Bota Methods, a supplier of drive sensing expertise, will probably be exhibiting on the Robotics Summit & Expo, the premier occasion for robotics builders. The occasion takes place April 30-Might 1, 2025 on the Boston Conference and Exhibition Heart.
Attendees can go to Sales space 538 to expertise dwell demonstrations of the multimodal force-torque sensing platform of Bota for enabling secure and exact interplay for robotic techniques. The platform consists of end-of-arm sensing, foot sensing, torque sensing for robotics joints, tactile sensing, and built-in sensing for robotic constructions.
Attendees will see for the primary time the Bota FT Stack developed for robotic software program engineers of any degree. A demonstrator of haptic teleoperation with the Kinova Gen3 will probably be on the sales space for attendees to have a first-hand expertise.
“We’re excited to reveal our most superior drive sensing stack for robots and the importance of drive info for creating value efficient AI fashions for robotics OEMs, builders, integrators and end-users,” stated Klajd Lika, CEO of Bota Methods.
Lika is giving a chat on April 30 from 4:15-5 PM known as “Advancing Robotic Studying with Pressure Sensing & Bodily Intelligence.” He’ll focus on the important function of drive and torque sensing in enhancing robotic management and enabling bodily intelligence by AI-driven studying.
Go to Bota Methods at Sales space #538 to study extra about drive sensing and expertise the way forward for robotics firsthand. For extra info, go to www.botasys.com or contact Lika at klika@botasys.com.
About Bota Methods Bota Methods is a developer and producer of multi-axis force-torque sensors, torque sensors, and customized sensors. Based in 2020 as a spin-off from ETH Robotic Methods Lab, Bota Methods relies in Zurich, Switzerland. Its sensors give machines the sense of contact, and the corporate’s imaginative and prescient is for robots to work and transfer safely, and as naturally and freely as people. Bota Methods’ staff of completed robotic, software program, and mechanical engineers regularly develops highly-integrated and superior sensors to assist a variety of functions, throughout each analysis and trade.
Langford Quarry close to Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire was the winner of the Cooper-Heyman Cup for excellent achievement in quarry restoration. The partnership between Tarmac and RSPB “has reworked an space of 122 hectares of the previous sand and gravel quarry right into a mosaic of wetlands, lowland meadows, moist woodland and agriculture”.
The position that quarrying can play in nature restoration and biodiversity achieve was celebrated on the Quarries & Nature 2025 awards ceremony throughout March, hosted by the Mineral Merchandise Affiliation (MPA).
It’s an occasion meant to laud one of the best present examples of wildlife habitat creation by means of the delicate operation, administration and restoration of mineral extraction websites, say the organizers.
Amongst these talking and presenting awards have been Chair of Pure England Tony Juniper CBE, RSPB Chief Government Beccy Speight and Director of Panorama Restoration at The Wildlife Trusts, Rob Stoneman.
Tony Juniper mentioned: “A few of these restoration schemes are actually fairly mind-blowing, delivering nature restoration at scale, concurrently producing the assets we have to construct properties and infrastructure, creating landscapes that assist local weather resilience, whereas additionally creating improbable locations for households to get near wildlife.
“All of this presents a large alternative for a rustic that’s struggling to satisfy competing environmental targets. With higher strategic planning, extra joined-up considering and with all stakeholders on board, the mineral merchandise trade may very well be a well-known vanguard in constructing a really sustainable society.”
RSPB Chief Government Beccy Speight.
Beccy Speight mentioned: “We’ve seen some improbable restoration work at Quarries & Nature, and I applaud mineral merchandise for being an trade that has the ambition and is getting on with it, proving it will probably ship financial progress and nature restoration on the identical time.
“There’s an pressing have to create new habitats, to create more room for nature, and that’s precisely what the trade is doing. To see that taking place is actually inspiring. We’ve seen highly effective examples of what’s potential when enterprise and conservation work collectively, and I encourage MPA members to maintain their ambition and hold delivering progressive options to assist nature flourish, as a result of we’d like it now greater than ever.”
Now of their 54th yr, the independently-judged awards have reportedly celebrated a whole bunch of former quarries reworked into new areas for wildlife. Certainly, most of the UK’s most treasured nature reserves and nation parks have been created by means of quarrying, says the MPA, and its members “proceed to deliver to fruition new areas of habitat that assist a number of the UK’s rarest and most endangered species”.
Lex Russell, MPA Chair, mentioned: “The mineral merchandise trade is unrivalled by every other in relation to a mix of experience and on-the-ground supply for nature. Working with accomplice organisations, MPA members have a confirmed monitor report in relation to rising biodiversity by means of quarry restoration and land administration.
“This yr’s Quarries & Nature awards present extra proof of the in depth legacy the trade has constructed over a long time. There has by no means been a extra vital second to recognise the important position of home uncooked supplies within the economic system and our society, alongside the long-term contribution the trade makes to nature. Whereas others speak about potential, minerals producers have truly been delivering optimistic outcomes and we’re dedicated to doing so going ahead.”
The 2025 awards noticed nearly 40 entries from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Eire in the principle Restoration award and 4 Biodiversity award classes of Innovation, Panorama Scale, Deliberate Restoration, and Particular person & Group Contribution.
Winners of the Cooper-Heyman Cup for excellent achievement in quarry restoration have been Tarmac and RSPB at Langford Quarry close to Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire. The partnership has “reworked an space of 122 hectares of the previous sand and gravel quarry right into a mosaic of wetlands, lowland meadows, moist woodland and agriculture”.
The judges mentioned that “this extremely spectacular website is a key part of the broader landscape-scale restoration works being undertaken alongside the Trent by the minerals sector” and there was a “excessive stage of experience proven within the design and supply in partnership with the RSPB”.
Extremely counseled within the restoration class have been Heidelberg with Smiths Concrete and Warwickshire Wildlife Belief for Bubbenhall Wooden and Meadows Nature Reserve; and in Oxfordshire Smith & Sons (Bletchington) with Linear Fisheries (Oxford) have been extremely counseled for Tar Farm Lakes.
There have been over 200 in attendance, together with representatives from MPA members, planning authorities and conservation teams.
Within the Biodiversity – Innovation class, which recognises imaginative approaches that advance greatest practices, the winners have been Tarmac with Cranfield College for measuring and integrating biodiversity internet achieve and carbon sequestration into restoration at Maxey Quarry in Cambridgeshire and Wivenhoe Quarry in Essex. Runners up within the Innovation class have been Cemex for the conservation grazing utilizing a ‘digital fence’ at Rugeley Quarry close to Cannock Chase, Staffordshire.
Staffordshire restoration schemes have been additionally joint winners of the Biodiversity – Panorama Scale class, which celebrates initiatives that join with their environment to ship on the Lawton rules of ‘Making House for Nature’[1] — extra, larger, higher and joined areas of nature conservation. Holcim at Cauldon Cement Quarry and Caldon Low Mixture Quarry shared the prize with Heidelberg at Barton Quarry. Extremely counseled within the Panorama Scale class have been Tarmac for Arcow and Dry Rigg Quarries in North Yorkshire and Holcim for Little Paxton Quarry in Cambridgeshire.
Winner of the Biodiversity – Deliberate Restoration class, highlighting schemes which are authorized however but to be delivered, and can ship biodiversity advantages in future, was Heidelberg for restoration at Birch Quarry in Essex, with Tarmac extremely counseled for his or her work at Wivenhoe Quarry, additionally in Essex.
Lastly, 5 folks acquired awards for his or her private dedication and contribution to enhancing biodiversity at restored quarries, together with awards for a quarry staff and a volunteer group which have gone above and past, and the 15-year conservation partnership between Cemex and the RSPB.
Mark Russell, MPA Government Director of Planning & Mineral Assets, mentioned: “We’re delighted that our achievements proceed to be recognised by the UK’s main conservation our bodies with whom we have now longstanding partnerships. Sadly the Authorities persistently fails to understand how our trade is uniquely positioned to instantly assist convert aspirations for nature restoration and biodiversity into management and motion on the bottom. We hope that this yr’s Quarries & Nature occasion triggers wider recognition and debate. In addition to offering important, domestically sourced supplies, we’re one of many few industries that has demonstrated again and again it will probably ship tangible options to the UK’s nature restoration challenges, and we’re able to work with all stakeholders to guard and improve biodiversity.”
“The minerals trade has an extended and confirmed monitor report of delivering new areas for wildlife by means of the accountable administration, restoration and aftercare of quarries. In partnership with the main conservation our bodies, our sector has already created greater than 90 sq. kilometres of precedence habitat with an additional 110 sq. kilometres already deliberate and dedicated.”
MPA Quarries & Nature Awards: Winners and commendations
We proceed our collection of articles targeted on testing programs that incorporate Multi-Issue Authentication (MFA or 2FA) safety mechanisms. In our earlier article about MFA testing, we explored why firms working in regulated industries should undertake these mechanisms to strengthen their safety.
Though there’s a variety of MFA options out there, most firms favor those who present a easy and easy person expertise, equivalent to MFA by way of SMS, e-mail, or TOTP.
On this article, we’ll delve into an important subject: what are the challenges associated to testing workflows that embrace MFA, and what methods might be adopted to beat them?
1. Key Challenges in MFA Check Automation
1.1 Dependency on Exterior Units
By design, MFA depends on exterior units, equivalent to telephones for receiving SMS or apps for producing TOTP codes. This reliance complicates check automation, particularly when a number of accounts are concerned:
Electronic mail MFA: QA groups generally use alias-based e-mail constructions (e.g., person+alias@area.com) to streamline account creation. Nonetheless, these strategies may be restricted or disabled in company settings, complicating automation efforts. On high of that, retrieving emails from third-party suppliers is a problem.
SMS MFA: Every person account usually requires a novel telephone quantity. This results in logistical points, equivalent to managing bodily SIM playing cards or sharing check telephones, which undermines effectivity and scalability. Ever needed to name your colleague to allow them to share the MFA code retrieved on their telephone?
TOTP MFA: Time-based One-Time Passwords require safe dealing with of personal keys. Automating checks turns into intricate, as these keys are often inaccessible after initialization.
1.2 Restricted Automation Feasibility
MFA workflows work together with exterior programs, making them arduous to automate and sometimes impractical, significantly for third-party providers like e-mail suppliers (e.g., Outlook). Automating such interactions is resource-intensive and sometimes restricted by service suppliers that block bot connections.
1.3 Dangerous Method #1: Disabling MFA in Check Environments
To avoid wasting time, some groups disable MFA in testing environments. Whereas expedient, this method introduces vital dangers:
Elevated Safety Threat:
Accounts turn into much less safe in testing environments, as MFA turns into non-compulsory.
Divergent habits from the manufacturing atmosphere undermines check validity, as you would possibly uncover points in manufacturing brought on by a misconfiguration.
Much less Consultant Checks: Checks fail to mirror real-world manufacturing situations, rising the chance of undetected bugs surfacing in manufacturing.
Human Errors: Configuration variations between testing and manufacturing environments complicate deployments, generally leading to unintended coverage misconfigurations in manufacturing.
Incomplete Checks: Key steps like login processes or transaction validation are skipped, lowering the flexibility to detect points in vital functionalities.
1.4 Dangerous Method #2: Intercepting MFA in Testing Environments
Whereas higher than disabling MFA, this method nonetheless dangers configuration divergence between environments and potential errors throughout deployment (i.e. discovering points in manufacturing).
1.5 A pricey however Efficient Method: Interfacing with Third-Social gathering Suppliers
This methodology, though generally pricey and sophisticated, might be extremely helpful in case your service suppliers (e-mail or SMS) provide APIs or interfaces suitable with automation instruments like Cypress or Robotic Framework. Instruments like Eggplant may also assist obtain this aim.
These integrations will let you immediately extract MFA codes and incorporate them into your automated check scripts.
Nonetheless, it’s usually essential to proactively talk with these suppliers, as they could be reluctant to permit automated entry to their programs. For example, you would possibly discover it’s fairly arduous to automate outlook login and e-mail content material retrieval by means of an internet interface. Regardless of these challenges, this method ensures real looking testing aligned with manufacturing eventualities.
2. Methods for Automating and Testing Finish-to-Finish MFA Workflows
2.1 Align Testing Environments with Manufacturing
Guaranteeing parity between testing and manufacturing environments is important for figuring out potential points successfully. Leveraging instruments to retrieve MFA codes by way of e-mail, SMS, or APIs can provide the next advantages:
Improved UX/UI Detection: Reproducing manufacturing situations helps determine anomalies within the person expertise or interface.
Load Administration: Testing below production-like constraints uncovers system weaknesses, equivalent to throttling points or utilization limits for MFA providers.
Third-Social gathering Service Validation: Verifies correct integrations and ensures messages aren not misplaced. Load testing may also reveal vulnerabilities below heavy utilization.
2.2 Collaborative Guide Testing Options
For handbook testing, collaborative options can simplify MFA administration inside QA groups:
Electronic mail: Use shared mailboxes with aliases (e.g., testing+xyz@firm.io) to centralize code reception. In case your IT division doesn’t will let you use such options, you would possibly want to contemplate another method from a 3rd get together. For example, digital mailbox providers like GetMyMFA provide non-public e-mail addresses to retrieve MFA codes.
SMS: Options like GetMyMFA provide non-public digital telephone numbers, avoiding bodily units. Free choices like Obtain-SMS-Free exist however pose dangers as a result of publicly shared numbers. This represents a difficulty as your group’s SMS messages can turn into public (Search Engine indexing).
TOTP: Securely share secret keys utilizing password managers like Bitwarden or 1Password. This allows groups to entry momentary codes with out bodily units whereas managing key entry successfully.
MFA-sharing service GetMyMFA use-case
2.3 Automation Instruments for MFA Testing
Automating MFA checks requires instruments that simplify interactions with authentication mechanisms. Specialised APIs streamline this course of, lowering the necessity for advanced handbook integrations and combating suppliers on bot-blocking insurance policies. Examples embrace:
Electronic mail APIs: Providers like MailSlurp or GetMyMFA permit producing momentary e-mail addresses to automate code retrieval by way of APIs.
MFA retrieval illustration by means of GetMyMFA’s programmatic API
SMS APIs: Digital telephone quantity suppliers, equivalent to GetMyMFA, simplify automating SMS MFA workflows by exposing a public and safe API which extracts the MFA codes obtained to your non-public telephone numbers. This enables to keep away from buying and dealing with SIM playing cards. On high of that, you may simply share the telephone numbers with the QA staff members.
MFA retrieval illustration by means of GetMyMFA’s programmatic API
TOTP APIs: Suppliers provide options for importing non-public TOTP keys, exposing OTP codes by way of APIs.
Conclusion
Successfully testing workflows that incorporate Multi-Issue Authentication (MFA) mechanisms stays a problem for QA groups, who usually find yourself disabling MFA in staging environments. Nonetheless, it’s important to check these flows to make sure the reliability and safety of programs in manufacturing. The constraints associated to automation and handbook testing (significantly the dealing with of exterior units and interactions with third-party providers) spotlight {that a} simplistic or rushed method can result in vital dangers, whether or not when it comes to safety, check validity, or tester expertise.
Utilizing specialised tools-such as e-mail inbox administration providers or digital telephone quantity platforms-alongside collaborative methods for handbook testing permits groups to simulate production-like situations as carefully as doable. These approaches not solely reduce the hole between testing and manufacturing environments, but additionally improve the staff’s skill to detect vital points earlier than deployment.
In conclusion, adopting a well-thought-out technique for MFA testing-combining the correct instruments, collaborative processes, and automation finest practices-is important to satisfy this problem. It ensures that MFA workflows carry out as anticipated in a exact and repeatable method.
Not solely does this strengthen the robustness of MFA flows, nevertheless it additionally protects finish customers and improves anomaly detection. With such an method, firms can guarantee their programs are each safe and dependable, whereas nonetheless delivering a high-quality person expertise.
In regards to the Writer: Jonathan Bernales
I’m the CTO at Germen, an InsurTech firm constructing tech platforms for each company and particular person shoppers. I’m enthusiastic about constructing and utilizing expertise that enables groups to ship high-quality code in advanced environments with out compromising on safety or pace. I’m additionally the founding father of GetMyMFA.
$ id george uid=1003(george) gid=1003(george) teams=1003(george)
To view all customers on the system, you possibly can study the contents of the /and many others/passwd file, however that would come with all of the system accounts in addition to the person account. The “ls /house” command ought to provide you with an inventory of all house directories.
$ ls /house cookie dumdum fedora george lola newuser shs
You too can get particulars on person account utilizing a command like this that selects entries that comprise the phrase “house”.
$ grep house /and many others/passwd fedora:x:1000:1000:fedora:/house/fedora:/bin/bash shs:x:1001:1001::/house/shs:/bin/bash newuser:x:1002:1002::/house/newuser:/bin/bash george:x:1003:1003::/house/george:/bin/bash lola:x:1006:1006::/house/lola:/bin/bash
To verify which teams a person belongs to, use the teams command.
$ teams shs shs : shs wheel techs
If you wish to take a look at the /and many others/shadow file that incorporates passwords in an encrypted kind together with different knowledge, you possibly can run a command like this:
$ sudo grep george /and many others/shadow [sudo] password for shs: george:$y$j9T$igg/m6Ixl7kvW/i7mPP891$oq/zlqU8DGOPwnGbnvoVaaDmDbspK/R92XnrEKcPKk0:20033:0:99999:7:::
The fields on this colon-separated file embrace:
the username
the encrypted password (that very lengthy discipline)
the variety of days because the password was final modified *
the minimal variety of days earlier than the password may be modified once more
the utmost variety of days earlier than the password should be modified
the variety of days earlier than password expiration that the person is warned that their password will expire
the variety of days after password expiration earlier than the account is locked (inactive interval)
the date the password expires *
a reserved discipline
Notice that the third and eighth fields are expressed because the variety of days because the Unix “epoch” (Epoch time relies on the variety of seconds since 00:00:00 on January 1, 1970). This enables these fields to have an extended period. The final three fields, nonetheless, are sometimes empty.
Oh no! Your software is unreachable, buried beneath a number of connection hops. How do you pinpoint the damaged hyperlink? How do you generate an alert or bug report from Prometheus when sure circumstances are met?
You should roll out a brand new model of your software. How do you execute a progressive rollout utilizing Argo Rollouts? How do you safely allow zero belief community safety when your software scales past a single cluster or cloud?
With so many tasks within the cloud native ecosystem, how do you determine which of them are proper in your wants and layer them along with correct configuration administration?
Sound acquainted? We hear these questions on a regular basis from platform and DevOps engineers working with Cloud Native Computing Basis (CNCF) tasks like Kubernetes, Envoy, Istio, Prometheus, and Argo.
So why not construct AI brokers to deal with widespread challenges and assist engineers and clients? Why not create a catalog of AI brokers for the cloud native ecosystem, enabling everybody to run, construct and share AI-driven options?
What’s kagent?
You’ve in all probability interacted with ChatGPT, an AI chatbot that gives pure language responses. Agentic AI, nonetheless, goes past easy chat interactions. It makes use of superior reasoning and iterative planning to autonomously clear up advanced, non-deterministic multistep issues, turning insights into actions that improve productiveness.
What if we utilized agentic AI to the day-to-day operational challenges confronted by cloud native engineers? That’s the place kagent is available in.
Kagent is an open supply programming framework designed for DevOps and platform engineers to run AI brokers in Kubernetes. It helps engineers construct highly effective inner platforms by tackling cloud native duties similar to configuration, troubleshooting, advanced deployment eventualities, observability pipelines and dashboards, and safely enabling community safety (like mTLS, authentication/authorization modifications, and many others). Recognizing that totally different customers have totally different challenges, we designed kagent to be extensible—permitting DevOps engineers, platform groups, and gear builders to create and share their very own AI brokers.
Constructed on Microsoft’s AutoGen open supply framework, kagent gives a strong basis for AI-driven options in cloud native environments.
Structure of kagent
Kagent is constructed on three key layers: Instruments, Brokers, and the Framework.
Instruments: Pre-defined capabilities that AI brokers can use, similar to sending emails, looking out a database, displaying pod logs, or calling exterior APIs. Customers can combine Mannequin Context Protocol (MCP) servers as instruments or construct customized instruments.
Brokers: Autonomous methods able to planning, executing duties, analyzing outcomes, and constantly enhancing outcomes. Brokers make the most of a number of instruments to perform aims.
Framework: A easy interface to run brokers by way of UI or declaratively. The framework is absolutely extensible, permitting customers to develop new instruments or brokers, or prolong the framework itself.
Primarily based on our expertise, we’ve constructed instruments to work together with Kubernetes, Prometheus, Istio, and Argo, together with AI brokers to autonomously clear up a few of the commonest cloud native issues.
Be part of the kagent Neighborhood
When you’re a platform or DevOps engineer, and leveraging AI brokers to unravel cloud native operation challenges excites you, or for those who’re a developer or CNCF challenge maintainer taken with constructing AI brokers to counterpoint our ecosystem, we’d like to collaborate!
Take a look at our web site and GitHubrepository. Observe our getting began information to experiment with AI brokers in your Kubernetes cluster, and contribute your personal brokers and instruments to increase the cloud native AI ecosystem. Be part of the dialogue within the #kagent channel on CNCF Slack—we’d love to listen to from you!
We may also be at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe in London from April 1-4 on the Solo.io sales space if you’re taken with discussing the challenge additional.
Let’s construct the way forward for AI brokers to unravel cloud native operation challenges, collectively.
