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Iván Hernández Dalas: NORD releases digital twin simulation platform for robotics developers

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With digital twins for virtual commissioning, NORD promises quicker availability of systems, even those with complex drives. | Source: NORD Drivesystems NORD Drivesystems has announced that it now offers digital twins for system development. Based on a myNORD configuration, users can request individually created drive systems as simulation models. The company said this allows engineers to verify whether the drive concept is suitable for a system early in the planning phase. Virtual commissioning can significantly reduce project time, even for complex systems, it claimed. Since the publication of the functional mock-up interface (FMI) technical standard in 2010, it has become more and more common to work with simulation models in system planning. NORD Drivesystems also uses data-based simulations to develop its components and drive solutions. The system provider is now using this know-how to help its customers achieve greater efficiency and availability of its drive systems, ev...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Amazon Robotics shuts down Blue Jay sortation project

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Blue Jay was designed to pick, stow, and consolidate about 75% of all items stored at Amazon’s sites. | Source: Amazon Amazon.com Inc. this week said it is shutting down its Blue Jay robotics project after only six months. The Blue Jay project was  unveiled in October 2025 . At the time, Amazon described it as a  sortation  system capable of picking, stowing, and consolidating tasks simultaneously. The Seattle-based  company  said the technology would effectively collapse three assembly lines into one, creating greater efficiency in less space while supporting front-line employees. Amazon has reassigned many employees working on Blue Jay to other  fulfillment  initiatives,  according to   Business Insider . Amazon invests in multiple moonshots besides Blue Jay Amazon has invested in multiple “moonshot” projects over the years, and Blue Jay was one example of such a project. The company is getting faster at its innovation process, ...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Robot Talk Episode 145 – Robotics and automation in manufacturing, with Agata Suwala

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Claire chatted to Agata Suwala from the Manufacturing Technology Centre about leveraging robotics to make manufacturing systems more sustainable. Agata Suwala is a Technology Manager at the Manufacturing Technology Centre , where she leads cutting-edge work in automation and robotics. With over a decade of experience in R&D, Agata specialises in developing and implementing advanced manufacturing systems—particularly for the aerospace sector—transforming complex, skill-intensive processes through automation. Her recent focus is on enabling the transition to a circular economy by leveraging automation and robotics to create sustainable, scalable technologies. View Source
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Reversible, detachable robotic hand redefines dexterity

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2025 LASA/CREATE/EPFL CC BY SA. By Celia Luterbacher With its opposable thumb, multiple joints and gripping skin, human hands are often considered to be the pinnacle of dexterity, and many robotic hands are designed in their image. But having been shaped by the slow process of evolution, human hands are far from optimized, with the biggest drawbacks including our single, asymmetrical thumbs and attachment to arms with limited mobility. “We can easily see the limitations of the human hand when attempting to reach objects underneath furniture or behind shelves, or performing simultaneous tasks like holding a bottle while picking up a chip can,” says Aude Billard, head of the Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory (LASA) in EPFL’s School of Engineering. “Likewise, accessing objects positioned behind the hand while keeping the grip stable can be extremely challenging, requiring awkward wrist contortions or body repositioning.” A team composed of Billard, LASA researcher Xiao Gao, ...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: NVIDIA adds Cosmos Policy to its world foundation models

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Cosmos Policy represents an early step toward adapting world foundation models for robot control and planning, NVIDIA says. | Source: NVIDIA NVIDIA Corp. is continuously expanding its NVIDIA Cosmos world foundation models, or WFMs, to tackle problems in robotics, autonomous vehicle development, and industrial vision AI. The company recently introduced Cosmos Policy, its latest research on advancing robot control and planning using Cosmos WFMs. Cosmos Policy is a new robot control policy that post-trains the Cosmos Predict-2 world foundation model for manipulation tasks. It directly encodes robot actions and future states into the model, achieving state-of-the-art (SOTA) performance on LIBERO and RoboCasa benchmarks, said NVIDIA. The company obtained Cosmos Policy by fine-tuning Cosmos Predict, a WFM trained to predict future frames. Instead of introducing new architectural components or separate action modules, Cosmos Policy adapts the pretrained model directly through a single...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Ottonomy builds Ottumn.AI platform to orchestrate robots, drones, and smart infrastructure

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Ottobot completes an autonomous curbside parcel delivery orchestrated by Ottumn.AI. Source: Ottonomy At the India AI Summit today, Ottonomy.IO launched its new Ottumn.AI orchestration platform for physical AI in healthcare, manufacturing, and local e-commerce. The company built the platform on NVIDIA’s artificial intelligence infrastructure and with support from the NVIDIA Inception program. Ottumn.AI is a cloud-based platform for safe and scalable robotics, according to Ottonomy. It connects and integrates drones , cleaning robots, and patrolling robots with infrastructure such as smart mailboxes and building systems. “With Ottumn.AI, we’re moving from isolated automation to orchestrated autonomy—the first asynchronous deliveries framework connecting robots, drones, Arrive Points, elevators, and access doors in live environments like hospitals, sidewalks or campuses,” stated Ritukar Vijay, founder and CEO of Ottonomy. “Built using NVIDIA AI infrastructure and enabled by partner...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: igus launches new RBTX online shopping experience for robotics developers

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RBTX.com is a marketplace where customers can purchase components, robots, and services. | Source: igus igus GmbH has updated its RBTX automation marketplace so customers can now add components to their cart for purchase or build a complete system with guaranteed compatibility. The RBTX  marketplace has officially launched new e-commerce functionality allowing customers to purchase high-end components, robots, and services directly through the company’s website. “We are excited to enable online checkout for customers while still providing our compatibility guarantee,” stated Jan Hennecke, product manager for RBTX at igus. “We will continue to focus on support and helping customers choose the right components for their solution, but for those that already know what they need, they can now easily purchase parts on their own.” RBTX offers two ways to shop for components This shift to a self-serve model removes the requirement for a sales consultation, providing a streamlined e...
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