Top 10 robotic stories of February 2022

On Feb 28, 2022

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Between the Perseverance Rover’s one year anniversary on Mars, new services launching and exciting stories about robots in the field, there was no shortage of things to cover in February.

Here are the Top 10 most popular robotics stories on The Robot Report in February 2022. Subscribe to The Robot Report Newsletter to stay updated on the robotics stories you need to know about.

10. Will core changes be enough for Abundant Robots?

When Abundant Robotics, an agricultural robotics company, shut down in mid-2021, it cited a lack of funding and market traction as the two primary challenges. But that didn’t scare away product development incubator Wavemaker Labs, which in October 2021 acquired the intellectual property (IP) of Abundant Robotics for an undisclosed amount. Wavemaker Labs has now relaunched the company as Abundant Robots. Read Story

9. Ed Mullen leaves MiR to join Dexterity

Ed Mullen, VP of sales for the Americas at Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR), resigned. Mullen is now senior director of partnerships at Dexterity, a Calif.-based startup that emerged from stealth in 2020 and recently raised $140 million in Series B funding. Read Story

8. 2021 sets robot sales record for North America

2021 set a new record for number of robots sold in North America with 39,708 units, according the Association for Advancing Automation (A3). Those sales were valued at $2 billion. Robot sales rose 28% from 2020 to 2021, jumping from 31,044 units in 2020. Read Story

7. Open Robotics developing Space ROS with Blue Origin, NASA

Open Robotics is working with Blue Origin, the sub-orbital spaceflight company founded by Jeff Bezos, and NASA on Space ROS. Space ROS is a version of ROS 2 meant to meet verification and validation requirements aerospace software must meet before being used in a mission. Read Story

6. The importance of data visualization in robotics

When we think about robotics development, we often imagine a logical and codified process. While we don’t assume it to be easy or straightforward, we do assume it to be relatively objective – the end goal is obvious, the milestones to reach it measurable. But we forget that when developing new technologies, we need equally novel ways to test and troubleshoot these technologies. Read Story

5. White Castle installing Flippy 2 frying robots at 100 locations

White Castle is installing Miso Robotics‘ Flippy 2 frying robot at an 100 fast food locations. Rollouts of Flippy 2 are being phased by region and will be planned out and scheduled in the months and years ahead. Read Story

4. How robots helped a collapsed mine get back in operation

Early in the morning on August 13, 2021, Justin Disney, the mine supervisor at the Lhoist North American limestone mine near Crab Orchard Tennessee, heard a sound he had never heard in his 16 years working in a mine. Read Story

3. Top 10 robotics stories of January 2022

The robotics industry started off the year with acquisitions, 2022 predictions and product announcements. Our editorial team had no problem staying busy while keeping up with all of the news. Read Story

2. Cruise opens driverless robotaxi service to SF public

Over the past several weeks, autonomous driving company Cruise has shared videos of its employees taking rides in driverless robotaxis around San Francisco. Even Mary Barra, CEO and chair of GM, which owns Cruise, took a ride. Now that service appears to be opening to the public. Read Story

1. 9 amazing photos from Mars Perseverance rover

This month marked the one-year anniversary of the Perseverance rover landing on Mars. It touched down on Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021 and is searching for signs of past life on Mars. During its journey, Perseverance is also taking some incredible images of Mars. These are some of the more memorable photos taken by Perseverance over the past year. Read Story

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