Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

Archives for April 2017

Tata to launch first India-made industrial robot Brabo in May

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tata brabo

TAL Manufacturing Solutions, a Tata Group company, is expected to launch first ever India-made robot before May 2017.

Dubbed “Tata Brabo”, the robot has been showcased at the recent Make in India week in Mumbai.

Brabo has been developed in-house by a team of six engineers whose average age is 24 years, led by Anil Bhingurde, chief operating officer of TAL Manufacturing Solutions.

The development cost is reported to be about Rs 10 crore ($1.6 million).  [Read more…] about Tata to launch first India-made industrial robot Brabo in May

Toyota demonstrates robot to make elderly people walk faster

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By Naomi Tajitsu, Reuters

Japanese automakers are looking beyond the industry trend to develop self-driving cars and turning their attention to robots to help keep the country’s rapidly graying society on the move.

Toyota said it saw the possibility of becoming a mass producer of robots to help the elderly in a country whose population is ageing faster than the rest of the world as the birthrate decreases.

The country’s changing demographics place its automakers in a unique situation. Along with the issues usually associated with falling populations such as labor shortages and pension squeezes, Japan also faces dwindling domestic demand for cars.

Toyota, the world’s second largest automaker, made its first foray into commercializing rehabilitation robots on Wednesday, launching a rental service for its walk assist system, which helps patients to learn how to walk again after suffering strokes and other conditions.  [Read more…] about Toyota demonstrates robot to make elderly people walk faster

Universal Robots partners with Nissan to increase manufacturing productivity through collaborative robots

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Universal Robots says Nissan has simplified processes, reduced relief worker costs and stabilised production output through deployment of the company’s UR10 cobots

Universal Robots says the Nissan Motor Company has successfully deployed Universal Robots’ UR10 robot arms at its Yokohama factory. 

The automaker joins other global automotive manufacturers including BMW and Volkswagen who are using Universal Robots’ collaborative robots (cobots) to automate their processes.

Universal Robots says that through the deployment of its cobots, Nissan has enhanced its production processes, resulting in a higher level of output and stability as well as time and cost efficiencies. Nissan’s ageing workforce also enjoy a reduced workload, and were redeployed to less strenuous tasks.  [Read more…] about Universal Robots partners with Nissan to increase manufacturing productivity through collaborative robots

Aerospace industry places unique demands on holemaking technology

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Boeing_Factory

Plan ahead to get tooling that can handle today’s new materials, say Nate Craine and Greg Torres, of Allied Machine & Engineering

The aerospace industry is bigger than ever. As more and more people rely on air transport, the Airbus Global Market Forecast predicts the need for 33,000 new passenger and freighter aircraft in the next 20 years.

Between recent space endeavors and increasing air traffic, fabricators are constantly faced with new problems to solve.

In aerospace, the parts needed are often unique or newly designed and the deadlines are tight. With materials constantly changing, fabricators must be able to create new ways of safely and effectively drilling through them in as short a time as possible.  [Read more…] about Aerospace industry places unique demands on holemaking technology

EIT Digital launches ‘Robot IoT Interface’ solution

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The Isoyobot collaborative robot
The Isoyobot collaborative robot

EIT Digital has launched what it calls a “Robot IoT Interface”, a new technology project being developed with the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and Poitiers-based startup Agileo Automation.

The goal of the technology is to enable different kind of robots and machines to connect to different cloud platforms.

Agileo’s managing director, Marc Engel, says: “Robots and machines may produce data in a standard or non- standard format according to their internal controller.

“The devised solution is a generic gateway that can receive the produced data, translate it into an OPC-UA model and then make it available in an IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) platform located in the cloud.”  [Read more…] about EIT Digital launches ‘Robot IoT Interface’ solution

ABB makes SafeMove2 control software available on the IRB 1200 industrial robot

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ABB IRB 1200 Robot

Monitoring and control software now comes with company’s smallest material and machine tool handling robot 

ABB Robotics says SafeMove2 is now also available for IRB 1200, the smallest ABB robot to feature its advanced safety-certified monitoring and control software.

SafeMove2 enables people to work safely alongside ABB robots with payloads ranging from 6kg to 800kg without compromising productivity.

It also provides an optimum level of collaboration and flexibility to higher speed and throughput applications which typically require more insular, intrusive levels of safety.  [Read more…] about ABB makes SafeMove2 control software available on the IRB 1200 industrial robot

Fetch Robotics unveils expanded line of autonomous mobile robots

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Company says it now offers “comprehensive options” for autonomous collaboration with transport robots

Fetch Robotics has introduced two new autonomous mobile robots to its fleet: Freight500 and Freight1500.

Both new robots, like the Freight predecessor, operate safely in commercial and industrial environments where they are deployed to automate the delivery of bulky and heavy loads.

The company and the new robots were showcased at ProMat 2017 in Chicago, Illinois, a few days ago.  [Read more…] about Fetch Robotics unveils expanded line of autonomous mobile robots

Fanuc launches R-30iB Plus robot controller

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Fanuc R-30iB Plus robot controller

Fanuc is introducing its new R-30iB Plus robot controller at the annual Fanuc Open House event on April 10-13 at its headquarters in Japan.

The new R-30iB Plus controller features a new iPendant with an enhanced screen resolution and processing capability.

The user interface, iHMI, has an icon-based screen which provides a familiar and easy-to-use experience with intuitive guides for setup and programming.  [Read more…] about Fanuc launches R-30iB Plus robot controller

ABB to acquire B&R

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abb b&r

ABB is to acquire B&R, said to be the largest independent provider focused on product- and software-based, open-architecture solutions for machine and factory automation worldwide.

B&R, founded in 1979 by Erwin Bernecker and Josef Rainer, is headquartered in Eggelsberg, Austria, and employs more than 3,000 people, including about 1,000 R&D and application engineers.

It operates across 70 countries, generating sales of more than $600 million (2015/16) in the $20 billion machine and factory automation market segment.  [Read more…] about ABB to acquire B&R

Learning through play: Omron shows off table tennis-playing robot

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For some time, practitioners of mind sports have been grappling with artificial intelligence (AI). Computer brains have already beaten the best human players in chess and Go.

The picture is quite different for sports that require both mental and physical skills. Physical interaction with a human is an enormous challenge for developers of intelligent robots.

Omron, one of the world’s leading companies in industrial automation, has successfully taken on this challenge.

The company is currently in Hannover to show how the third generation of Forpheus, a table tennis robot, adds artificial intelligence to its core skills of sensor and control technology.  [Read more…] about Learning through play: Omron shows off table tennis-playing robot