AI-based electrocardiogram (ECG) technology developer AliveCor announced today that it has closed a $65 million Series E financing round. Mountain View, Calif.-based AliveCor plans to use proceeds from the financing round to accelerate the growth of its remote cardiology platform, both domestically and globally, according to a news release. AliveCor is augmenting its artificial intelligence-powered ECG with telehealth services and detection and condition management services. Omron, Khosla Ventures, WP Global Partners, Qualcomm Ventures and Bold Capital Partners, all existing investors, led the financing. AliveCor noted that its enhanced partnership with Omron in particular will position the company to include hypertension management within its service portfolio.

We've entered a new age of automation: the artificially intelligent robots are coming. When AI enabled robots hit the manufacturing mainstream, the implications will be huge. With the right combination of hardware, robotics will have an application in manufacturing for nearly every industry. Processes will become quicker, more accurate and more cost-effective. Robotics in Manufacturing The first thing to note is that when we talk about robotics within this article, we are referring to a physical piece of hardware without the ability'to think' for itself, usually due to a lack of appropriate software and/or hardware.

Japanese robotics company Omron and its table-tennis-playing bot are back at CES to serve up loads of fresh new tech. This year, though Omron may have reincarnated its crowd-pleasing table tennis bot, called Forpheus, the company managed to up the ante with a new emotional recognition system that gauges players' frustration level and their skill. In addition to being fun, Omron wants Forpheus to showcase its work in AI, computer vision and robotics. Its system, which watches players closely as they battle the bot in ping pong, has the capability of reading a players' face and even their heart rate and then interpreting that information to make inferences on skill and state-of-mind. Forpheus (pictured above) can reach to a volley using computer vision.

In the not-so-distant future, more robots may be interacting with customers at shopping complexes, serving food at restaurants or cleaning floors at offices in Japan amid a serious labor crunch. A hint of what is to come is visible at the International Robot Exhibition 2019, a major biennial robot trade show that kicked off on Wednesday at Tokyo Big Sight. The event runs until Saturday. Featuring a record 637 firms and organizations, some participants said demand for robotics as helping hands in service sectors is rising to compensate for a shortage of workers. Tokyo-based Omron Social Solutions Co. unveiled a robot capable of performing three tasks: cleaning, security and guiding.

President and CEO: Yoshihito Yamada) has developed a unique defect extraction AI technology that recognizes defects by reproducing "human sensibility" and "expert experience" in order to automate the appearance inspection at the manufacturing site. By providing stable detection of defects that up to now have been difficult to detect with machines, it enables further automation of appearance inspections that currently rely on human vision. This AI functionality will be added to the existing OMRON image processing system "FH Series" and will be released in the spring of 2020. In recent years, the shortage of skilled technicians and rising labor costs have become more critical, and in the manufacturing industry there is a tremendous reliance on human experience and human senses. Therefore automation of the transporting, assembly, and inspection processes that depend on people has become an urgent task for businesses.

OSAKA - Electric motor-maker Nidec Corp. said Tuesday it will acquire component-maker Omron Corp.'s automotive electronics subsidiary for ¥100 billion ($893 million), as it seeks to speed up the development of technology for autonomous and other advanced vehicles. Kyoto-headquartered Nidec will take an entire stake in Omron Automotive Electronics Co. by the end of October, as it aims to combine its strengths in motors, radar and camera-related technologies with Omron Automotive's edge in auto components for self-driving vehicles. "We want to widen our product lineup through the acquisition and enhance our competitiveness in the automobile-oriented business," as the auto industry has been shifting its focus to more electrified and self-driving vehicles, Nidec Chairman and CEO Shigenobu Nagamori told a news conference in Tokyo. Omron said it will focus more on its industrial automation and health care businesses as it found it difficult to continue hefty investments in developing auto technology on its own amid the intensifying race to make next-generation vehicles. Nidec, founded in 1973, has grown in part due to its ambitious mergers and acquisitions strategy.

Making sure plant floor machines remain up and running is a priority for manufacturers. As such, OEMs are beginning to bundle in remote management software from technology suppliers so that they can monitor machines, troubleshoot and even repair issues from afar before they impact productivity. While avoiding downtime is the overall goal of remote management, not everyone is sold on the idea. Specifically, the information technology (IT) department, which is responsible for keeping the enterprise secure. Having an access point that connects a machine to the cloud to apply analytics is a potential "open door" that could inadvertently allow a bad actor onto the network.

You know that 1958 Norman Rockwell painting, Before the Shot? A boy bends over, preparing for a needle, while a friendly older doctor leans over vials and tongue depressors, prepping the injection. I was at my primary care physician's office recently -- no shots, thankfully, but I was struck by how little things have changed since then, and how the entire medical industry has struggled with technological change. ECGs are something people get once a year at best; what if you could have that data not just on a daily basis but continuously? Visit your doctor and you'll likely fill out a paper form stating that your health insurance hasn't changed.

OMRON is best known for its healthcare products like thermometers and blood pressure monitors -- now in the form of a smartwatch, even. But those who have been following our CEATEC coverage over the past five years may remember the company's ambitious exhibit: the Forpheus table tennis robot. Little did I know that I would bump into this old friend here at CES. The machine is now in its fifth generation and packed with some surprising upgrades -- let's just say my parents would be disappointed in me if they were there. Technically speaking, this latest Forpheus is actually an entirely new robot. While previous models tended to reuse a lot of hardware, this new one was apparently built from the ground up just to play ping pong.

Japanese electronics firm Omron is showing off a ping pong-playing robot that uses artificial intelligence to adapt its gameplay to each human opponent.