This third-generation UVD robot can help COVID-19 disinfection. | Credit: UVD Robots

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has dominated 2020, affecting daily lives and every industry around the world. Early in the year, it aggravated a manufacturing slowdown that was the result of both expected economic cycles and trade tensions between China and the U.S.

At the same time, COVID-19 has accelerated demand for robotics in supply chain and healthcare applications. Robotics suppliers switched from citing labor shortages to the need for social distancing as a rationale for adopting automation.

Even as governments grapple with subsequent waves of infection, there are early signs of recovery in some regions and in the automotive sector. While nearly 5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered around the world at the time of writing this article, it’s too soon to say when most businesses, schools, and travel venues will reopen.

In the meantime, here are four ways in which the robotic industry has responded to COVID-19.

COVID-19 Disinfection and cleaning

One of the most obvious applications for robotics in response to the pandemic is to disinfect hospital rooms and other spaces with ultraviolet radiation or chemical sprays. However, both developers and users should be aware of limitations. UV-C light is effective at killing pathogens in the air or on surfaces, but it can be hazardous to humans and degrade certain plastics. Radiation exposure is one reason why it is better to send in an autonomous or semi-autonomous mobile robot into an area to work.

In the Philippines, Robotic Activations apologized after a demonstration of its Keno robot caused eye irritation among as many as 10 observers. Disinfection robots need to detect when humans are nearby and shut down for safety.

Simply putting UV lights on a mobile robot base is not enough to guarantee effective or safe disinfection of COVID-19, noted Claus Risager, co-founder and CEO of Blue Ocean Robotics, which spun out of UVD Robots. UVD recently won a contract to deploy 200 disinfection robots in European hospitals.

“So many people are trying to copy the UVD robots,” he told The Robot Report. “It’s unbelievable how fast that came. There’s more to our product than putting light bulbs on a robot. We’ve done clinical design and long-term testing for all kinds of bacteria, fungi, and viruses, as well as time of exposure, angles, shadowing effects, and reflections.”

It’s also worth noting the companies that were developing UV-C robots before the COVID-19 crisis — UVD Robots and Xenex Disinfection Services — are among the market leaders, despite a host of imitators and research projects. UVD Robots’ system is on its third generation and is available through partners worldwide.

At midyear, new disinfection robots were announced every week. Some came from established mobile robot providers, such as Lavender from Geekplus, the SmartGuardUV from Fetch Robotics, or the LD UVC from Omron and Techmetics Robotics.

Other systems from cleaning robot providers rely on sprays, mists, or a combination of chemicals and UV-C. These include the CIRQ+CLEAN from CIRQ+, Nimbus from Life Sciences Holdings Inc., and the Large Area Autonomous Disinfecting vehicle from Pratt Miller Mobility.

Both types must address the time needed to properly disinfect a certain space, the “shadowing” effect depending on angles and occlusions, and the endurance needed to treat multiple rooms or large areas like an airport lounge. Like UV, some chemical disinfectants pose a risk to people.

“UV robots are scary,” said Faizan Sheikh, co-founder and CEO of Avidbots. “We are paying close attention to safety, and we’re active in the IEC [International Electrotechnical Commission] for safety. Some sprays are safer for humans — sodium- or solvent-based, [and] we need to do analysis of this.”

In addition, some companies, such as Perpetual Motion, are developing drones to disinfect large areas, and Clearpath Robotics is among those working to treat outdoor spaces. Exyn Technologies conducted a study that found aerial drones might not yet be a practical method of disinfection.

“The time and power required to ensure mission completion would not be an efficient solution to sanitize large areas at this time,” said Exyn. “To be an effective solution for large areas, further advancement is needed in the underlying UV-C LED technology so that effective sanitization could be achieved on the order of seconds rather than minutes.”

Stationary systems inside heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) infrastructure are another possible alternative for airborne viruses.

Supply chain automation

Several executives told The Robot Report the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated an existing shift from brick-and-mortar retail to e-commerce, particularly for consumer packaged goods and groceries. Growth expected over the next three to five years occurred over the past six months, they said.

In the first few months of the year, supply chains were strained by the demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face masks, and they are now gearing up for the distribution of potential vaccines. Hospital supply chains are subject to shifting demands like those in retail.

The need to respond to such demands has led to expectations of growth in robotics for pick-and-place, materials handling, and delivery applications. Vendors of mobile robots, automated storage and retrieval systems, and last-mile delivery vehicles in the air and on the ground have been bullish.

For instance, insightSlice predicts that the global market for delivery drones and robots will grow from $10 billion in 2019 to $38 billion by 2030. In an April survey, Interactions LLC found increasing consumer comfort with robots for healthcare, retail, and delivery.

“Online grocery and general merchandise orders need robotics to keep up with demand, velocity, and quality,” said Steve Hornyak, chief commercial officer at Fabric. “Then, to get products closer to customers and get to the one-day norm that Amazon has driven, you need micro-fulfillment centers rather than big warehouses at the edge of cities.”

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ReWalk Robotics Ltd., which makes wearable devices for people with lower-limb disabilities, yesterday said it has donated a ReStore exo-suit to Brooks Rehabilitation in Jacksonville, Fla. The therapy team there will use the ReStore in a specialized Neuro Recovery Center to conduct gait-training sessions with patients seeking post-stroke rehabilitation.

Approximately 800,000 people per year suffer a stroke in the U.S., and about two-thirds of them survive and require rehabilitation, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, a part of the National Institutes of Health.

For 50 years, Brooks Rehabilitation has provided physical rehabilitation services. The nonprofit organization operates one of the nation’s largest inpatient rehabilitation hospitals in the U.S., with 160 beds, one of the region’s largest home healthcare agencies, and over 40 outpatient therapy clinics. Brooks also includes a Center for Inpatient Rehabilitation in partnership with Halifax Health in Daytona Beach, the Brooks Rehabilitation Medical Group, and two skilled nursing facilities.

Brooks treats more than 55,000 patients each year. The healthcare system includes assisted living and memory care, as well as no-cost or low-cost community programs and services. In addition, it operates the Clinical Research Center, which specializes in research for stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury, and more to advance the science of rehabilitation.

ReStore to help Brooks patients

The ReStore wearable device is designed to be versatile and adaptable, allowing it to be used with a broader range of a clinic’s stroke rehabilitation patients than previous robotic technologies, claimed ReWalk Robotics.

“As a recognized leader in physical therapy for 50 years, Brooks sees technology not as a tool, but as a resource to help our clinicians achieve higher quality outcomes during a patient’s rehabilitation,” stated Robert McIver, PT, DPT, NCS, and director of clinical technology at Brooks Rehabilitation. “Thanks to this donation, we are able to offer our patients additional options for their stroke recovery.”

“Being able to offer robotic assistance devices is especially important for patients and clinicians during the COVID-19 crisis to help support public-health safety protocols,” said Larry Jasinski, CEO of ReWalk. “Our ReStore exo-suit is an innovative solution for stroke patients, and we’re happy to deliver the device to a leading national care center known for adopting advanced care solutions to help serve their patients.”

Exoskeletons begin to receive reimbursement approvals

Earlier this month, ReWalk Robotics announced the closing of an $8 million private share placement. The company had closed a public offering in February raising $7 million. It also entered into a contract with a German health insurer to allow eligible beneficiaries with spinal cord injuries to apply for procurement of a ReWalk 6.0 exoskeleton.

In addition, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued ReWalk the first healthcare reimbursement code for exoskeletons in October. The company has facilities in Marlborough, Mass.; Berlin; and Yokneam, Israel.

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WeRide, which is developing autonomous driving capabilities, today announced the completion of Series B1 funding with a $200 million investment by Yutong Group Co. The companies said it is the largest-ever investment in self-driving technology by a Chinese automaker.

WeRide and Yutong Group said they will jointly develop applications in minibuses, city buses, and other commercial vehicles at scale. WeRide also claimed that it is the only autonomous driving company to have received strategic investments from leading makers of both commercial and passenger vehicles — Alliance Renault Nissan Mitsubishi.

Zhengzhou, China-based Yutong Group manufactures commercial vehicles including buses and construction machinery. Guangzhou, China-based WeRide is building SAE Level 4 autonomous driving technologies and said it is the first company in China and the second in the world to get official permission to test fully driverless cars on open roads.

WeRide already provides robotaxi services

WeRide was founded in 2017 and has research and development and operations centers in Beijing, Shanghai, and Anging, China, as well as in Silicon Valley. The multinational has used strategic alliances among artificial intelligence companies, carmakers, and mobility service platforms in its pursuit of commercialized autonomous driving.

The company used these alliances for its WeRide Robotaxi joint venture, which launched the first publicly accessible robotaxi service in Guangzhou in November 2019. It covered an area of 144 square kilometers (89.4 sq. mi.) in Huangpu District and Guangzhou Development District. In the service’s first year of operation, 60,000 users went on a total of 147,128 rides, according to WeRide.

In June 2020, WeRide’s Robotaxi service became available to the public through Amap, a popular ride-hailing mobile app in China. WeRide said this made its Robotaxi the first public service jointly provided by an integrated ride-hailing platform and an autonomous driving company. In July 2020, WeRide obtained China’s first driverless testing permit.

“Since our inception more than three years ago, WeRide has been a leader in autonomous driving,” stated Tony Han, co-founder and CEO of WeRide. “This new round of funding has provided a strong impetus for continuing our innovations, and more importantly, secured us another vital strategic investor.”

“Yutong Group’s strategic investment is a strong testament to WeRide’s robust technology and our constant efforts to expand industry boundaries,” he added. “We have extended the application of autonomous technology to passenger vehicles and buses.”

Yutong Group has autonomous driving experience

In 2015, Yutong Group reached a significant R&D milestone for its first generation of autonomous products. It conducted the world’s first open-road trial operation of robobuses in Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China. The company presented its 5 m (15 ft.) autonomous minibus at the Boao Forum for Asia Conference in March 2019. In May 2019, it put the autonomous vehicle into open road-trial operation.

WeRide and Yutong previously collaborated on China’s first fully driverless Mini Robobus, created for open road operation in cities. It is a front-loaded, mass-produced model with no steering wheel, accelerator, or brakes. It is equipped with WeRide’s full stack of software and hardware. The Robobus is capable of dealing with complex urban traffic conditions safely and efficiently, said WeRide.

In its first attempt to realize the commercial application of autonomous buses in June 2020, Yutong assisted Zhengdong New District in Zhengzhou in introducing a 17.4 km (10.8 mi.) autonomous route. Yutong said its autonomous vehicles have been safely operated for more than 700 days in multiple cities, serving more than 360,000 passengers.

A fully autonomous Mini Robobus developed by WeRide and Yutong. Source: WeRide

Chinese companies set sights on urban mobility

“WeRide and Yutong Group will engage in extensive cooperation in multiple key domains, such as R&D, vehicle platforms, and mobility services,” said Han. “We will draw on each other’s strengths to create a brand-new urban mobility and transportation system.”

WeRide added that the strategic investment will help Yutong Group advance its AI capability and expedite the process to commercialize autonomous driving technology in commercial vehicles for smart mobility and smart cities.

The company said commercialization of autonomous vehicles requires a concerted effort from all stakeholders in the industry. With the support of Yutong Group and other investors, WeRide said it plans to accelerate the deployment of its fully driverless robotaxi, Robobus, and other mobility systems.

Other companies working on robotic taxicabs and buses include AutoX, Cruise, Motional, and Waymo.

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Self-driving cars and trucks, as well as sensors, artificial intelligence, and other enabling technologies, rode off with the biggest investments in robotics and automation in 2020. Even though the COVID-19 pandemic affected automotive demand and manufacturing, vehicle startups continued to draw more funding than industrial automation, aerial drones, or healthcare systems.

The Robot Report has tracked more than 400 transactions worth a total of about $26 billion in 2020 to date, compared with 384 worth about $45.8 billion in 2019. The pandemic can be blamed for the decline, but note that only seven companies announced shutdowns this year.

There were about 60 robotics mergers and acquisitions in 2020, compared with 86 in 2019. The total number of investments was closer, with 366 fundings worth $16 billion as of late November, compared with 384 in the prior year.

While subtotals are not yet available, other noteworthy areas of automation receiving funding in 2020 included agricultural systems, components such as sensors and grippers, mobile robots for supply chains, and service robots for tasks such as customer service or food preparation.

Here are the top 10 robotics transactions of the past year:

10. Tie: Nuro, Didi Chuxing Nuro each raise $500M in 2020

In November 2020, Nuro raised $500 million in Series C funding, bringing its valuation to $5 billion. What makes Nuro different from other autonomous vehicle companies is that it has developed its R2 purely for transporting goods rather than people.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company has received approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation to test vehicles without the conventional features of passenger cars, such as side mirrors or a steering wheel.

In April, Nuro was one of the first two companies (along with Waymo) to get permission to conduct testing in California. It had previously raised $840 million in early 2019.

Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing’s autonomous driving subsidiary brought in its first external funding in May. SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2 led the $500 million round.

Didi has developed what it claimed is the first electric car designed specifically for ride-hailing services. It is working with AutoX and AutoNavi on robotaxis in Shanghai.

The company hopes to have 1 million vehicles with basic autonomous driving capabilities by 2025, said Cheng Wei, CEO of Didi Chuxing.

9. MicroPort MedBot sews up funding for laparoscopic robot

MicroPort MedBot said in September that it would receive $512 million in three tranches led by Hillhouse Capital. It is the surgical robotics unit of Shanghai-based medical device maker MicroPort.

“MedBot has gradually formed a product portfolio of 3D electronic laparoscopy, [a] laparoscopic surgical robot, and [an] orthopedic surgical robot providing intelligent surgical solutions,” stated Martin Sun, chairman of MicroPort MedBot.

In October, the company announced a joint venture with France-based Robocath to develop and distribute vascular robotics in China.

8. Tesla borrows money for Shanghai factory

Tesla Inc., whose electric vehicles include the Autopilot driver-assistance software and rely on cameras rather than lidar or a combination of sensors, took out a loan of $565 million in May.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Tesla plans to use the funds from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. to build a production plant in Shanghai, its first outside the U.S.

In October, Tesla announced the limited rollout of its “full self-driving beta” release.

7. Luminar Technologies raises $590M in IPO after SPAC deal

Early this month, Luminar Technologies Inc., which has developed lidar sensors for autonomous vehicles and advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS), raised $590 million in its initial public offering after merging with special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Gores Metropoulos Inc. in August.

Luminar received $170 million in the reverse merger. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company said it planned to use the investment to bring its sensors, which were designed and built from the ground up, to high-volume production.

6. Hyundai Motor acquires Boston Dynamics in 2020

After weeks of speculation, Hyundai Motor Corp. this month announced its purchase of a controlling stake in Boston Dynamics Inc. for about $880 million. Hyundai is the legged robotics company’s third owner, after Google and SoftBank Group.

Waltham, Mass.-based Boston Dynamics has made strides in the past year (pun intended), commercializing its Spot quadruped, developing other systems such as Handle and Pick for supply chains, working with partners and customers, and updating its software. The Hyundai acquisition was also The Robot Report‘s top news story of 2020.

Related content: The Robot Report Podcast: Boston Dynamics talks about its big year and acquisition by Hyundai

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Despite an ongoing pandemic, a contentious U.S. presidential election, and stalled negotiations over the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union, investments in robotics and related technologies continued in November 2020, if at less than half the value as in the same period last year.

In November 2020, The Robot Report tracked a total of 44 transactions worth about $2.2 billion, in comparison with 52 deals worth $866 million in October 2020 and $4.7 billion in 35 transactions in November 2019. (More than $3 billion in transactions have already been recorded for December 2020.)

As usual for most of the past year, autonomous vehicle companies received the largest share of investment, with 11 transactions worth more than $1.3 billion. Other technologies getting significant funding in the past month included supply chain automation, components and software, and robots for manufacturing.

In November, 41 companies received a total of $1.9 billion in 41 investments. By comparison, there were 43 investments worth $866 million in October 2020 and $4.4 billion in 28 investments in November 2019.

The table below lists robotics company fundings in millions of U.S. dollars, where amounts were publicly available.

Robotics investments, November 2020

There were only three robotics mergers and acquisitions worth a total of $287 million last month, compared with eight with no values specified in October and six worth at least $330 million a year ago.

Robotics acquisitions, November 2020

Autonomous vehicles roll onward

Nuro’s $500 million Series C round was the largest single transaction of November 2020. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company has been developing autonomous delivery vehicles rather than self-driving passenger cars.

Among the trends of 2020 was increasing investment in autonomous trucks. San Diego-based TuSimple reportedly raised $350 million in Series E funding from Navistar and Volkswagen. Shanghai-based Inceptio Technology raised $120 million, and Cupertino, Calif.-based Plus.ai raised $100 million in Series C funding.

Other autonomous vehicle fundings included the $267 million Series C round for Pony.ai in Fremont, Calif. The startup has partnered with China FAW Group Co. for joint development and mass production.

Gatik in Palo Alto, Calif., raised $25 million in Series A funding as it develops SAE Level 4 delivery vehicles. Gyeongsan, South Korea-based a2z received seed funding of $1.9 million.

Sensors for advanced driver-assist (ADAS) and driverless vehicles also received funding in November 2020. San Francisco-based lidar firm Sense Photonics Inc. raised $32.1 million in Series B funding.

Pleasanton, Calif.-based lidar company AEye reportedly raised $23 million in debt financing, and Tuscon, Ariz.-based radar maker Lunewave obtained $7 million in Series A funding.

Special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) InterPrivate Acquisition Corp. picked up Mountain View, Calif.-based Aeva Labs for an unspecified amount as it takes on Velodyne Lidar Inc. and Luminar Technologies Inc.

On the software and artificial intelligence side, Hypr in Alameda, Calif., received $10 million in seed funding. It was founded by some of the same people who developed robotic taxicabs at Zoox, which Amazon.com Inc. acquired in June.

Meanwhile, automotive perception developer Provizio in Limerick, Ireland, raised $6.2 million in seed funding, and simulation provider Morai Inc. in Seoul closed $1.8 million in seed funding.

Supply chain robots receive funding in November 2020

Partly because of accelerated e-commerce demand, robotics for warehouses, distribution centers, and logistics operations had another strong year, raising about $319 million last month alone. U.K.-based online grocer Ocado Group led the way with its $262 million acquisition of Kindred Systems and $25 million purchase of Haddington Dynamics.

Austin, Texas-based mobile robot startup Siera.Ai raised $4.6 million in Series A funding. Cambridge, Mass.-based parcel-handling robot maker Pickle Robot Co. raised $2 million in equity, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Components and software put together deals

Robots, drones, and vehicles are only as good as their ingredient technologies, which investors recognized with more than $231 million in November 2020. Paris-based GrAI Matter Labs, which makes processors for AI inferencing at the edge, raised $14 million.

Shanghai-based Emotibot Technology Ltd. raised Series C funding of $30 million for its human-machine interaction software, and Shenzhen, China-based Yishi Zhi Hao Technology Co. raised Series B funding of $15.12 million for its visual intelligence software.

Opteran Technologies, an AI processor firm in Sheffield, U.K., got $2.81 million in funding. Tel Aviv, Israel-based Orca AI, which makes navigation software for maritime systems, raised $2.6 million in seed funding.

LaunchPoint Technologies, a drone propulsion provider in Goleta, Calif., raised $1.81 million in seed funding, and Pittsburgh-based lidar business Psionic raised $500,000.

Drone makers spot sources of capital

Aerial drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), had another good month in November 2020. Agricultural drone provider Guangzhou Jifei Technology Co., also known as XAG, raised $183 million from Baidu Capital and SoftBank Vision Fund II.

Shield AI, a surveillance drone provider in San Diego, raised $52.9 million in Series C funding. Verity Studios, an entertainment drone provider in Zurich, raised $8.28 million in Series A funding.

Percepto, a Modi’in, Israel-based provider of industrial inspection systems that recently partnered with Boston Dynamics, raised $45 million in Series B funding.

Tel Aviv-based High Lander obtained seed funding of $3 million for its drone fleet management software. Watsonville, Calif.-based drone inspection provider Parallel Flight received $983,000 in seed funding from StartEngine.

Industrial automation makes more money in November 2020

While most robots are still in factory environments, they have not been the stars of fundraising because the companies supplying them are more mature. Automotive manufacturing in particular was set back by early shutdowns in response to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, industrial automation suppliers raised a total of more than $53 million in November 2020.

Beijing-based collaborative robot provider Mega Robot received $30 million in Series B funding. San Francisco-based Rapid Robotics Inc., whose Rapid Machine Operator is intended to help companies keep production in the U.S., raised $5.5 million in seed funding.

Industrial exoskeletons also got a boost in last month. Shanghai-based Mech-Mind Robotics Technologies Ltd. raised $30 million in Series B+ funding, and San Diego-based Levitate Technologies Inc. picked up $3.5 million in Series A funding. Shanghai-based exoskeleton firm ULS Robotics obtained an unspecified amount in seed funding.

Healthcare, hospitality, and service robot firms give thanks

Rounding out the penultimate month of a challenging year is a collection of companies serving different sectors. Robotics and Internet of Things (IoT) developer MegaRobo raised $30 million in Series B funding. The Beijing-based startup is developing systems for light manufacturing, retail, and life sciences.

San Francisco-based Canvas, which is making a drywall robot for the construction industry, raised $19 million last month. London-based Giraffe360, which is developing a robotic camera for the real estate industry, raised $4.5 million.

Cambridge, Mass.-based Home Tech Innovation Inc., which is developing the Suvie kitchen robot, raised $8.1 million in equity funding, according to an SEC filing. Biomotum, an assistive device maker in Flagstaff, Ariz., raised $580,000 in November 2020.

Educational robotics startups Movia Robotics Inc. in Bristol, Conn., and SmartGurlz in Copenhagen raised $500,000 and $130,000, respectively. Austin, Texas-based Maidbot, which is developing “Rosie” the commercial housekeeping robot, raised an unspecified amount of Series B funding.

Related content: The Robot Report Podcast: Robotics investment trends; are Amazon drone deliveries coming?

Editors’ note: What defines robotics investments? The answer to this simple question is central in any attempt to quantify them with some degree of rigor. To make investment analyses consistent, repeatable, and valuable, it is critical to wring out as much subjectivity as possible during the evaluation process. This begins with a definition of terms and a description of assumptions.

Investors and investing
Investment should come from venture capital firms, corporate investment groups, angel investors, and other sources. Friends-and-family investments, government/non-governmental agency grants, and crowd-sourced funding are excluded.

Robotics and intelligent systems companies
Robotics companies must generate or expect to generate revenue from the production of robotics products (that sense, analyze, and act in the physical world), hardware or software subsystems and enabling technologies for robots, or services supporting robotics devices. For this analysis, autonomous vehicles (including technologies that support autonomous driving) and drones are considered robots, while 3D printers, CNC systems, and various types of “hard” automation are not.

Companies that are “robotic” in name only, or use the term “robot” to describe products and services that that do not enable or support devices acting in the physical world, are excluded. For example, this includes “software robots” and robotic process automation. Many firms have multiple locations in different countries. Company locations given in the analysis are based on the publicly listed headquarters in legal documents, press releases, etc.

Verification
Funding information is collected from a number of public and private sources. These include press releases from corporations and investment groups, corporate briefings, industry analysts, and association and industry publications, including PitchBook and Tracxn. In addition, information comes from sessions at conferences and seminars, as well as during private interviews with industry representatives, investors, and others. Unverifiable investments are excluded.

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Digital twins are becoming a key tool for helping factories plan production processes. Source: Siemens

Among the challenges that COVID-19 posed to manufacturers in 2020 was the need to plan for and maintain optimal production levels without sacrificing employee safety. The convergence of digital and physical worlds, as manifested in simulation and robotics, provided tools for industry to adapt and even thrive in difficult times.

Two sets of technologies can help manufacturers during the pandemic and beyond, according to Siemens. By enabling managers and employees to see a factory’s configuration while working from anywhere, digital twins (DT) can enable global organizations to adopt best practices remotely, it said. Staffers can see work orders on a machine via 2D/3D cloud renderings and have access to an entire digital twin of the factory floor.

In addition to digital twins, augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) can provide employees with the same level of visibility as in-person testing, said Siemens. The use of virtual factory acceptance testing (FAT), virtual commissions, and remote monitoring has been accelerating, in part because of the pandemic. AR/VR can provide enterprises the benefits of cost and time savings, as well as enhanced social distancing.

Vincent Guo, Ph.D., director of business development, strategy and portfolio management, for digital manufacturing at Siemens Digital Industries Software, responded to the following questions from The Robot Report about trends around digital twins and AR/VR.

Getting started with simulation

How can digital twins benefit operations that are just starting to automate? How can those already using robots benefit?

Guo: Digital twins can help a newly automated company understand feasibility, estimate potential improvements, and reduce risk during implementation, just to name a few benefits.

For example, one can use the digital twin to understand whether it is possible to use an electro-mechanical system — typically a combination of robots, mechanical structures, servo motors, and control systems — to perform the same task typically performed by human operators. Such simulation is then used to validate the design of the mechanical structure, the setup of the automated cell, the control logic to perform the manufacturing process, etc.

Once those elements are understood fully, the manufacturing will place the order of the hardware and build the automated product line according to the validated design. This can greatly improve the financials, as the hardware procurement happens later and commissioning takes less time. It can also reduce issues at deployment, since problems can be identified before the hardware is even purchased and bring in cash quicker due to faster deployment of production.

For companies that have already incorporated robots, digital twins of production allow users to do the following:

• Implement a company standard to manage current and future projects for sustainability. For example, a formerly validated design can be reused, so generating new designs can be more efficient.
• Retrofit existing production for the next product in the digital world without interference to ongoing production.
• Use insights coming from existing products and production. These will be important inputs to the digital twin to improve next-generation product.

For example, JR Automation, a supplier of intelligent automated manufacturing and distribution technologies, is using digital twin technology to virtually commission a robotic cell developed for material handling applications.

How has simulation software evolved in the past year? 

Guo: Like CAD tools, the digital twin of production evolved from 2D to 3D. Today, simulations can be viewed in VR, supporting remote collaboration. With more elements being integrated into the simulation, what once started with pure mechanical simulation based on time sequences now adds electrical signaling to validate the control logic.

In the past, simulation was focused on the behavior of specific machines, while today one can simulate the behavior of the entire system, including interfaces between machines, AGVs [automated guided vehicles], and people.

Human operations simulations went from static to dynamic. Today, we can detect potential injury to various parts of the human body during operation, even while working with collaborative robots. Simulation can provide added value on top of reality, with strong tools providing the ability to perform what-if analysis. In the future, we plan to bring in more artificial intelligence to the simulation platform to make the design and validation of a flexible production system even easier.

The Siemens Digital Industries Software (DI SW) division has been providing solutions to the robotics and automation segment for four decades. From our experience, observation, and vision, we developed an evolution roadmap for robotics manufacturing system design and deployment.

Source: Siemens

Robot simulations require accuracy

How accurately do Siemens’ systems model the latest robots as part of factory operations?

Guo: Mechanical modeling of the robots is as accurate as the hardware itself. The control signals have the ability to be 100% accurate, since those are digitally perfect. The motion of the robot in space and time can be modeled roughly around 99% accurate, as per the international Realistic Robot Simulation or RRS standard. Siemens works very closely with robot vendors to ensure that our simulation software provides comprehensive support to global hardware brands.

Siemens is in a unique position because it provides simulation hardware for manufacturing system engineering, while simultaneously supplying hardware such as PLC [programmable logic controllers], HMI [human-machine interface], and motors that is mandatory for automation lines. Therefore, a Siemens customer would enjoy the value from both software and hardware in an integrated solution to ensure seamless workflow from design, commissioning, and operation.

What are some examples of digital twins or AR and VR helping manufacturers?

Guo: In aerospace companies, the order changes rather frequently, and batches are small. Operators may need to change operations quickly, which is a challenge in memorizing new work instruction. AR is a useful tool in guiding human operators through complicated and changing assembly jobs.

One can design and validate the assembly operation with Siemens’ simulation tool and use those as electric work instructions (EWIs) to distribute to the shop floor. Since the EWIs are connected to the product in the databases — like the EWIs in a PLM [product lifecycle management] system is connected to the MES system — they are automatically shown to the correct operators on the shop floor.

Augmented reality for robot-related engineering is useful when a part needed to finish the design in the physical world is missing. For example, when designing a robotic process working with a part on a fixture, any of the three can be missing: the robot, the part, or the fixture. Instead of waiting for all physical assets to start the work, AR technology can be used to bridge the gap. The user can project the robot with AR to the physical part to make sure clearance or validate the fixture before sending the order to factory.

As we consider human operations in the manufacturing simulation, technologies like motion capture and VR are also used. For human operations, VR can provide an immersive environment that is especially useful for design review, project evaluation, and training. One can even use motion capture with VR to enhance the experience.

Can you give an example of AR/VR being used to plan or manage robots? Do they also account for people in processes?

Guo: Once one finishes the design of a robot station in our simulation software, the user can jump directly into it via VR. The user can view the robot’s motion, manipulate the robots, and collaborate with remote colleagues all via VR, without risk of injury or damage to equipment.

Other VR applications include design review and issue detection and logging, safety assessment in robotic stations, and card-boarding digital mockups. VR can be used with motion capturing for human ergonomics validation and time-calculation.

Simulation can account for humans in processes. Source: Siemens

How has the pandemic made it more difficult for managers to supervise production? Aren’t the floor workers more affected?

Guo: Indeed, there is more to consider today due to the effects of the pandemic, especially given the intensive human labor on facility floors. For example, we want to ensure operators are protected by enforcing safe social distancing. We can retrofit the production system and validate the new layout or work sequence to meet correct distancing guidelines.

In the image below, the green area indicates the routes the operators can take during work hours. The solid brown indicates an area that two operators can be very close to each other in this production cell and are generated dynamically by simulating the actual movement of operators in the shop floor.

Source: Siemens

Has Siemens seen an increase in demand for digital twins and AR/VR during the pandemic, or do businesses need to be more aware of these technologies?

Guo: The need for digital twins has increased. As customers reduced their physical presence, digital methods to facilitate manufacturing design, deployment, and operations went from “nice to have” to “must have.” Siemens has had customers tell us they wish software deployment in their companies happened earlier.

For instance, plastic-injection mold company iMFLUX used a Siemens digital twin to quickly retool for making COVID-19 tests.

In addition, we do see increased interest and openness to AR/VR in all industries. VR is needed for multi-site and multi-state collaboration due to travel restrictions. One Siemens customer is conducting VR review sessions with six different international locations simultaneously with up to 15 VR glasses being used in each session.

Future prospects for digital twins, AR/VR

What are some areas where AR/VR or digital twins still need work?

Guo: The user experience of AR/VR, as well as accuracy of the hardware, still has room for improvement. For example, the VR headset itself is heavy, has low battery life, and presents challenges for those with glasses. Both VR and AR devices provide spatial accuracy in centimeters. This level of accuracy limits the use cases, especially when mechanical precision is critical.

Digital twins will keep evolving as new technology and products are continuously introduced. Digital twins work best when a fully connected digital thread is present – connecting product design, manufacturing engineering, production shop floor, and product usage. This is an area that both technology supplier and user need to work on together in order to exploit the digital twin’s full potential.

Of course, we hope the COVID-19 pandemic ends sooner rather than later, but what trends do you expect to see in the usage of these technologies next year?

Guo: The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for digitalization of manufacturing more than ever. Many companies have realized that a comprehensive digital twin for manufacturing is key for them to respond rapidly to supply chain shifts, capacity rebalancing and production footprint management/optimization.

Cloud offerings are key to supporting distributed work environments for engineering and manufacturing to collaborate across the product-development, manufacturing engineering, and factory locations. Prescriptive industry-based SaaS [software-as-a-service] solutions that Siemens Digital Industries Software offers are one of the key technologies that will be critical in 2021. Siemens has started to allow customers to use our solutions and products as prescription or SaaS to help them reduce cost and recover quickly from the lost caused by COVID-19.

The trend of automation with advanced robotics started before COVID-19 due to reduced cost of the robotic technology. But the pandemic encouraged manufacturers to accelerate this transition, and there is increased demand for autonomous manufacturing and logistics. IoT [Internet of Things] connectivity and AI are becoming key to optimize the performance and utilization of individual machines, robots to entire machining lines and factories. These tasks are only possible with a comprehensive digital twin of the production.

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Since 2017, the Toyota Mobility Foundation, in collaboration with Nesta Challenges, has been conducting the Mobility Unlimited Challenge to advance the state of assistive devices. The organizations today announced Phoenix Instinct as the winner of the $1 million first prize for its smart wheelchair.

Toyota Motor Corp. is not only one of the world’s largest automakers; it is also supporting development of mobility services, service robots, and other technologies to augment human capabilities through its foundation and challenge.

“Around the world, millions of people are living with lower-limb paralysis (the most common causes being strokes, spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis),” stated Toyota. “The World Health Organization estimates there are 250,000-500,000 new cases of spinal cord injury globally every year.”

“Mobility means freedom. It means liberation from being limited in life,” said Sir Philip Craven, former president of the International Paralympic Committee and a member of Toyota’s board of directors. “As we believe at Toyota, when we are free to move, we are able to fully participate in society, and I’m excited for each of these devices supported by the Mobility Unlimited Challenge, particularly the winning device, because of how it will allow so many people to better do what they want to do.”

Finalists focus on accessibility

In a virtual press conference today, the five finalists discussed their journeys, recounting how they worked with people with disabilities, frustrations along the way, and the promise of their technologies beyond the competition. Sophie Morgan, a British journalist, moderator, and wheelchair user, noted the challenges of improving inclusivity and accessibility.

Berkeley, Calif.-based Evolution Devices Inc. designed the EvoWalk, a wearable device that uses artificial intelligence to help the muscles act at the the right time for walking in rehabilitation of people with foot drop conditions. The company has been collecting data and is still on track to launch in the second quarter of 2021, said Pierluigi Mantovani, CEO of Evolution Devices.

The University of Tsukuba’s Team Qolo, for “Quality of Life with Locomotion,” developed a device that combined wheelchair and exoskeleton functions to assist people with lower-limb paralysis.

“We are very proud to be one of the teams, not just the finalists, but the more than 80 teams that participated,” said Kenji Suzuki, a professor at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. “We would like to work together with other people. The Toyota Mobility Challenge enabled us to work with more partners around the world. We’ve learned lots of things from Toyota.”

The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) in Pensacola, Fla., and MYOLYN in Gainesville, Fla., have been working on Quix, a powered exoskeleton. The competition has helped bring attention to the need for funding for assistive technology development, said Matthew Bellman, chief technology officer at MYOLIN.

Italy-based Italdesign developed the Wheem-i, a semi-autonomous, micro-mobility, ride-sharing vehicle for wheelchair users intended for multiple terrains. The company works in the automotive sector, and like Toyota, it is interested in the future of “sustainable mobility,” said Franco Bay, head of public relations and communication at Italdesign.

The University of Pittsburgh’s Human Engineering Research Laboratories (HERL) assessed the entries and provided mentorship alongside a team of Toyota subject-matter experts, and the winner was chosen by a panel of expert judges.

“We would love to continue working with the Toyota Research Institute,” Bellman and Mantovani told The Robot Report. The teams also plan to work with more healthcare providers to expand awareness, testing, and adoption.

“We’ve been working with a lot of physical therapists in California,” said Mantovani. “We’re working with Precision Rehabilitation in Long Beach, Calif., for our first pilot and are working with UCSF for physical therapy clinical pilots.”

“MYOLIN already has customers all over the country, including major neuro rehab programs,” said Bellman.

Phoenix Instinct takes first prize

U.K.-based Phoenix Instinct developed the Phoenix i, a manual wheelchair with a “smart center of gravity.” It uses artificial intelligence to automatically adjust its center of gravity, making the ultra-lightweight carbon-fiber frame more stable and easier to maneuver.

Phoenix i uses front-wheel power-assist to reduce painful vibrations and minimize strain on the user, said the team. The chair’s powered braking system automatically detects when the user is going downhill and adjusts to manage the user’s descent.

“Winning the Toyota Mobility Unlimited Challenge is incredible for Phoenix Instinct and for wheelchair users,” said Andrew Slorance, CEO of Phoenix Instinct. “The wheelchair as we know it has been technologically unchanged for decades. The funding we received through the challenge allowed us to prove smart technology makes for an easier to use and safer wheelchair with the potential for a suite of new features. With the prize money, we can now advance this work and bring the Phoenix I wheelchair to the consumer.”

“I’ve spent 37 years in a wheelchair … and this is a once-in-a-lifetime event,” he said. “Wheelchairs have been stuck since the 1980s because they’re mechanical. Think of how much smartphones have evolved. Once you start thinking digital, there’s a whole new horizon.”

The company hopes for funding from automakers getting into this space, Slorance said. It has also working to balance functionality and price as it works toward commercialization.

“There’s no point in creating a $15,000 wheelchair and expecting it to take off,” Slorance told The Robot Report. “We have to price match pound for pound what existing lightweight chairs are costing. We’re developing it in-house and making them here. If you outsource that work to aerospace or Formula 1 companies that specialize in carbon fiber, the cost goes up. We worked to keep it lightweight with the electronics and keep the price viable.”

He cited progress in prosthetic limbs. “Insurers will only reimburse more expensive [models] if the benefit to health is clear,” said Slorance. “We have to get to market now with the same money.” The organization is continuing to conduct testing and is aiming for availability in 18 to 24 months, he said.

“We’ve put together the platform that developers can use for years into the future,” Slorance added. “Wheelchairs don’t need to be only manual — they can carry batteries, sensors … GPS tags, and apps. People have been developing robots for companionship, and wheelchairs can be quite isolating, so who knows where smart chairs can go?”

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Welcome to Episode 28 of The Robot Report Podcast, which brings conversations with robotics innovators straight to you. Join us each week for discussions with leading roboticists, innovative robotics companies, and other key members of the robotics community.

You can subscribe to The Robot Report Podcast on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, SoundCloud, Spotify and more. Please subscribe to the podcast and leave us a review!

This week, fellow editor Steve Crowe and I chat with returning guest Michael Patrick Perry, vice president for business development at Boston Dynamics, about the commercialization of the Spot quadruped robot. We also discuss the company’s other robots and its recent acquisition by Hyundai Motor Group.

Boston Dynamics’ Spot at a construction site. Credit: Pomerleau

In addition, Steve and I examine the prospects for Boston Dynamics, which has had three owners in seven years — Google, SoftBank, and now Hyundai. The Waltham, Mass.-based company plans to release a gripper for its legged robot next year.

Dr. Timothy Chung, program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) joins us to discuss the recently completed Virtual Cave Circuit of the DARPA Subterranean Challenge. We talk about lessons learned in the various circuits so far, the creation of a simulated environment, and how the competitors used robots and drones. Chung also looks ahead to 2021’s final DARPA SubT circuit and applications for these new technologies.

Coordinated Robotics in World 8 of the Cave Circuit. Source: DARPA

Finally, Steve and I continue our look back at 2020 and peek ahead to 2021. We’re grateful to our speakers, sponsors, and, most of all, our listeners for a great first year of this podcast!

If you would like to be a guest on an upcoming episode of the podcast, or if you have recommendations for future guests or segment ideas, contact Steve or Eugene. For sponsorship opportunities of The Robot Report Podcast, contact Courtney Nagle for more information.

Podcast timestamps

• 0-6:49: Show intro
• 6:50-46:55: Conversation with Michael Patrick Perry, VP of business development, Boston Dynamics
• 46:56-1:21:23: Conversation with Dr. Timothy Chung, program manager for the DARPA Subterranean Challenge
• 1:21:24-1:28:18: Show outro and end-of-year thoughts

Show notes

• It’s official: Boston Dynamics is joining Hyundai
• Coordinated Robotics wins Cave Circuit Virtual Competition in DARPA SubT Challenge
• Best week ever for robotaxis?
• Coverage of mobile manipulation

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Even as vaccines begin to be distributed worldwide, governments and businesses are grappling with public safety and shutdowns in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. LG Electronics Inc. announced that it has developed an autonomous robot that will use ultraviolet light to disinfect high-touch, high-traffic areas. LG Business Solutions plans to offer the disinfection robot to U.S. hospitality, education, corporate, retail, restaurant, and transportation customers in early 2021.

This is the first in a series of new LG CLOi autonomous robots planned for introduction in the U.S. next year. The company previously presented CLOi as a restaurant service robot at CES 2020.

The CLOi disinfection robot. Source: Tom Terzuli, LG Electronics

“We hope LG’s first UV-disseminating robot will give our customers, and in turn their customers, peace of mind,” stated Michael Kosla, vice president at LG Business Solutions USA. “Whether it’s hotel guests, students in classrooms or patrons of restaurants and other businesses, they can rest assured that the LG autonomous UV robot will help reduce their exposure to harmful bacteria and germs.”

Seoul, South Korea-based LG Electronics is said it is applying its understanding of customer needs to the development of a UV-C disinfection robot. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.-based LG Electronics USA Inc. is the North American subsidiary of the $53 billion global company.

The LG Electronics USA Business Solutions division serves commercial display customers in the U.S. lodging and hospitality, digital signage, systems integration, healthcare, education, government, and industrial markets. The business-to-business unit has a dedicated engineering and customer support team and is based in Lincolnshire, Ill.

LG Electronics robot designed for ease of use

To be officially unveiled at Digital CES 2021, LG’s new autonomous mobile robot (AMR) is intended to be able to move easily around tables, chairs, and other furniture. The company said it will generally irradiate a room’s touchable surfaces in 15 to 30 minutes, disinfecting multiple areas on a single battery charge.

Source: Tom Terzuli, LG Electronics

LG noted that UV-C covers wavelength spectrum between 100 and 280nm. Actual disinfecting time will be based on room size.

Engineered to be easy to operate, the robot can be integrated into established cleaning routines without requiring extensive staff training or specialists to operate it, claimed LG. Staffers will be able to monitor progress via remote updates to smartphones or tablets. Employee exposure to UV rays will be minimized through a built-in safety lock activated by sensors detecting human motion, the pressing of an emergency stop button, or via the mobile application. The motion-detection sensors are effective up to a 16-ft. radius, said the company.

“A higher level of disinfection is going to become the new customer expectation in the new contactless economy where we now all live, work, learn and play,” Kosla said. “LG is bringing to bear its expertise in robotics, artificial intelligence, and autonomous vehicles for creative solutions like this to meet specific customer requirements.”

More disinfection robots emerge

From academic projects to commercial rollouts, developers have responded to the novel coronavirus crisis with robots for disinfection, delivery, and remote health monitoring.

For instance, Sberbank‘s Robotics Lab last week announced that its STK unit is producing UV robots that are already in use at its offices in Russia and will be supplied internationally by partner National Computer Corporation Middle East.

Akara Robotics Ltd., a spinoff of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, said its Violet disinfection robot has a 90% to 99% success rate in eliminating pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and MRSA.

UVD Robots won a European Commission contract to supply 200 disinfection robots in more than 10 countries. One of the Odense, Denmark-based firm’s systems recently began operating in he Key West International Airport.

In addition, aerial drone provider Draganfly Inc. today said that it is working with Varigard on a sanitizing spray to be applied in Alabama State University’s (ASU) stadiums. ASU was already using Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Draganfly’s Vital Intelligence Smart Vital Assessment Station and Vital Sign Screening technology.

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For autonomous vehicles to be safe, they need to perceive as much of their environments as possible. Immervision is applying its expertise in image processing and optical design to provide lidar sensors with a wide-angle view for autonomous vehicles at SAE Level 3 and higher. The Montreal-based company said it has 15 years of experience and numerous Ph.D.s on staff working on new approaches to vision for vehicles, robots, and aerial drones.

Immervision said its lens design can increase the amount of pixels collected by 30%, resulting in a 180-by-180-degree field of view. The company also claimed that its pixel density provides more reliable data for autonomous navigation and object detection.

Immervision develops new lens design

“Our mission is to bring vision to machines,” said Patrice Roulet Fontani, co-founder and vice president of technology at Immervision. “”One of my main motivations as an engineer was to solve vision impairment. Back in the late 1990s, computer vision engineers started playing with wide-angle lenses, but the lenses at that time had a lot of drawbacks.”

“We noticed in 2003 or 2004 that existing wide-angle lenses were symmetrical,” he told The Robot Report. “The image quality was decent at the sensor, but it had aberrations at the edges. We’ve invented a new freeform lens design to overcome these issues and create lenses more like human eyes. They enable a wide field of view and super-high resolution, even at the periphery.”

Immervision provided its freeform module to the automotive industry in 2009 to magnify the field of view for backup cameras, and in 2011, it applied the technology to smartphones.

“More recently, we discovered a few years ago, when lidar companies started to create systems other than conventional rotating flash lidar sensors, they had a 120-degree horizontal field of view while squeezing only 20 to 30 degrees in the vertical field of view,” Fontani said. “We had focused on RGB cameras up to 2016, but we realized that the design techniques developed for the past 18 years was applicable to lidar.”

Source: Immervision

Reducing the number of cameras, helping AI

“When we designed the first ‘eyes’ for a pipe-inspection robot in 2006, the lens was very big, but it replaced multiple cameras with one camera,” said Fontani. “More recently, we’re working on a project for flying drones, developing computer vision for low-light conditions.”

Immervision views its technology as wide-angle perception leading to computer vision. “Our mission is to prepare the highest-quality pixels for the rest of the pipeline,” Fontani said. “We’re not just focused on developing algorithms.”

“We published a conference paper last summer on how panamorphic technology with different magnification zones can increase the accuracy of a neural network in comparison with a traditional lens or sensor design,” he said. “Now we are also benchmarking different ways to prepare the lens and the image-processing algorithm to detect which pre-processing will deliver human-level vision, which is important for autonomous vehicles.”

Applications growing for freeform anamorphic lens

Not only can Immervision’s technology help autonomous vehicles and advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), but it can also benefit robots, drones, and industrial inspection, claimed Fontani.

“We’re seeing more and more demand for wide-angle imaging,” he said. “We are multi-industry, with security, automotive, robotics, IoT [the Internet of Things], and aerospace applications.”

Last month, the U.S. Department of Defense Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) awarded Immervision’s InnovationLab a contract to develop low-light vision systems for small unmanned aerial systems (sUASes) for the Blue UAS Framework.

Source: Immervision

In September, the company announced JOYCE, a humanoid robot and development platform for computer vision.

“JOYCE is part of our commitment to contribute to science and provide a platform for academics, developers, and big corporations,” said Fontani. “We have a lot of ambitions for JOYCE, which we hope will help solve problems of perception. We also collaborate with the University of Laval and fund research in optical design and computer vision.”

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UVD Robots said yesterday that the European Commission has awarded it a contract to supply 200 disinfection robots to hospitals across the European Union. The Odense, Denmark-based company said that its systems are being deployed in more than 10 European countries, with more to follow.

UVD Robots is a unit of “venture factory” Blue Ocean Robotics, which has also developed telepresence systems through GoBe Robots and patient-moving robots with PTR Robots. UVD Robots recently made the third generation of its robot available.

“We are helping fight the spread of COVID-19 while also strengthening prevention against hospital-acquired infections overall,” stated Claus Risager, CEO of Blue Ocean Robotics. “With this order, we are going even further to help protect healthcare staff, patients and relatives at hospitals at a critical moment.”

Disinfection robots proven effective

Blue Ocean said its UV-C robot is clinically proven to kill 99.99% of viruses and bacteria on surfaces and in the air in a patient room within approximately 10 minutes of autonomous operation. The company noted that other pathogens such as staphylococci or E. coli would require exposure enhancement or additional passes.

Numerous disinfection robots have come to market this year, with LG Electronics joining suppliers this week. In addition to its head start, UVD Robots touted its experience with deployments in hospitals around the world.

Sisak’s Dr.Ivo Pedisic General Hospital in Croatia deployed a UVD Robot in its 15 operating theaters. It found no evidence of potentially harmful microorganisms after disinfection, said UVD Robots. In March, the robot was moved to treat COVID-19 departments. Since then, only one staff member has since tested positive for the novel coronavirus, compared with 37 employees in other departments.

At Gruppo Poloclinico Abano in Italy, six doctors had been infected with COVID-19 before a disinfection robot was deployed. No cases of COVID-19 have appeared among doctors, nurses, or patients following deployment of the UVD Robot, said the company. Its robots have now been rolled out to more than 60 countries worldwide.

Blue Ocean technicians review UVD robots for functionality and quality before they are packed. Source: UVD Robots, Business Wire

EC validates UVD Robots

UVD Robots said it was selected by the European Commission directorate-Generale for Communications Networks, Content, and Technology chose. The company said its tender ranked first in the EU Commission’s review of disinfecting robots, which evaluated technical excellence and maturity of technology, quality of approach in deployment, response time in technical support and maintenance, and overall value.

“With EU funds, the European Commission is buying 200 disinfection robots, which will be delivered to hospitals across Europe to help disinfect patient rooms,” stated Ursula Von Der Leyen, president of the European Commission. “We do all we can to support hospitals and patients in these difficult times. And more will follow.”

“We are thrilled that our UVD Robots were selected by the EU Commission, which we believe to be the largest order of service robots of its kind,” said Per Juul Nielsen, CEO of UVD Robots. “We were the first robot in this category and have set the global standard for autonomous UVC disinfection. An order of this size further validates the effectiveness of UVD Robots.”

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Einride AB said today that the next generation of its Einride Pods will use NVIDIA Corp.’s DRIVE AGX Orin autonomous vehicle computing platform to handle high-speed, unmanned operations.

“Safety and functionality in autonomous drive are achieved in two ways: diversity and redundancy,” stated Pär Degerman, chief technology officer of Stockholm-based Einride. “To capture and account for the diversity in a myriad of operational scenarios, and to develop the redundancy necessary to improve functionality, we need the most advanced processors possible, and that’s where NVIDIA Orin comes in.”

Einride AETs to rely on Orin SoC

The company said its Einride Pods are unmanned and 100% electric trucks intended to make freight transport more sustainable and cost-effective. It has been working closely with NVIDIA since 2018, said Robert Falck, founder and CEO of Einride.

The next-generation Autonomous Electric Transport, or AET vehicles, will have SAE Level 4 autonomy. Einride said its next-generation Pod will take software-defined AET functionality from fenced-area operation (AET 1) to highways (AET 4), meeting a sizable portion of global transport needs.

This capability is enabled by the NVIDIA DRIVE AGX platform and its Orin system on a chip (SoC), which consists of 17 billion transistors featuring NVIDIA’s next-generation GPU architecture, Arm Hercules-AE CPU cores, new deep-learning accelerators and other autonomous vehicle processors.

Einride’s Pods previously used the DRIVE AGX Xavier system, Falck told The Robot Report. In comparison, a single Orin SoC packs more than 200 trillion operations per second (TOPS), nearly seven times the performance and three times more power efficient than NVIDIA’s previous SoC.

Bringing high-performance compute to the roads

“Einride’s next-generation Pods will be able to achieve scalability and autonomous functionality by leveraging high-performance, energy-efficient NVIDIA computing in the vehicle,” said Danny Shapiro, senior director of automotive at NVIDIA. “Our Orin SoC is born out of the data center — delivering the massive compute capability necessary to enable Einride to bring to market transport solutions that can safely increase productivity and improve utilization.”

“Cutting-edge freight transport solutions require the very best in capability,” Falck said. “NVIDIA AI technology has been instrumental to our development thus far, and we are excited to take the next step together to scale our functionality and the availability of the next-generation Pod worldwide.”

The new Pods are available for preorder worldwide and will begin shipping with AET 1 and 2 functionality by the end of 2021. Einride said it expects Pods at AET 3 and 4 by 2023.

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Ayanna Howard with a Dynamic Anthropomorphic Robot with Intelligence-Open Platform (DARwIn-OP). Source: Rob Felt, Georgia Institute of Technology

Headlines regularly proclaim that robots are coming for people’s jobs or are “creepy,” but both robotics developers and the general public are increasingly aware of the many ways in which the technology can boost productivity and safety. However, the need to understand how robots and artificial intelligence can inherit negative human biases is still urgent, according to roboticist Ayanna Howard.

“Bias in AI is the responsibility of the designer,” said Howard, who recently published the book Sex, Race, and Robots: How to Be Human in the Age of AI. “Most designers and developers are fairly homogenous — largely male. I’m a roboticist, but my advisor was male, so the thinking processes were driven by male perspectives and are a product of training.”

“We need different people in terms of life experience,” she told The Robot Report. “We shouldn’t all go over a cliff because no one was trained to look down. We have a responsibility to get out of our comfort zones. For instance, engineers should work with UX [user experience] folks. Be the one to know nothing and retrain. It takes conscious effort.”

Howard applies experience to current concerns

Howard has worked at NASA and Microsoft Corp. and has been the chair of the School of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology for the past three years. She was named yesterday as the first female dean of Ohio State University’s College of Engineering. Howard is also the founder and chief technology officer of educational robotics firm Zyrobotics LLC and a member of Autodesk Inc.‘s board of directors.

“We’ve looked at our practices within academia,” she said. “In some cases, we throw grad students in and wait for people to bob up. They get advisors, but some may need more help, depending on their backgrounds. Such bias is hard to identify, but once it’s found, it’s easy to fix.”

From civil liberties concerns around facial recognition technology and voice-recognition systems that fail to recognize female voices to privacy worries about household robots and contact tracing of COVID-19 patients, the issues of trust and transparency have never been more urgent, Howard noted.

“My book’s chapters have different themes, with self-driving cars and lob loss as examples,” she said. “In the case of the person killed by an autonomous Uber, the safety driver was charged, but not the company. If an engineer was charged in Volkswagen’s emissions scandal, how easy would it be to go after a programmer who didn’t look at a failsafe?”

“If the robots we create cause harm, it won’t necessarily be the company’s fault — it will be us,” Howard warned. “If companies don’t address accountability, regulations are coming for AI. We started to see cases around facial recognition three to four years ago, and bans are now here in some cities. It’s in companies’ best interests to identify problems and try to fix them.”

‘Cognitive disconnect’ around sex and robots

“The majority of voice assistants come with a default female voice,” Howard said. “The problem is that the studies show that 95% of administrative assistants are female, so we expect it to be female.”

Source: Audible

“We have a cognitive disconnect when its voice is male,” she explained. “‘Not only do I have an assistant that’s female, but she won’t bark back.’ There’s a worry that at some point, this feeds into human-to-human interactions or reinforces expectations of subservient behavior. In our society, men tend to interrupt more in conversation to establish a power differential. With understanding, we can retrain ourselves and AI.”

“Sexism can also be found in facial recognition,” said Howard. “If you look at beauty contests that use AI, why would you want an AI to evaluate certain features or hair? The latest pageants select people who would not have been included 50 years ago, but the systems are still applying ‘traditional’ concepts of beauty. It’s similar to the apps that create nude images.”

“Why is Pepper curvy?” she asked, referring to SoftBank’s humanoid service robot. “It’s very easy to cross the line from a ‘perfect shape’ or a nonthreatening design to something subservient.”

“As robots become more realistic, there have even been robot brothels,” she said. “If consent is not part of a relationship, research has shown that people can stop distinguishing what’s wrong.”

Black in Robotics strives for diversity

Howard is also a founding member of Black in Robotics, which advocates for diversity and inclusion in the robotics industry. She and Monroe Kennedy III, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford University, recently spoke with The Robot Report Podcast:

Since then, the organization has created a Boston chapter and received inquiries from interested parties.

“A few companies have asked, ‘What can we do to increase diversity? We’ve seen the statistics, and we know it’s a problem,'” Howard said. “We hosted a series of events around IROS, which went virtual this year, around ally engagement and re-skilling computer scientists to roboticists, as well as for students and mid-career roboticists.”

“Latinos are underrepresented in robotics, even though that’s the largest growing group in the U.S.,” she said. “We’re also developing ideas for dealing with ageism.”

Howard sees a window of opportunity

“COVID-19 has accelerated our need to resolve these issues because it has accelerated adoption of systems, from physical service robots to online assistants,” said Howard. “Any new technology has bugs, but now that people are using these systems, we could get used to certain biases. We now have a short time frame to institute fundamental changes as robots become pervasive.”

“It’s a matter of not introducing more harm than good,” she added. “Some people have been killed by seatbelts, but they’ve saved many more lives. It’s not like being inconvenienced or offended if a phone doesn’t recognize your face. Some applications will kill people unevenly.”

“For example, in the medical field, a lot of studies base their parameters and data based on men — even for pregnancy pills,” “We have to be conscious of gender bias when designing thing like exoskeletons. At 5 ft. tall, I didn’t qualify for the astronaut program. That’s a design decision.”

Take action daily

“Being one of the few black females in robotics, I’ve had to learn how to navigate a space when being uncomfortable,” Howard said. “People should start thinking about what their role is in ‘rewiring’ themselves by taking small, daily actions.”

“For example, if you’re the only female in a team, you know you’ll be interrupted,” she said. “Write down three things you want to say, and raise your hand and interrupt. You’ll be uncomfortable at first, but it will become easier. When you talk to Siri, turn the voice to male. That’s a lesson for anyone, not just engineers.”

“We talk in robotics about understanding whom you’re designing for. If you change your mindset and diversify your team, unbiased design will become more natural,” she said. “Spoiler alert: At the end of Sex, Race, and Robots, I say, ‘As humans, we are all becoming anomalies in the age of AI.'”

The post Sex, Race, and Robots author Ayanna Howard discusses how to identify, fight bias appeared first on The Robot Report.

Source: Neura Robotics

Han’s Robot GmbH this month announced that it is rebranding itself as Neura Robotics. The company also announced its LARA collaborative robot arm, which it claimed is the cheapest one currently on the market in Europe.

Han’s Robot is a wholly owned subsidiary of Shenzhen, China-based Han’s Laser Technology Industry Group Co. and includes more than 100 people from Han’s Motor Research Institute. The business unit was founded in 2017 and makes its own motors, servo drives, motion controllers, and machine vision systems. It also makes Cartesian robots, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), and SCARA robots. Neura Robotics said its systems serve manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, and services applications.

“We’ve developed our own components and software,” said David Reger, founder and CEO of Han’s Robot, at its German Future Days online event. “LARA, which stands for ‘Light Agile Robot Assistant,’ is a six-axis cobot that is designed to be low-cost and easy to maintain.”

LARA cobot developed with in-house parts

“LARA is different from most collaborative robots because she is made to work in different environments and offer precision in path and repeatability,” Reger said. “She has a higher speed and a longer reach [than the previous Elfin model].”

The new cobot comes in two versions: LARA 5 has a 5 kg (11 lb.) payload capacity and 800 mm (31.4 in.) reach, and LARA 10 has a 10 kg (22 lb.) capacity and is coming soon, said Reger. The cobot’s kinematics include an integrated encoder developed in house.

In addition, LARA includes three different axis modules, with a torque sensor at each axis. The robot has status LEDs at each joint. “Our teach pendant includes a clean user interface,” Reger said. “You can click and move each axis and teach LARA by pushing a button and moving between positions. You can record functions and drag and drop them.”

The new cobot is rated IP66 for water and dust resistance, he added. “We’re getting certifications for medical,” said Reger.

LARA has a common connector for end effectors including GPIOs, Modbus, IO-Link, TCP/IP, EtherCAT, and CANbus. It can accommodate different force-torque sensors, Reger said.

“Our calibration model includes classical algorithms with new artificial intelligence to improve day by day,” said Hendrik Susemihl, chief technology officer at Han’s Robot. “It’s a self-calibration system in the field.”

MAV AMR designed to be collaborative

Neura Robotics also announced MAV, for “Mobile Autonomous Vehicle,” a collaborative autonomous mobile robot (AMR). The company said MAV is intended to minimize production interruptions and can be used with other products.

MAV is 910 cm wide by 1,530 cm long by 293 mm high (35 x 60 x 11.5 in.), and it can carry a 1.5-ton payload. The AMR has four lifting units and is designed to carry pallets, said Reger.

“He has a low profile and can move at 2 m/sec. [4.47 mph],” he said. “It has 500 mm [19.6 in.] accuracy for positioning, and it is rated for indoor applications. With new battery technology, customers can use MAV for 12 hours without breaks, and it can recharge within one-and-a-half hours.”

The AMR has cameras on three sides in addition to laser scanners for safety. As with LARA, MAV includes user-friendly interface features, said Neura Robotics. MAV’s side LEDs can show its status, and it can be controlled with gestures.

“You can teach it an environment and give instructions with a smartphone,” Reger said. “It can cooperate with other vehicles via fleet-management software, which could have hundreds of robots in one system. You can define priorities, which is perfect for logistics.”

Neura combines robots

Neura Robotics offered a combination of LARA and MAV for automotive manufacturing and other industries. The cobot is mounted on the AGV so that it has two more axes to reach around to shelving. This is similar to Han’s Robot previously mounting on an Elfin cobot on an AGV.

“It is made to fully automate processes and save space and the cost of conveyance,” said Reger. “The system can put parts in a rack and pick and exchange trays.”

He said the mobile manipulator could also be useful for restocking stores and in food service. “It’s not just two products — it’s plus our cognitive product,” Reger said, alluding to Neura’s AI software.

When asked about integration with the Robot Operating System (ROS), Susemihl responded: “We have APIs and developer interfaces not only for exchanging data, but also for integrating signal data, GUI, or directly computing on our robot. Our controller includes not only the CPU for control but a GPU for AI and calculations.”

MIRA built for fast but safe collaboration

Neura Robotics also previewed its MIRA, or Multi-sensing Intelligent Robotic Assistant, during its Future Days. MIRA includes a seven-axis collaborative robot arm mounted on a smaller mobile base than the MAV-LARA combination.

“We try to simplify the problem,” said Milad Malekzadeh, head of AI at Han’s Robot. He said Neura Robotics’ products are the culmination of years of laboratory research plus fast-moving teamwork.

“We have people from 20 different nations and technical and creative backgrounds,” said Susemihl. “It’s different from KUKA’s structure and roles.”

“MIRA has 3D vision sensors in its ‘head’ for intelligent object recognition,” said Reger. It creates 3D meshes from point clouds, and users can set restricted zones for safe movement, he added.

“The robot can autonomously adjust its trajectory to slow when a human is present or to go full speed, following its original programming when humans are absent,” Reger said. “MIRA also has force-torque sensors in each axis and center point to decouple forces from the robot, gripper, or surroundings. We have a safety bus going through the whole robot to calculate cartesian [positioning] for safety.”

The robot has a 1.4 m (4.5 ft.) reach and a 14 kg (30.8 lb.) payload capacity. “It’s able to have more dynamic payloads, and it can give more or less, depending on the distance,” said Reger. “That’s the same as humans, where the amount we hold depends on speed and reach. MIRA can move 12 kg [26.4 lb.] with more speed, or less at greater distances. We get high speed from new motor designs and have many IMUs for more accuracy and sensitivity.”

MIRA has IP65 waterproof protection, and Neura is working on IP67 rating. “For the food and life-sciences markets, the screws and all axes are covered,” Susemihl said. “We want industrial robot performance but smaller, more flexible designs.”

CEO David Reger presents during Han’s Robot Germany Future Day. Source: Neura Robotics

Neura offers multiple versions and interfaces

He said MIRA will come in multiple versions, including a shorter version with 18 kg and 1 m reach and a longer one with 10 kg and 1.6 m (5.2 ft.) reach. With sensors on its base and a honeycomb alloy structure for stiffness and strength, MIRA can move up to 4.5 m/sec. (10 mph), “closer to industrial robots,” Reger said.

For ease of use, MIRA includes built-in voice recognition, drag-and-drop programming through a teach pendant, a human-machine interface (HMI) button, and touch “skin.”

“All sensors are not only for perception but also to interact with people,” said Reger. “Each person could program MIRA in a different way, and we provide up to six. You could teach by moving it to a position in Zero Gravity mode or by voice, and you can also record functions, forces, or actions.”

“In Zero Gravity, you can divide forces for precision in force recording,” he added. “The integrated force-torque sensor is ideal for grinding applications.”

Reger added that all Neura’s robots include human-detection safety systems and integrated cables for different grippers, including air. MIRA is intended to make it easy to move collaborative applications from simulations to real environments, he said.

What about combining MIRA and MAV? “We already have LARA and MAV,” Reger told The Robot Report. “The best combination would be MIRA and MAV, and it’s one of our highest priorities right now. The abilities for household robots are coming closer.”

“We want a real partner; we want the best assistant,” said Sugeeth Gopinathan, head of robotics applications at Han’s Robot. “Eventually, every home will have a robot to do difficult chores for older adults.”

LARA is available now, and MAV will be available by the end of the year, said Neura Robotics, which is looking for partners and more customer feedback.

The post Han’s Robot rebrands itself as Neura Robotics, announces LARA cobot appeared first on The Robot Report.

Evolution Devices is working on the EvoWalk wearable assistive device. Source: Toyota

Mobility is more than autonomous vehicles or delivery robots; it also includes the use of assistive technologies for individuals. The Toyota Mobility Unlimited Challenge is a $4 million international competition launched in 2017 to support the development of systems to aid people with lower-limb paralysis. The challenge had originally planned to announce the $1 million first-prize winner in September 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed that to December.

The Toyota Mobility Foundation and Nesta Challenge Price Centre announced five finalist teams at CES 2020 in January. Two of the teams are based in the U.S., and The Robot Report caught up with them to learn about the status of their projects.

Berkeley, Calif.-based Evolution Devices Inc. is developing EvoWalk, a wearable device that uses sensors and artificial intelligence to predict the user’s gait and electrically stimulate his or her muscles. The Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC) in Pensacola, Fla., and MYOLYN in Gainesville, Fla., have been working on Quix, a powered exoskeleton.

Quix develops with user input

IHMC and MYOLYN have been working on a robotic exoskeleton with motors at the hips, knees, and ankles, as well as additional actuators to help people with lower-limb paralysis move faster and with more stability and agility than with current devices.

“We’ve gone as far as we can with wheelchairs. Toyota‘s Mobility Unlimited Challenge aligns with our goals for exoskeletons,” said Dr. Robert Griffin, a research scientist at IHMC and project led for the Quix exoskeleton. “It started out as a pretty dumb device with not a lot of sensors, feedback, or intelligence.”

“Because of the competition’s timeline, we really had to put together the development and minimum algorithms to get it done,” Griffin explained. “We joined the challenge from the Discovery Award two years ago, and it took time to redesign actuation and engage with potential end users on the tasks they identified as the most important. We found that a lot of able-bodied people would prioritize different things. We thought that a normal walking speed would be a higher priority than the ability to use the bathroom, which was actually the highest. In fact, walking was fourth.”

“The physical device came together in January, and we got it tested from March or April to September,” he said. “We now have a device to develop ideas and are adding elements to the exoskeleton so it’s not a burden for a pilot to use. We’re also leveraging our experience from humanoid robots, such for figuring out where to step in cluttered environments.”

Mark Daniel was an 18-year-old welder in 2007 when he lost the use of his legs in an automotive accident. He began evaluating IHMC’s first-generation exoskeleton in 2010 and won a silver medal in the 2016 Cybathlon. Daniel is the “test pilot” for Quix.

“They initially developed their exoskeleton without input from people with spinal cord injuries,” he recalled. “There were a lot of things they didn’t know and I didn’t know, but they went back to the drawing board. I’ve worked with them every step of the way, from being hands-on with software design to how to interact with the cuffs to don the device.”

“I’ve had several conversations with Brandon [Peterson, lead controls engineer at IHMC], who knew what I needed adjusted,” Daniel said. “Quix is getting closer and closer to how the body moves. I want to keep myself in shape to help make the device easier for others to use. It currently takes a lot of upper-body strength and agility, but I’m helping to push the device to be more environmentally aware and get more feedback from sensors.”

“It’s crucial to have users in the feedback loop in the development of the device,” Peterson added. “It’s even more crucial to have feedback from the user after testing. Mark has demonstrated fearlessness and willingness to strap into the device. Improving sensory substitution helps with restoring a sense of balance.”

EvoWalk continues to evolve

“We’ve been working pretty hard,” said Pierluigi Mantovani, co-founder and CEO of Evolution Devices. “For the first few months of the year, we were developing different prototypes and working with different people. We did a three eight-week pilots right before the pandemic hit. We had pretty amazing results from the device, which extracted metrics on how people are walking and sent information back to the patient and clinician.”

The company then moved to teletrials for EvoWalk because of the novel coronavirus. “Data is a big part of the value we add, not just for the physical therapists, but also for the patients,” Mantovani said. “We didn’t know it would be fully virtual, but it has worked from the beginning.”

“COVID-19 has pushed us to do remote patient monitoring, but it has become a valuable tool to do assessments continuously,” said Andrew Ekelem, chief product officer at Evolution Devices.

Sharing gait data with patients can also help keep them motivated during therapy, added Mantovani. “We’re still building the app to show data to the patient,” he said.

“The goals feature increases the number of steps per week. We’ve created fun things to do around status and are applying them to rehab,” said Ekelem. “We’ve made aesthetic improvements to the physical device and application as well. In the last EvoWalk prototype, we’ve been testing where lights and buttons should go and the interface with phones.”

“We spent a substantial amount of time on and have a team just for metrics,” noted Juan M. Rodriguez, chief technology officer of Evolution Devices. “We looked at a healthy person’s walking style, knee flection, and measures of balance walking throughout the day. No others can do this as accurately as with EvoWalk, and we validate with motion capture.”

In September, Evolution Devices received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for $224,990 to conduct research and development work on EvoVision, which it described as “a markerless motion-capture system that will automate gait analysis for rehabilitation centers.”

Quix team iterates device

“A lot of our stuff is built from off-the-shelf components,” said Vishnu Subra Mani, lead mechanical engineer on the Quix team. “The total actuation package was designed in house over the past six years, and we used a linear linkage actuator from NASA Johnson Space Center in the Mina exoskeleton [a predecessor of Quix].”

“We also use custom carbon fiber for the hips, anchor, and back,” he said. “We took a 3D scan of Mark’s body. We’re developing a personal mobility device that just needs to fit the wearer, so it’s not so much for outpatient or rehab use.”

“With preprinted metal and some post-machining, we have a development platform to push the technology forward,” said Peterson. “We’re also pushing the algorithms for smart exoskeletons. There are more boundaries and degrees of freedom we can push.”

“For example, adding adduction and abduction took a huge load off of me physically from having to move the device and shift my body weight with each swing,” said Daniel. “It was a massive improvement, working at 75% to 80% less capacity than with Mina.”

The next milestone is to make the device more robust on uneven terrain, said Griffin. “Our dream would be to have Mark take it on nature trails,” he said.

“We’re really focused on getting the technology working, with an eye toward commercialization and productization,” he said. “We’re in talks with MYOLYN to see what they want and have partnered with the Andrews Institute for Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine. If we win the Toyota challenge, we’ll use he money to first push the software forward on existing hardware.”

“Over the next couple of years, we hope to get the cost comparable to that of an entry-level car,” Griffin said. “As robotics is embraced by more of society, costs for small-scale motors and power systems should decrease rapidly. Healthcare providers and insurance systems will see the benefits of the device. Just improving posture will reduce long-term health costs.”

Evolution Devices looks ahead with EvoWalk

Evolution Devices is working to freeze EvoWalk’s design by the end of the year and get clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by the second quarter of 2021, said Mantovani.

“We’ve launched a clinic internally as part of our remote pilots, and we brought on Lisa Donahue as our director of clinical services,” he said. “Part of the reason why we’re creating our own clinic is to get things into the hands of patients easier and keep the price tag as low as we can. We’re also looking to partner with big institutes on remote physical therapy.”

“Our device is unique in that it helps people perform better,” said Ekelem. “For cost and complexity reasons, the number of sensors is limited, but we could get even better data with more sensors and maximizing capabilities with a single sensor.”

In addition to therapeutic uses, could EvoWalk benefit other applications, such as sports medicine? “Our big vision is to learn and teach all kinds of movements,” replied Mantovani. “With our gait lab, we’ve built up the infrastructure for wearables to collect all kinds of data. They could move into other spaces to help more people.”

“We have a vision to extend to other parts of the body,” said Rodriguez. “EvoWalk is pretty modular, and we could use the same hardware and put it on different muscles and just retrain the algorithm. Innovation is not just our technology; it’s also our business model.”

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