also being used in the military, space exploration, under water exploration, harvesting crops, fixing oil spills and fighting crimes too. Hence, it is no wonder that robot stocks had beaten the S&P 500 over the past decade.

At present, robots are positioned to propel its market to new heights. Thanks to new applications, software, and an advancement of connected technologies.

Robotics stocks come from companies involved in the conception or construction of robots. According to Finder, they include:

• Core automation and production. Focused on the development and construction of robots and automated processes.

• Robot technology. Specialized in specific segments of the robot market, like vision systems, sensors and video compression.

• Industrial software.Developing industrial software solutions that enable automated robotic processes.

• Robotic integration.Using robotics to enhance their product offerings, like domestic appliances, farming equipment and aircraft systems.

Last year, several robotic companies made great strides in terms of innovation, raising money or bringing timely applications that have made them relevant in the near future. A report posted by PR Newswire revealed that the robotics market will be worth US$73 billion by 2025, and the current pandemic decreased the initial growth projections only by 3%. Meanwhile, there has been an increased interest among business leaders to adopt digital transformation. This surge in digital uptake will boost the robotics industry forwards, shaping its contribution to businesses in coming years.NASDAQ believes that even if the robotics industry grows at 15% to 20% in the next five years, it can be considered as an exciting investment theme.

Currently, ABB is among the top stock robotics that provides the facility of machine and factory automation. NVIDIA Corporation is also another big name in robotics stock industry owing to their graphics processing unit (GPU) technology that enables AI in self-driving cars, gaming, the cloud, Big Data and many other areas.

As countries like USA, China, Germany, Japan and others continue to rise to prominent status in a world-leading startup and technology ecosystem, investment have also continued to flow into robotics sector. Since the robotics trend is still in its infancy, buying the right stocks this early in the game could result in massive returns for investors. Some promising ones include:

ABB (NYSE:ABB)

ABB has significant presence in the robotics industry. The company has installed 400,000 robots in 53 countries. ABB focuses on industrial robots with service offering for a wide variety of industries. This includes automotive, healthcare, logistics, solar and plastics. A new robotics manufacturing and research facility from ABB is in plans to open in China soon.

iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT)

iRobot is a consumer robot company that designs and builds robots. The iRobot portfolio includes concepts in mapping, navigation, mobility and artificial intelligence. It offers Roomba floor vacuuming robots; Braava family of automatic floor mopping robots; Terra robotic lawn mower products; and Root robots designed to help children learn how to code.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER)

Few years ago, semiconductor manufacturer Teradyne made into headlines with its US$285 million acquisition of Universal Robots. The company also witnessed promising business revival in the second half of 2020. Other strategic acquisitions, include Energid Technologies and MiR. Teradyne is working to build “the world’s largest collaborative robotics hub” in Denmark.

It is important to note that while robotics stocks has promising future, and are easy to invest, they are not without risks. For instance, buying stock in individual companies includes a greater risk when you lose to a newer, flashier competitor. At the same time, given the market competition, the newly hatched startups may lack the capital and resources of better-established companies. Further, robotics only represents a small piece of the overall revenue for large cap players. Companies like Tesla, Alphabet Inc, etc. will witness a strong rise this year, considering the exciting innovations from them.

So, whether one invests in a major multinational enterprise or a tiny startup’s IPO, research before buying is essential. Investors should also pay close attention to news releases and future annual reports.

The post Why Investing in Robotics Stock Sound Promising A Layman’s Perspective appeared first on Analytics Insight.

Like it or not, the future will demand humans to co-exist with robots. That raises the question, can humans and robots be good friends, or will the pairing cause destruction as they show in sci-fi movies?

In “Robot and Frank”, a 2012 movie, the protagonist is a retired cat burglar named Frank who is suffering from early symptoms of dementia. Worried and guilty, Frank’s son buys a home robot for him that can talk, do chores like cooking and cleaning, and reminds Frank to take his medicines on time. In the movie, Frank is initially not happy with the thought of living with a robot, but he gradually starts to see the robot as a functional tool and companion. The film ends on a happy note with a bond between a man and a machine. This can be all our future.

Friendship Philosophy

John Danaher, a robotics philosopher, reflects on Greek philosopher Aristotle’s meaning of true friendship which talks about a bond premised on mutual goodwill, admiration, and shared values. In a sense, he says friendship is nothing but a partnership of equals. But according to John, building a robot with that level of emotion will be challenging. The closest we have to this philosophy is Hanson Robotic’s Sophia. This AI robot lays its behavior on a library of pre-prepared responses which makes it a chatbot rather than a conversational equal. If you interact with Alexa or Siri, you will notice that AI has a long way to go before achieving the Aristotle level of bonding.

Artificial Pals

It has been observed that for some people, interacting with robots comes as naturally as it comes with pets, people, and possessions. Psychologists stated that there are people who respond socially towards computers and televisions, but humanoid robots are vastly different from televisions and computers. It’s not just a voice talking, it’s a more human-like structure.

A group of UK researchers who came up with a set of ethical principles of robotics claims that a human-robot companionship is an oxymoron and to propagate that robots will understand social cues like humans is dishonest and alarming. On the other hand, there are people who develop bonds of machines like vacuum-cleaning and lawn-trimming machines by giving them pet names. Not just utility machines, Sony’s Aibo robot dog is a life-like pet robot that owners have a great bond with. Such stories are evidence that we are capable of having emotional bonds with robots if they don’t show any signs of threat.

If all goes well, many of us will follow Frank’s path and accept the fact that robots can make for good companions. Humans are social animals and social interaction is rewarding in our own ways. In this manner, it seems possible that people who lack human relations will benefit from a robotic bond and address the need for social interaction like providing physical comfort during distress, emotional support, and enjoyable social exchanges. Maybe expecting an Aristotle-defined bond is an expectation set too high, but a co-existing future with robots is inevitable.

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Body language says a lot about a person. If your guest says he is comfortable but you see him sitting with his arms crossed and jaw clenched, you will doubt his honesty. This is because, as humans, we’ve been making keen observations all our lives to understand body language and what it conveys. But when it comes to robots, they might believe that the guest is comfortable because he audibly said so. With advancements made in computer vision and facial recognition technology, robots are not being able to pick up on subtle body movements.

In Order To Co-Exist, Robots Needs To Understand Social Cues

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University created a body-tracking system to counter this issue. OpenPose is a system that can track body movement like that of the hands and face in real-time. This system uses computer vision and machine learning to process video frames. It can track the movements of multiple people simultaneously which will improve human-robot compatibility and make way for more augmented reality games and intuitive user interfaces.

If you think a robot tracking the user’s head, torso and limbs are advanced, the OpenPose system can also track individual fingers and their movement. To make this happen, researchers used Panoptic Studio, a dome lined with 500 cameras that were used to capture body postures from a variety of angles. These images were used to build the data set for the system.

All those several images were then passed through a keypoint detector which helped identify and label the body parts. OpenPose learns to associate the body parts with its individuals which makes tracking multiple people possible without creating chaos regarding whose hand is where.

Initially, images in the dome were captured in 2D but researchers converted them into 3D to help the body-tracking algorithm understand different poses in different angles. This allows the system to recognize how person A’s hand looks even if something is obstructing the system’s vision. Because OpenPose has all this data to rely on, it can run with one camera and laptop instead of a camera-lined dome, making this technology more accessible.

Similar to OpenPose, scientists are working to make more such empathic robot systems that can read gesture cues. Another such example is a robot called Forpheus that does more than just play table tennis. It reads body language to get a glimpse of its opponent’s ability and offers advice and encouragement. “It will try to understand your mood and your playing ability and predict a bit about your next shot”, said Keith Kersten of Omron Automation, a Japanese company that developed Forpheus.

According to researchers who made OpenPose, this type of machine learning technology can be used to facilitate all sorts of interactions between humans and machines. It can improve VR experiences by detecting finger movements of the users without any additional hardware attached to the users, like gloves or stick-on sensors.

There is a possibility of a future where humans will have robots as companions, at home, and at work. With these advancements, humans can have more natural interactions with robots. You can tell a home robot to pick up something by pointing towards it and the machine will understand what you’re pointing at.

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2021 would expand on robotic innovations, thus addressing certain unique barriers.

Robotics is going to be one of the biggest improvements in how we live and work in the future. And that – is approaching very quickly. The next decade will be an incredibly interesting time to live through, with the potential to fully reshape science, healthcare, production, discovery and our everyday lives.

As the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic forced technology to greater heights, 2020 accelerated the use of robotics in all sectors, which enabled people to stay safe. 2021 would expand on these innovations, thus addressing certain unique barriers.

Here are a couple of the major challenges that robotics will face in 2021:

Mitigating Privacy and Protection Threats

There’s always the issue of privacy, morality, and protection with every technology. By reconditioning or altering it, the data used for preparing the robots may be misused, allowing the robot to breakdown. Likewise, the data obtained by the robot in its project lifecycle, such as recordings, photos, and location data, can also be breached into and used by fraudsters for illicit activities. Therefore, usage of robotic solutions and maintaining the protection of data still remains a serious issue.

In addition, there is no consistency about the ownership of the details the robot has. There is also no solid information on which party can use what portion of the information for what specific purpose. This brings up the question of whether the information will be used responsibly by the party that has possession of it.

Multi-purpose Uses

The expanding concept that keeps pushing robots to do more is multifunctionality. Robots that can do more will inevitably lead to greater productivity, whether it’s gathering more data, conducting more activities, or providing services to more needs. For example, instead of one, a robotic arm in a manufacturing process can organize 2 components of a commodity. It’s a step in the proper direction.

Robotics needs more human collaboration alongside more features, but also within the devices and processes themselves. They can reduce on lengthy processes if they can interact with each other.

Mapping and Navigating

A robot must maneuver safely through various type of environments when carrying out its given tasks in order to operate efficiently. It is important for the robot to create a model or map, determine its current location, and travel to the corresponding point. For robots, mapping, navigation, and routing are classic complications. As robots become completely autonomous, responsive to new situations, and extend their application range, it is important to find a good solution to these problems.

Expanding Valid Artificial Intelligence

Generally robots are designed using artificial intelligence technology and machine learning. Despite developments in these technologies, nonetheless, we still have not reached the point where the technologies can be fully trusted. Well first of all, it takes loads of data to train robots to perform their assigned duties. Besides that, as robots are typically trained in regulated environments, it is not assured that they will perform as expected. For robots to understand and take effective action, real-world scenarios may often become difficult. AI is presently no substitute for human logic, and robotic solutions are also not completely effective or entirely accurate.

Social Relationships

It is crucial that roboticists tackle the complexities of social relationships with a growing ability to bring robots into human settings such as hospitals. Signals from our voices, bodies and faces are fairly subtle and complicated, so it’s a major task to build a robot capable of detecting those signals and reacting appropriately. Moreover, basic moral & social values must be taken into consideration along with the disparities within communities and these relations must long-term be versatile and imperishable.

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Analytics Insight has listed the top 10 active robotic scientists who are heading the robot race in the 21st century

Love them or fear them, robots have become an integral part of human’s everyday life. Robotics interventions are being introduced and well-accepted as a smart tool in almost all industry. Robotics is the intersection of science, engineering and technology that produces machine called robots, the substitute human action. The existence of robotics and its ideology has been around for a very long time since the ancient world. The earliest form of wind-up automata is seen in ancient Greece and Rome. Besides, basic robots were also designed in China in the early days. However, the modern concept of robots was mainstreamed in the mid-20th century when more people in the robotics industry started digging into its features and came up with more realistic robots. Sci-fi movies and series have portrayed robots of all forms to people, and sometimes, they even scare humans with the thought that humanoid robots will take over the world one day. In 2005, around 90% of all robots could be found assembling parts in automotive factories. Today, we are experiencing an evolved description of robotics that includes the development, creation and use of bots that explore Earth’s hardest conditions, robots that assist law-enforcement and even guide in every facet of healthcare. All this was possible only because of pioneer robotics scientists who worked day and night to establish their ideas in form of robots. In order to celebrate their victory, Analytics Insight has listed the top 10 robotic scientists who are making a difference in the 21st century.

Top 10 active robotic scientists heading the robot race

John J. Leonard

John J. Leonard is an American roboticist and professor of Mechanical and Ocean Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His robotic research addresses the problems of navigation and mapping for autonomous mobile robots. Leonard was a pioneer in formulating the problem of Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) in the mobile robotics research community. With the help of his students and collaborators, he has developed several state-of-the-art robot navigation and mapping systems for robots operating in underwater and terrestrial environments.

Melonee Wise

Melonee Wise is the CEO of Fetch Robotics, which provides collaborative robots for the warehouse and logistic industry. Wise was the second employee at Willow Garage, a research and development laboratory specialized in robotics. While she was there, she led a team of engineers developing next-generation robot hardware and software. Wise is also one of the co-founders of Unbounded Robotics, which was a spin-off of sorts from Willow Garage. Based on her previous experience, Wise has stated that finding sufficient funding is a serious problem for companies in the field of robotics.

Steve Cousins

Steve Cousins is the Founder and CEO of Savioke, the leader in developing and deploying autonomous robots that work in human environments to improve people’s lives. Before founding Savioke, Cousins worked as the President and CEO of robotics incubator Willow Garage, where he oversaw the creation of the robot operating system (ROS), an open-source software suite that has become the standard tool among robotics researchers, and the PR2 robot, and the open-source TurtleBot. Cousins is passionate about building robotic technology to helps people and he is an active participant in the Robots for Humanity project.

Cynthia Breazeal

Cynthia Breazeal is a professor of media arts and sciences at MIT, where she founded and directs the Personal Robots group at the Media Lab. Armed with electronic gadgets, software programs and her endless imagination, Breazeal creates life-like machines that can respond to the world around them. Breazeal is a roboticist, a scientist who designs, builds and experiments with robots. As a child, she relied on movies to see robots in action, and today, robots a part of her daily life at the MIT Media Lab. Breazeal’s seminal book ‘Designing Sociable Robots’ is recognized as a landmark in launching the field of social robotics and human-robot interaction.

Takeo Kanade

Takeo Kanade is a Japanese computer scientist and one of the world’s foremost researchers in computer science and robotics. He is U.A and Helen Whitaker Professor at Carnegie Mello University. Kanade works in multiple areas of robotics like computer vision, multi-media, manipulators, autonomous mobile robots, medical robots and sensors. He has written more than 400 technical papers and reports in these areas and holds more than 20 patents. Kanade designed the world’s first robotics arm in 1981. The arm contained all of its motors within the robot assembly itself and this eliminated long transmissions.

Marc Raibert

Marc Raibert is the Founder and former CEO, and now Chairman of Boston Dynamics, a robotics company known for creating BigDog, Atlas, Spot and Handle. These robots are inspired by the remarkable ability of animals to move with agility, dexterity, perception and intelligence. Raibert worked as a Professor of Electronical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT and was a member of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory from 1986 to 1995.

Dieter Fox

Dieter Fox is a Senior Director of Robotics Research at Nvidia. Fox is also a professor in the department of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington. He is currently sharing his time between Nvidia and UW, while also leading the Robotics Research Lab in Seattle. Fox is the head of the UW Robotics and State Estimation Lab RSE-Lab. His research is in robotics, with strong connections to artificial intelligence, computer vision and machine learning.

Hiroshi Ishiguro

Hiroshi Ishiguro is the Director of Intelligent Robotics Laboratory, a part of the Department of Systems Innovation in the Graduate School of Engineering Science at Osaka University, Japan. Ishiguro constructs his mechanical doppelganger using silicone rubber, pneumatic actuators, powerful electronics, and hair from his own scalp. He controls this robot remotely through his computer using a microphone to capture his voice and a camera to track his face and head movements.

Raj Reddy

Dr Raj Reddy is the Moza Bint Nasser University Professor of Computer Science and Robotics in the Scholl of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. From 1960 to 1963, Reddy worked as an Applied Science Representative for IBM Corp in Australia. Later, he lived as a professor at many phases of his life. Reddy’s research interest includes artificial intelligence and the study of human-computer interaction.

David Hanson

David Hanson is an American roboticist and the Founder and CEO of Hanson Robotics, a Hong Kong-based robotics company founded in 2013. Hanson develops robots that are widely regarded as the world’s most human-like appearance, in a lifelong quest to create a true living, caring machines. To accomplish this goal, he integrates figurative arts with cognitive science and robotics engineering, inventions novel skin material, facial expressions mechanism, etc.

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A New York-based start-up, MSCHF (mischief) has mounted a compressed air paint gun on one of Boston Dynamic’s $75,000 Spot robots and will apparently link its controls to a public website.

Spot is the company’s robotic dog machine that can perform tricks like dancing, parkour, etc. Boston Dynamics has received several million views on YouTube with the clips of this futuristic dog going viral. But pranksters at MSCHF have opposing views.

Daniel Greenberg, a member of MSCHF said there are serious negative implications to this jolly robot dog. “Anytime you see a TikTok or a dance, it’s like, ‘Oh God, Spot is so happy’”, says Greenberg. “But if we actually talk candidly about what it’s going to be used for in the real world, you could say it’s police, you could say it’s military.”

As expected, Boston Dynamics wasn’t pleased with this outlook. They tweeted, “We condemn the portrayal of our technology in any way that promotes violence, harm, or intimidation. Our mission is to create and deliver surprisingly capable robots that inspire, delight, and positively impact society.”

MSCHF’s past stunts include an app that awarded $25,000 to the person who could hold down a button for the longest time, selling “Jesus Shoes” sneakers with real holy water infused shoes, developing an astrology-based stock-picking app and a bong shaped like a rubber chicken that squeaked when used.

“We’ve put a Spot in an art gallery, mounted it with a .68cal paintball gun, and given the internet the ability to control it, MSCHF wrote on their website. It further added, “We’re live streaming Spot as it frolics and destroys the gallery around it. Spots rampage is piloted by YOU! Spot is remote-controlled over the internet, and we will select random viewers to take the wheel.”

The intent behind MSCHF’s mischief is to draw attention to the robot’s potential to be misused in the future. “When killer robots come to America they will be wrapped in fur, carrying a ball. Good boy, Spot! Everyone in this world takes one look at the cute little Spot and knows: this thing will definitely be used by the police and the military to murder people”, the website read.

MSCHF’s claims are not totally baseless. In late 2019, the Massachusetts State Police used Spot units as a mobile remote observation device in dangerous situations. Authorities in Singapore used Spot robots to patrol parks behind the COVID-19, broadcasting a message to the pedestrians to keep a distance.

Boston Dynamics Vice President Michael Perry says that Spot’s terms of use prohibit violent use of the robot. “The core things we’re trying to avoid are things that harm people, intimidate people, or break the law,” said Perry. He further adds that this is not just a moral point for the company but also their commercial point as they want to sell the robots. Perry assures that the robot is periodically checked by the Boston Dynamics servers which means the servers can disable the SPOT that MSCHF is using. To this, the MSCHF crew says they have an alternate idea ready just in case.

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A look at top robotics funding companies raised in February/March 2021

Robots are now taking the world by storm. From complex business environments to our homes as robotic assistants, robots are everywhere and doing everything. As technology becomes more intelligent, accurate and sophisticated, robotics is becoming smarter enough to adapt to agile and complex environments. Advances in robotics have been of great significance, shaping our lives in several ways. Moreover, robotics companies are making tremendous leaps in terms of innovation, attracting investors’ eyes for building applications and delivering advanced robotics solutions.

Analytics Insight has compiled a list of top robotics funding and investments that happened in February/March 2021.

Plus

Amount Raised: US$200 Million

Transaction Type: Series B

Key Investor(s): Guotai Junan International, CPE and Wanxiang International Investment

Plus, a developer of autonomous truck technology, has raised a whopping funding amount of US$200 million in its Series B round. The round was led by Guotai Junan International, CPE and Wanxiang International Investment, with existing investor Full Truck Alliance. Founded in 2016, Plus develops technology to enable large-scale commercialization of autonomous transport. The new funds intend to stimulate the global commercialization and deployment of Plus’s automated trucking system.

Skydio

Amount Raised: US$170 Million

Transaction Type: Series D

Key Investor(s): Andreessen Horowitz

Autonomous drone manufacturer Skydio has raised US$170 million in a Series D funding round. The company builds AI-powered drones to deliver power and flying cameras without the complexity. Led by Andreessen Horowitz’s Growth Fund, the new funding sends Skydio into unicorn territory, of US$340 million in total funding with a post-money valuation worth US$1 billion.

Locus Robotics

Amount Raised: US$150 Million

Transaction Type: Series E

Key Investor(s): BOND, Tiger Global Management

Locus Robotics is a warehouse robotics company that manufactures autonomous mobile robots for e-commerce. The company has secured a mammoth funding amount of US$150 million in its Series E round led by BOND and Tiger Global Management. The round also involves existing investors including Scale Venture Partners and Prologis Ventures, the venture capital arm of Prologis, the global leader in logistics real estate. This fresh funding will enable Locus to further expand its market opportunities globally and support ongoing R&D to grow and enhance its award-winning, innovative warehouse technology solution.

DroneDeploy

Amount Raised: US$50 Million

Transaction Type: Series E

Key Investor(s): AirTree Ventures, Energize Ventures

DroneDeploy, a cloud-based drone mapping and analytics platform, has bagged US$50 million in a Series E financing round. The round was led by existing investors Energize Ventures and AirTree, with participation from Bessemer, Scale, Emergence, Angelpad, Uncork and Frontline Ventures. The funds will allow DronePlay to expand its products beyond aerial capture, expedite its expansion into Europe, and explore opportunities for strategic acquisitions. This new funding brings the company’s total valuation to over US$142 million.

Symbio Robotics

Amount Raised: US$30 Million

Transaction Type: Venture Round

Key Investor(s): ACME Capital

Robotics startup Symbio Robotics has raised US$30 million in a venture funding round to develop its industrial robots. The company develops AI software to improve the real-time control of industrial robots. The funding round was led by ACME Capital with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, Eclipse Ventures and The House Fund.

GITAI

Amount Raised: US$17.1 Million

Transaction Type: Series B

Key Investor(s): SPARX Innovation for the Future

GITAI is a robotics startup that builds remote-controlled robots to replace astronaut’s operations in commercial space stations. As the company aims to replace astronauts with robots, it has secured US$17.1 million in a Series B round for extending the robotics workforce of commercial space. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, GITAI will be providing reasonable, safe, and reliable labor to construct cities on the Moon and space colonies by 2040.

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