Ivan Hernandez Dalas - Mechatronics

The parent company of The Robot Report , WTWH Media, today announced that it has rebranded as Arrowfly. The company said the new name and identity reflect its transformation from a specialized trade publisher into an omnichannel business-to-business (B2B) media, events, and marketing company where hard-to-reach professional decision-makers gather for trusted journalism, industry intelligence, and high-impact experiences that move their markets forward. Arrowfly serves professionals across three industry networks: Engineering; Healthcare and Life Sciences; and Food, Retail, and Hospitality. The Cleveland, Ohio-based company ‘s portfolio includes more than 40 vertical media brands and more than 45 industry events, from intimate executive forums to large-scale conferences and expos, all built on the editorial independence, subject-matter expertise, and deeply rooted professional communities that WTWH Media cultivated over two decades. While the name and visual identity are new, ev...

Graduate student Dian Li working with a robotic hand. Credit: Melanie Gonick. By Jennifer Chu The next time you’re scrolling your phone, take a moment to appreciate the feat: The seemingly mundane act is possible thanks to the coordination of 34 muscles, 27 joints, and over 100 tendons and ligaments in your hand. Indeed, our hands are the most nimble parts of our bodies. Mimicking their many nuanced gestures has been a longstanding challenge in robotics and virtual reality. Now, MIT engineers have designed an ultrasound wristband that precisely tracks a wearer’s hand movements in real-time. The wristband produces ultrasound images of the wrist’s muscles, tendons, and ligaments as the hand moves, and is paired with an artificial intelligence algorithm that continuously translates the images into the corresponding positions of the five fingers and palm. The researchers can train the wristband to learn a wearer’s hand motions, which the device can communicate in real-time to a robot o...

Botball provides students inquiry-based experiences to build creativity, critical thinking, and teamwork. | Credit: KISS Institute for Practical Robotics The story of Botball and the Junior Botball Challenge is defined by a shift in perspective: moving away from a model where adults lead the way, and instead placing the full weight of discovery on the students. According to Steve Goodgame, executive director of the KISS Institute of Practical Robotics ( KIPR ), the program was born from the idea that the same rigor applied to university-level robotics education could be adapted for high schoolers, middle schoolers, and eventually elementary students. Botball follows ‘level playing field’ philosophy Botball strictly adheres to the principle of student-led engineering. By providing a standardized kit, the competition ensures that success is determined by the logic of the code and the creativity of the design rather than a school’s budget. Goodgame emphasized this c...

KUKA is one of the world’s leading providers of robotics for the automotive industry. | Source: KUKA Questions about the updated ISO 10218 safety standard are becoming increasingly common in the robotics industry. Central to the discussion are CE certification requirements in Europe, as ISO 10218 is the key safety standard for industrial robots under the CE marking framework. ISO 10218:2025 is the updated industrial robot safety standard and will become mandatory for CE-marked products under the new European Machinery Regulation. The legal transition is expected around 2027, although weakness in European manufacturing demand and potential cost pressures on small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) may push full implementation beyond this timeline. Unlike Europe’s binding CE framework, the equivalent U.S. standard update is voluntary, though effective compliance remains commercially necessary. Established global vendors are largely prepared, while mid-sized and emerging suppliers sh...

Humanoids and other robots can benefit from training in ‘virtual gyms.’ Source: SoftServe The challenge for today’s robots is no longer limited to automating a task. It is adapting to ever-changing environments — and that variability remains one of the hardest problems. This distinction matters more and more as the industry moves from programmed automation toward physical AI — systems that perceive, reason, and act in the physical world. The global robotics market is developing rapidly, with an anticipated 19.6% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2026 to 2036, according to Future Market Insights . Autonomy needs experience, but real-world experience is expensive, slow, and sometimes unsafe to collect. That is why “virtual gyms” are becoming an essential part of robotics development. A virtual gym is a high-fidelity simulation environment where robots can train, fail, recover, and be validated before they enter live operations to make physical testing more focused a...

The Robot Report Podcast · How Path Robotics uses AI to optimize robotic welding In Episode 252  of The Robot Report Podcast, we connect with Andy Lonsberry, co-founder and CEO of Path Robotics. He discusses the difficulties in setting up and using robots for welding applications. Path Robotics has applied AI to identify the path of a torch and then move the robot through the welding operation, using real-time vision guidance to maintain an optimal path. Andy Lonsberry, CEO of Path Robotics. As CEO of Path Robotics, Lonsberry  leads the company’s strategy and operations with a focus on applying physical AI to longstanding challenges in manufacturing . His work centers on building adaptive, AI-driven robotic systems designed for real-world production environments. The Columbus, Ohio-based company is also deploying Boston Dynamics’ Spot quadruped robots into mobile welding applications in shipbuilding . Michael Yip, professor at UC San Diego. Our other interviewee th...