Quadrupedal robots are one of the most interesting developments in robotics in recent years. They’re small, nimble, and able to traverse environments that frustrate wheeled machines. So, of course, it was only a matter of time until someone put a gun on one.
The image above shows a quadrupedal robot — a Vision 60 unit built by US firm Ghost Robotics — that’s been equipped with a custom gun by small-arms specialists Sword International. It seems the gun itself (dubbed the SPUR or “special purpose unmanned rifle”) is designed to be fitted onto a variety of robotic platforms. It has a 30x optical zoom, thermal camera for targeting in the dark, and an effective range of 1,200 meters.
What’s not clear is whether or not Sword International or Ghost Robotics are currently selling this combination of gun and robot. But if they’re not, it seems they will be soon. As the marketing copy on Sword’s website boasts: “The SWORD Defense Systems SPUR is the future of unmanned weapon systems, and that future is now.”
The machine was shown off for the first time at the Association of the United States Army’s 2021 annual conference earlier this week. The conferences bills itself as a “landpower exposition and professional development forum” held in Washington DC, October 11-13.
Details about the partnership between Ghost and Sword are unclear, but Ghost’s quadrupedal robots are already being tested by the US military. Last year, the 325th Security Forces Squadron at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida became the first unit in the Department of Defense to use quadrupedal robots in regular operations. It uses them to patrol the base’s perimeter, navigating swampy areas that “aren’t desirable for human beings and vehicles,” according to an interview with Ghost Robotics CEO Jiren Parikh.
Although reconnaissance is one of the most obvious use-cases for robot dogs, manufacturers are slowly experimenting with other payloads. As well as providing remote video and mapping, the machines could be used as mobile cell towers, to defuse bombs, or to detect chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear matter (otherwise known as CBRN).
And, of course, they can become weapons themselves.
Flying car certified to fly following the completion of a 35-minute inter-city flight in June, now Klein vision’s flying car wins an airworthiness certificate by the Slovak transport authority. the ‘Air Car’ is capable to take over the sky, reaching speeds of over 100mph (160km/h) and heights more than 8,000ft (2,500m). the certification followed 70 hours of rigorous flight testing compatible with European aviation safety agency (EASA) standards, with over 200 takeoffs and landings. as the company mentioned, this futuristic vehicle can convert from an aircraft to a car within two minutes.
Developed by Slovakian startup company, Klein vision, ‘Air Car’ is a dual-mode car-aircraft vehicle, powered by a BMW engine and runs on regular petrol-pump fuel. eight highly skilled specialists at Klein vision worked in total more than 100,000 hours to design, model, and test the 1000kg two-seat dual-mode vehicle. according to the company, the upcoming monocoque model with variable pitch propeller is expected to reach speeds over 300km/h and a range of 1,000km.
The challenging flight tests included the full range of flight and performance maneuvers and demonstrated an astonishing static and dynamic stability in the aircraft model. the takeoff and landing procedures were achieved even without the pilot’s need to touch the flight controls.
Its certification ‘had opened the door for mass production of very efficient flying cars. it is official and the final confirmation of our ability to change mid-distance travel forever,’ said professor stefan klein, the inventor, leader of the development team and the test pilot. ’50 years ago, the car was the epitome of freedom,’ says Anton zajac, the project co-founder. ‘AirCar expands those frontiers, by taking us into the next dimension; where road meets sky.’Klein vision’s flying AirCar receives airworthiness certificate in Slovakia.
‘Transportation authority carefully monitored all stages of unique AirCar development from its start in 2017. the transportation safety is our highest priority. AirCar combines top innovations with safety measures in line with easa standards. it defines a new category of a sports car and a reliable aircraft. its certification was both a challenging and fascinating task,’ said rené molnár, the director of the civil aviation division (transport authority of slovakia).
After the scheduled upgrades, klein vision expects the next production model to be certified in 12 months.
Could 3D printed plastic heal itself? If engineers from University of New South Wales (UNSW) are to be believed, yes it could!
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UNSW engineers recently demonstrated how 3D printed plastic could heal itself at room temperature by using only lights.
Led by Professor Cyrille Boyer and his team from the UNSW School of Chemical Engineering, the experiment showed how adding a “special powder” to the liquid resin used while printing can be of much help later while making repairs in case of breakage.
The process is quite simple. According to Phys.org, shining standard LED lights on the printed plastic for an hour causes a chemical reaction and helps two broken pieces of plastic fuse together.
It also turns out the plastic becomes stronger than its original form after undergoing the repair process. With further enquiry into the method, chemical waste in the future could be reduced tremendously.
Most broken plastic parts are discarded or recycled. But this method means that all broken plastic may be reused in other plastic-heavy components.
The powdered additive used by UNSW scientists is called “trithiocarbonate”, a RAFT (reversible addition fragmentation chain transfer) agent. What the RAFT agent does is it simply allows rearrangement of minute networks of elements that make up the plastic, allowing the broken pieces to fuse.
Within 30 minutes, most of healing is complete. In about 60 minutes, the two broken items are fused back together. The study’s results were published in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.
Of course, having a method that allows for plastic repair is also a welcome sign in high volume productions where the environmental impact of broken and discarded plastic can add up, thereby increasing plastic waste. Thus, this approach offers a promising step towards both a viable method in production and the reduction of plastic waste.
There is no question that the pandemic-fueled labor shortage is a problem. When enhanced unemployment benefits in the US ended earlier this month, many businesses looked forward to a reversal in the job market as job seekers flooded the labor market. So far, that hasn’t happened. Instead, workers are quitting their jobs in droves, and a lack of enthusiastic replacements has businesses struggling to ramp up everything from manufacturing production to fast-food service.
The obvious solution is automation. But even as businesses turn to automation to solve this lingering symptom of COVID and mend their ailing supply chains, it is clear that this is not a unique scenario. Research has found that it’s common for automation to accelerate during weak economic periods. The reason: weakness in revenues results in humans becoming comparatively more expensive than automated alternatives—aka robots. Happily, this time around, the robots are ready. In 2021, automation and artificial intelligence exited the laboratory and moved straight into the institutions that drive our global economy.
The trajectory of automation is undeniable, but what is so exciting about this revolution is that it is much different in scale, scope, and complexity than we’ve seen during any other technological era. According to economist Joseph Schumpeter, what we’re seeing today is a normal step in what he calls “creative destruction”—a cycle of industrial change in which old economic structures are continuously destroyed and new ones are created. It is a cycle that constantly pushes forward as the cost savings generated from each new wave of automation are used to fuel new markets and enable new technologies. That cycle is accelerated today thanks to a wide range of new technologies that are fusing the physical and digital worlds and affecting disciplines and economies around the globe. One of the biggest shifts is that, for the first time in the history of automation, new technology is not replacing people, but empowering them to work faster and more efficiently than ever.
That’s not to suggest that the benefits of automation won’t impact employment. The question is how. While the relationship between economic growth and jobs is a tricky one, it is often true that when unemployment is up, growth and stock prices are down. So, does it make sense to invest in a sector that is ‘killing jobs’? Based on the value automation is bringing to business today, there is no doubt that investing in the sector is a wise move. Looking at automation’s impact on jobs, the answer is also ‘yes’—largely because jobs are being affected much differently than many people think.
Consider this: Almost a decade ago, Oxford University researchers predicted that as many as 47% of US jobs could be ‘automated away’ by 2025. With just four years to go before that fateful date, it’s clear that the robots that are supposedly poised to steal our jobs are doing a pretty bad job of it! Putting the Oxford prediction into context in today’s world, there are currently about 160 million jobs in the US workforce. If the Oxford prediction were to play out as expected, around 75 million of those jobs would be eliminated in the next four years. Expanding that calculation across the G7 industrialized geography, the numbers grow to include roughly 368 million existing jobs, of which 173 million jobs would be eliminated. In theory. Clearly, the Oxford hypothesis and many others like it are not holding true. While it’s easy to see automation and technology as job destroyers, every major technology shift throughout history has led not to job elimination, but to job creation. It’s also true that automation is freeing up human workers to focus on more value-added tasks than the often dull, dirty, and dangerous work the robots are taking on. Will some jobs be ‘automated away’? Absolutely. But far more jobs will be enhanced and, in time, millions more will be created—driving future employment up, not down.
The COVID labor shortage has spotlighted the need for automation to improve operations and enhance business growth. Now, more than ever, it is clear that advanced robotics and AI technologies are enabling the future of business. The robots are not coming—they are here. We are meeting with a rising number of companies that are motivated to pull outsourced processes and data back in-house to regain control over costs, quality, and output using factory robots and other forms of automation. These businesses are shifting their focus to where things are being executed, and they are adopting automation to help optimize processes and reduce the risk of human error. We are also seeing that the sales of products and services produced by automation are vastly more affordable and of much higher quality than those produced manually. Everywhere we look, automation is surging.
That’s a common reaction in the furniture industry when manufacturers try to envision bringing robots into sanding and polishing applications. And you can’t blame them; when it comes to shaping a plank of wood into the back of a chair or finish sanding cabinet doors or a headboard, automation hasn’t been as common – until recently.
While traditional industrial robots that require safety guarding, complex programming, and high unit counts to justify automation are not an optimal fit here, we now increasingly see collaborative robots assist wood, furniture and cabinet manufacturers. As opposed to their larger cousins bolted down in cages, collaborative robots can be moved around between machines and processes just like any other tool in the cabinet shop.
Training on operations and programming is available 100% online from the UR Academy – in fact, Universal Robots has delivered online training to over 100,000 people around the world. No computer science degree is required!
Manufacturing labor is in short supply in every industry, particularly in DDD (Dull, Dirty, Dangerous) positions. With the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting 10,000 Baby Boomers retiring every day in the U.S. alone, and younger generations not particularly interested in DDD jobs in manufacturing, it’s no wonder there are over 700,000 open, unfilled manufacturing U.S. jobs today.
Wood products in general and cabinet producers specifically are feeling the pain. Woodworking Network reported 80% of woodworking manufacturers are having trouble filling open positions. And the National Association of Manufacturers reported hiring and retaining skilled manufacturing labor is the industry’s #1 problem.
Each company is unique, but we believe sanding to be the most common, pervasive workforce problem in cabinet and furniture factories and shops. Manual sanding is the definition of Dull Dirty and Dangerous. Dull because it is a repetitive task with little or no variation. Dirty – operators live in a cloud of dust. And dangerous due to the environment and the high potential for carpal tunnel and repetitive stress injuries.
At the AWSF Show (Association of Woodworking & Furnishing Suppliers) this summer, we heard the stories from owners and production managers as they stopped by our booth; Hiring 40% more sanders than needed because there are no-shows every day. Skipping drug screens to increase the candidate pool. An inability to attract younger workers with growth potential to even start as a sander. Push back from cabinet builders who are true craftsmen, and don’t want to sand. And a stream of workers comp claims. Most of our booth visitors were very surprised to realize that they might have found a solution to all this.
The Winter Games are 100 days off. The massive Wukesong Arena is getting ready to host the ice hockey events for February’s Beijing Winter Olympics 2022 (February 4 to 20). For 16 days, over 30 robots will be deployed to help keep the players, staff, and thousands offans safe from COVID.
Shenzhen-based Kangfeng Air Purification Technology Company’s large mobile air purifiers will support the Beijing Olympic Games.
Additionally, mobile robots will be used to sanitize the air by spraying a disinfecting fog capable of treating 387 square feet with each spray; and carries enough disinfectant to cover 10,000 square feet with each deployment.
Another robot named Little White, is equipped with facial recognition sensors that will scan the venue for fans not wearing a mask and remind them to do so.
One of most important water sources for the Beijing Olympics is Guanting Reservoir (built in 1951), located about 65 miles from Beijing. Without a secure water supply, it would be impossible to carry on the Games’ two-week program. So early on, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) has had its unmanned surface vehicle monitoring the reservoir’s water quality.
As the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games approach (February 2022), it’s urgent to secure the water quality of The Guanting Reservoir, one of the water resources critical for the Games.
“We have been working on this project for more than three years,” said Dr. Yu Daoyang. “The existing surface water monitoring system in China is mainly online monitoring and manual sampling for laboratory analysis.”
The new control technology is precise and fast, especially as it is 5G enabled, and ensures rapid, in-situ and online monitoring for the unmanned vessel, even in complex environments.
Made of high-quality stainless steel to prevent corrosion, the autonomous surface vessel is about 4 meters long by 2 meters, is battery powered and can operate for more than eight hours.
“This is the largest unmanned, water-quality monitoring surface vessel in China, ” Dr. YU explained, “with the most complete functions and advanced intelligent software.”
Packaging is a core task in logistics. But, a lot of packaging processes are inefficient. They are not well suited to the changing needs of the modern logistics industry.
Collaborative robots are a robust solution for streamlining your packaging tasks. They provide a flexible way to solve common problems in logistics packaging.
The needs of the logistics industry are constantly changing.
Currently, there is demand across the industry for logistics companies to rethink packaging. Companies need to improve sustainability by optimizing packaging use, introducing more eco-friendly packaging materials, and implementing more reuse.
On top of these new sustainability needs, various world events have put extra pressure on the logistics industry. Challenges include disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, labor shortages, and the e-commerce boom.
Cobots are a valuable tool to overcome these challenges and demands.
Automation is nothing new in the logistics industry. However, when you think of logistics automation, you might think primarily of the machines to moving boxes and pallets around. You might not think of automated packaging.
Packaging is sometimes thought of as being primarily a human job.
It’s traditionally been complicated to perform packaging tasks with automation because of the high degree of variability between packaging tasks. Conventional packaging automation is large and inflexible. It’s best suited to highly regular tasks with low variability.
Collaborative robots change all that.
With the right cobot application kit, you can achieve very flexible automated packaging remarkably easily.
These two cobot applications are most suited to packaging:
Pick and place — This is often used in primary and secondary packaging tasks (e.g. putting product into boxes). The robot picks up the product and puts it into a container.
Palletizing — This is where the robot stacks and arranges already boxed products onto a pallet.
Various pressures across the pharmaceutical industry mean that robots are more beneficial now than ever before. Challenges facing pharmaceutical manufacturers include the high cost of drug discovery, increasing demand for clinical trials, and rising global competition.
Conveyor belt worker operates a robot that transports insulin bags – modern factory for the production of medicines in the healthcare sector
Robotic automation offers a way to improve the productivity of your operations in a way that is more flexible than conventional types of pharmaceutical automation. Collaborative robots are some of the most flexible robots available on the market and have opened up robotic automation to companies that would not have been able to access it in the past.
But, are collaborative robots right for your pharmaceutical company?
What tasks could you use a collaborative robot for?
And what’s the quickest way to get started?
Back in the 1800s, when all pharmaceuticals were dispensed by apothecaries, it would take several people to manufacture just one drug.
Since then, the pharmaceutical industry has slowly and gradually increased its efficiency by taking advantage of the latest developments in manufacturing technology. Now, one person could feasibly oversee the manufacturing of thousands of drugs per day.
Robotic automation is just the latest step in this journey for more efficient pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Collaborative robots provide extra benefits over other forms of automation because they apply to many parts of the manufacturing process that couldn’t be automated in the past.
Previously, only very high-volume processes could be automated. They required custom-built automation solutions that took weeks or months to deploy to a facility.
By contrast, collaborative robots can be deployed in a matter of days and can be used for smaller tasks with lower volumes.
MechDot 