The Bot Brief

                     "There is no force on earth more powerful than an idea whose time has come."     VIctor Hugo

Bots in the News:

A series of favorable earnings reports lifted the Bot Index well into positive territory last week while the S & P 500 experienced a slight decline. The bots increased 2.69%, a significant divergence from the 83-basis point falloff of the broad market. Of the thirty-stock composite, a record seven companies’ equities produced double digit jumps during the week.

Three of the major defense companies reported excellent earnings during the week. Lockheed Martin recorded the largest increase with a 10.84% increase. The company noted a quarterly sales expansion of 9% and a whopping backlog of $165 billion which is two times current annual sales.

Raytheon Technologies gained 10.51% after announcing a 9% year-over-year quarterly gain in earnings per share. With the earnings report the company noted a $2.2 billion free cash flow figure, $206 billion backlog and sales of $19.8 billion (a 10% gain).

Northrup Grumman also rose double-digits following its earnings of $6.36, exceeding analysts’ expectations of $5.95 and last year’s $5.34.

Following up on the ‘resurrection’ of the company, iRobot gained 23.43% last week. In the prior week (which rose 7.6%) a new institutional investor took a surprise position in the company, leading other investors to have hope that the company’s fortunes have turned around since the Amazon takeover rejection.

Oceaneering International gained nearly 15% despite missing Wall Street’s earnings target. The company did, however, produce an 11.9% increase in revenue and earnings of $.28 versus last year’s $.18.

Immersion Corp. kept its progression intact with another sparkling 11.28% jump. The company has noted a strong upsurge that we discussed in the prior week’s Bot Brief.

Azenta Corp. was the final company in the ‘double digit’ club this week. The company rose 12.68%. The life sciences company announced it would report earnings on August 6 and investors were speculating on the report reflecting favorably to investors.

The only real weakness in the Bot Index’ array of tech companies was noted in the 8.4% slide by Tesla. The company failed to meet high expectations for deliveries and indicated that it could expect slower growth in the coming months.

Hollywood, Ahead of the Game Again:

Just like the Terminator provided a glimpse of the AI’s potential to become a threat to mankind, a new device produced by the German firm FESTO mimics the robobee that was featured in the 2008 movie Get Smart. FESTO has spent 15 years in developing its own Bionic Bee that at 34 grams, a length of 220 millimeters and a wingspan of 240 millimeters, the BionicBee is the smallest flying object created by the Bionic Learning Network to date. For the first time, the developers used the method of generative design: after entering just a few parameters, a software application uses defined design principles to find the optimal structure to use as little material as necessary while maintaining the most stable construction possible. This consistent lightweight construction is essential for good maneuverability and flying time.

The ability to use a variety of wing movements to allow for hovering, forward and backward movements make the device unique in the nano-drone space. The most difficult of maneuvers is the ability to ‘swarm’ and avoid contact with their congregation. To achieve this effort, the devices have eight UWB anchors which are installed in the space between two levels. This enables an accurate time measurement and allows the bees to locate themselves in space. The UWB anchors send signals to the individual bees, which can independently measure the distances to the respective transmitting elements and calculate their own position in the space using the time stamps.

To fly in a swarm, the bees follow the paths specified by a central computer. To ensure safe and collision-free flight in close formation, a high degree of spatial and temporal accuracy is required. When planning the path, the possible mutual interaction through air turbulence “downwash” must also be taken into account.

While this is all very interesting it is questionable whether any useful purpose can be obtained due to the limited size and payload of the robobees. Clearly, many dollars and time have been devoted to production which, perhaps, may find more useful purposes as technology evolves.