Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

Archives for December 13, 2017

Bend it like Comeco: Nord helps Swedish company to improve rebar bending process

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Looking for ways to improve their machines’ usability and to economize on manufacturing costs, the Swedish company Comeco decided to launch a new line of rebar benders with electric drives instead of hydraulics.

Nord DriveSystems supported the company from the early planning phase through to production, configuring an AC vector drive with an integrated programmable logic controller that controls all machine functions.

The current solution is simpler, more robust, and easier to maintain, says Comeco. In addition to substantial savings for procured parts, the assembly time was halved.  [Read more…] about Bend it like Comeco: Nord helps Swedish company to improve rebar bending process

The big feature: Urban mobility in China – why car sharing is set to take off

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By Klaus Schmitz, Arthur D. Little

China’s dominating chauffer companies, Didi and Uber China, merged in 2016, wrapping up a history of fierce competition for the city-mobility market.

The two are now left with a huge shared customer pool that knows a lot about their choices for mobility.

The new phase being ushered in is car sharing, which is poised for explosive growth across China.

In this article, Klaus Schmitz of consultancy firm Arthur D Little examines the market dynamics and the major hurdles, and makes predictions for the future of the Chinese car-sharing scene.  [Read more…] about The big feature: Urban mobility in China – why car sharing is set to take off

Vecna Robotics wins DHL logistics automation competition

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Vecna Robotics, a provider of robotic material handling autonomous ground vehicles, has been awarded first place in the DHL and Dell Robotics Mobile Picking Challenge 2017.

The event was held last week at the DHL Innovation Center in Troisdorf, Germany.

The challenge required a mobile robot capable of navigating traditional warehouse shelves, and picking boxes and totes.  [Read more…] about Vecna Robotics wins DHL logistics automation competition

Chinese robot makers produced more than 100,000 industrial robots in first 10 months of 2017

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Chinese robot makers manufactured more than 100,000 industrial robots in the first 10 months of this year, according to the Communist Chinese government’s propaganda mouthpiece Xinhua. 

The unstoppable growth indicates a massive increase in output of 70 per cent compared with the previous year, says Xinhua.

And if the output of the two months of 2017 not yet counted – November and December – were to be included, the total production is likely to surpass 120,000.  [Read more…] about Chinese robot makers produced more than 100,000 industrial robots in first 10 months of 2017

Hillcrest Labs launches new sensor node for augmented and virtual reality

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Hillcrest Labs, a subsidiary of InterDigital, has launched the latest expansion of its sensor node product line.

The BNO085, a 9-Axis System in Package (SiP), features an enhanced sensor fusion algorithm tuned specifically for use in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and 3D audio applications.

VR systems that use BNO085 benefit from more accurate alignment between the controllers and headset even when the controllers are outside the field of view of the systems’ cameras.  [Read more…] about Hillcrest Labs launches new sensor node for augmented and virtual reality