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Robotic Farming

Successful Farming has an article on " ways to automate chores such as clearing a field of rocks and maneuvering a grain cart."

This video has more 

 

Fully robotic restaurant

FOODOM Tianjiang Food Kingdom — located in Foshan’s Shunde District, an area hailed as the “cradle of Cantonese cuisine” — is the sixth automated restaurant operated by Qianxi Robot Catering Group.

The label “robot restaurant complex” speaks to the restaurant’s scale, range of cooking robots, and synchronicity of its system: The facility has a seating capacity of nearly 600 diners and accommodates over 40 robots capable of cooking some 200 dishes from three basic categories: Chinese (including Shunde specialities), hot pot, and fast food.

Xiao Ran, deputy general manager at Qianxi Group, told Sixth Tone that robot cafeterias are more efficient in terms of both space used and required cooking time than their human-operated counterparts. The robot restaurant complex’s noodle-making robot, for example, takes up 4 square meters of floor space and can churn out 120 dishes per hour if needed. They’re also safer, he said, thanks to a standardized cooking process and the absence of human-to-human contact.

WEF

 

From A1 to A100 to A1000 - Disney's animatronic journey

Popular Mechanics has a nice history of Disney's animatronic evolution

In 1969, with construction on Florida’s Disney World commencing, development began on the next evolution of the audio-animatronic: a strictly hydraulic non-character-specific tool kit that allowed for standardized, adjustable, and efficient builds out of the dozens of animatronics that would be needed for the new park. This became known as the A1 figure.

The A100 debuted in 1989 in the form of the Wicked Witch of the West in The Great Movie Ride at Orlando’s Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney’s Hollywood Studios). Like the A1, the A100 is really a tool kit allowing engineers and builders to use certain components as needed, and there are still plenty of fully functional A100 in the parks today. Many of the Jack Sparrows in the Pirates of Caribbean rides are A100s. As well as George Washington and Abe Lincoln in Orlando’s Hall of Presidents—so is Donald Trump.

Work on the next evolutionary step in audio-animatronics—the A1000—was already in motion (so to speak) before the 2015 Star Wars attraction announcement. Yancey and Thomas say their team were working on eight different sizes of A1000 for about a year before being asked to take what they learned and apply it to creating customized Star Wars figures. It was perfect timing.

The goal of the A1000 program was to create a family of standardized electric figures that provides more control and design repeatability for both build and maintenance purposes. So Disney pioneered proprietary software programs that provide predictive renderings and pre-visualizations that assist in everything from seeing how a figure moves in a costume to predicting when components need replacing. But the ultimate goal is to get as close a lifelike performance as possible.

 

Robot Olympics?

With a vertical leap of 10 feet, a robot performs a gymnastics routine no human could ever replicate. This robot does not feel pain, and it is easily repaired after a fall, so it takes risks no human would take. In the next event, a martial arts competition, we will watch two humanoid robots fight to the death — if you can call it that.

Welcome to the 2026 Robot Olympics. There is no event planned like the one we’ve described here, but we believe this kind of event is on its way.

Back in 1990, a Robot Olympics was held in Glasgow, Scotland, and it included simple demonstrations like obstacle avoidance and pole balancing.

Robots will be featured heavily at Tokyo’s Olympics next year, including as equipment carriers and mascots, but they will not be competing.

With robots like Boston Dynamics’ Atlas already performing gymnastic feats most humans can’t imitate, it seems likely we’ll start having major competitions where these robots compete for medals and countries show off advanced robots they’ve designed.

Inverse

 

 

 

Ocado's robotic grocery warehouses

While Ocado’s retail business holds only a 1.4% share of Britain’s grocery market, its technology has powered the group’s 8.1 billion pound ($10.4 billion) stock market valuation, enabling it to secure partnership deals with supermarket groups around the world, including Kroger in the United States.

“This is not about Bristol, but about what it says for its technology biz,” said Bernstein analyst Bruno Monteyne.

He said the site going live as quickly as 13 months is half the typical deployment time for a larger warehouse, indicating that warehouses overseas could also be developed at a faster rate.

Reuters

 

 

Space as a robotics lab

After four decades of Star Wars and all its droids and bots, reality is starting to mimic Hollywood.

From Engadget:

The new CIMON will have a "more robust" computer, better mics, improved flight control and a more conversational system that recognizes speech, determines intent and includes a call history. It's expected to reach the ISS in December for further tests.

The station is quickly becoming a hub for robotics for multiple countries. The US recently sent its Astrobee cube robot for tests, while Russia just sent the humanoid Fyodor robot into orbit. Multiple major space agencies see robot helpers as vital for a future when astronauts will spend longer periods away from Earth, and they each have different ideas as to how to alleviate burdens and let crews focus on their missions.

 

 

 

 

Spot, the four legged robot

On a typical job site, a manager might be able to peruse and document the whole operation once a week to make sure all the components are coming into place properly, and that crews aren’t, say, running a duct where there’s supposed to be a supporting column. But if you loaded out Spot with a 360 camera, it could do the rounds every night, because once it builds an initial 3D map of the environment, during each subsequent visit it can detect changes. It can operate in the rain and withstand clouds of dust. Should it end up turtled on its back, it does some coordinated leg wiggling to flip itself back onto four feet. Because it conveniently lacks lungs, it can venture into hazards like asbestos-tainted buildings, where it’s expensive to send humans in hazmat suits.

Wired

 

 

 

 

Robotic Groundskeeper

Meet the RT-1000. It’s different not just because it’s designed to cut grass by the acre. The RT-1000 is also a multi-talented robot that handles groundskeeping chores all-year round. Once the air turns cool and the snow starts falling, the RT-1000 can shed its mowing deck and turn into a snow blower.

Geek.com

Here is how the snow blower sees and works

Undersea Oil and Gas drone

Operating in deep-sea waters with intense pressure and plentiful debris remains a costly challenge for the oil and gas industry—one with potential consequences for the rest of us, who have to live with the aftermath of a spill. Keeping platform equipment running and working properly in these environments is a constant battle, requiring regular inspections that can last as long as four months. In Brazil and Italy, scientists have designed a solution: the FlatFish, a 12-foot-long, 3-ton autonomous sub powered by batteries and artificial intelligence.

The FlatFish contains a ton of buoyancy foam and is propelled by six thrusters. It’s designed to function in waters as deep as 10,000 feet for as long as a year and packed with gear that can withstand the attendant pressure, including laser-line projectors, sonars, and cameras that collect high-definition 3D images, helping it detect and evade underwater debris.

Bloomberg

 

 

 

Construction tracking robots

The company was born out of frustration, “of not having the tools to build what we designed in the office,” says co-founder Stuart Maggs, whose background is in construction and architecture. “You spend a lot of time in the office, creating this vision of what you wanted, that you thought was right, but ultimately, it came down to a guy in the field with just a tape measure and a piece of chalk that will put things pretty much however he felt on that day.”

Their robots have been deployed in various construction sites around the world, including Dura Vermeer in the Netherlands and Kier in the U.K. Maggs says he found it surprisingly easy to convince the construction industry of the robot’s value — arguing there’s a real need for what it delivers: High-resolution comparison of the digital model to the on-the-ground build site that helps build managers keep close track of progress and spot problems before they can scale into costly expenses.

TechCrunch