Humanoid

Agility Digit Funding400x275Agility Robotics, which manufactures robots designed to work alongside people in logistics and warehouse environments, has announced it raised $150 million in a Series B funding round. The additional capital will be used to accelerate Agility’s research and development and scale its robot production.

 

pexels human robot interaction400x275The Israel Innovation Authority has announced it allocated $20 million towards building a consortium of Israeli robotics companies to develop next-generation human-robot interaction (HRI) capabilities. Utilizing the Nimbus cloud robotics platform for managing and deploying new capabilities, the consortium will include private and academic organizations.

 

PepperNAO400x275The United Robotics Group (URG), a subsidiary of the RAG-Stiftung in Essen, Germany, has announced an agreement with SoftBank Robotics Group Corp. (SRGB) to acquire the French subsidiary SoftBank Robotics Europe SAS (SBRE). SBRG will acquire a minority stake in URG and the two companies will continue to cooperate in the global marketing of various robots, including the Pepper and NAO humanoid robots.

 

DiligentFoundersMoxi400x275Austin, Texas-based Diligent Robotics has announced it raised more than $30 million in a Series B funding round, bringing the total investment in its company to more than $50 million. The company is developing socially intelligent service robots and artificial intelligent solutions that enable robots to collaborate within and adapt to human environments.

 

Halodi400x275Halodi Robotics has announced signing an agreement to provide 140 humanoid robots to ADT Commercial, a U.S.-based provider of commercial security, fire, life safety and risk consulting services. The announcement is the result of an April 2021 partnership where Halodi secured an investment from ADT Commercial to develop a robot to complement the company’s physical security solutions.

 

SanctuaryCognitive400x275Vancouver-based Sanctuary Cognitive Systems, which is focusing on creating human-like intelligence in general-purpose robots, has announced closing $58.5 million ($75.5 million Canadian) in Series A funding. Using breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, cognition and robotics, the company plans to improve the quality of the work experience, assist humans with difficult or dangerous tasks, and bring new opportunities to those who might be less capable of physical work.

 

FirgelliMicroActuator400x275Firgelli Automations has announced developing what it believes is the world’s smallest Diameter Micro Actuator with Positional feedback control, capable of controlling positions to within 1 micron. The technology would revolutionize industries that include robotics, automotive, industrial and medical, the company said.

 

BeyondPRGelsite400x275Beyond Imagination, an AI and robotics platform company developing humanoid robots, has announced teaming up with GelSight, which develops tactile intelligence technology, to initiate a pilot to study the feasibility of using humanoid robots to remotely operate GelSight’s tactile sensors.

 

Gaumard Scientific HAL 400x275Gaumard Scientific Co., which develops simulation technology for healthcare education and training, has announced the HAL S5301, the latest of its advanced multidisciplinary patient simulators. The company was set to introduce the robot at the International Meeting in Healthcare (IMSH) in Los Angeles, Jan. 15-19.

 

CESTakeaways400x275CES is always one of the biggest trade shows of the year, where companies from all different sectors come to Las Vegas to show off their latest innovations. Companies that make robots, drones and self-driving cars are among those that have attended in recent years, and this year was no different. While several big companies pulled out of the show due to COVID-related concerns, there were still enough announcements in the space to make people talk about what’s coming next in technology.

 

Beomni400x275Beyond Imagination, which develops general-purpose robotics systems, has announced a collaboration with Dr. David Wensel at the TRU PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) Center in Lafayette, Colorado to conduct real-world tests of its newly completed, fully functional Version 1.0 of the robot known as Beomni. The company said this is the first public trail of Beomni, an advanced humanoid robot, that includes an evolving AI brain that aims to take tele-medicine to the next level.

 

AmecaRobot400x275U.K.-based Engineered Arts, which creates “memorable interactive character experiences,” has announced its latest humanoid robot, Ameca, will be on display at next month’s CES 2022 in Las Vegas.

 

AvatarXPRIZE NimbRo 400x275XPRIZE, which designs and operates incentive competitions to solve humanity’s biggest challenges, has announced that 15 teams from eight countries advanced to the finals round of the $10 million ANA Avatar XPRIZE competition.

 

Joyce400x275Robotics World chatted with Patrice Roulet Fontani, the co-founder and vice president of technology at Immervision, about the future of humanoid robots and machine perception.

 

Honda eVTOL400x275Honda Motor Co. has announced the technology development direction the company is pursuing while leveraging its core technologies. The direction will lead to the fulfillment of Honda’s 2030 Vision of serving people worldwide with the “joy of expanding their life’s potential.”

 

UBTECH Panda400x275The UBTECH Panda Robot has made its global debut at the 2021 World Robot Conference in Beijing, paving the way for an appearance at next month’s Expo 2020 Dubai in the China Pavilion.