Kraken Robotics Inc. has entered into a partnership agreement with Greensea Systems Inc., which is known for its open architecture robotic platform called OPENSEA. Under the agreement, Greensea will support development, integration, and testing work with Kraken across several of the company's technology platforms. “The partnership we have signed is very significant. It is a relationship formed between the most disruptive, agile, and aggressive technology developers in the industry,” says Ben Kinnaman, CEO of Greensea.

Stanford University researchers have developed a soft robot that borrows features from traditional robotics to stay safe while still retaining the ability to move and change shape. “A significant limitation of most soft robots is that they have to be attached to a bulky air compressor or plugged into a wall, which prevents them from moving,” explains Nathan Usevitch, a graduate student in mechanical engineering at Stanford. “So, we wondered: What if we kept the same amount of air within the robot all the time?”

Autonomous Solutions Inc. (ASI), Phantom Auto, FANUC America Corporation, and Terberg have collaborated to develop a new fully unmanned yard truck platform. “The combination of these four leading companies brings an autonomy solution that has never been more needed in the logistics sector to lower costs and increase safety and efficiency,” says Mel Torrie, founder and CEO of ASI. With ASI’s Mobius software, operators have real-time awareness and control of a fleet of unmanned trucks. Both of these capabilities are driven by ASI’s autonomous vehicle technology.

Delivery robots are popping up on college campuses across the United States, but the journey behind the Kiwibots currently operating on the campus of the University of Denver (DU) ironically enough did not begin on U.S. pavement. Initially launched as a human-based food delivery company in Bogotá, Colombia, the first iteration of Kiwibot as a company was sold, which led to the team behind Kiwibot wanting to replicate its model where students could conduct deliveries for other students in the United States. The team found out, however, that the cost structure was not replicable from Latin America to the U.S., according to David Rodríguez, Kiwibot’s head of business. “This was the point we decided we needed to start building robots,” Rodríguez tells AUVSI.