Robotics Veteran Raises Venture Capital to Build Exoskeleton

Alistair Blair for Bloomberg Technology:  The word "robot" conjures images of bulky, metal humanoid objects moving awkwardly. Robotics veteran Rich Mahoney is trying to change that perception by creating a robotic exoskeleton people can wear. After more than seven years running a robotics group at Silicon Valley research institution SRI International, Mahoney left about a year ago to form a startup called Superflex. On Tuesday, the company said it raised $9.6 million from investors including Japanese venture capital group Global Brain and Horizons Ventures, the VC fund of Asian billionaire Li Ka-shing. Superflex is developing a lightweight suit with electric "muscles" that help the elderly and other less-mobile people move around. The system, which will look a bit like a unitard, is designed to provide the wearer with extra strength to get up from a chair or stand for longer. The device has thin actuators built in that use battery power to contract at the same time as people's real muscles.  Cont'd...

Irishman's soft robotics exosuit wins major tech award

Colm Gorey for SiliconRepublic:  Irishman Conor Walsh’s soft robotics exosuit was among the award winners at the recent Rolex Awards, due to the creator’s continuing efforts to develop tech for the benefit of humanity. Now in its 40th year, the Rolex Awards are part of an international philanthropic programme that supports new and ongoing projects by individuals taking on major challenges to benefit humankind. Hosted last night at a public awards ceremony in Los Angeles, the awards were presented to 10 laureates – including five young laureates – that included such wide-ranging topics as opthamology and agritech.  Cont'd...

What is an Electroadhesive Clutch?

The electroadhesive clutch is a general-purpose clutch for exoskeletons, offering increased functionality while being lightweight and consuming very little energy.

Artificial Skin That Glows, Stretches Could Change Robotics?

By Brendan Byrne for ValueWalk:  Researchers at Cornell University have developed an electronic artificial skin that doesn’t mind being stretched to 500% its original size (cell phone), glows in the dark and can move a bit like a worm. In a paper published yesterday in the journal Science, a team of researchers showed off glowing electric skin that could be put to use in future wearables. While artificial skin that responds to commands has been done before, electronics embedded in the skin have generally broken when stretched. However, the team seems to have leaped over this hurdle by using hyperelastic, light-emitting capacitor (HLEC) technology. “It’s actually much, much, much more stretchable than human skin or octopus skin,” says Chris Larson, a doctoral candidate and researcher in Cornell’s Organic Robotics Lab. “In terms of texture, it’s actually more like a rubber band or a balloon.” While Larson freely admits that he doesn’t know much about cephalopods, the team was inspired by biology, specifically, the octopus beak with its ability to both move and stretch. “The researchers created a three-chamber robot from the material, with the newly developed ‘skin’ layers on top, and inflatable layers below that allow movement,” according to a release from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. “As the chambers expand linearly, the robot moves forward with a worm-like wiggle.”  Cont'd...

Top Exoskeleton Projects

Who wouldnt want to be the next Ironman wearing an indestructible suit? Fear not, help is on the way from a few cutting edge companies. Here are 5 of them.

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Featured Product

Boston Dynamics Webinar - Why Humanoids Are the Future of Manufacturing

Boston Dynamics Webinar - Why Humanoids Are the Future of Manufacturing

Join us October 28th for this Webinar as we reflect on what we've learned by observing factory floors, and why we've grown convinced that chasing generalization in manipulation—both in hardware and behavior—isn't just interesting, but necessary. We'll discuss AI research threads we're exploring at Boston Dynamics to push this mission forward, and highlight opportunities our field should collectively invest more in to turn the humanoid vision, and the reinvention of manufacturing, into a practical, economically viable product.

Robotics and Automation - Featured Company

Elmo Motion Control Inc.

Elmo Motion Control Inc.

Elmo has been a motion control technology leader for over 35 years, with millions of servo drives working 24/7 worldwide. Elmo offers complete motion control solutions from design to delivery of cutting-edge servo drives, network-based multi-axis motion controllers, and integrated servo motors. All solutions can be customized and configured using Elmo's proprietary advanced and easy-to-use software tools for any machine in any industry, such as semiconductors, lasers, robots, life sciences, industrial automation, AGV, and more. The company employs more than 350 personnel with headquarters in Israel and offices in the United States, China, Germany, Italy, Korea, Singapore, and an additional manufacturing facility in Poland. Elmo has a worldwide distribution network. By advancing motion control with state-of-the-art technology, Elmo makes smart machines even smarter. As of 2022, Elmo is a Bosch Rexroth company.