Archives for December 12, 2016

Case study: A task for two collaborative robots

December 12, 2016 by Mark Allinson

Vision-guided collaborative robots deliver fast return on investment in production of firehose valves

Task Force Tips, a manufacturer of firefighting equipment, wanted to promote and maximize their personnel tending machining cells into more complex tasks while keeping spindle time up and product quality consistent.

The Indiana-based manufacturer has now installed four collaborative Universal Robots delivering savings resulting in a return on their investment in only 34 days.

CEO of Task Force Tips, Stewart McMillan, still remembers his father looking up at him with pen in hand asking, “Are you sure about this?”, when the family-owned company bought their first CNC machine 40 years ago.  [Read more…] about Case study: A task for two collaborative robots

Opinion: 5 reasons why a video intercom is a must for safety in the home

December 12, 2016 by Mark Allinson

Five safety reasons for installing a video intercom in your home

In 2014 a charter school in Arizona took a big step towards bettering the security of their campuses: they implemented a video intercom system to help monitor entryways.

While there have never been any significant threats to AmeriSchool’s campuses, administrators elected to heighten security measures after the horrific events unfolded at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.

The school brought in engineers to install remote-controlled mag locks on all of the doors and a video intercom system at the entrances of each AmeriSchool. Doors remain locked for 30 minutes after classes begin and the 30 minutes prior to the final bell. [Read more…] about Opinion: 5 reasons why a video intercom is a must for safety in the home

Connected cars: Driving the future

December 12, 2016 by Mark Allinson

By Andrew Till, vice president, technology, partnerships and new solutions, Harman Connected Services

Of all the day-to-day aspects of our lives, transport looks set to experience some of the most dramatic changes as the Internet of Things progresses.

It will impact everything from the driving experience to the very concept of car ownership. And with those changes comes a huge amount of opportunity for car manufacturers, cloud providers and telecommunications companies.

The potential that the IoT holds for the automotive market is only going to increase as new technology reaches the market. It’s set to come into its own once we see vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications systems and cars with true “hands off” autonomous driving capabilities hitting the road, but even now the fundamentals are in place. [Read more…] about Connected cars: Driving the future

Robomotion and Sotec demonstrate cloud-connected Kuka industrial robot work cell

December 12, 2016 by Abdul Montaqim

kuka sotec robomotion — The first KR 3 Agilus is handed over to Dr Andreas Wolf, of Robomotion (second from left) and Florian Holz, of Sotec (third from left)

Industrial robotics and automation solutions provider Robomotion and software company Sotec have demonstrated a robotic work cell which they built around the Kuka KR Agilus robot.

The companies claim the cell is an example of “hands-on Industrie 4.0”.

The KR 3 Agilus is at the heart of the demo cell developed by Robomotion and Sotec, and the companies say the cell “demonstrates how the flow of data between robots and the cloud can work”.

Florian Holz, CEO of Sotec, says: “We want to give people an opportunity to experience the technology of Industrie 4.0 that we developed together at first hand.” [Read more…] about Robomotion and Sotec demonstrate cloud-connected Kuka industrial robot work cell