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Iván Hernández Dalas: How autonomous fleets are changing what’s possible in American agriculture

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ASI has worked with U.S. Sugar and Everglades Group to deploy autonomous tractors across South Florida. Source: Autonomous Solutions Inc. American farmers are being asked to feed a growing nation with a shrinking workforce, rising input costs, and weather that has become less predictable every decade. They’ve always adapted — from horses to tractors, from paper records to GPS guidance. The question we hear most often isn’t whether to adopt autonomous technology. It’s whether the technology is ready for the realities of their operation. After more than 25 years of deploying autonomous fleets in some of the most demanding industrial environments on earth, my answer is yes. And I can show you exactly what that looks like. This past summer, Autonomous Solutions Inc. ( ASI ), U.S. Sugar Corp., and Everglades Equipment Group announced the deployment of the largest autonomous vehicle fleet in the history of American sugarcane farming — across hundreds of thousands of acres in South Florid...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Ultrasound offers a scalable path to tactile intelligence for physical AI

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UltraSense claims that ultrasound can mitigate the wear and tear at the point of tactile sensing. Source: UltraSense Physical AI is moving from digital reasoning into real-world interaction. Robots can see, plan, navigate, and move with sophistication. Yet manipulation depends on reliable touch, creating an opportunity for ultrasound. The question is no longer whether robots need tactile sensing . For humanoid hands, dexterous grippers , logistics robots, service robots , and industrial systems, touch must detect contact, map force, sense shear and slip, and understand material interaction. The question is which tactile architecture can scale. Many tactile and electronic-skin approaches rely on flexible electrical sensing layers placed on or near the contact surface. These include capacitive, piezoresistive, piezoelectric, triboelectric, and impedance-based structures integrated into elastomers, flexible substrates, conductive networks, or multilayer films. These technologies have...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Learn how AVs and robotics are laying the groundwork for field deployments at RoboBusiness

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ASI is providing autonomy to existing field equipment. Source; Autonomous Solutions Inc. Today’s autonomous vehicle fleets are successfully addressing pain points in geographically remote or rugged locations. Everyday, the technology is improving worker safety and operational efficiency. But, in the next 10 years, we’ll see a massive leap forward in field robotics, according to Mel Torrie, the founder and CEO of Autonomous Solutions Inc., or ASI. The use of mobile robotics in outdoor applications is poised to advance significantly over the decade. To unlock the next level of productivity, developers must design autonomous vehicles to support that integration and foster collaborative relationships among platforms. At RoboBusiness , ASI ‘s Torrie will lead the session, “Designing the Robotics Ecosystem for Outdoor Autonomy.” He will explore why the intersection of autonomous vehicles and advanced robotics will further revolutionize field deployments. Torrie wi...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: How to select the right rack and pinion system for high-precision linear motion

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Sponsored by GAM . GAM rack, pinion, and gearbox systems are optimized for high performance in all the components. (Image: GAM.) Picture a scissor car jack — the one in your trunk for changing a tire. The spinning motion as you turn the crank translates to the linear motion as the jack rises. This is how a rack and pinion system works. The spinning part is the pinion, a gear that receives the rotational input. The toothed part being pushed along is the rack, a long bar with gear teeth that the pinion rides against. Depending on the application, either the rack moves back and forth while the pinion stays in place, or the rack stays fixed and whatever the pinion is attached to travels back and forth (or up and down). It is important to select the right rack and pinion system, as a wrong decision can impact both performance and cost. “If you go too small with your rack and pinion, it can break,” says Matt Ruggles, senior design engineer at GAM, a U.S.-based manufacturer of servo gear...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: How drone developers are navigating changing regulatory landscapes to help farmers

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Hylio offers a range of drones that use digital flowmeters to spray fields at precise dosages. | Source: Hylio Earlier this year, the Federal Communication Commission threw much of the robotics industry into uncertainty when it announced new limits on imports of certain robots from foreign countries. For those building and operating drones such as Hylio, this is a familiar story. In December 2025, the FCC added foreign-made drones and U.S.-assembled drones with major foreign-made parts, to its Covered List . This list includes companies and technologies that the commission has prohibited. Arthur Erickson, the co-founder and CEO of agricultural drone developer Hylio, said the news didn’t come as a surprise for him. Erickson launched the Richmond, Texas-based company  in 2015. Even then, he saw that China had a clear advantage in the drone market. This is why he made manufacturing in the U.S. as much as possible a priority. “There was part of me that knew that was going to b...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Building and programming autonomous robots at the York Micromaze Hackathon

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From 25–27 August, UK RAS STEPS members came together at the University of York’s Institute for Safe Autonomy for a three-day Micromaze Robot Hackathon. Working in teams, participants were challenged to design, build and program autonomous robots capable of navigating a series of increasingly complex mazes. Each team used a custom Raspberry Pi Pico W robotics platform, designed a laser-cut chassis, integrated motors and sensors, and developed its control software in MicroPython. Participants had access to ultrasonic, infrared and time-of-flight sensors, alongside laser-cutting and 3D-printing facilities. The final challenge considered maze performance, collision avoidance, robot design, code quality, wireless control and any innovative features developed by the teams. The programme also included a tour of the Institute for Safe Autonomy, collaborative development sessions, final presentations and robot demonstrations. Beyond the technical challenge, the Hackathon helped test an a...
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Iván Hernández Dalas: Teradyne Robotics sues JAKA over 3 Universal Robots patents

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Collaborative robot arms from JAKA Robotics (left) and Universal Robots. JAKA Robotics asked last week where the Teradyne Robotics lawsuit was. Well, safe to say JAKA found it. The Unified Patent Court (UPC) docket shows Teradyne filed its patent infringement case against JAKA Robotics GmbH on Aug. 24, 2026 – three days before Teradyne Robotics publicly announced the lawsuit. Teradyne Robotics A/S, which owns Universal Robots , is accusing JAKA’s German subsidiary of infringing the patents. Teradyne previously said the case covers both hardware and software and a broad range of JAKA collaborative robots sold in Europe. Teradyne is the world’s leading developer of collaborative robot arms, having sold more than 100,000 robots since it was founded in 2005. 3 patents involved The case, UPC-CFI-0003057/2026 , was filed in the UPC’s Copenhagen Local Division and centers on three Universal Robots patents: EP1996376 | Programmable Robot and User Interface: covers a programmab...
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