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Despite the reduced size of CES 2022 there was a wide range of product anouncements on the first day, including several robotics innovations, ranging from autonomous vehicles to cleaning and computer vision.

Today, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) kicks off in Las Vegas. A total of 130 companies, including various robotics and AI providers, will present their offerings to a partly physical and partly online audience. A number of major tech companies have declined to participate due to the Covid pandemic, including Facebook/Meta, Amazon and Twitter.

At the start of the new year we look at some strategic predictions Gartner is making for the future of technology:

Amphibious transport dock ship USS Portland has recently conducted a high-energy laser weapon system demonstration while sailing in the Gulf of Aden. During the demonstration, the Solid State Laser – Technology Maturation Laser Weapons System Demonstrator (LWSD) Mark 2 MOD 0 aboard Portland successfully engaged a static surface training target. Portland previously tested the LWSD when it successfully disabled a small unmanned aerial system while operating in the Pacific Ocean.

The vision of Rocking Robots is to report on the interaction between humans and robots. The interviews we published this year show that we as humans are increasingly successful in making robots work for us. However, it remains important to pay attention to pre-eminently human issues such as ethics, acceptance and safety. Where that happens, applications of technology arise that actually help us as humans.

The National AI Initiative Office of the federal government of the United States has established an AI Researchers Portal on AI.gov. It is created in partnership with Federal departments and agencies and the Networking and Information Technology Research and Development coordination office. The portal connects AI researchers to Federal resources that can support their research, including data, computing, and testbeds, as well as AI-relevant grant funding programs. 

This year the Defense Finance and Accounting Service expands RPA program saw a shift from delivering simple automations to more value added automations for the Agency. The first twelve bots the Robotics team implemented in 2020 12 were this year joined by additional bots.

Whether we are talking about RPA, software robots or automation, the underlying technology has entered the next phase for many organizations. While there are still organizations building their first digital employees, there are more and more cases where the first pilot-built robots become part of an effective digital workforce. This year at Rocking Robots we have have documented several cases that show how RPA has evolved.

As part of their machine learning internship, two University of Adelaide computer science students, Christopher Fusco and Jash Vira, created a neural network that was able to learn how to make beer by studying a vast trove of brewing records. The result is a unique AI-designed IPA.

Hyperscience announced it raised $100 million in Series E funding led by existing investors Global Founders Capital, Tiger, Stripes, and Bessemer. The new round of investment enables Hyperscience, with nearly 400 global employees—a 72% increase year-over-year—to further invest in talent and R&D, both organically and through acquisition.