Archives for July 21, 2017

Google grants almost $1 million to press agency developing robot journalists

The writer of this article is human, but soon you may be reading articles on this website which are written by robots or automation software.

And who knows, some of the articles you read online may already be written by robots. Over the course of a longer period of time, you’ve almost certainly read something written by automation software.

Companies such as Automated Insights have been supplying thousands of articles a month to a variety of clients for a couple of years. [Read more…] about Google grants almost $1 million to press agency developing robot journalists

MIT reveals robot to inspect pipes, while Stanford shows ‘vine-like growing robot’

Universities are doing a lot of interesting work in the area of robotics, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford are two of the most active in the field.

Both universities showed similar robots this week, MIT’s being a bottle-shaped device which checks pipes and Stanford’s one a machine which is said to grow like a vine.

According to DigitalTrends.com, MIT’s PipeGuard team recently won $10,000 in the university’s competition and swims through pipes to detect any problems.

The YouTube video for the device (above) describes as a “leak detection robot for city water distribution systems”.

Stanford, which also made a video (below) of its strange plant- or worm-like organic robot, if it can be called that, said its invention “could be useful in search and rescue and medical applications”.

Commercial customers for the robots are probably already lined up and perhaps the two teams could spin out into startup companies.

Fanuc launches ‘extremely compact’ new arc welding robot

Fanuc says its new arc welding robot Arc Mate 100iD is “extremely compact” and is the next generation of the Arc Mate Robot Series

The new Arc Mate 100iD welding robot is the first model of the new Arc Mate series, succeeding its predecessor Arc Mate 100iC/12.

As of September 2017, the Arc Mate 100iD can be ordered and will be publicly displayed at these two trade shows in Germany: EMO in Hannover and Schweissen & Schneiden in Düsseldorf.

Matteo Ferrari, arc welding and laser robot product manager at Fanuc Europe, says: “The new Arc Mate 100iD welding robot reaches remarkable productivity improvements for clients thanks to its superior motion performance, decreased installation efforts and ownership costs due to its seamless integration with weld process equipment. [Read more…] about Fanuc launches ‘extremely compact’ new arc welding robot

Robotics and automation news is good for ABB, says CEO

Industrial giant ABB is reporting a 3 per cent growth in total orders across its operation, but most of it seems to be coming from robotics.

Net income was $525 million – for the second quarter ending July 6. Gross profit, however, was down 5 per cent, and was only $1 billion. Total revenues were up 1 per cent at almost $8.5 billion.

ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer says: “In Q2, ABB continued to build its growth momentum as our targeted initiatives are delivering. Order growth was broad-based and across all regions.

“Our industry-leading digital offering, ABB Ability, is taking off and starting to contribute to growth.

“Operational performance in the power grids and industrial automation divisions was solid in the quarter. Electrification products and robotics and motion improved margins sequentially, but were not able to fully compensate commodity price headwinds and overcapacity during the quarter. [Read more…] about Robotics and automation news is good for ABB, says CEO

Manufacturing and construction driving growth in Vietnamese automation and control systems market, says report

Despite slowdowns in certain industries, Vietnam’s automation and control systems market is witnessing stable growth, according to a report by Frost & Sullivan.

Robust expansion in the manufacturing and construction sectors plus increased foreign direct investment, growing end-user need to optimize processes and improve efficiency, and development of special economic zones are factors fuelling growth.

Nonetheless, barriers to market entry are high. To succeed in a fiercely competitive ecosystem, automation vendors must embrace new technologies, such as Internet of Things, collaborate with developers of machine-to-machine technologies, and become one-stop integrated solution providers. [Read more…] about Manufacturing and construction driving growth in Vietnamese automation and control systems market, says report

Interview: Robotic Vision Technologies boss eyes growth of global collaborative robotics market

Interview with Rick Weidinger, CEO of Robotic Vision Technologies

A human eye transmits data to the brain at a rate of approximately 10 million bits a second, which is about the equivalent of the capacity of some Ethernet connections.

This was the finding of a study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and while that may be debatable, and perhaps doesn’t tell the whole story of the complexity of the human eye, it’s probably a widely accepted idea that our eyes collect and transmit more data than do our other “sensors”, if they can be called that – the ones for sound, touch, smell and taste – which, with sight, make up our five human senses.

Robots, of course, only have senses because their makers want to integrate sensors into them. [Read more…] about Interview: Robotic Vision Technologies boss eyes growth of global collaborative robotics market

Higher wages and pressure to bring back manufacturing to the US could result in millions of job losses in clothes-making industry in Asia

A combination of higher wages in Asian countries and a trend for bringing back manufacturing to the US could dismantle large parts of Asian economies, many of which depend on the textiles and clothes manufacturing trades for huge portion of their national income.

An interesting video report by the Financial Times points to this possible future, but adds that in practice, for now, “almost all of the world’s T-shirts and jeans by millions of cheap workers, mostly women, watching over sewing machines”.

And beyond T-shirts and jeans, the vast majority of jobs and tasks in the clothes manufacturing sector in general is still done by humans. [Read more…] about Higher wages and pressure to bring back manufacturing to the US could result in millions of job losses in clothes-making industry in Asia

Octopuz releases new version of industrial robot programming software

Octopuz has released the latest version of its industrial robot programming and simulation software.

The company says Octopuz 1.7 is packed with new features and enhancements, including robot code importing, NC code importing, an all-new tool manager, and URP program generation for UR robots.

Octopuz has also added something called SmartPath, which provides automated methods of orientating the robot and making changes to solve conflicts. [Read more…] about Octopuz releases new version of industrial robot programming software