Tokyo-based Softbank Robotics is bringing its Whiz commercial cleaning robot to Hong Kong and Macau on trial and subscription basis. These are the first two markets outside of Japan that Whiz has been made available. Softbank named Intelligent Cleaning Equipment (ICE) the exclusive Whiz distributor for Hong Kong and Macau. Whiz leverages the autonomous navigation…
CMR Surgical raises $240M for Versius surgical robot
Cambridge, U.K.-based CMR Surgical raised a $240 million Series C round for its Versius surgical robot. CMR Surgical said it will use the funding to launch the Versius surgical robot “imminently” in Europe and Asia, with “further international expansion expected thereafter.” The Series C round included existing backers LGT Lightstone, Escala Capital Investments, Cambridge Innovation…
New UR16e cobot designed for heavy-duty applications
Universal Robots added the UR16e collaborative robot to its e-Series line-up that was first introduced in June 2018. The UR16e features a 16 kg (35 lbs) payload, which is the company’s strongest cobot ever. The UR16e also has a 900 mm reach and ± 0.05 mm repeatability. The UR3e, UR5e and UR10e, the other cobots in UR’s e-Series,…
Takeoff Technologies raises $25M for e-grocery automation
Takeoff Technologies, a Waltham, Mass.-based developer of automated grocery fulfillment solutions, raised $25 million in Series C funding. The round, led by Forrestal Capital, was for 5 percent of the company at a $500 million valuation. Takeoff Technologies has now raised $86 million in funding since it was founded in 2016. Takeoff, which licenses its…
DHL Innovation Center displays state of warehouse robotics
DHL this week opened its 28,000-square-foot Americas Innovation Center in Rosemont, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. This is DHL’s third innovation center, joining the initial center in Cologne, Germany and another in Singapore. DHL’s U.S.-based Innovation Center showcases the latest in logistics technology, including robotics. DHL has been using robotics to enhance its logistics operations,…
Simbe raises $26M for Tally retail robot, expands SoftBank partnership
Simbe Robotics has raised Series A funding and made a deal with SoftBank Robotics for the manufacture of more Tally retail inventory robots.
Shopify acquires 6 River Systems for $450M
6 River Systems, a Waltham, Mass.-based warehouse automation startup best known for its Chuck autonomous mobile robot (AMR), was acquired by Shopify for $450 million. Shopify, the Canadian e-commerce giant, paid 60% in cash and 40% in shares for the deal, which is slated to close in Q4 2019. Shopify launched in June 2019 its…
Vecna Robotics CEO Dan Patt steps down
Dan Patt has stepped down as CEO of Vecna Robotics, the Waltham, Mass.-based maker of autonomous tuggers, pallet jacks, and conveyors. Daniel Theobald, who co-founded parent company Vecna in 1998, will take over as CEO of for the foreseeable future. Patt joined Vecna Robotics in January 2018 after spending nearly six years at the Defense Advanced…
Stryker acquires Mobius Imaging, Cardan Robotics for $500M
Stryker, a leading medical technology company based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, acquired Mobius Imaging and its subsidiary Cardan Robotics for $500 million. The deal includes a down payment of $370 million in cash and $130 million that will be paid based on development and commercialization milestones. Shirley, Mass.-based Mobius develops point-of-care imaging technology. Its Airo TruCT…
MassRobotics startup Ori raises $20M for robotic furniture
Ori, the MassRobotics resident The Robot Report profiled just yesterday, raised $20 million in Series B funding for its robotic furniture. Ori said the funding will allow it to partner with “architects and builders on designing urban housing and spaces that are flexible, intelligent, sustainable and affordable.” The investors who participated in the Series B…
Apple hires former Anki exec for Special Projects Group
Hanns Tappeiner, who founded Anki with Mark Palatucci and Boris Sofman in 2010, has been named Director of Product Development at Apple’s Special Projects Group. Tappeiner within the last few days updated his LinkedIn profile, which indicates he started working at Apple’s Special Projects Group in August 2019. Apple scooped up several other former Anki employees…
Ori brings robotic furniture to life
Boston-based startup Ori is making it its mission to ensure downsizing in square footage no longer means sacrificing functionality or experience. Founded in 2015 by a team of MIT engineers, Ori is developing robotically controlled furniture that saves space and allows people to “live large in a small footprint.” Ori raised a $6 million Series…
Reach Robotics shuts down consumer robotics business
Reach Robotics, a Bristol, United Kingdom-based consumer robotics company, has shut down its consumer robotics business. Reach Robotics Co-Founder Silas Adekunle made the announcement on LinkedIn. The Robot Report emailed Reach Robotics Co-Founder John Rees and received an automated response that said, “the decision has been made to close the business and appoint administrators, effective as…
RT Corp raises $3.8M for Foodly lunch-packing humanoid
RT Corp., a Tokyo-based developer of service robots founded in 2005, raised 400 million yen ($3.8 million) in Series B funding for its food-picking collaborative robot Foodly. RT said it will use the funding RT to strengthen its business structure and hire personnel. Foodly is designed to work alongside people in food factories. RT said…
Titan Medical raises $3M for surgical robotics platform
Titan Medical raised $3 million via stock sale to Aspire Capital Fund. This is part of a deal in which the Chicago-based, long-only investment fund has committed to purchase up to $35 million of common shares of Titan Medical through February 28, 2022, according to the SEC filing. According to the agreement, Toronto-based Titan Medical…
How UR10 cobots help Ohio manufacturer address labor shortage
thyssenkrupp Bilstein Suspension is a global company known for it innovation in chassis engineering. With production facilities in Asia, Europe and North and South America, the company supplies a complete range of damping and suspension products. Challenge thyssenkrupp Bilstein of America’s manufacturing plant in Hamilton, Ohio was facing an increase in customer demands combined with…
Left Hand Robotics raises $3.6M for mowing, plowing robot
Left Hand Robotics raised a $3.6 million funding round led by Catapult Ventures. Founded in 2016, the Longmont, Colo.-based startup is looking to expand distribution of its RT-1000 multi-purpose robot that can mow large fields and plow snow. The RT-1000 comes with multiple attachments that can be switched out depending on the task at hand.…
Strawberry picking robot maker Advanced Farm Technologies raises $7.5M
Advanced Farm Technologies (AFT), a Davis, Calif.-based startup founded in 2017, has raised $7.5 million in Series A funding for its strawberry picking robot. Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley (YMVSV), the business development and investment arm of Yamaha Motor, led the round. Catapult Ventures, Impact Venture Capital, and Kubota Corporation also participated in…
Optimus Ride self-driving vehicles use Velodyne lidar sensors
Optimus Ride, a self-driving vehicle technology startup that spun out of MIT in 2015, will use Velodyne‘s lidar sensors in its entire fleet. Optimus Ride is currently testing its vehicles in Massachusetts and New York, and it will soon be testing in California and Virginia. Optimus Ride’s all-electric shuttles move at slow speeds, maxing out…
Hirebotics BotX Welder uses UR10e cobots to automate arc welding
Hirebotics’ BotX Welder uses UR10e cobots to automate arc welding in response to a shortage of skilled welders.
Waymo Open Dataset available for autonomous vehicle researchers
On the heels of announcing it’s expanding tests into Florida, Waymo has released the Waymo Open Dataset for autonomous vehicle researchers. The Waymo Open Dataset, available for free, covers a wide variety of environments, from dense urban centers to suburban landscapes. It also includes data collected during day and night, at dawn and dusk, in sunshine…
Bring on the storms: Waymo to test sensors in Florida
Waymo will begin testing in Florida to “get a better handle on how rain affects” the sensors its uses in its self-driving cars. Waymo, the self-driving subsidiary of Alphabet, Inc., said Tuesday it’s bringing its Chrysler Pacifica minivans and Jaguar I-Pace to a closed course in Naples for several weeks before testing on public roads…
Sales of industrial robots grow 7.2% in first half of 2019
In the first half of 2019, the North American industrial robotics market grew 7.2%. From January to June, North American companies ordered 16,488 industrial robots, valued at $869 million. These numbers were reported by the Robotic Industries Association (RIA), which is part of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3). The largest driver of the year-to-date…
Meet the inaugural board members of Women in Robotics
The Women in Robotics group now has more than 800 members across the globe and has been running informally since 2011. Well, it decided it was time to make things official. Its first board of directors are eight women who have contributed to robotics activities in many ways, from role models to spokespeople, from event…
Velodyne sues 2 Chinese rivals for lidar patent infringement
Velodyne, the world’s largest lidar developer, has filed patent infringement complaints against Hesai and Suteng (also known as RoboSense). The complaints were filed Aug. 13 to the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The majority of autonomous vehicle companies rely on lidar, and the San Jose-based company said the two Chinese…