RE2 Robotics Sapien 6M arm designed

 for outdoor applications

By Steve Crowe | July 21, 2021

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RE2 Robotics is marking its 20th year in business with the launch of its newest robotic arm, the RE2 Sapien 6M. The milestone marks two successful decades of innovation and growth for the company in the robotics industry.

The RE2 Sapien 6M robotic arm is currently being used in several active robotics initiatives by commercial and defense customers who require a mobile outdoor-rated arm able to perform complex tasks. Specific applications include aviation maintenance, solar field construction, and aerial work across multiple industries.

The 6M robotic arm includes embedded intelligence, integrated arm control, a maximum payload of 50 kg, and a design that can withstand extreme temperatures and environmental conditions. The arm has six degrees of freedom, including continuous wrist and elbow roll joints, which enable precise manipulation and placement of objects.

RE2 Robotics Sapien 6M robotic arm.

Compatible with RE2 Detect and RE2 Intellect, the RE2 Sapien 6M enables autonomous mobile manipulation in both structured and unstructured environments. For applications that still require human intellect to perform a complicated task, the RE2 Sapien 6M arm can be tele-operated with the RE2 Imitative Controller.

“Our goal is to develop human-like robotic arm solutions that improve operational efficiencies, worker safety, and overall productivity for our customers. The RE2 Sapien 6M robotic arm is a leap-ahead technology that will support our customers’ complex applications across multiple markets,” said RE2 Robotics founder Jorgen Pedersen.

“It is exciting to see how RE2’s technology has evolved from unmanned ground vehicles and teleoperation to the creation of truly intelligent mobile manipulation systems, such as the RE2 Sapien 6M,” said Keith Gunnett, chief technology officer and one of RE2’s original employees. “While there are still applications that require direct teleoperation, our talented engineering teams are developing supervised autonomous systems that are powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence.”

RE2 was founded on July 20, 2001 as a defense subcontractor. Since its founding, RE2 has shipped more than 650 robotic arms to customers worldwide and received $3.75 million in investment. To date, the company has created robotic systems for more than 100 customers and received more than $75 million in funding from the Department of Defense.

“We have come a long way since our days as an engineering services lifestyle company,” said Pedersen. “I look forward to seeing what the next decade brings for the amazing team at RE2 Robotics.”

Pedersen and Travis Schneider, business development manager of RE2 Robotics, recently joined The Robot Report Podcast to discuss the evolution of the company. RE2 was focused nearly 100% on defense work in 2016, but now the defense sector accounts for less than one-third of its business. We also discussed RE2 Robotics’ new Sapien line of intelligent robotic arms. The arms, which were originally engineered for the rugged requirements of the U.S. military, can operate in both structured and unstructured environments. You can listen to that podcast below.

IT'S ALL GOOGLE

Alphabet spins out Intrinsic to simplify use of industrial robots

By Steve Crowe | July 23, 2021

Intrinsic’s motion planning software orchestrates four industrial robots to build wooden pods for an architecture project. | Photo Credit: Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich

Google parent company Alphabet announced its newest venture today. Intrinsic is a robotics software company that launched out of the X moonshot division of Alphabet. Details about Intrinsic’s software were scarce at press time, but the company said it is developing software tools designed to make industrial robots “easier to use, less costly and more flexible, so that more people can use them to make new products, businesses and services.”

Demand for industrial robots has surged over the past year as businesses scrambled to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. In Q1 2021, for example, industrial robot orders increased 19.6% across North America, according to the Association for Advancing Automation. Programming and re-programming robots for new tasks, however, still remains a major obstacle for many companies, and this is what Intrinsic is hoping to tackle.

Intrinsic said it has been exploring how automated perception, deep learning, reinforcement learning, motion planning, force control, and simulation can be combined to make industrial robots more useful and flexible. It said early tests showed it’s possible for an industrial robot to learn how to perform dexterous tasks and to apply what it has learned from one task to another similar task.

In one “real-world test,” Intrinsic worked with ETH Zurich to assemble wooden pods for an architectural project. They have four ceiling-mounted industrial robots at their Robotic Fabrication Lab to help with the assembly, which involves bringing sets of four panels together at the same time to be glued and cured. This complex task raised the challenge of coordinating the motion of all four robots simultaneously.

Intrinsic is led by CEO Wendy Tan-White. She is a veteran entrepreneur and investor who has served as VP of X since 2019,

“The surprisingly manual and bespoke process of teaching robots how to do things, which hasn’t changed much over the last few decades, is currently a cap on their potential to help more businesses,” Tan-White wrote in a blog introducing Intrinsic. “Specialist programmers can spend hundreds of hours hard coding robots to perform specific jobs, like welding two pieces of metal, or gluing together an electronics case. And many dexterous and delicate tasks, like inserting plugs or moving cords, remain unfeasible for robots because they lack the sensors or software needed to understand their physical surroundings.”

Tan-White said her team trained a robot in two hours to complete a USB connection task that would take hundreds of hours to program. The software also allowed two KUKA robots to assemble a simple piece of furniture.

“None of this is realistic or affordable to automate today – and there are millions of other examples like this in businesses around the world. This all hints at the potential for Intrinsic’s software to radically reduce the time, cost, and complexity required to use industrial robots – and therefore their long-term potential to help with a much wider range of problems and drive up the diversity of goods that can be produced affordably and sustainably.”

As a software-focused company, Intrinsic appears to play into one of Google’s many strengths. Google previously had a major focus on robotics, but primarily on the hardware side of things. Back in 2013, Google went on a robotics shopping spree, acquiring seven companies in about six months. Those companies included Boston Dynamics, Bot & Dolly, Industrial Perception, Meka Robotics, Redwood Robotics and Schaft.




Google eventually shut down most of these companies or sold them off. Boston Dynamics, for example, was sold to Softbank in June 2017. Softbank has since flipped that acquisition, selling the maker of the Spot quadruped to Hyundai Motor Group for nearly $1 billion.

Alphabet is also the parent company of Waymo, the world’s leading company developing autonomous vehicles.

Intrinsic isn’t doing press interviews at this time, so we’ll have to wait a bit to learn more specifics about its work. But ease of use has long been a challenge for the robotics industry. 

And it was the focus of a recent episode of The Robot Report Podcast

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Steve Crowe
Steve Crowe is Editorial Director, Robotics, WTWH Media, and co-chair of the Robotics Summit & Expo. He joined WTWH Media in January 2018 after spending four-plus years as Managing Editor of Robotics Trends Media. He can be reached at scrowe@wtwhmedia.com

41 percent of consumers say their next car will be electric

EY surveyed 9,000 people in 11 countries for its Mobility Consumer Index.

JONATHAN M. GITLIN - 7/20/2021

Enlarge / The biggest impediment to EV adoption appears to be cost of ownership, according to EY's 2021 Mobility Consumer Index.
Carlos Sanchez Pereyra/Getty Images

Electric vehicles are increasingly breaking into the mainstream. According to a new survey conducted by EY, 41 percent of consumers planning to buy a car say their next vehicle will be a plug-in. And they're mainly making that decision because of the environmental impact.

EY surveyed 9,000 consumers across 13 countries (Australia, Canada, China, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, the UK, and the US) in June of this year as part of its Mobility Consumer Index. The last time the firm conducted this survey, in September 2020, just 30 percent said their next car would be either a battery EV or plug-in hybrid EV.

Where do BEVs beat ICE?

EV adoption is moving faster in some places than others. In China, for example, 48 percent say their next car will be an EV, and only 43 percent say it will have an internal combustion engine (with 3 percent looking for a hydrogen fuel cell EV and the remaining 5 percent saying they are unsure). Sweden's numbers are near-identical, with a matching 48 percent wanting an EV.Advertisement

In South Korea, 51 percent indicate that an EV will be their next vehicle. In Singapore, 53 percent want an EV, and in Italy, a whopping 63 percent said their next vehicle would be a plug-in.

But in the other countries that EY surveyed, the internal combustion engine remains the most popular choice. In Australia, only 17 percent would buy an EV, versus 75 percent of Australians who want another carbon-burning car. There is little similarity between the US car market and India's, but in both cases, only 28 percent of consumers say they want an EV next. In New Zealand, 30 percent indicated an EV was in the cards. In Canada, 35 percent said the same, and in Germany, 38 percent plan to go electric. In the UK, 40 percent want a plug-in, and in Japan, 42 percent do.

In each country, the environment was the primary reason for wanting to electrify, and the major concern was the cost of ownership, not charging infrastructure. The good news is that time and again, research shows that EVs are cheaper to maintain and have a lower total cost of ownership than gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles.

 

EV SHORTCOMINGS

GM issues another Chevy Bolt recall over defect that increases risk of vehicle fires

Owners are advised to take precautions until replacement parts are ready

Sarah D. Young

Reporter and Editor

Photo (c) felixmizioznikov - Getty Images

General Motors (GM) issued another recall for its 2017-2019 Chevrolet Bolt EVs on Friday. The automaker said at least two more of the vehicles caught fire, despite having previously gotten a software fix for the battery defect identified in recent months. 

The company said it has identified a second “rare manufacturing defect” in the vehicles that increases the vehicles’ risk of catching fire. Although officials didn’t say exactly what the defects are, it said the problem stems from the cells that make up the Bolt’s battery pack. 

About 69,000 of the vehicles are affected globally, and nearly 51,000 of those cars are in the U.S.

GM is still preparing the recall. In the meantime, owners are being advised to take precautions until the company is able to complete the new recall fix. Those precautions include not charging the vehicle to more than 90% or letting it drop below 70 miles (or about 27%). Owners are also advised to charge their vehicle after each use. 

Free replacement parts coming

As it did in the previous recall, GM said owners shouldn’t park their vehicles inside or near their homes. Owners also shouldn’t leave their vehicle charging overnight. Company officials said the automaker will be replacing defective battery modules in the vehicles at no cost and that customers will be notified when replacement parts are ready. 

“We’re working with our supplier and manufacturing teams to determine how to best expedite battery capacity for module replacement under the recall,” said GM spokesman Dan Flores. “These teams are working around the clock on this issue.”

More information is available on the company's recall website. Owners with questions can also contact their preferred Chevrolet EV dealer or GM’s EV helpline at 1-833-EVCHEVY.

#BEN&JERRYS #BDS

NY State Comptroller Warns Unilever That Pension Fund Investments at Risk Over Ben & Jerry’s West Bank Boycott

by Algemeiner Staff
EXCLUSIVE

GLOBALIZATION 
A woman stands behind a machine that is part of a toothpaste manufacturing line at the Unilever factory in Lagos, Nigeria January 18, 2018. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

The New York state comptroller’s office has warned Unilever that Ben & Jerry’s’ West Bank sales boycott could threaten state pension fund investments in the UK-based multinational, according to a letter seen by The Algemeiner.

The letter — sent Friday to Unilever CEO Alan Jope, by the office’s executive director of corporate governance — said that State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is “troubled and concerned” over reports that Ben & Jerry’s, a subsidiary of Unilever, is involved in “BDS activities,” referring to efforts to boycott Israel.

New York’s Common Retirement Fund is the third-largest public pension fund in the US, serving over a million members, retirees, and beneficiaries. The letter warned Unilever that the state office views BDS activity as a “potential threat to Israel, its economy, and, as a result, the Fund’s relevant investments,” and noted that companies boycotting Israel are exposed to legal, reputational and financial risks.

“If the company fails to respond or fails to demonstrate that it has not engaged in BDS activities, the Fund’s investment in Unilever will be subject to a detailed review and staff recommendation, which may include investment restrictions,” it said.

On Monday, Unilever subsidiary Ben & Jerry’s announced it would not renew its license agreement with its current Israeli partner, saying that it was “inconsistent” with its values to sell products in “the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

Friday’s letter came as officials in several US states have sought to pressure both Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever, whose US operations are based in New Jersey, to reverse the decision.

Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis on Thursday asked the state’s Board of Administration to add the companies to a list of companies engaged in Israel boycotts.

“It has come to my attention that Ben and Jerry’s has announced plans to remove its products and prohibit the sale of its ice cream in Judea and Samaria,” DeSantis wrote.

“Should the State Board of Administration affirmatively place Unilever and its corporate entities on the Scrutinized Companies List and these companies do not cease the boycott of Israel as required by Florida Law, the Board must refrain from acquiring any and all Unilever assets consistent with the law.”

35 US states have laws opposing the BDS movement, and Israeli officials have pledged to call on officials in relevant jurisdictions to pressure Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s over the boycott.

Russia excludes senior Communist candidate from parliamentary vote

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian electoral authorities on Saturday barred a well-known Communist Party candidate from running in September's parliamentary election, the latest high-profile opposition figure to be disqualified from the vote.

© Reuters/TATYANA MAKEYEVA FILE PHOTO: Presidential candidate Pavel Grudinin attends a news conference after the end of the voting in the presidential election, in Moscow

Pavel Grudinin, who won 12% of votes when he challenged Vladimir Putin in a 2018 presidential election, was excluded from a candidate list because the Prosecutor's Office had found he held shares in a foreign company, news agencies reported.

Grudinin, a wealthy farm boss, denied having any foreign assets and linked his disqualification by the central election commission to the potential for opposition parties to post a strong result in September, Interfax reported.

A recent opinion poll showed the Communists and other opposition parties could pose a threat to the dominance of Putin's United Russia party in the State Duma, Russia's lower house, in the upcoming election.


"The (Communist) Party is an opposition party," Grudinin was quoted as saying by Interfax. "Someone is afraid of the big effect that a union of left-wing forces could have."

The party's leader, Gennady Zyuganov, vowed to appeal the decision at the Supreme Court, the TASS agency reported.

A poll by the independent Levada Centre in March found that while 27% of Russians would vote for United Russia, 10% would back the Communists and a further 12% planned to support the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR).

Saturday's decision follows the disqualification of several opposition figures, mainly affiliated with jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

A court ruling this month outlawed groups linked to Navalny as "extremist", and a new law prevents heads or members of such groups from running for the lower house of parliament or taking part in other elections for periods of three to five years.

(Writing by Polina Ivanova; Editing by Helen Popper)

Palestine Welcomes Decision To Investigate Israeli Violations

Young man waves a Palestinian flag in front of the territories occupied by Israeli forces. 

| Photo: Twitter/ @GR_Party

Published 23 July 2021 
by teleSUR/ Peter Bolton
Newsletter

An independent commission will look into Israeli violations of humanitarian and international human rights law in the Palestinian territories since April 13.

On Thursday, Palestine welcomed a decision by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNCHR) to form an independent international commission to investigate Israeli violations of Palestinian rights.

RELATED:
Ben & Jerry's To Stop Sales in Israeli Settlements

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the council's decision "reflects the international community's persistence to implement international law and protect Palestinian human rights," said the Palestinian Foreign Affairs Ministry.

"Forming the commission came in implementation of Palestine's decision in the council during its special session number 30," it recalled, adding that the commission will look into Israeli violations of humanitarian and international human rights law in the Palestinian territories since April 13.

The UNCHR President Nazhat Shameem Khan announced the appointment of Navi Pillay, Miloon Kothari, and Chris Sidoti as the three members of the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (CIOPT).

Pillay, a South African who was the former chief of the UNCHR, will serve as the chair of the new three-person commission, which was also tasked with investigating "all underlying root cause of recurrent tensions, instability and protraction of conflict."

In April, tensions escalated in East Jerusalem and then spread to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip following an Israeli court's verdict to evict families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in the city. On May 10, Israel waged a large-scale aerial offensive on the Gaza Strip after militants led by the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, launched a barrage of rockets at Israel.

The offensive ended after 11 days of fighting when Egypt brokered a ceasefire deal between the two sides. Over 250 Palestinians were killed, with widespread destruction of buildings and infrastructure in Gaza.

ECOCIDE, AIR POLLUTION

Dixie Fire now California’s largest wildfire of the season

Blaze grew to 142,940 acres Friday after surpassing the Beckwourth Complex

Smoke rises from the Dixie Fire burning along Highway 70 in Plumas National Forest, Calif., on Friday, July 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

By FIONA KELLIHER | fkelliher@bayareanewsgroup.com and JASON GREEN |

  jason.green@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED:  July 23, 2021 

Ten days after it broke out in remote Butte County, the Dixie Fire is now California’s largest wildfire of the season — and the fight to contain it is only expected to get more difficult.

As of Friday morning, the fire had scorched 142,940 acres — up nearly 30,000 acres overnight — and was about 18% contained, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. To the east, the Beckwourth Complex, the state’s previous leader, had charred 105,670 acres but was 98% contained.

The Dixie Fire has exploded across extremely dry, rugged terrain, torching treetops and running up steep hills out of reach of firefighting equipment. Through the weekend, more than 4,000 firefighters will face face hot temperatures and grueling hikes through thickly blanketed forests.

“You look at some of these places, and you’re looking straight across at trees, and they’re not far from you — but in between you and those trees might be a thousand feet down and a thousand feet back up,” said Rick Carhart, a public information officer with Cal Fire Butte County. “Imagine trying to work in those conditions and get tools and equipment into those places.”

The fire ignited July 14 about 10 miles northeast of Paradise. It remained more or less stable for several days – burning away from the footprint of the 2018 Camp Fire – before its spread accelerated over the weekend.

Crews’ top priority is to stop flames from reaching populated communities, including homes along the shore of the popular vacation destination Lake Almanor to the north, Jonesville and the High Lakes Area to the west, isolated pockets of homes along the Highway 70 corridor, and those near Buck’s Lake to the southeast, Carhart said.

Towns like Paradise and Concow have remained out of harm’s way as the fire burns northward. In that region and near Butt Valley reservoir, crews have partially relied on old bulldozer lines from past blazes such as the Camp Fire and the 2012 Chips Fire.

“We don’t want the fire moving toward the communities, but it does move into terrain that we can better defend,” Carhart said.

Still, drastically improving containment numbers will likely prove elusive through at least early next week: Fire-friendly weather conditions show no sign of letting up yet, Cal Fire incident meteorologist Julia Ruthford lamented in a briefing Thursday evening.


Relative humidity has remained in the low teens, and temperatures were forecast to soar into the 90s across the region this weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

“Unfortunately, that critical pattern is going to continue and actually worsen over the next couple of days,” said Ruthford. A ridge of high pressure is expected to build over the area, resulting in “significant warming” and even drier conditions, she added.

“I really wish I had better news to tell you,” she said.

The vegetation fueling the fire is meanwhile unusually dry for this time of the year, said Chris Waters, a deputy incident commander with California Incident Management Team One. Ground fuels — in particular large, deadened vegetation known as 1,000-hour fuels — are “already at critical levels and fully available to burn unimpeded,” he said.

“We are at conditions that we wouldn’t be seeing usually until we get to late September or early October, which is late in the year, and right now we are in mid-July,” Waters said.

Crews are also contending with long-range spot fires and new starts. Embers are traveling up the smoke column and sometimes falling up to five miles ahead of the main fire, something Waters said he hadn’t previously seen in his 20 years on the job. Late Thursday, a fresh blaze known as the Fly Fire broke out just north of Keddie in Butterfly Valley, quickly torching about 1,650 acres across Highway 70.

The Plumas County Sheriff’s Office has expanded mandatory evacuation orders to include Greenville, Crescent Mills, Round Valley Reservoir, Dixie Canyon and Indian Falls. A full list of current evacuation orders and warnings is available here.

Eight structures have been destroyed by the fire, and hundreds more are threatened.

The Dixie Fire is the latest to rock the state amid a historic drought that experts fear could make this year one of the West Coast’s worst fire seasons yet. To the north, the massive Bootleg Fire on the Oregon border has burned more than 400,000 acres and was about 40% contained as of Friday.
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As wildfire smoke spreads, who’s at risk?

Carthart could not estimate how much longer crews may be battling the Dixie Fire, but urged those in the region to heed evacuation warnings and to be extra cautious about starting new fires given how fast fuels are burning.

“Because this fire is so dynamic, we’re still noses to the ground, just working as hard as we can,” Carhart said.

PETITE IMPERIALIST PROVOCATION

UN council rejects reopening of Cyprus ghost town of Varosha

Turkish President Erdogan's calls for a two-state island were rebuffed by the UN's top body

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wave as they take part in a parade in the northern part of Cyprus's divided capital Nicosia. AFP

James Reinl
Jul 23, 2021

The UN Security Council on Friday condemned Turkey’s call for a two-state solution for Cyprus and moves by Turkish Cypriots to reopen an abandoned resort on the divided Mediterranean island.

The 15-nation council rejected efforts by Turkish Cypriots, backed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to revert a sliver of the Varosha ghost town to civilian control, paving the way for resettlement.

“The Security Council condemns the announcement in Cyprus by Turkish and Turkish Cypriot leaders on … the further reopening of a part of the fenced-off area of Varosha,” members said in an agreed-upon text.

“The Security Council expresses its deep regret regarding these unilateral actions that run contrary to its previous resolutions and statements.”

Council members also urged all sides to work towards a “just settlement” to the decades-old dispute “based on a bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality” between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.

The island was divided into a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north and an internationally recognised Greek Cypriot south in 1974 after Turkey’s invasion, which was prompted by a pro-Athens coup.

The country, now an EU member dominated by Greek Cypriots, and the UN both seek a federation of two regional administrations united as one nation of about 900,000 people.

A child swims behind a Turkish Army sign in the fenced-off area of Varosha in Famagusta, Northern Cyprus. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to visit the abandoned beach resort of Varosha. (IAKOVOS HATZISTAVROU/AFP)

On a visit to the north of divided Nicosia on Tuesday, Mr Erdogan said half a century of UN efforts had failed and called for “two peoples and two states with equal status”.

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, an ally of Mr Erdogan, announced the same day new steps in opening up the deserted Varosha area.

Under Mr Tatar’s plan, a 3.5-square kilometre sliver of Varosha and its abandoned tower blocks would revert from military to civilian control.

The moves triggered an angry reaction from the Greek Cypriot government and a chorus of disapproval from western powers, led by the US, which called the move “unacceptable”.

Varosha is a suburb of Famagusta, a city that was Cyprus’s tourism centre before 1974, with pristine beaches and modern hotels.

After Varosha’s 15,000 Greek Cypriot residents fled before advancing Turkish troops, the area was fenced off until last year, when Turkish and Turkish Cypriot authorities announced its reopening.

The area's former residents denounced the latest move as an effort to take advantage of their desperation over the area’s future and pressure them into selling their properties.

UN-mediated talks aimed at reuniting Cyprus ended in failure, with the last push for a peace deal, in July 2017, ending in acrimony.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres held informal talks with Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders in Geneva in April, which made little headway on the island’s future. Still, the UN chief said he would “not give up”.

READ MORE
EU will 'never accept' two-state Cyprus
US pushes for UN resolution rebuffing Turkey over Cyprus ghost town Varosha
Merkel not discouraged by Turkey-Cyprus setback

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

David Cameron and Greensill: Probe labelled ‘whitewash’ after saying lobbying system largely ‘worked well’

Review finds Lex Greensill enjoyed ‘extraordinary privileged’ access while the former prime minister ‘understated’ his role with financier’s firm – but did not break rules

David Cameron did receive some criticism in the report prepared by Nigel Boardman (Photo: Hannah McKay/Reuters)

By Arj Singh

July 22, 2021 

A Government-commissioned probe into the Greensill scandal has found that the lobbying system largely “worked well”, prompting accusations of a “whitewash”.

The long-awaited 141-page report by Nigel Boardman was commissioned by Boris Johnson amid a lobbying controversy which had former prime minister David Cameron at its heart.

The inquiry was launched in April after it emerged that Mr Cameron intensively and privately lobbied ministers to attempt to try to secure access to an emergency coronavirus loan scheme for Greensill Capital, where he took up a role in 2018.

The lobbying came after years of financier Lex Greensill enjoying what Mr Boardman described as “extraordinarily privileged” access to the Government after first taking up roles in Whitehall in 2012.

Mr Cameron was criticised in the report for “understating” his post-Government role with Greensill Capital while unsuccessfully lobbying ministers including Chancellor Rishi Sunak and then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock to get business for the supply chain finance company.

The late Cabinet Secretary Lord Heywood was also criticised for bringing his old Morgan Stanley colleague Mr Greensill into Whitehall and then failing to consider the potential conflict of interest as the financier built up his supply chain finance firm while using his Government role as a “marketing platform”.

But ultimately Mr Cameron was cleared of breaking any rules or laws, while serving ministers were praised for not allowing themselves to be unduly influenced by the firm’s lobbying, which deployed the likes of the former PM and ex-senior officials.

The report, released on Thursday, said concerns that the rules around lobbying allow the exploitation of loopholes, lack transparency and give a “privileged few” a “disproportionate level of access” were somewhat justified.

But ultimately, the system “worked well” in the case of the Greensill affair, the report said.

“Those lobbying government on behalf of Greensill Capital at times used strong methods,” Mr Boardman wrote.

“However, it is worth noting that, while there are improvements to be made, the current system and those operating within it worked well.”

By the time Greensill Capital was declared insolvent earlier this year, it was only providing finance for the Government through a pharmacy early-pay scheme and through offering an app for early-wage payments to some NHS trusts, the report said.

“This low take-up of supply chain finance by government attests to the fact that ministers and civil servants made the proper analysis of the products being offered to them and did not allow their judgment to be influenced under the pressure being applied by Greensill Capital,” it added.

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said the report was “was set up as a classic Boris Johnson cover-up and whitewash to protect the Government”

She pointed out that Mr Boardman is an appointed Government non-executive director “whose firm worked with the Treasury on corporate financing and had previously campaigned against lobbying reforms”.

She added: “The Greensill scandal proves beyond all doubt that the rules that are supposed to regulate lobbying are completely unfit for purpose and require radical and immediate overhaul.”

In a statement, Mr Cameron said he was “pleased” that the report confirmed that he broke no rules and that he was not responsible for bringing Mr Greensill into the Government.

On Tuesday, a separate report by MPs on the Commons Treasury committee found Mr Cameron had abused his position as former PM when he lobbied ministers over Greensill, but that he did not break any rules.