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In Brief
In Brief
Giant robots prepare to fight Makers of giant robot in the US have challenged their counterparts in Japan to a mechanised duel. MegaBots, a US company, said it has built a giant robot to fight Kuratas, another giant robot built by Japanese company Suidobashi Heavy Industries. In a good-natured challenge, rocket launchers would be filled with paintball and the whole spectacle will be designed for entertainment, on television and online. In an interview with qz.com, MegaBots founder Gui Cavalcani said: “I definitely need to see this in a sport. “We’re children trapped in engineers’ bodies. We wanted video games to come to life.”
China biggest buyer of robots China is now the world’s largest buyer of robots, overtaking the US. Sales of robots in China grew 54 per cent last year, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). The IFR is forecasting the China market will grow again in 2015. IFR chairman, Arturo Baroncelli, said China is “the most dynamic robot market in the world”. According to the IFR, approximately 225,000 robots were sold worldwide in 2014, an increase of 27 per cent from 2013. All major markets saw growth, with Asia growing the fastest, largely because of China, which bought 56,000 robots in 2014.
Gone in sixty seconds It took just one minute for Japanese telecom giant SoftBank Corporation to sell 1,000 of its newly launched humanoid Pepper robots when it went on sale on June 20. SoftBank is working with Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) to build the humanoid Pepper, which has a price tag of 198,000 Japanese yen ($1,600). The companies say they plan to manufacture and release 1,000 units a month, most likely at the same price. Customers can buy Pepper, which has 200 related apps available, on SoftBank’s website. Ageing workers spurs growth Workers in Japan are getting older, which is leading employers to turn increasingly to a robot workforce, according to the government. Kyuuichiro Sano, a director of a trade ministry division, said: “Shortage of labour is a structural problem Japan faces in the long run, given the ageing society.” Underlining this view, a recent Bank of Japan survey showed large companies were planning to boost capital expenditure, which would mean directly putting money into robotics and automation systems.
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Two humanoid robots were ‘married’ in Japan, at a ceremony conducted by Pepper the robot
Pepper leads the way by ‘marrying’ robots They make not be as useful around the house as some people might expect or want them to be, but humanoid robots are massively popular regardless. The first batch of 1,000 Pepper robots sold out in one minute, according to its makers, SoftBank and Foxconn. Pepper’s developer, Aldebaran, claims it designed the robot to be able to able to detect emotions. Pepper is said to be able to understand facial expressions and other clues to a person’s mood.
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Pepper is happy when he is praised, and gets scared when the lights go down.” Aldebaran
“With this emotion function, Pepper’s emotions are influenced by people’s facial expressions and words, as well as his surroundings, which in turn affects Pepper’s words and actions,” said SoftBank Robotics in a press release. “For example, Pepper is at ease when he is around people he knows, happy when he is praised, and gets scared when the lights go down. Depending on the emotion at the time, Pepper raises his voice or sighs, for example. Pepper’s emotions can be seen on the heart display, which shows different colors and movements. “Furthermore, a number of robot apps have been developed to make life fun with an emotional robot. The ‘Pepper’s Diary’, for example, links Pepper’s emotions with daily family events that are recorded with pictures and photos.”
3D Robotics chief predicts big year Chris Andreson, chief executive of 3D Robotics, calculates that more than 500,000 consumer drones were sold last year, and 70 per cent of them to his company’s main competitor, DJI Technology. Anderson has high hopes for 3D Robotics’ new launch, the Solo, quadruple-rotored consumer drone which is on sale at Best Buy for around $1,000. The company is confident of gaining market share from DJI because, he claims, Solo is the world’s first smart drone. “Solo is a breakthrough in intelligent
flight,” said Anderson. “It’s not just smarter so that it can do more; it’s smarter so that you have to do less. We’ve turned the Hollywood toolkit into software, and allowed everyone to experience epic video, both behind and in front of the camera.” Solo is claimed to be the first to support full control of GoPro cameras, through which it can deliver live streaming HD video straight to mobile devices or through the controller’s HDMI port. The controller itself can accommodate iOS and Android devices, such as tablets.
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Rethink raises $40m Rethink Robotics has raised $40m to expand operations worldwide, and launch its latest robot, Sawyer, which can perform precise tasks that robots have not previously been able to do. Rodney Brooks, who runs Rethink, said: “So far manufacturing robots have only been sold in the US … but the Sawyer will be a worldwide robot and it will have certification for anywhere in the world.” Europe has potential but so does Asia – China in particular, Japan and Korea. He said the original Sawyer robot was good at packing and repacking but this is a machine which can do light assembly. Japan has most robots Japan has the most number of industrial robots in the world, with 60 per cent of the global total, according to a new report by Research in China (RiC). In terms of sales, the company claims that Japan, the US, Germany, South Korea and China bought a combined total of 70 per cent of the world’s robots. China was the world’s largest buyer in 2013, with 36,560 units, or 20 per cent of the global total. RiC had predicted China to buy 45,000 units in 2014, a figure which differs somewhat from other researchers, which put the number at more than 50,000.
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The bricklaying robot which marks the beginning of a new era in the construction industry
Robotic bricklayer can build a house in two days The world’s first bricklaying robot, named Hadrian, has been unveiled in Australia. The machine uses a 28 metre articulated robotic arm to lay bricks, and works by first eating a 4D image of the house, then calculates where each brick needs to be located, and develops a sequence to lay those bricks, all from a single location. The man who invented the machine, Mark Pivac of Fastback Robotics, says Hadrian can lay 1,000 bricks an hour. ““People have been laying bricks for about 6,000 years and ever since the
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We’re at a technological nexus where a few different technologies.” Mark Pivac of Fastback Robotics
industrial revolution, they have tried to automate the bricklaying process,” Pivac told PerthNow. “We’re at a technological nexus where a few different technologies have got to the level where it’s now possible to do it, and that’s what we’ve done.” While Hadrian is claimed to be the first of its kind, there are other similar machines that have been used in construction for some time. Construction Robotics has two robotic SemiAutomated Masonry (SAM) systems available on a limited release basis. SAM works just like a human mason, says the company, and can lay bricks and mortar. “SAM will actually put mortar on the brick instead of on the wall,” says Zak Podkaminer, operations manager for Construction Robotics. “We tested it out in 2013 on a prototype system that worked alongside a mason. Then we went back to the drawing board and made SAM smaller.”
Arup installs new lab technology One of the most important labs in the US, Arup, has installed new track technology in its facility at the University of Utah. The organisation is now “one of the most automated laboratories in the United States”, according to Dr Charles Hawker, who recently retired after 23 years working at Arup. The MagneMover LITE automation track system, supplied by MagneMotion, will help Arup process the 50,000 samples it receives every day from patients. MagneMotion first demonstrated its prod-
uct, which it developed with Tekmatic, earlier this year. At the time, Tekmatic’s president, Chris Muldowney, said: “We are confident that the advanced engineering solutions provided by both Tekmatic and MagneMotion will be valuable tools for engineers and scientists as they pursue new discoveries and increased productivity in laboratory automation.” The lab automation market was worth $3.5 billion in 2014, according to a report by Markets&Markets, which forecasts it will grow to more than $5 billion by 2020.
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