United Kingdom

Diabetes continues to be the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults in the United States. But the current shortage of eye-care providers would make it impossible to keep up with demand to provide the requisite annual screenings for this population.

Operators of the primary particle accelerator at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility are getting a new tool to help them quickly address issues that can prevent it from running smoothly. A new machine learning system has passed its first two-week test, correctly identifying glitchy accelerator components and the type of glitches they’re experiencing in near-real-time.

Seegrid Corporation, provider of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for material handling, has doubled its revenue year-over-year for the second year in a row. Seegrid’s growth reflects increased demand from manufacturing, e-commerce, and logistics companies for automation solutions to address rising pressures on the supply chain, which were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and ever-evolving consumer demands.

Conversational AI platform Paradox has acquired Spetz.io, an Israeli startup with a chatbot for candidate communications. According to Paradox this lays the foundation an R&D center in EMEA.

AMP Robotics, a provider of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics for the waste industry, has raised $55 million. AMP will use this funding to scale its business operations to meet the market demand for its technology and develop innovative new AI product applications that integrate into materials recovery facilities to increase recycling rates for its customers.

Teledyne Technologies Incorporated will acquire FLIR Systems in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $8.0 billion. Both companies are producing sensor technologies which are used in robots and autonomous vehicles.

Scientists have developed a machine-learning method that crunches massive amounts of data to help determine which existing medications could improve outcomes in diseases for which they are not prescribed.

A Tesla-vlogger has posted a video showing him driving a Tesla Model 3 from San Francisco to Los Angeles on the FSD Autopilot Beta. For most of the trip, the autopilot seems to be in control, although the human in the loop has to intervene at least once because of debris on the road in Los Angeles.  

As reported in the January 1, 2021 issue of the journal Science, a team of physicists and engineers have proposed a new principle by which active matter systems can spontaneously order, without need for higher level instructions or even programmed interaction among the agents. And they have demonstrated this principle in a variety of systems, including groups of periodically shape-changing robots called “smarticles” – smart, active particles.

Robot manufacturer Boston Dynamics has shared an end-of-year video titled Do You Love Me, in which their stars Spot, Atlas and Handle show an extensive choreography. With this video, Boston …