Updated: Feb 24, 2023
Amazon announced the launch of a new $1 billion fund in April, tasked with investing in companies working in the customer fulfilment, logistics and supply chain sectors. The ‘Amazon Industrial Innovation Fund’ comes amid record investment into the shipping and logistics management space prompted by global supply chain issues coupled with robust post-pandemic demand which has exacerbated labour shortages and cost inflation in a sector which was already struggling with these issues.
The fund will invest in both startups and more established companies. They are interested in companies in the broad operations, logistics and supply chain management space, which could include those working on robotics, AI, and autonomy.
The first five of its initial investments from the new fund have gone to startups working on warehouse robotics and wearables:
Agility Robotics an Oregon-based maker of a bi-pedal walking robot called Digit that works alongside warehouse workers.
BionicHIVE, an Israeli company working on autonomous robotics for warehouses.
Mantis Robotics, a San Francisco-based startup developing a tactile robotic arm that uses sensor technology to work alongside people in warehouses.
Modjoul, a South Carolina-based startup that makes wearable safety technology aimed at reducing workplace injuries.
Vimaan -California-based company that’s developing computer vision and AI technology to improve inventory management.
Updated: Feb 24, 2023
In April, JR West, a major railroad transportation company operating out of Japan, revealed plans to use giant robots guided by a human operator in VR (virtual reality) in the construction of future railroad lines. The multifunctional railway heavy equipment is comprised of a railroad construction vehicle merged with a humanoid heavy robot. Videos of the robot in action show it lifting and positioning sizeable components, as well as cleaning overhead rail structures with a special multi-angle brush. It grips all these tools in what look like relatively simple clamp-like "hands," showing a reasonable degree of dexterity, albeit operating at a fairly slow speed.
The mechanical contraption was developed in collaboration with Nippon Signal, a railway signal technology company, and as a way to increase productivity while improving workplace safety. According to JR West, VR-enabled robots will reduce on-site accidents, such as electric shock and crashes, by removing the need for direct human intervention.
The system is very straightforward. Operators sit in the driving cab and use an HP VR headset to view the world from the robot’s perspective. A large control panel is used to operate two mechanical arms equipped with a pair of clamps, allowing users to interact with various machinery. Operators will be able to feel the weight of objects as they work, offering a more intuitive and natural experience.
JR West is currently in the process of testing its heavy equipment robot before making the technology available for use in the Spring of 2024. While designed for railroad construction, it is easy to adjust the system to serve other practical use-cases throughout a variety of industries. The VR robot could theoretically be used for operating on powerlines, demolition, roofing and high-rise work, and various other high-risk scenarios.
Updated: Feb 24, 2023
Intuition Robotics, an Israeli company, commercially released ElliQ after a long beta-use period. Billed as an AI companion for the elderly, ElliQ offers soothing encouragement, invitations to games, gentle health prodding, music thoughts and, most important, a friendly voice that learns a person’s ways and comforts them in their solitude.
“This is a character-based person, an entity that lives with you,” said Dor Skuler, Intuition’s CEO and co-founder. “People who use ElliQ expect her to remember conversations, they expect her to hold context to deal with the hard times and celebrate the great times. These are the things I think we’re on the frontier of.” Thanks to its camera and mic, the lamp-like robot can see, hear and talk, while its adjacent tablet screen allows for accompanying images. The device costs $250; the monthly service, $30.
Products like Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa are designed as assistants, largely meant to cut through the debris of younger people’s cluttered lives. ElliQ is designed as a companion, largely meant to fill the emptiness of lives long lived. By promising that most elusive of human commodities — empathy — ElliQ could either solve the growing plague of senior loneliness or fling us right into the dystopic robot-buddy chasm.
A study by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies predicts that by 2038 there will be 18 million households with people over the age of 80. More than half of them will live alone. Intuition and related companies such as care.coach aim to address this growing crisis (and market) by using technology to offer a new level of intimacy. Intuition worked with screenwriters to create a “character”, and ElliQ initiated 60% of interactions, of which only 5% were command-and-control.