Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

Archives for March 20, 2019

Semi symposium to consider potential of new technologies

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Semiconductor industry association SEMI has organised a symposium to consider the technology requirements of Europe going forward.

The SEMI Industry Strategy Symposium (ISS Europe), scheduled for 31 March to 2 April 2019 in Milan, Italy will soon host discussions about Europe’s most relevant strategic, economic and social needs.

Top European companies, research and public institutions will debate on how Europe can seize the full potential of digital innovation through collaborations in the electronics, components and systems community – from enterprises of all sizes to researchers and academia.  [Read more…] about Semi symposium to consider potential of new technologies

Abstract raises $30 million to enable designers to work like developers

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Abstract, the git-enabled design workflow platform that already supports thousands of modern product design teams, has raised $30 million in Series C funding.

Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round with participation from existing investors Scale Venture Partners, Amplify Partners, and Cowboy Ventures, bringing the total funding to-date to $54.2 million.

As part of this financing, Lightspeed partner Nakul Mandan will be joining the company board.  [Read more…] about Abstract raises $30 million to enable designers to work like developers

Markforged raises $82 million to bring industrial 3D printing to mass production

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Markforged, a manufacturer of industrial 3D printers, has closed an $82 million Series D round of funding.

The round was led by Summit Partners with participation from existing strategic and financial partners, including Matrix Partners; M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund; Next47; and Porsche SE.

Markforged says it will use the additional capital to help accelerate its product roadmap, including the introduction of mass production printers and new materials.  [Read more…] about Markforged raises $82 million to bring industrial 3D printing to mass production

Nvidia to acquire Mellanox for $7 billion

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Nvidia and Mellanox have reached a definitive agreement under which Nvidia will acquire Mellanox.

Nvidia will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Mellanox for $125 per share in cash, representing a total enterprise value of approximately $6.9 billion.

The acquisition will unite two of the world’s leading companies in high-performance computing.  [Read more…] about Nvidia to acquire Mellanox for $7 billion

Intel and Cray contracted by US government to develop ‘first exascale supercomputer’

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Chip giant Intel and high-performance computing specialist Cray are both working with the US government’s Department of Energy to develop what is claimed to be the world’s first exascale supercomputer.

The word “exascale” in this context refers to computing systems capable of at least one billion billion – or one quintillion – floating-point operations, or FLOPs.

That’s 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 computer calculations per second and represents a thousandfold increase over petascale supercomputers, which is the de facto standard today.  [Read more…] about Intel and Cray contracted by US government to develop ‘first exascale supercomputer’

PalTac selects RightHand Robotics to further automate supply chain operations

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RightHand Robotics, a provider of robotic piece-picking solutions, has partnered with PalTac, Japan’s largest wholesaler of consumer packaged goods.

The collaboration will introduce RightHand’s newest piece-picking solution to the Japanese market, with multiple workstations to be installed in PalTac’s newest facility, RDC Saitama, opening later in 2019 in Sugito, Saitama Prefecture, Japan.

Japan represents a huge and growing market for automation as the world’s second-largest retail sector, with annual sales exceeding $1.3 trillion.  [Read more…] about PalTac selects RightHand Robotics to further automate supply chain operations

Underwater robot captures invasive lionfish in the Atlantic

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The non-profit organisation Robots in Service of the Environment (RSE) has announced the RSE Guardian LF1 Mark 3 prototype, an affordable unmanned undersea robot designed to control the population of invasive lionfish in the Western Atlantic.

This next-generation robot, funded in part by RSE’s Kickstarter campaign, accelerates the capture of lionfish at the critical action breeding depth below safe diver depth.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, researchers have discovered that a single lionfish residing on a coral reef can reduce native reef fishes by 79 percent.

[Read more…] about Underwater robot captures invasive lionfish in the Atlantic

Hitachi and DFKI develop sensor suit to improve workplace safety

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Hitachi and DFKI have jointly developed a “sensor suit” which uses artificial intelligence to quantify the physical load and stress on manual workers.

Hitachi and DFKI – short for the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence – say the AI-based suit can provide “effective feedback on the movement of each body part”.

This AI technology performs real-time recognition and quantification of a physical load exerted on a worker’s body during work by using the motion data of each body part obtained through sensors in wearable devices.  [Read more…] about Hitachi and DFKI develop sensor suit to improve workplace safety

Nvidia launches $99 ‘Nano’ computer for robotics development

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Nvidia has launched the “Jetson Nano” computer, saying it is designed to deal with artificial intelligence and makes it possible to create “millions of intelligent systems”. 

The small but powerful CUDA-X AI computer delivers 472 gigaflops of compute performance for running modern AI workloads and is highly power-efficient, consuming as little as 5 watts.

Unveiled at the GPU Technology Conference by Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang, Jetson Nano comes in two versions – the $99 devkit for developers, makers and enthusiasts and the $129 production-ready module for companies looking to create mass-market edge systems.  [Read more…] about Nvidia launches $99 ‘Nano’ computer for robotics development

Mitsubishi Electric to set up industrial automation company in the Philippines

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Mitsubishi Electric Corporation plans to establish a new company, MELCO Factory Automation Philippines Inc. (MELAP) in the Philippines, to further expand Mitsubishi Electric’s factory automation (FA) business in the country.

MELAP will be jointly established by Mitsubishi Electric, Setsuyo Astec Corporation (STC) and Integrated Factory Automation Inc. (IFA), a FA product distributor and long-time partner of Mitsubishi Electric in the Philippines.

The new company, which will start operating from June 2019, will provide sales and technical service for FA products.

[Read more…] about Mitsubishi Electric to set up industrial automation company in the Philippines