Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

Archives for December 19, 2017

On the way to autonomous driving: Mercedes-Benz on an automated test drive in South Africa

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Daimler Mercedes-Benz has been testing its autonomous driving technologies on the roads in South Africa

Road traffic in South Africa poses some very special challenges: different road surfaces, wild animals on the road and many pedestrians in both urban traffic and on national roads, which often cross the road completely unexpectedly.

Automated and autonomous vehicles must take these special features into account and respond reliably.

On the fourth leg of the Mercedes-Benz Intelligent World Drive, the test vehicle, which is based on the S-Class series sedan, presents its South African peculiarities in automated test drives in the Western Cape Province and in Cape Town.  [Read more…] about On the way to autonomous driving: Mercedes-Benz on an automated test drive in South Africa

Comau releases Android app for managing its robots

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Comau has launched the latest version of a new app through which its industrial robots can be monitored and managed. 

The app runs on smartphones and tablets using the Android operating system, and is called PickApp (screenshot below).

Comau suggests smartphones and tablets could be a viable alternative to the traditional human-machine interfaces used in the industrial sector.  [Read more…] about Comau releases Android app for managing its robots

Saint-Gobain plant reduces injuries with Robotiq force-torque sensor

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Glass production company says it has reduced injuries and improved production using collaborative robot

Saint-Gobain’s plant in Sully-sur-Loire, France, focuses on glass production for the armoured and aeronautical industries, and the civil market.

In their shift towards Industry 4.0, Saint-Gobain’s management has installed collaborative robot cells to free employees from tedious and repetitive tasks.

The company says Robotiq’s FT 300 Force Torque Sensor has proven “essential” to automate the grueling glass polishing process. (See video below.) [Read more…] about Saint-Gobain plant reduces injuries with Robotiq force-torque sensor

Rio Tinto preparing autonomous mining trucks suitable for gigantic alien astronauts

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The trucks used in the mining industry are so large that they’re only suitable for 20-foot-tall giant aliens. 

Which is okay for the many archaeologists who claim to have found giant alien bones suggesting a race of beings of said height roamed Earth many thousands of years ago.

These giants of old were said to be super-intelligent beings – due to their presumably super-large brains – and probably built the pyramids and other megalithic structures around the world.  [Read more…] about Rio Tinto preparing autonomous mining trucks suitable for gigantic alien astronauts