Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

Archives for August 2016

Making sense of big data: Graph technology and machine learning

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Machine learning and graph technology

Jonathan Wilkins, marketing director at EU Automation, looks at how graph technology and machine learning can be used to make sense of big data in the manufacturing industry

The theory of six degrees of separation, first proposed in 1929, suggested that every individual in the world was connected to anyone else in no more than five links. 

Today, social networking tools and graph technology can accurately map and extract valuable insights from the relationships between various entities in a network. 

Networks can also be analysed by machine learning, a technique in which a computer can adapt its own algorithms.  [Read more…] about Making sense of big data: Graph technology and machine learning

Denso enlists Applied Controls to expand operations in the US

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denso robots

Denso has enlisted Applied Controls to serve as one of the company’s key automation solution providers in the US. 

The contract enables Applied Controls to market and support Denso’s portfolio of robotics products as part of the robot-making giant’s expansion plans. 

Mark Anderson, Denso’s regional sales manager, says the Malvern, Pennsylvania distributor will have mid-Atlantic regional responsibility and will be making significant investments in training, personnel and demonstration hardware.  [Read more…] about Denso enlists Applied Controls to expand operations in the US

nuTonomy launches ‘world’s first’ public trial of self-driving car service and ride-hailing app

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nuTonomy, a developer of software for self-driving cars, has launched what it says is the first-ever public trial of a robo-taxi service.

The trial, which will continue on an on-going basis, is being held within Singapore’s one-north business district, where nuTonomy has been conducting daily autonomous vehicle testing since April.

Beginning today, select Singapore residents will be invited to use nuTonomy’s ride-hailing smartphone app to book a no-cost ride in a nuTonomy self-driving car that employs the company’s sophisticated software, which has been integrated with high-performance sensing and computing components.  [Read more…] about nuTonomy launches ‘world’s first’ public trial of self-driving car service and ride-hailing app

Elsevier releases two new books on control systems

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Elsevier has published two new books in the area of Control Systems. 

elsevier book - control systems 2

Learning-Based Adaptive Control: An Extremum Seeking Approach – Theory and Applications by Mouhacine Benosman

Adaptive control is well understood, yet it has a very active research frontier. This book focuses on a specific subclass of adaptive control, namely, learning-based adaptive control.

As systems evolve during time or are exposed to unstructured environments, it is expected that some of their characteristics may change.

The book offers a new perspective about how to deal with these variations.

By merging together Model-Free and Model-Based learning algorithms, it demonstrates, using a number of mechatronic examples, how the learning process can be shortened and optimal control performance can be reached and maintained.

The book is aimed at researchers and graduate students in adaptive robust control, and engineers in the mechatronics field.

elsevier book - control systems

Control of Complex Systems: Theory and Applications edited by Kyriakos Vamvoudakis and Sarangapani Jagannathan

This book cover a variety of interests within the broader field of learning, adaptation, optimization and networked control.

It groups these topics into five sections:

  1. Introduction and Background on Control Theory
  2. Adaptive Control and Neuroscience
  3. Adaptive Learning Algorithms
  4. Cyber-Physical Systems and Cooperative Control
  5. Applications

The diversity of the research presented gives readers a unique opportunity to explore a comprehensive overview of a field of great interest to control and system theorists.

The book is intended for researchers and control engineers in machine learning, adaptive control, optimization and automatic control systems.

Airbus and Renishaw team up to develop ‘innovative design approach to meet future demand for new aircraft’

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airbus

Renishaw is contributing its additive manufacturing expertise to a new £17.7 million project, being led by Airbus in the UK, to develop an innovative way of designing and manufacturing aircraft wings, which will encourage a “right first time approach” and reduce development time. 

More than 30,000 new aircraft are expected to be required in the next 15-20 years, replacing existing in-service models and also to expand airlines’ fleets as the number of air travellers increases. 

The project, called Wing Design Methodology Validation – or Windy – has been made possible thanks to joint industry and UK government investment from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), supported by the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI). It was one of a number of projects announced by BEIS during the Farnborough International Airshow.  [Read more…] about Airbus and Renishaw team up to develop ‘innovative design approach to meet future demand for new aircraft’

Amazon to open logistics centre filled with robot workers

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Amazon is growing its UK fulfilment centre network as it expands to meet customer demand, increases its product selection and supports more third party Marketplace sellers with Fulfilment by Amazon. 

The fulfilment centre will be Amazon’s 13th in the UK and will be equipped with advanced Amazon Robotics technology.

Amazon says its new fulfilment centre in Tilbury, Essex, will open in 2017, and create more than 1,500 new permanent jobs for humans next year. This is in addition to the 3,500 other humans the company already employs in the UK. The new centre will also be filled with autonomous logistics robots.  [Read more…] about Amazon to open logistics centre filled with robot workers

Volvo and Uber join forces to develop autonomous driving cars

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Volvo Cars, the Swedish car maker, and Uber, the ride-sharing company, are to join forces to develop next-generation autonomous driving cars.

The two companies have signed an agreement to establish a joint project that will develop new base vehicles that will be able to incorporate the latest developments in advanced driving technologies, up to and including fully autonomous driverless cars.

The base vehicles will be manufactured by Volvo Cars and then purchased from Volvo by Uber. Volvo Cars and Uber are contributing a combined $300 million to the project.  [Read more…] about Volvo and Uber join forces to develop autonomous driving cars

Giant distribution centers look to robots to deal with increasing e-commerce orders

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axium Distribution-center-robotic-depalletizing

Changes taking place in consumer behavior have drawn a new map, a new type of building and a new kind of automation for the retail sector.

Growth has taken place in both the number and size of the facilities that turn e-commerce orders into product deliveries. The distribution center, or operation fulfillment center, is increasingly emerging in locations that experience low real estate costs, offer tax incentives to locate there, have an available workforce for seasonal surges and offer multiple ways of transporting goods from their locations.

In the US, that means areas close to major metropolises, such as New Jersey and Oakland, CA, Midwestern hubs that are unencumbered by traffic-congested highways, such as Omaha, NB and Kansas City, MO, and traditional port cities such as Houston, TX, Norfolk, VA, and Savannah, GA. [Read more…] about Giant distribution centers look to robots to deal with increasing e-commerce orders

New Nitco solutions feature collaborative robotics and automation technology

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nitco Landoll-PT40-Precision-Telehandler-in-Action

Northland Industrial Truck (Nitco) has created a new division to concentrate on collaborative robotics and automation technologies. 

Nitco, which has been in business nearly 50 years, says its new strategic accounts division will “focus on many things including disruptive technology, innovation, fuel sources, automation, and cobotics”. 

Collaborative robotics, or cobotics, describes how the integration of robotic equipment coexists with people in the workplace.  [Read more…] about New Nitco solutions feature collaborative robotics and automation technology

IMTS visitors offered free ride in Olli, the self-driving vehicle from Local Motors

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olli self-driving bus

Visitors to this year’s International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) will be offered a free ride in Olli, the first self-driving vehicle from Local Motors, developed in association with IBM. 

IMTS has partnered with Local Motors to offer the IMTS Ride Experience featuring the breakthrough technology in Olli, the first self-driving electric vehicle equipped with IBM Watson Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

Built by Local Motors, Olli can carry up to 12 riders and will navigate a track in the C Hall of the North Building at IMTS 2016, September 12-17, McCormick Place, Chicago.  [Read more…] about IMTS visitors offered free ride in Olli, the self-driving vehicle from Local Motors

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