There are many sci-fi media that seem to bring about images of a utopian era; where humans are served by robots, each dutifully performing their tasks with consistent precision and efficiency. In this mechanical paradise, the robots’ presence would be a combination of ubiquitous yet as imperceptible as was needed. This type of future might still be distant, but robots and automatons have certainly become more common and their applications more widespread. One of the promoting factors seems to be the COVID-19 pandemic as solutions are needed to reduce inter-human contact which brings the inherent risk of viral infections.
As many countries and localities enact lockdown or quarantine measures, delivery of food, groceries, and other supplies needed improvements in several aspects. These include: reduction of human contact, improved safety, further reach, etc. This change is necessary in many, if not all industries to prevent the pandemic from spreading. These include early education, manufacturing, and food & groceries delivery; all of which commonly see heavy human interaction that raises the possibility of infection. Perhaps advanced robotics can be used to mitigate this issue and allow for normal operations to be resumed with certain small changes and help return activities to normal sooner.
Autonomous delivery robots share similarities to autonomous vehicles, which is a form of robots/ robotics application. They would need to be able to traverse the pre-set path while navigating the roads and avoiding obstacles and dangers while not being an obstacle or danger. HelloWorld Robotics achieved this by equipping their CARE Series D robots with LiDARs, multiple cameras, and other sensors. The main purpose of their robots is for contactless last mile delivery which currently still relies heavily on human delivery agents. The robots are equipped with an offloading function so packages can be delivered under any condition. Currently different versions are developed to serve different functions such as: outdoor deliveries, indoor deliveries, and sanitization.
The pandemic might also serve as a justification to promote their digital transformation efforts. Reducing human involvement in the production line as well as reducing infection rate and probability. In this situation, the companies might be looking for a more comprehensive solution that covers not only delivery/ supply chain solutions, but also manufacturing and operational. For that, Virtuoso Robotics offers smart manufacturing solutions based on opto-mechatronics and industrial automation including consulting services for robotic development environment adaption and algorithm proof of concept. In addition, Virtuoso Robotics also provides SCADA solutions from sensor setup, data collection, data center establishment to data visualization and data analysis to assist engineers in controlling the situation and solving the manufacturing problem efficiently.
Changes and solutions also come to other aspects of life. As younger students who often need a more hands-on approach from the educators also need to adhere to pandemic prevention measures, they might find some difficulties in learning compared to before. NUWA Robotics's Kebbi Air has many built in functions that can help students learn; from running digital education tools, facilitating one-to-one conversations, to independently talking with their built in AI. While the default educational function focuses on STEAM and English education programs; the Kebbi Air can also be modified for hospitality, entertainment, and healthcare functions. NUWA Robotics also provides a full range of APIs and SDKs, content development tools and business management tools for customization.
Learn more about HelloWorld Robotics, Virtuoso Robotics, and NUWA Robotics in the InnoVEX 2021 online exhibition here.
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InnoVEX 2022 is now open for Registration
In addition to online platform, 2022 InnoVEX onsite exhibition will take place in Taipei, Taiwan from May,24-27,2022. Registration has started via online. For more info or registration details, please see here.