Market trends and business perspectives
DW.com: Orders for German industrial goods have increased sharply, according to a report on the Deutsche Welle website.
Domestic demand incrased 6.7 per cent while foreign orders were up 3.9 per cent.
The higher demand for capital goods contrasts with business morale in Germany, which DW.com says fell in January.
A think tank in the UK has called on the government to fire 250,000 public sector workers and use automation technology instead.
The Reform group released a report in which it says that the government is excessively bureaucratic and inefficient.
Although similar ideas are being floated in the US, there seems no general public discussion about subject.
US President Donald Trump has, however, ordered a freeze on hiring for all civilian departments of the government.
Inquisitr.com: Scientists at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, are developing a new method of chemical analysis which stands to be 10,000 times more sensitive than tests currently used on the Mars Curiosity Rover.
Man walks into a coffee bar and says, “Waiter, coffee, black, no sugar.”
How anyone can drink coffee without milk, cream or sugar is beyond our understanding of human taste buds, but anyway…
A robot barista would not be making such judgments, and would serve up the coffee just as the man who walked into the bar had ordered it.
It might take a few years, but sooner or later, you will be served some drink or food somewhere by a robot. [Read more…] about Heard the one about the robot barista?
A company called Mecademic is showcasing what it claims is the world’s smallest and most accurate six-axis robot.
The Meca500 is small enough to fit into a briefcase and its makers claim that the tiny robotic arm has a repeatability of just 5 microns, or 5 millionths of a metre.
The Montreal, Canada-based Mecademic was founded by Jonathan Coulombe, who is the CEO. His co-founder was Ilian Bonev (pictured, with one of the company’s tiny robots). [Read more…] about Mecademic showcases ‘world’s smallest, most accurate’ 6-axis robot
Kuka’s new, lightweight collaborative robot has gone into series production, says the company.
The Kuka LBR Med – short for medical – is designed to be operated in the “immediate vicinity” of the human operator.
The robot maker sees the new cobot as having applications in the health sector, as “an assistant for tasks rehabilitation or in the operating room”. [Read more…] about Kuka’s new lightweight collaborative robot for medical applications goes into series production
