Before we get too far into this week's roundup, I want to kick things off with an interview we haven't published anywhere else. Earlier this week, we noted that Ford will be deploying some 100 researchers and engineers to the new $75 million facility at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
The automaker told TechCrunch the set up is not an incubator, so much as "an extension of our global research and advanced engineering network." Beyond the autonomous driving research, the company will be devoting a lot of research to how it can use third-party robots like Boston Dynamics' Spot and Agility's Digit, the latter of which was the centerpiece to a partnership Ford announced a couple of CESes ago.
While you're here, how about this:
New York lawmaker wants to ban police use of armed robots | Ars Technica
Now Kallos is proposing what may be the nation's first law banning police from owning or operating robots armed with weapons.
"I don't think anyone was anticipating that they'd actually be used by the NYPD right now," Kallos says. "I have no problem with using a robot to defuse a bomb, but it has to be the right use of a tool and the right type of circumstance."
Kallos' bill would not ban unarmed utility robots like the Digidog, only weaponized robots. But robotics experts and ethicists say he has tapped into concerns about the increasing militarization of police: their increasing access to sophisticated robots through private vendors and a controversial military equipment pipeline. Police in Massachusetts and Hawaii are testing the Digidog as well.
Fanuc plans biggest investment in China to expand robot
TOKYO -- Japanese industrial robot maker Fanuc will make its largest investment in China to date, pouring 26 billion yen ($240 million) into fortifying its Shanghai plant.
The outlay will be made through a joint venture operated with local player Shanghai Electric Group. The Shanghai site will expand fivefold from its existing land space to 340,000 sq. meters, and the new facilities are planned to go online in 2023.
After overcoming the immediate setback of COVID-19, China's manufacturing sector is going full steam ahead in modernizing plants, and Fanuc sees an opportunity to tap into the demand for factory automation through robots.
Could plants control robots on Mars? : UNM Newsroom
A team of interdisciplinary researchers at UNM is teaching robots to take care of plants on Mars – a big step towards having viable food available for astronauts when they land on the Red Planet.
Architects, biologists, computer scientists and engineers are collaborating to develop real world tests and simulations as part of the Conservatory for Healthy Ingestion on Long-Interval Human-Occupied Unexplored Space Explorations (CHILI HOUSE) team. Their idea is to use robots to autonomously water and grow New Mexico chile peppers on Mars, the same variety of chile that will soon be growing on the International Space Station.
Check out this next:
Hyundai adds restaurant delivery robots to the menu
SEOUL -- Hyundai Motor will partner with Woowa Brothers, operator of South Korea's largest food delivery app, to develop robots that can carry meals from restaurant to door.
The South Korean companies envision a robot that can connect to a condominium's elevator system to travel between floors on its own, for example. The project will also involve developing an integrated management system that can handle multiple robots.
Woowa has already launched trials of its own self-driving delivery robots on public roads. The boxy robot, which can travel at about 5kph to 6kph and avoid obstacles, uses smartphone location tracking to find the customer who placed a given order. The customer can then confirm their identity via a mobile device to unlock the robot and retrieve the food.
Soon, AI-based robots to replace financial advisers: Oracle study
India is among top three geographies including Japan and China where 83 per cent of Indians and 88 per cent of business leaders now trust AI more than humans to manage finance
Just about a year ago, before the world was locked down, the big fear was technology taking over jobs. But, over the extended global lockdown, humans seem to have discovered greater faith in technology and machines, according to Oracle's Money and Machines: 2020 Global Study that was conducted across 9,000 consumers and business leaders in 14 countries.
Shape-shifting robots in the wild: the DyRET robot can rearrange its body to walk in new
Charles Martin received funding for this project from the Research Council of Norway under FRINATEK grant agreement 240862.
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Imagine running on a cement footpath, and then suddenly through dry sand. Just to keep upright, you would have to slow down and change the way you run. In the same way, a walking robot would have to change its gait to handle different surfaces.
Generally, we humans and most robots can only change how we run. But what if we could also change the shape of our bodies to run as fast and safely as possible on any surface?
Robot Race: The World´s Top 10 automated countries | Robohub
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