Like all manufacturers, aerospace and defense firms must engineer existing or new facilities in preparation for much higher levels of robotic automation. To do otherwise places them at a competitive disadvantage.

The RBR50 awards honor technology, business, and market innovations, as well as the robotics and automation organizations worldwide that were responsible for them.

In this Robot Report podcast, Dexterity CEO Samir Menon discusses funding and developing a full-stack robotic picking solution. Also, Plus’ SPAC difficulties and Garick’s last mile delivery solution.

In this Robot Report podcast, Melonee Wise, Fetch Robotics Founder and VP of Robotics Automation at Zebra Technologies, discusses the autonomous mobile robotics (AMRs) sector and logistics automation. Plus possible Softbank Robotics Europe sale and the AutoStore IPO.

Stephanie Cannon of Pitney Bowes discusses deploying robotics systems from Ambi Robotics to support E-commerce. Plus Waymo’s self-driving cars and Sword Defense’s robotic sniper rifle.

Episode 51 of The Robot Report Podcast features a discussion of Intel’s recent announcement that the company is discontinuing its RealSense business line. Also on the menu – Tesla’s announces a humanoid robot announcement and Stratom’s autonomous solutions for the US military.

Industrial Robot’s Joanne Pransky interviews is Geoff Howe, Senior Vice President of Howe & Howe, a subsidiary of Textron Systems, to learn about the company’s history developing ruggedized, outdoor vehicles, including unmanned systems, for military and civilian applications.

The capabilities spectrum for robotics systems has been expanded from fixed manipulators and teleoperated mobile robots to now include their intersection – mobile manipulation systems. To reach their full potential, however, mobile manipulation robots must be able to move, interact, see, think, and communicate.

Boston Dynamics’ VP Michael Patrick Perry discusses plans for the Spot quadruped and Hyundai’s acquisition of the company. Also, DARPA’s Timothy Chung reviews the DARPA SubT Challenge.

Target Arm offers Tular, a unique solution for launch and recovery operations from moving vehicles for both rotary and fixed wing drones.

As this case study from Boston Engineering attests, the process of developing and testing exoskeleton technologies for military applications requires a capabilities alignment across all program participants, including military, industry and academic contributors. Direct feedback from soldiers, including their insights into the effect of exos on cognitive function, is also critical.

Autonodyne provides a HW and SW ‘platform’ for commercial, civil and defense unmanned aerial systems (UASs) including a control station, on-board mission computer, and advanced autonomy behaviors. Recent partnership deals are a capabilities signifier.

RBR’s offers hot takes on ONRobot’s sanding solution, Brain Corporation’s new CTO, the US DoD seeking sensing solutions, and the Dive Technologies / Virginia Tech partnership.

Despite the ongoing pandemic, robotics investment and acquisition activity did not slow down in August 2020, with funding flowing to autonomous vehicles, industrial automation, and drones.

Robotics fundings, mergers, and acquisitions in July 2020 stayed at comparable levels with transactions from a year ago and June.

For robotics systems, “supervised autonomy”, readily available for implementation today, can be used as a bridging solution between teleoperation and full autonomy.

Drone providers AeroVironment and Draganfly are widening distribution of the Quantix Mapper system, just in time for planting season in the Northern Hemisphere.

AeroVironment, which claims to be the largest supplier of drones to the U.S. military, is also an example of a pure-play robotics company that is profitable.

Tests next year to determine combat and support role for unmanned combat system.

Event celebrates partnership between military and robotics industry researchers.

Higher speed, lower latency opens up abilities for robots, IoT sensors, and software.

The Office of Naval Research provided the funding for the development of an underwater robotic hand equipped with a variety of sensors.