Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

Archives for March 15, 2016

AMD claims it has 83 per cent of global VR systems market

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amd liquidvr
AMD LiquidVR

AMD claims it virtually owns the virtual reality systems market with a whopping 83 per cent market share. And yet the chipmaker says it is looking to further consolidate its dominance. 

AMD has revealed new advances in hardware and software to further the reach of VR, and unveiled its new GPU certified program that simplifies adoption of VR technology for consumers and content creators.

“AMD continues to be a driving force in virtual reality,” said Raja Koduri, senior vice president and chief architect, Radeon Technologies Group, AMD.

“We’re bringing the technology to more people around the world through our efforts to expand the VR ecosystem with VR i-Cafés in China, new Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets, and a wide variety of content partners in gaming, entertainment, education, science, medicine, journalism and several other exciting fields.”

AMD says it is also making VR more easily accessible to consumers and content creators with its GPU certified program featuring the new Radeon VR Ready Premium and Radeon VR Ready Creator tiers. Its forthcoming Polaris GPUs and AMD LiquidVR technology will “simultaneously advance groundbreaking VR-optimized graphics”, says the company.

Call centre jobs threatened by smart devices and machine learning, says Xerox

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call centres
Call centres are under pressure from smart devices and machine learning

Customer care – from the traditional call center to webchat to social media options – is being transformed almost daily by machine learning and smarter technology, according to a survey of 6,000 consumers by Xerox. 

In its report, The State of Customer Service, Xerox concludes that customer care is getting more personal but the leading trends emerging in 2016 indicate that smart machines may be key in driving the pursuit of individualized service.

“It’s clear that the relationships between consumers and brands will change radically over the next five years,” said Tim Joyce, chief innovation officer, Xerox Customer Care. “Customers expect a high quality of service and technology is maturing to the point where brands can efficiently meet those needs.”

DHL to roboticise the whole of its supply chain

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DHL vision of sorting centres of the future, featuring lots of robotics and automation technology
DHL vision of sorting centres of the future, featuring lots of robotics and automation technology

DHL says it is approaching a point in time where it decides that “robots are going to become essential in the world of logistics”. 

In a new trend report, Robotics in Logistics, Deutsche Post DHL Group says it is “revealing how collaborative robots will affect supply chains”. Robotics technology may soon be picking, packing and moving goods in the logistics environment.

Matthias Heutger, senior vice president strategy, marketing and innovation, DHL customer solutions and innovation, says: “Robots work in many industries but haven’t made an impact on logistics yet because of the complexity of the work – handling a wide array of different things in an infinite number of combinations, close to people and in confined spaces.

“Current research shows that 80 percent of logistics facilities today are still manual. Recently, however, technology is just starting to catch up to meet demands for flexible and low-cost robots that could collaboratively work in logistics.”  [Read more…] about DHL to roboticise the whole of its supply chain

ZMP starts taking orders for autonomous car

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zmp robocar
ZMP Robocar. The company is taking orders already

While many people in the rest of the world are wondering when autonomous cars will be technically proficient enough to be given clearance for operation by the authorities, a Japanese company has already started taking orders on its robotic cars. 

ZMP is accepting orders for the automatic operation technology development platform RoboCar MiniVan for public roads package for research and development. The company says the vehicle is equipped with various sensors computers for the public roads.

This product, the automatic operation technology development platform RoboCar MiniVan, is based on commercially available hybrid minivan, integrated laser scanner for sensing the ambient stereo camera, GPS and inertial sensor for measuring the position and behavior of the vehicle, the acquired sensor data.  [Read more…] about ZMP starts taking orders for autonomous car

Toyota Research Institute expands autonomous vehicle development team

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Toyota Research Institute (TRI) and Jaybridge Robotics announced today that the Jaybridge Robotics software engineering team has joined TRI.

“TRI’s mission is to bridge the gap between research and product development in many areas, including artificial intelligence, robotics and autonomous passenger vehicles,“ TRI CEO Gill Pratt said.

“The 16-member Jaybridge team brings decades of experience developing, testing, and supporting autonomous vehicle products which perfectly complements the world-class research team at TRI.”

Jaybridge CEO Jeremy Brown added: “Where Jaybridge has historically limited its focus to industrial applications such as agriculture and mining, TRI is going after the big one: helping to reduce the nearly 1.25 million traffic fatalities each year, worldwide. We couldn’t be more excited.”

The former Jaybridge team has joined TRI’s Cambridge, MA facility. Like everyone else at TRI, they will be working closely with counterparts at TRI facilities across the US, as well as with partner Toyota research and development teams around the world.

Intuitive Surgical expands EndoWrist stapler range

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intuitive surgical endowrist

Intuitive Surgical, the robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery equipment maker, says the United States Food and Drug Administration has provided clearance for the company’s da Vinci Xi EndoWrist Stapler 30 (30mm) instruments and reloads.

Availability of the Stapler 30 for the da Vinci Xi Surgical System expands the company’s EndoWrist Stapler portfolio through the offering of new curved and straight tip instruments and four reloads.

With general surgery, thoracic, gynecologic and urologic surgery indications, the Stapler 30 Curved-Tip instrument provides enhanced placement and visualization around tenuous vasculature. [Read more…] about Intuitive Surgical expands EndoWrist stapler range