Latest news with #Salto
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mews enhances Digital Key capabilities through Salto smart locking integration
Hospitality technology platform Mews has broadened the capabilities of its Digital Key technology via the integration with Salto's smart locking solution. This collaboration enables hoteliers utilising Salto's access control system to provide guests with a completely seamless and contactless experience through the Mews Hospitality Cloud. Hotels will be equipped with Salto smart access to offer room entry through mobile devices, thereby eliminating the need for a key. This bolsters security, streamlines the check-in process, and allows front desk staff to concentrate on improving guest services. Mews CEO Matt Welle said: 'Every step of the guest journey should be effortless. 'With Salto smart access for hospitality compatibility, more properties can reduce the friction around arrival and check-in. Digital Key is a win-win because it's as much about operational efficiency as it is about improving guest satisfaction.' The integration of Salto Space has been successfully implemented at Belgian hospitality brand YUST, known for its hybrid model catering to both short and long-term stays. Its Antwerp property reported that 12% of guests checked in using the Digital Key in the first month without any promotional efforts. Furthermore, 64% of guests with an active digital key have utilised it to access their rooms. YUST chief technology officer Dirk Van Gompel said: 'We're only tech-focused when we can use tech to improve the guest experience. 'Digital Key makes it easy for guests to go straight to their room, while creating real-time savings for our team, who can then focus on building real human connections.' The integration is stated to offer numerous advantages, including expedited check-in processes where guests can bypass the front desk, reduced manual tasks, environmental benefits due to the elimination of plastic keycards, and a digital, on-the-go check-in and check-out experience. Salto Systems Hospitality Solutions business lead Nora Urquiza said: 'At Salto, we believe access to technology should be so convenient that guests actually enjoying using it. 'Our integration with Mews reinforces our commitment to delivering a seamless, secure, and modern digital experience through strong technology alliances.' Entirely incorporated into the Mews Hospitality Cloud, Mews Digital Key empowers properties to automate and customise the guest stay experience, from online check-in to enhanced sales opportunities. Recently, Mews introduced a Multicurrency feature, now accessible to customers throughout Europe. "Mews enhances Digital Key capabilities through Salto smart locking integration" was originally created and published by Hotel Management Network, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
New York Post
13-06-2025
- Science
- New York Post
Salto the squirrelly robot could be the future of space exploration — and challenging rescue operations here on Earth: researchers
Engineers developing space exploration robots drew inspiration from the common squirrel for their latest cutting-edge bot design, which they say could also help in search and rescue missions during disasters. Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, created a robot capable of imitating the furry woodland creatures' ability to hop and land on a narrow target, like squirrels do when they leap from branch to branch, according to a study. 'We've been inspired by squirrels,' study co-author and Berkeley grad Justin Yim told Science News Explores on Tuesday. Advertisement 'Squirrels are nature's best athletes,' added Robert Full, one of the study's senior authors and a professor of integrative biology at UC Berkeley. 'The way that they can maneuver and escape is unbelievable.' The researchers studied how the bushy-tailed acrobats leap – and more importantly land – and applied that knowledge while building the one-legged robot they named Salto. 'Based on studies of the biomechanics of squirrel leaps and landings, they have designed a hopping robot that can stick a landing on a narrow perch,' the university said in a press release. Advertisement Salto is designed to mimic the acrobatic parkour skills of a squirrel and land with pinpoint precision. The pogo-stick-like bot's nickname stands for Saltatorial Agile Locomotion on Terrain Obstacles, for its skill borrowed from the nut-loving rodents. 'Saltatorial' is the scientific word to describe animals such as kangaroos, grasshoppers and rabbits that have evolved to be natural leapers. 3 Researchers drew inspiration from squirrels when building Salto, a tiny one-legged robot. Sebastian Lee (top image) and Justin Yim (bottom) Salto will be able to not only explore low-gravity objects in space, researchers said, but also help people trapped in disasters here on Earth. Advertisement 'The robots we have now are OK, but how do you take it to the next level? How do you get robots to navigate a challenging environment in a disaster where you have pipes and beams and wires? Squirrels could do that, no problem. Robots can't do that,' Full said. 'For example, in a disaster scenario, where people might be trapped under rubble, robots might be really useful at finding the people in a way that is not dangerous to rescuers and might even be faster than rescuers could have done unaided,' Yim, who now works at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, told Core77. A video produced by Berkeley shows Salto in action, crouching down before it leaps from one metal dowel to another, wrapping its claw-like foot along the dowel as it sticks the landing. 3 Salto the squirrelly robot uses his flywheel to correct his balance. UC Berkeley Advertisement Researchers first started working on the spindly robot in 2016 and have made several tweaks over the years to improve its balance. Salto was able to successfully leap from one pipe to another 25 out of 30 times, but its landings could be better, according to researchers. 'There's lots of room for improvement,' Yim told Science News Explores. 3 Researchers said once Salto is perfected, he can explore space and rescue people here on Earth from disasters. Justin Yim, UIUC Engineers could refine Salto's claw, he said, so it has a firmer grasp, the way a squirrel grips a tree branch with its toes. The researchers' goal is to get Salto to be able to hop the length of a football field and land on an area as tiny as a dime. Once perfected, the rodent-inspired robot could explore Enceladus, a moon of Saturn where the gravity is one-eightieth that of Earth, the researchers said.
Reuters
19-05-2025
- Climate
- Reuters
Argentina's farmers describe 'sea of water' after downpour hits harvest
BUENOS AIRES, May 19 (Reuters) - Argentina's agricultural heartland has been lashed by heavy rains in recent days, leaving some soy fields underwater with up to 400 millimeters (15.75 inches) of precipitation recorded in certain areas bringing widespread flooding. "Everywhere you looked was like a sea of water," grains farmer Martin Vivanco told Reuters by phone on Monday from San Antonio de Areco, a rural area 100 kilometers (62.14 miles) west of the capital city, Buenos Aires. "Some of the farmland in lower regions is completely covered in water and will be very hard to harvest. Some people even lost their farms." Argentina is the world's top exporter of soybean oil and soybean meal, and the No. 3 exporter of corn. The precipitation is some three to four times normal levels for May, according to German Heinzenknecht, a meteorologist at Applied Climatology Consulting, raising farmers' fears that the soy and corn crops could suffer major losses. The heavy rains from Thursday to Saturday added to already-abundant showers in recent months, said Heinzenknecht. "The amount of water that fell was absolutely ludicrous," said Heinzenknecht. "Even if it had only rained 150 mm, we would have still faced flooding." Farmers have been facing delays in harvesting the current soy crop due to the wet fields and muddy roads. Putting off harvesting can cause crops to develop disease or seed pods to open, also causing losses. In Salto, another agricultural area north of Buenos Aires, storms flooded 171,000 hectares with 330 mm of water, according to farmer Esteban Plazibat. "I have silobags and I know I will have problems. I have them in high places, but this time even the high places were flooded," he explained. The floods are affecting chicken and pig farms in the area as well, he added. Silobags are large bags that farmers can use to store over 200 tons of soybeans. These bags are widely used in Argentina and can be seen in fields across the country. Soy that has not yet been harvested is also at risk given that collection was already delayed due to excess water in the soil. Major delays imply potential losses due to crop disease or pod openings in the field. Though corn is more tolerant to water, Vivanco explained that some fields saw water levels of over a meter, which can impact the plant's development. Farmers' association CARBAP showed images on social media platform X of fields underwater and impassable farm roads. The heavy rains also caused flooding in some cities in the Buenos Aires province, where locals had to be evacuated from their homes. Prior to the most recent rains, the Buenos Aires grains exchange estimated the current soybean crop to reach 50 million metric tons and the corn crop to reach 49 million tons, respectively. Both crops are in their harvesting stage. "Everything is affected. This is unlike anything we've seen before," Vivanco said.
