Innovations
Soft Robotics
Soft robots are systems built from materials with mechanical properties similar to those of living tissues. Soft robotics grippers have increasingly come into vogue, and the company of the same name has been reaping much of that windfall. Its grippers do a good job picking up fragile and inconsistently sized foodstuffs, from meat to produce. Something that has been a longstanding challenge for most conventional robotic systems. The company has been implementing robots in food production lines at Tyson food. This kind of robotic system will be more and more in demand as staffing shortages continue particularly in industries like meat packing.
https://www.softroboticsinc.com/
Nfrontier
A 3D-printed mash-up between a cargo bike and a small electric city car. The UILA is a 70 kilos four-wheeled microcar that is just 0.9 m wide and stands 1.7 m tall. It can be driven without a license in Germany and can use bike lanes. The vehicle has been developed using an industrial 3D printer. It can comfortably sits two people (with the passenger behind the driver). Its electric drivetrain features hub motors at the rear and a pedal-operated dynamo to feed the battery, which should be good for a per-charge range of between 60 and 70 km. Estimated pricing is reported to be below €10,000.
Quaise
/2022/11/19/image/jpeg/8TwTYdc9MTdCbydFOHxe53c0iFI4RmutVYoty02V.jpg)
Digging 10 miles underground to power Earth. Geothermal power plants use steam to produce electricity. The steam comes from reservoirs of hot water found a few miles or more below the earth's surface. The steam rotates a turbine that activates a generator, which produces electricity. The current issue is digging deep enough to harness that heat. Quaise is developing a technology to blast rock with microwaves to drill the deepest holes on Earth. Millimeter wave energy melts and then vaporizes the rock to create super-deep holes. Geothermal is available 24/7, which could help balance out the intermittent flows of wind and solar. Deep geothermal plants will also have a minimal surface footprint meaning they won’t require much land.
ISEE
This self-driving company isn't developing the next autonomous robotaxi or self-driving long-haul truck. It's working to automate the trucks that operate in logistics yards, where shipping containers sit before being transported to a warehouse or distribution center. The company wants to fluidize the supply chain by increasing capacity amid a driver shortage. Though yards are well-defined, with limited spaces, they also bring challenges. While other autonomous vehicles operate on roads with distinct lane markings and traffic lights. Shipping yards can be a less predictable traffic environment. But the company is making big progress on that front. Existing truck fleets can be equipped with hardware and software and start moving autonomously within four weeks.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Researchers at MIT are working on designing robots that self-assemble. The system involves an array of tiny identical subunits. But while earlier versions were purely mechanical structural pieces, the team has now developed complex modules that can carry both power and data from one unit to the next. Swarms of tiny robots could in the future build houses by themselves or construct remote structures without human intervention. The Defense Advanced Research Agency is also interested in the work and the possibility of building structures for coastal protection against erosion.
https://news.mit.edu/2022/assembler-robots-structures-voxels-1122
Robotor
A robot made a perfect replica of a Parthenon sculpture housed in the British Museum. The robotic arm has the strength of a bulldozer and the precision of a brain surgeon. It can shape marble far faster than any human sculptor could. It managed to create a copy of the famous marble sculpture in less than 24 hours. This kind of robot could be used to create completely new types of sculpture arts or recreate pieces that got damaged.
