It felt good to love again, in that big empty house. Virginia Kellner got the cat last November, around her ninety-second birthday, and now it's always nearby. It keeps her company as she moves, bent over her walker, from the couch to the bathroom and back again. The walker has a pair of orange scissors hanging from the handlebar, for opening mail. Virginia likes the pet's green eyes. She likes that it's there in the morning, when she wakes up.
She named the cat Jennie, for one of the nice ladies who work at the local Department of the Aging in Cattaraugus County, a rural area in upstate New York, bordering Pennsylvania. It was Jennie (the person) who told her that the county was giving robot pets to old people like her. Did she want one? She could have a dog or a cat. A Meals on Wheels driver brought Virginia the pet, along with her daily lunch delivery.
Boston University Researchers Develop Kirigami-Based Gripper for Robots
Researchers at Boston University (BU) have developed a new type of versatile robotic gripper inspired by the Japanese art of kirigami , or paper cutting. In a paper released earlier this month , Douglas Holmes, BU College of Engineering associate professor of mechanical engineering and BU PhD student Yi Yang demonstrated how their new type of flexible gripper can pick up a wide variety of objects including soft, perishable items like raspberries.
As shown in this video below, the new soft gripper is made by laser cutting a specific “shell” shapes out of flexible material. When the shell is placed over an object and both ends are pulled at the same time, the shell contracts, tightening around the object enough to pick it up, but not so hard that the object breaks. In the video you can see the gripper pick up a raspberry, a grain of sand and even rows of marbles.
Using robots to address the welder shortage
Automated welding solutions are used across a range of industries, most commonly observed in the automotive industry where arc welding has been automated since the 1960s as a reliable method of manufacturing that increases accuracy, safety and efficiency.
The primary driver of automated welding solutions has always been a desire for reduced long term costs, increased reliability and productivity.
However, now there is a new driving force as robots are being used as a way of addressing the skills gap in the welding industry. More experienced welders are retiring in large numbers and there aren't enough certified welders being trained to replace them.
Kevin Carmichael: Don't fear the robots, people | Financial Post
History is imperfect. Most of the original stories were written by conquerers, so they're one-sided. Modern historians have done hero's work trying to correct the record by digging into primary sources, but myths persist: There is only so much data a professor and a team of research assistants can process, even when ancient ledgers and old diaries have been digitized.
Revisionist history is about to be turbo-charged thanks to companies such as Amazon.com Inc. Some researchers are shivering with anticipation. Others probably are trembling with fear for their jobs. The mention of Amazon will have given away the cause of such strong feelings: The robots have escaped the factory floor and are looking for new things to do.
Construction's 'perfect storm' is a boon for ABB's robots | Reuters
Construction offers new opportunities, especially with massive infrastructure programmes planned to revive the global economy after the coronavirus pandemic.
"The construction industry is facing the perfect storm," said Sami Atiya, president of Robotics & Discrete Automation at ABB. "There is huge demand for affordable housing and more sustainable solutions, and a shortage of skilled labour.
"We have seen over the last 18 months a huge interest in automation from the construction industry."
Let's Reminisce: The rise of robots - North Texas e-News
This greatly increased visibility of robots�now in stores, hotels and health-care facilities, as well as on our streets and above our heads�is an indicator of their evolving nature. It�s also the outward sign of a watershed moment.
In 2019, the number of industrial robots sold and put into use was 373,000, according to the International Federation of Robotics, an organization that conducts an annual, global robot census based. That number has grown about 11% a year since 2014, to a total of 2.7 million industrial robots in use world-wide.
China fund managers embrace robots as competition intensifies | Reuters
Investors check share prices at a brokerage office in Beijing, China January 2, 2020. REUTERS/Jason Lee
Chinese fund managers, grappling with a rapidly-growing list of publicly-traded securities and mountains of data, are rapidly embracing machine learning and other types of artificial intelligence (AI) to boost efficiency and bolster returns.
From using computers for analyzing news and research reports and crunching numbers to getting robots to pick stocks, the move comes as foreign players are expanding their footprint in China's $3.4-trillion mutual fund industry.
New MIT Algorithm Helps Robots Collaborate to Get the Job Done
MIT researchers have developed an algorithm that coordinates the performance of robot teams for missions like mapping or search-and-rescue in complex, unpredictable environments. Credit: Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT
Algorithm enables robot teams to complete missions, such as mapping or search-and-rescue, with minimal wasted effort.
Consider a search-and-rescue mission to find a hiker lost in the woods. Rescuers might want to deploy a squad of wheeled robots to roam the forest, perhaps with the aid of drones scouring the scene from above. The benefits of a robot team are clear. But orchestrating that team is no simple matter. How to ensure the robots aren’t duplicating each other’s efforts or wasting energy on a convoluted search trajectory?
Happening on Twitter
Samsung's new robots can keep up with household chores so you don't have to https://t.co/0MWXHw61IO mashable Sun May 23 01:27:00 +0000 2021
Leftists can't grasp the concept that when they demand more money for unskilled labor, they'll be replaced with rob… https://t.co/CtmLEQ7pHB TimRunsHisMouth (from Texas) Wed May 19 23:07:29 +0000 2021
Samsung's new robots can keep up with household chores so you don't have to https://t.co/6ADTbUSbJ2 mashable Mon May 17 20:47:00 +0000 2021
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