Robotics Trends

CoroWare Expands Business in Asia With New Distributor Developer of CoroBot and Explorer robotic platforms expands into the Asia-Pacific region with partnership with Malaysian distributer.

CoroWare Technologies, a subsidiary of CoroWare, Inc. (OTCBB:COWI), announced it has entered into a distribution agreement with Malaysia-based technology provider Megah Suria Sdn. Bhd. Beginning January 4, 2010, Megah Suria added CoroWare’s CoroBot and Explorer robots to their product portfolios.

Megah Suria offers technically advanced and leading edge product portfolios featuring efficient and highly reliable equipment specially designed to solve problems faced by members of the research, development and education communities. With more than 30 years of experience, the…
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Filed in: Design and Development • Latest News • RT News
Tagged: Robot, Robotics, Megah suria, Explorer, Coroware, Corobot

Hokuyo URG LIDAR Drivers Integrated into National Instruments LabVIEW Robotics Software NI’s newly released LabVIEW Robotics 2009 software, used to design and prototype sophisticated robotics control systems, now includes drivers for Hokuyo’s URG family of compact laser range finders.

Hokuyo Automatic Co., Ltd. announced that National Instruments has integrated drivers for Hokuyo’s URG Laser Range Finders (or known as LIDAR) as a standard feature for the newly released NI LabVIEW Robotics 2009 software.

Hokuyo’s URG sensors have been recognized as the smallest laser range finders available on the market and are suitable for small robotics platforms. Since released in 2004, the URG-04LX has been widely used in…
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Filed in: Design and Development • Feature • Robotics Features
Tagged: robotics, robot, labview robotics, national instruments, urg, labview, development, lidar

PMD Enhances Its Prodigy Family of Motion Cards With New Features and Peripherals User accessible on-board non-volatile memory (NVRAM) and the IM600 Interconnect Module, which that simplifies the process of connecting various motion peripherals, are the newest additions to PMD’s Prodigy Motion Control Cards.

Performance Motion Devices, Inc. (PMD) has enhanced its Prodigy family of motion control cards with new features and peripherals. The added capabilities will benefit both development and production applications by simplifying the programming and connectivity of the Prodigy motion controllers.

All Prodigy/CME controllers have been upgraded to include user accessible on-board non-volatile memory (NVRAM). This new memory area allows users to store configuration parameters, program…
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Filed in: Design and Development • Opinion
Tagged: robotics, robot, prodigy, performance motion devices, Im600, motion control, motion control card, nvram

Velodyne Lidar Expands Global Reseller Network Manufacturer of high definition 3-D lidar sensors now has distributor offices in Germany, China, Israel, South Korea and the UK.

Velodyne Lidar, Inc., a manufacturer of high definition 3-D lidar sensors, has secured international agreements with five major distributors worldwide to expand marketing for the company’s sensor products.  The extended distributor network includes offices in Germany, China, Israel, South Korea and the UK.

The Velodyne HDL-64E is used by commercial, government and defense organizations for high-precision 3D mapping, surveying and security along with applications for terrestrial and marine autonomous vehicles and robotics.  The new distributors are…
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Filed in: Design and Development • Latest News • Robotics Features
Tagged: Robot, Lidar, Robotics, Sensors, Velodyne, Velodyne lidar, 3-d lidar, Hdl-64e

National Instruments Introduces LabVIEW Robotics 2009 LabVIEW Robotics 2009 can import code from other languages including C/C++, .m files and VHDL, and communicate with a wide variety of sensors using built-in drivers for everything from LIDAR, IR, sonar and GPS devices to dramatically reduce development time allowing engineers and scientists to focus on adding their own algorithms and intelligence.

National Instruments announced LabVIEW Robotics 2009, a new version of its graphical system design software that provides a standard development platform for designing robotic and autonomous control systems. NI LabVIEW Robotics 2009 delivers an extensive robotics library with connectivity to standard robotic sensors and…
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Filed in: Design and Development • Feature • Robotics Features
Tagged: Development, robotics, robot, robotics control systems, labview, labview robotics, national instruments, labview robotics 2009

Silicon Labs Microcontrollers Deliver Industry’s Lowest Active and Sleep Current MCUs integrate a efficient dc-to-dc converter designed to operate down to 0.9 V, enabling low-cost battery operation, which supports smaller form factors, reduces system cost and provides an innovative way to extend battery life.

Addressing the need for energy efficiency in power-sensitive applications, Silicon Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: SLAB), a provider of high-performance, analog-intensive, mixed-signal ICs, has introduced the industry’s lowest power microcontroller (MCU) family. Silicon Labs’ ultra-low-power C8051F91x/0x MCUs dramatically increase battery life in portable designs and other power-sensitive embedded systems. The new F91x/0x MCUs are ideal for a wide range of applications where low power consumption is…
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Filed in: Design and Development • Latest News • RT News
Tagged: Robot, Microcontroller, Robotics, Silicon labs, Mcu

STMicroelectronics Combines Linear and Angular Motion Sensing in a Single Device By integrating a 3-axis digital accelerometer with a 2-axis analog gyroscope in a single module, the new device improves performance, boosts reliability, reduces size and shrinks cost, for multiple applications in remote controllers, personal navigation systems and other portable devices.

STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM),a supplier of MEMS for consumer and portable applications, has integrated a 3-axis digital accelerometer with a 2-axis analog gyroscope in a single module. The package-level integration of linear and angular motion sensors improves performance, boosts reliability, reduces size and shrinks cost, uncovering new possibilities for high-precision gesture and motion recognition in mobile phones, remote controllers,…
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Filed in: Design and Development • Vendor Spotlight • Vendor Spotlight
Tagged: Robot, Robotics, Movea, Stmicroelectronics, Mems, Motion sensors

Slam Dunk for Future Smart Robots Four universities working under the European Union’s Rawseeds project have developed set of free benchmarking tools that allow roboticists to effectively compare different Simultaneous Localization and Mapping approaches and algorithms against each other for the first time.

“What does the world look like?” and “where am I?” are two questions robots must solve if they are to act autonomously in an unknown environment. Work by European researchers will help future robot generations provide smarter answers.
The process by which robots use vision, laser and/or sonar sensors to map an environment and, at the same time, determine…
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Filed in: Design and Development • Feature • Robotics Features
Tagged: Research, Robot, Robotics, Slam, Simultaneous localization and mapping, Rawseeds

TORC Provides Unmanned Industry With Integration-Ready Robotic Ground Vehicle The ByWire XGV experimental ground vehicle platform, a JAUS interoperable, drive-by-wire controlled ground vehicle platform that utilizes the Ford Escape Hybrid as the base vehicle, provides jump start for autonomous research and development.

TORC Technologies, a developer of robotic technologies for unmanned and autonomous vehicles, is offering unmanned systems researchers, developers and integrators in the ground vehicle market a faster way to develop and test new technologies.

TORC’s ByWire XGV™ is a JAUS interoperable, drive-by-wire controlled ground vehicle platform that utilizes the Ford Escape Hybrid as the base vehicle.  The XGV comes with built-in safety components…
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Filed in: Design and Development • Latest News • RT News
Tagged: robotics, robot, unmanned vehicles, Darpa urban challenge, torc technologies, autonomous, bywire xgv, safestop

ON Semiconductor Launches Miniature Integrated Driver ICs ON Semiconductor’s new AMIS-30532 and AMIS-30542 ICs eliminate the need for many external components and feature ultra-miniature NQFP packaging, making them suitable for direct mounting on high current stepper motors and reliable enough for demanding applications such as those in the industrial and automotive arenas.

ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ONNN), a supplier of high-performance, energy-efficient silicon solutions, has announced two new highly integrated driver ICs that will drive high-current motors with reduced component count and board space in stepper motor-based applications. The new AMIS-30532 and AMIS-30542 micro-stepping stepper motor drivers have high current capabilities with integrated H-bridges, and are…
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Filed in: Design and Development • Feature
Tagged: Robot, Robotics, On semiconductor, Onnn