This week, we announced the honorees for the 2024 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards. On the podcast episode this week, the entire The Robot Report editorial staff brings its opinions, observations, and highlights of the 2024 awards program. Host Steve Crowe discusses the awards with editors Mike Oitzman, Eugene Demaitre, and Brianna Wessling.

Listen as the editors discusses some of their favorite robotics companies and products from this cohort of honorees. You’ll learn what impressed the editors about several of the winners and what’s notable in this year’s program.

Digit named Robot of the Year

2023 was the year of humanoids, and Agility Robotics has taken an early lead with commercial trials. The company’s Digit humanoid stole the show at ProMAT, where it demonstrated its ability to pick up totes from a shelf, walk over to a conveyor, and place the totes onto the conveyor.

Autopicker wins Application of the Year

Cincinnati-based Brightpick, which spun out of Photoneo, was named the inaugural Application of the Year winner. In 2023, Brightpick unveiled Autopicker, which it said is the first commercially available AMR that can pick and consolidate orders directly in warehouse aisles.

Electric Sheep is Startup of the Year

San Francisco-based Electric Sheep’s unique business model allows it to bring in revenue as it takes its time deploying its technology. This business model led to it being named Startup of the Year.

Note that the rules for the RBR50 state that innovations have to be announced within the calendar year. Keep that in mind as your organization plans its product roadmap, and be sure to submit your nomination the next iteration of the RBR50 later this year.

Come celebrate at the 2024 RBR50 Gala

We introduced three new categories in 2024 – Robot of the Year, Application of the Year, and Startup of the Year – and will be holding the inaugural RBR50 Gala on May 1 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the end of Day 1 of the Robotics Summit & Expo.

The gala offers a chance to connect with the world’s leading robotics innovators. It’s also an evening of celebration to honor leading roboticists and their impressive achievements.

Tickets to the gala are available through Wednesday, April 17.

Learn from Agility Robotics, Amazon, Disney, Teradyne and many more.

The post Inside the 2024 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards appeared first on The Robot Report.

Our featured guest on the show this week is Jamie Lee, managing partner at Tamarack Global. Tamarack Global emerged on our radar last month as one of the investors who participated in the recent Series B funding round for Figure AI.

After meeting Lee for research for those news stories, we invited him to come onto the podcast and share his investment thesis and the reasons why they are so bullish about humanoids, Figure AI, and especially founder and CEO Brett Adcock.

The heart of Tamarack’s investment philosophy centers around investing in strong leaders who hire strong teams and build solutions for very large markets. But you’ll also learn about Jamie’s pragmatic philosophy for evaluating proposals and some of the danger signals that he looks for when evaluating a potential investment.

News from the week

Viam raised $45 million in Series B funding

Viam has been quiet after all of the news last year, but Viam is building a modular, interoperable, and open-source software platform that works across all hardware and any fleet of machines. Viam stated that the funding will enable it to accelerate partnerships, drive commercial innovation, and further develop its platform.

Accenture announced an investment in Sanctuary AI

Sanctuary is building humanoids with embodied intelligence and they’ve always tightly focused on hand-eye coordination and manipulation over the bipedal walking aspects of humanoid robots. The investment in Sanctuary is the latest move by Accenture to build out a robotics strategy.

In January 2024, Accenture and Mujin created a joint venture to help bring robotics to the manufacturing and logistics industries. Called Accenture Alpha Automation, the new venture is owned 70% by Accenture and 30% by Mujin. The new company, called Accenture Alpha Automation, combines Mujin’s industrial robotics expertise with Accenture’s digital engineering and manufacturing service, Industry X.

Sanctuary has published a series of videos of its robots “doing stuff” on YouTube. These videos illustrate the development path of the two-armed humanoid as well as the AI behind the robots’ decision-making.

NYC takes steps to allow robotaxis in NYC

New York took its first steps towards allowing robotaxis this week and announced new safety requirements and permitting guidelines for companies looking to test their self-driving cars on public roads. 

Even with the city’s newfound interest in testing, autonomous vehicle (AV) commercialization in New York is difficult. It is one of the hardest cities for AVs to navigate due to its pedestrian-filled streets, unpredictable vehicle traffic, and sensor-disrupting bright lights.

The post Team and TAM: the keys to investing in robotics appeared first on The Robot Report.

The Robot Report editorial director Eugene Demaitre recently returned from the R-24 international robotics event in Odense, Denmark. From this trip, he immediately headed out to San Jose, Calif., to attend NVIDIA GTC 2024 with senior editor Mike Oitzman.

In this episode, Gene and Mike talk about what Gene saw and learned during his latest visit to Odense. From there, the co-hosts discuss their experiences at the GTC event, and all of the interesting sessions on artificial intelligence and robotics, NVIDIA’s product announcements for robotics, and the demonstrations by vendors that exhibited on the busy show floor.

R-24: Robots, Automation, and Drones

• Odense Robotics is one of the largest robotics clusters in the world, with 350 members across Denmark, about half of which are in the Odense area.
• It employs about 18,000 people, with plans to double that over the next decade. Local leaders attributed that to a culture of collaboration.
• Among the interesting things the international delegations saw around R-24 was Odense Port, which is now building giant wind turbines in addition to maintaining container ships.
• They also visited the drone test center at the Hans Christian Andersen Airport; the Danish Technological Institute, which hosts the Odense Robotics Startup Fund; and the Maersk-McKinney Moller Institute at the University of Southern Denmark, as well as Universal Robots headquarters.
• Odense is also hosting ROSCon later this year.

Highlights from NVIDIA GTC 2024

In addition to CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote, here are some highlights from NVIDIA‘s latest GPU Technology Conference:

New foundation for humanoid robotics

The big news from the robotics side of the house was that NVIDIA launched a new general-purpose foundation model for humanoid robots called Project GR00T. This new model is designed to bring robotics and embodied AI together while enabling the robots to understand natural language and emulate movements by observing human actions.

GR00T uses the new Jetson Thor

As part of its robotics announcements, NVIDIA unveiled Jetson Thor for humanoid robots, based on the NVIDIA Thor system-on-a-chip (SoC). Significant upgrades to the NVIDIA Isaac robotics platform include generative AI foundation models and tools for simulation and AI workflow infrastructure.

The Thor SoC includes a next-generation GPU based on NVIDIA Blackwell architecture with a transformer engine delivering 800 teraflops of 8-bit floating-point AI performance. With an integrated functional safety processor, a high-performance CPU cluster, and 100GB of Ethernet bandwidth, it can simplify design and integration efforts, claimed the company.

NVIDIA updates Isaac simulation platform

The Isaac tools that GR00T uses are capable of creating new foundation models for any robot embodiment in any environment, according to NVIDIA. Among these tools are Isaac Lab for reinforcement learning, and OSMO, a compute orchestration service.

NVIDIA DRIVE Thor for robot axis

The company also announced NVIDIA DRIVE Thor, which now supersedes NVIDIA DRIVE Orin as a SoC for autonomous driving applications.

Other notable sessions (worth watching the replays):

• Geordie Rose, CEO of Sanctuary: “Using Omniverse to generate first-person experiential data for humanoid robots”
• Aaron Saunders, chief technology officer of Boston Dynamics: “Deploying AI in real-world robots”
• Vincent Vanhouke, senior director of robotics at Google Deepmind: “Robotics in the age of GenAI”

Interesting robots seen at GTC24:

• Agility DIGIT (static)
• Apptronik Apollo (static)
• Unitree H1
• 1X Eve
• Fourier Analysis – GR1
• Disney BD-X droids
• ANYbotics ANYmal
• Enchanted Tools Mirokai
• Richtech Robotics ADAM

The post GTC 2024 and R-24 recap appeared first on The Robot Report.

Host Steve Crowe attended MODEX 2024 in Atlanta GA. In this episode, we talk about the innovative robotics solutions that he experienced at the show and capture his feedback on what was happening during the week, and some of the trends for robotics and automation in the warehouse and logistics space.

In the news this week

• Apptonik at Mercedes Benz
  • Apptronik announced that leading automotive brand Mercedes-Benz is testing its Apollo humanoid robot. As part of the agreement, Apptronik and Mercedes-Benz will collaborate on identifying applications for Apollo in automotive settings.
• Waymo starts fully driverless testing in LA
  • Waymo announced in October that LA would be its next ride-hailing city, after rolling out its services in San Francisco, Phoenix, and the Phoenix suburbs.
• Zoox expands services in Las Vegas
  • Still only serving employees and select beta customers while on a path to eventually open to the public.

The post MODEX 2024 Recap appeared first on The Robot Report.

Nag Murty, CEO and cofounder of Electric Sheep, and Michael Laskey, CTO of Electric Sheep join the show this week to discuss how Electric Sheep is disrupting the commercial landscaping industry with autonomous mobile robots and a unique business model. The company is leveraging AI to enable autonomous mowers to cut the grass while simplifying the deployment process in the field.
Electric Sheep is also vertically integrating the market segment through the acquisition of commercial landscaping businesses, then training the field workforce and integrating the autonomous mowers in the daily workflow for the field teams while learning and adapting the product.

Episode Timeline

18:10   Interview with Electric Sheep CEO and cofounder Nag Murty, along with CTO Michael Laskey.

In the news this week

• The January investment report is out and robotics companies raised $578M in January 2024.
  • Robotics investments totaled $578 million in January 2024 as the result of 46 funding rounds. This figure was substantially lower than the trailing twelve-month average, but in line with January 2023’s figure of $523 million.
  • The largest robotics investment in January 2024 was a $100 million round secured by Norway-based 1X, a developer of humanoids (See Table 1 below). Chinese humanoid developer Robot Era raised $14 million in February.
  • Makers of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for agricultural operations were well represented among February’s robotics investments. Examples include Bluewhite ($39 million), Burro ($24 million), Saga Robotics ($11.5 million), farm-ng ($10M), and Ant Robotics ($2 million).
  • Companies based in the United States raised $154 million in January 2024, while Norway, buoyed by the $100 million 1X investment, placed third among countries with $113 million in funding.
• Anyware Robotics announces new add-on conveyor for Pixmo unloading robots
  • The patent-pending articulating conveyor simplifies
• Waymo robotaxis approved for fared rides in LA, also significantly expanded operating area around the SF peninsula, including a reported route to the airport.
  • Also launches fully driverless rides for employees in Austin; will begin shuttling employees around 43 square miles of the Texas capital.
• Veteran tech exec Peggy Johnson named Agility Robotics CEO
  • Agility Robotics co-founder Damion Shelton has served as CEO since the company’s founding in 2015. Shelton will now be the company’s president and part of Johnson’s leadership team.

The post Cutting Edge: AI-powered landscaping with Electric Sheep appeared first on The Robot Report.

Eric Adamson, CEO and co-founder of Tortuga, joins us in this episode to discuss agricultural robotics. Tortuga is one of the agtech companies leading the charge to transform greenhouse farming with their autonomous harvesting robots. Eric discusses the difficulties and successes of developing robots for use in greenhouses, shedding light on the processes involved in harvesting strawberries, grapes, and tomatoes. This episode offers an intriguing look into how technology and agriculture are influencing the future of food production, from overcoming design limits to investigating creative alternatives.

Episode Timeline

26:15   Interview with Eric Adamson, from Tortuga AgTech

In the news this week

• • Figure AI raises whopping $675M to commercialize humanoids
    • With the Series B funding, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company is now valued at $2.6 billion. Microsoft, OpenAI Startup Fund, NVIDIA, Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund, Jeff Bezos (through Bezos Expeditions), Parkway Venture Capital, Intel Capital, Align Ventures, and ARK Invest were among the investors. Qatalyst Partners provided strategic and financial advice to Figure.
    • Figure AI said it will work with OpenAI on the next generation of AI models for humanoids. This will be done by combining OpenAI’s language research with Figure’s robotics hardware and software expertise.
    • Figure said it will use Microsoft Azure for AI training, storage, and servers.
    • This is shot across the bow for Tesla and the Optimus team, but it really adds fuel the race to commercialize humanoids.
  • Electric Sheep Robotics launched Verdie, a new robot using its proprietary artificial intelligence and software.
    • Electric Sheep aims to be the first large-scale outdoor maintenance company powered by AI and robotics.
    • Verdie uses AI to understand the lawns around them and efficiently care for them, said Electric Sheep. Based on recent advances in generative AI, ES1 is a learned-world model that enables reasoning and planning for both robots.
  • One more update: On last week’s show, the Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus had just successfully landed on the moon, but what we didn’t know at the time was that it tipped over in the final moments of the landing procedure.
    • It was supposed to survive for 14 days, before the lunar night, but it only lasted a week, and stopped transmitting yesterday.

The post Harvesting innovation: The story behind Tortuga’s autonomous harvesting robots appeared first on The Robot Report.

On the latest episode of The Robot Report Podcast, we chat with Thomas Tang, CEO and co-founder of Anyware Robotics. Anyware Robotics is launching an autonomous trailer unloading solution, that will make its debut at MODEX 2024.

The mechanism consists of a mobile manipulator that includes a Fanuc CRX 25iA cobot mounted on top of a custom-built, omnidirectional AMR base. Visitors to the upcoming MODEX show will be able to see the Pixmo robot demo live in the Anyware Robotics booth.

The Pixmo mobile manipulator from Anyware Robotics uses a vacuum gripper and vision guidance to acquire boxes from the container. | Credit: Anyware Robotics

In this episode, we also catch up with Matt Wicks, Sr Director and robotics automation business leader with Zebra Technology. Matt is responsible for the Fetch Robotics products at Zebra, and brings us up to speed on the Fetch AMR portfolio.

Episode Timeline

18:00   Interview with Thomas Tang, CEO and co-founder, of Anyware Robotics

38:30   Interview with Matt Wicks, Sr Director and robotics automation business leader with Zebra Technology.

In the news this week

• ABB – Marc Segura blog post on the State of Robotics at ABB
  • Article summary:
    • The continued development of AI-powered robotics is the latest chapter in ABB’s fifty-year story of robotic innovation that began in 1974 with the sale of the world’s first commercial all-electric robot, the IRB 6.
    • ABB is bullish on the future of robotics that use AI
    • Marc believes that AI will help close the skills and knowledge gap that exists between new robotics users and make robotics useful
• Hippo Harvest, a Fetch Robotics OEM partner, brings in $21M to scale automated greenhouse operations.
  • This is an innovative use case that leverages AMRs to automate the movement of trays of plants within a greenhouse.

The post Warehouse automation update with Fetch Robotics and Anyware Robotics appeared first on The Robot Report.

On the latest episode of The Robot Report Podcast, we chat with Dr. Aaron Ames, professor of mechanical and civil engineering and control and dynamical systems at CalTech and co-founder of a new robotics company called 3Laws Robotics.

Listen to co-host Mike Oitzman’s discussion with Ames about the state of bipedal robotics He then gets a short history lesson about the evolution of humanoid robots and the state of the art today. Then dive into how 3Laws Robotics is bringing new safety software technologies to market to help every robot manufacturer deliver safer motion.

Learn more about legged robots and 3Laws

• Dr. Aaron Ames’ TedX talk about bipedal robotics.
• Learn more about 3Laws Robotics: https://www.3lawsrobotics.io/

In the news this week

In 2023, North American companies purchased 31,159 robots, compared with 44,196 ordered in 2022 and 39,708 in 2021, according to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3). Purchases were down 30% from 2022 to 2023, it said.

The 2023 robot orders were divided almost equally among automotive and non-automotive companies. This represented a 34% drop in sales to automotive OEMs and automotive suppliers over 2022 and a 25% total decrease in all other industries, said A3.

However, the last three months of the year saw an increase of 20% in automotive — both OEM and components — and in metals, electronics, plastics, and the “all other industries” category over Q3 2023. The “all other industries” category includes companies in areas such as construction, hospitality, and agriculture, which are newer to robotics, said A3.

“While we expect to see automotive orders rise again, there’s little doubt that orders will increase from all non-automotive industries as they recognize how robots can help them overcome their unique challenges,” Jeff Burnstein, president of A3, told The Robot Report. “I think the economy has more of an impact on robot sales than geopolitical issues.”

In addition, the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) this week said it expects trends such as AI, humanoid robots, and digitalization to boost the robotics industry.

The post 3Laws on robot safety and the evolution of bipedal locomotion appeared first on The Robot Report.

On the show this week cohosts Mike Oitzman and Gene Demaitre have a conversation with Zipline CTO and co-founder Keenan Wyrobek about the state of the company. We also get to learn more details about the design of the new Zip delivery “Droid” with lead droid engineer, Stephen Killian.

Check out the Mark Rober YouTube video, where Mark goes to Uganda to visit the Zipline launch facility.

In The News this week

• New Atlas video from Boston Dynamics
  • Video shows Atlas performing tasks moving heavy automotive struts
  • Atlas moves the struts from a vertical pallet onto a vertical storage in a flow cart.
• The bad news continues for autonomous vehicles
  • Cruise and Motional see funding slashed
  • GM-backed Cruise will see its budget cut by $1 billion and one of Motional’s two leading backers will no longer fund the company.
  • Autonomous vehicles drove more than 9M miles in California in 2023
• Agtech startup Small Robot Company shutting down
  • Every startup founder’s nightmare: the company couldn’t secure the funding in time to keep the company afloat.

The post A look at Zipline’s future and the design of the Zip’s Droid appeared first on The Robot Report.

The post What’s next for iRobot? appeared first on The Robot Report.

News of the week

• • Locus Robotics layoffs
    • The mobile robot maker last week confirmed that it had a “small, targeted RIF,” or reduction in force.
    • North American robot orders dropped last year, according to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3). Warehouse construction also declined by 25% in 2023, reported Interact Analysis, but demand for mobile robots did increase.
    • While relatively few robot providers shut down last year, the AMR space faced challenges. For example, Shopify sold 6 River Systems to Ocado at a loss.
    • We’ve gotten confirmation of layoffs at more companies, and we wish the best to those affected by such actions. Resources for job seekers include RoboticsCareer.org, RoboticsJobs.com, Robots.Jobs, and The Apprenticeship Playbook.
  • Recent humanoid announcements 
    • BMW is testing a Figure 01 humanoid at a South Carolina automotive plant in another significant commercial trial after Agility Robotics’ announcements last year of Digit at Amazon and GXO Logistics
    • Elon Musk said 1 billion humanoids are coming soon, as Tesla continues developing Optimus and there is speculation about stock maneuvering.
  • General AgTech news in addition CNHI:
    • farm-ng raised $10 million in Series A funding to scale the Amiga robot and AI for small to midsize farms.
    • John Deere and SpaceX to bring satellite connectivity to farmers and robots.
  • New MIT CSAIL study
    • A new study from MIT CSAIL, MIT Sloan, The Productivity Institute, and IBM’s Institute for Business Value provided more insight into how artificial intelligence could affect the job market. Its findings challenge the common belief that AI will put vast numbers of people out of work.
      • The study found that only about 23% of wages paid for tasks involving vision systems are economically viable for AI automation.
      • If development, deployment, and running costs decline, and the industry transforms to provide AI systems as a service, businesses could adopt AI more quickly, the researchers noted. All of these things lower the cost of investment for companies to deploy AI, making the technology more financially viable. This could lead to more rapid changes in the job market.
      • With more AI systems in place in the workforce, jobs could open up to maintain those systems, it said. As some jobs are automated, businesses will need more people to manage, maintain, and improve AI and robotics. 

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Learn from Agility Robotics, Amazon, Disney, Teradyne and many more.

The post Update on AgTech automation at CNHI appeared first on The Robot Report.

The mission for Glide is to provide independence and agency to sight-impaired individuals. | Credit: Glidance

Glidance Inc. has been developing Glide, a robotic walking aid for people with vision impairments. The Seattle-based company’s device has an ergonomic handle, and its sensors are designed to help users avoid obstacles, find waypoints on maps, and stop at stairs and elevators.

In October 2023, Glidance, which is a resident member of MassRobotics, won the RoboBusiness Pitchfire startup competition. The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) has also recognized the company with an innovation award, and it plans to demonstrate Glide at CES 2024 from Jan. 9 to 12 in Las Vegas.

The Robot Report recently spoke with Amos Miller, founder and CEO of Glidance, about the development of Glide and plans for commercialization.

Tell us what you are building.

Miller: At Glidance, our mission is to revolutionize independent mobility for people with sight loss. And I don’t use the word “revolutionize” lightly.

We are doing that with a new self-guided mobility aid called “Glide” that uses AI and sensors to guide a person, show them the way, help them avoid obstacles, make them aware of what’s around them, and bring back their independence and their ability to get around with confidence.

What was your inspiration for this product, and how did you came up with the concept of giving independence back to people with vision impairments?

Miller: I lost my sight in my 20s as a result of a genetic condition called retinitis pigmentosa. I lost my sight gradually while I was finishing my computer science degree and starting my career in high tech.

By the age of 30, I had lost all useful sight. I have lived in Israel, the U.K., Singapore, and now in the U.S. I have lived my entire adult life with sight loss. Everywhere I go, I have to deal with independent mobility every day of my life. 

I am a guide-dog user and I can also use a cane, but I’m a terrible cane user. I’ve always appreciated the guide dog as an assistant. But a dog doesn’t help if you don’t know the layout of a train station, and you have to wait 30 minutes for somebody to come meet you and guide you to your train. Those are the types of challenges that I’ve always had to deal with daily. 

Why weren’t you a good cane user? What are some of the problems that you had trying to use a cane?

Miller: The cane is an amazing technology. It has been around for thousands of years. Today, it is by far the most used assistive technology, and people can buy it for 25 bucks. 

To use a cane effectively, you “shoreline” to feel an obstacle and get around that obstacle. Shoreline means that as you’re walking along a sidewalk, you tap along the edge of the building or the edge of the road so that you can keep a straight line. But you still have to be extremely well-oriented as to where you are within a town or a building. 

You have to take all the signals around you too, using all of your senses, to know where you are along the street. Mentally, you are feeling for the next landmark — it could be a tree, it could be a bush, it could be a lamppost. That requires a lot of concentration and a lot of skill. This skill can be developed, but it takes time to develop.

I use a guide dog, which is a very different guiding solution, but I still need my orientation. With a guide dog, the dog guides you through the world. So it’s probably closer to what the Glide does.

I would say that a lot of blind people would consider Glidance to be a little bit like an electronic guide dog. From a behavioral perspective, it has similarities in the way that it guides.

A real guide dog sees an obstacle ahead of time and takes you around it. And that’s exactly how Glidance works. Glide sees the obstacle and takes you around. The result is a much lower cognitive load and allows you to listen to your e-mails or talk on the phone while you move with Glide.

Learn from Agility Robotics, Amazon, Disney, Teradyne and many more.

The evolution of Glide

How did Glide evolve from the initial concept, which pulled the user through the world, to the final version?

Miller: Initially, we explored putting a motor on the wheels, as that was the natural place to start. If you work with a sighted person who’s guiding you, there are two ways of doing that.

One is that you touch their elbow or the other is the unwelcome way, in that they grab your hand. If they grab your hand, they are now pulling you, and you feel a total loss of agency. You’re now just a trolley, along for the ride. 

The preferred way for sighted guiding is that I touch the elbow of the sighted person, and they walk. But I still determine speed, I determine the steps and the angles that I move my body in. 

When you have a robot that pulls you around, you lose that agency immediately. I have tried other robots, and when the robot is completely autonomous and pulls you around, you lose all sense of agency. It just doesn’t feel right. 

By removing the motors from the wheels, the user simply nudges the device forward; it’s very light. The moment they start pushing it forward, the wheels start to servo and steer the way. But all the agency in the control is still with the user. They don’t have to move knobs up and down to control the speed of the robot, when they want to stop, they stop.

From an experience perspective, our users love that. It also reduces the complexity of the system, reduces the weight of the unit, doesn’t require big batteries, and lowers the overall cost.  

Can you take us through the obstacle-avoidance system? What are some of the sensors that you’re using? 

Miller: We have local and global planning onboard the system. We have a variety of sensors that are at the mobile unit level and another set at the bottom of the unit just above the wheels.

f there’s something in the way, the sensors will detect it, and the wheels will start to steer you around it. The user is controlling the speed, and Glide knows how fast you’re going. 

How are the haptics giving the user feedback about pacing and other elements that it perceives?

Miller: The goal is for the robot to communicate with the user so that the user stops before an obstacle. Because the robot is not pulling the user along, it can indicate to the user through haptics and audio on the handle.

For example, it double-taps on the handle to indicate to the user to slow down.

How does learning to use a guide dog compare to the experience learning to use Glide?

Miller: A guide dog is amazing, but you do have to go to a residential program and train with a new dog. It takes weeks of training to trust the animal and learn to work as a team. It takes a lot of effort, plus you have to replace your dog every five to six years, which is again another upheaval in your life. 

We know that there are 7.3 million people with significant or total sight loss in the U.S., but there are only 10,000 new guide dogs available in any given year. I think dogs will continue to be part of the fabric of independent mobility for years to come.

At the same time, 99.9% of blind people will never have the benefit of a guide dog. 

A new Glide user can learn to use the solution in a couple of hours. For an individual who loses their sight late in life, which is now an emerging trend, a solution like Glide may be the fastest and simplest method to return a sense of independence to that individual. This is the opportunity for Glide.

Glidance gets ready for market

Will Glide integrate its device with GPS, Google Maps, or Apple Maps to use navigation instructions?

Miller: We will have mapping capabilities in Glide, but I don’t plan for Glide to be a navigation aid. I don’t want to build my own navigation app.

But it will work with existing navigation apps. So if you set a destination for a restaurant on Google, its walking directions are sent to Glide to use as waypoints. Glide will do the local planning to those waypoints along the way and get you to that restaurant.

We also plan to integrate apps like the Target app, where you create your shopping list on the Target app, and the Target app tells you where you are in the store and where the product is.

Glide has cameras and wheel odometry, and all the necessary sensors to do SLAM [simultaneous localization and mapping] in the store. So Glide could pair up with a Target app and help you get to that shelf in the store. 

Can you share the price point for the production solution?

Miller: This solution must be affordable. It’s not going to be $25 like a cane, but we are aiming at the price range of a cellphone subscription.

You’ll start with a basic subscription, depending on the level of features that you want. The basic features will fit the needs of new users, and world travelers can enhance the product by turning on additional features to meet their needs.

We are also working with the VA [U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs] and with insurance companies to make sure that anyone can get the device. We expect to start our beta program in the spring of 2024.

Where can folks find you at CES 2024?

Miller: The CTA Foundation gave us an award for a free booth at Eureka Park.

Editor’s note: This interview was transcribed by https://otter.ai and edited for clarity. You can listen to the full interview with Amos Miller in this episode of The Robot Report Podcast:

The post Glide to work with people with blindness to navigate the world appeared first on The Robot Report.

Top stories of the year

1. Generative AI and its influence on robotics development.
2. In 2023, developers announced a historic number of humanoid robots, including the following:
   • Agility Robotics
   • Apptronik Apollo
   • Figure 01
   • Fourier Intelligence GR-1
   • Sanctuary Phoenix
   • Tesla Optimus
   • Unitree Robotics H1
   • Xiaomi CyberOne
   • 1X NEO
3. In the warehousing and logistics market, autonomous trailer unloading was one of the applications that matured as multiple vendors launched and deployed new systems into real customer applications for the first time. This is an area to watch in the coming years because trailer unloading remains a bottleneck in logistics workflows.
4. On the downside, in the first half of 2023, the North American robotics market ordered 16,865 robots, down 29% compared with the first half of 2022, according to the Association for Advancing Automation. Investment funding for robotics startups also dried up compared to recent years.
5. Finally, the biggest failure of the year and the biggest setback came with the California DMV rescinding of Cruise’s autonomous operations permit. This occurred after multiple incidents where the GM unit’s robotaxis failed to operate effectively on public roads. As a result, Cruise ceased all autonomous vehicle (AV) operations in the U.S., made changes to executive leadership, and laid off 24% of its workforce. These events rocked the autonomous driving market in 2023 and put tremendous pressure on the remaining AV vendors.

If you like the show, please share with a friends, and like and subscribe on your favorite podcast app!

Learn from Agility Robotics, Amazon, Disney, Teradyne and many more.

The post 2023 year in review: GenAI, humanoids dominate robotics industry appeared first on The Robot Report.

In this episode, we learn about the innovative solution from Glidance, the 2023 RoboBusiness Pitchfire winner.

Glidance CEO Amos Miller (center) was surrounded by the RoboBusiness Pitchfire judges after winning the event.

Cohosts Steve Crowe and Mike Oitzman sit down with Glidance co-founder and CEO Amos Miller to learn all about the genesis of the company and its physical guidance robot. The device guides sight-impaired individual by perceiving the world around them and leading them on a safe path to their destination. This device is easy to use and quick to learn, and Amos is promising to restore the independence of sight-impaired individuals. Amos lost his sight to retinitis pigmentosa in his 20s.

Glidance is a member of MassRobotics and launched in the shared workspace in January 2023. As Amos describes in the podcast, the company started with an idea and quickly prototyped “Wizard of Oz” style. “It’s inspiring to have startups like Guidance in our community,” said Joyce Sidopoulos, chief of operations at MassRobotics. “Their technology is revolutionizing accessibility and a testament to the positive impact technology and robotics can have on people’s lives and our society.”

Glide has a small form factor and is designed to have a price tag similar to a cell phone. | Credit: Glidance

While guide dogs are a tremendous solution and companion for blind individuals, unfortunately, the need far outstrips the number of available guide dogs in any given year. The Glidance robot has the opportunity to help blind individuals regain independence and agency, especially those who lose their sight late in life. The Glide unit goes into beta testing in the middle of 2024 and promises to be as affordable as a new cell phone.

If you would like to learn more, go to the Glidance website: https://glidance.io/

The company will also be exhibiting at CES 2024, in the Eureka Park exhibit hall.

Episode timeline

18:36  Interview with Amos Miller, CEO and co-founder of Glidance

News of the week

•  Meet the artist training Spot robots to make their own art
  • A Live webcam of an art exhibit by Agnieszka Pilat called Heterobata, is on display at the National Gallery of Victoria’s Triennial Show in Melbourne, Australia. The robots are programmed to understand a range of commands, and they will act autonomously to execute them in whatever order desired. Each of Pilat’s robots is programmed with a different personality and a different role to play in the exhibit. She described them as a “nascent moment in technology,” with emerging personalities mimicking how organisms become specialized over time.
• Tesla demonstrates Optimus Gen 2 dexterity, recalls 2M vehicles
  • Tesla released a video showing the improving capabilities of its Optimus humanoid robot, but it faces safety scrutiny over Autopilot.
  • BAD NEWS: 
    • The company is recalling more than 2 million vehicles as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) continues to investigate safety problems around its Autopilot system.
    • When Tesla first announced the feature, some drivers recorded themselves with their hands off the steering wheel, and critics have asserted that the company didn’t clearly state the risks of relying too heavily on Autopilot.
    • In February, Tesla issued a voluntary recall of 363,000 Model S, Model 3, Model X and Model Y vehicles.
    • The NHTSA has reviewed 956 crashes in which Autopilot was allegedly in use, reported The Wall Street Journal. The agency expressed concern about the software and its use rather than Tesla’s reliance on vision over lidar. The Washington Post said that at least eight incidents resulted in fatalities or serious injuries.

Learn from Agility Robotics, Amazon, Disney, Teradyne and many more.

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Today’s episode of The Robot Report Podcast is a deep dive into warehouse automation. We discuss the role humanoids are hoping to play in logistics, including how GXO is testing the Digit humanoid from Agility Robotics. We also discuss the state of mobile robots with John Santagate, Vice President of Robotics at Körber Supply Chain. We also talk about artificial intelligence and the growth of picking robots with Peter Chen, Co-Founder and CEO of Covariant.

Of course, the big news of the week is that GXO, the world’s largest pure-play contract logistics provider, is testing Digit at a warehouse in Georgia for the global womenswear brand Spanx. In the pilot, Digit is moving totes off of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and onto a conveyor. The AMRs, which appear to be Chucks from 6 River Systems, bring the packed totes to a transfer station. Digit then uses its perception system to detect the AMR has arrived.

Episode timeline

17:17 — Interview with John Santagate, Vice President of Robotics at Körber Supply Chain
1:01:02 — Interview with Peter Chen, Co-Founder and CEO, Covariant

Learn from Agility Robotics, Amazon, Disney, Teradyne and many more.

The post Inside the state of warehouse automation appeared first on The Robot Report.