Robotics

Gaining traction due to COVID-19, the demand for household robotics has accelerated, with many consumers wanting to save time and effort. Expected to be valued at $21.9bn by 2027, the market is booming.

Sam Holland looks at an extensive study, called RACER-Hip, that compares the performance of traditional surgery with robot-assisted surgery, and considers how comfortable people may be with the latter.

EV Safe Charge unveiled ZiGGY, its mobile EV charging robot. ZiGGY will bring EV charging to parking facilities, shopping and entertainment centres, hotels, fleet operators and property owners, providing cost-effective charging, overcoming the limitations of stationary EV chargers without the need for costly electrical infrastructure.

Starship Technologies, a provider of autonomous delivery services, has partnered with North Northamptonshire Council and the Co-op to bring the benefits of autonomous grocery delivery to local residents across Wellingborough, Higham Ferrers and Rushden.

Engineers from the University of Glasgow have developed a flexible photodetector which could provide future robots with an electronic skin capable of ‘seeing’ light beyond the human range.

Intel Labs China has chosen congatec COM Express modules for easy and efficient design-in and flexible processor scalability in its Heterogeneous Extensible Robot Open (HERO) platform.

DPD is to commence autonomous robot deliveries in two Milton Keynes neighbourhoods, as part of a trial with AI-powered robotics and last mile delivery company, Cartken.

Inspired by the barn owl’s neuroanatomy, CEA-Leti has developed an event-driven, object-localisation system that couples state-of-the-art piezoelectric, ultrasound transducer sensors to a neuromorphic, resistive memories-based computational map.

Conducting maintenance and inspection tasks in critical areas using an autonomous robot – this task is being carried out by Evonik as part of an Innovation Project with three partners at one of its company-owned chemical plants.

Armed forces around the world are integrating robotic and autonomous military systems and EVs into their operations.