Market trends and business perspectives
Locus Robotics has broken its own record in terms of productivity numbers in November 2019. (See infographic below.)
The warehouse robot maker delivered more than 13 million units picked on behalf of global retail and third party logistics partners during the critical holiday season.
Locus says this is a 400 per cent increase in units picked over last year. [Read more…] about Locus Robotics picks ‘record-breaking’ 13 million units during 2019 holiday period
A company called Grote has demonstrated a robotic sandwich-making system which it developed in partnership with Stäubli Robotics. (See video below.)
Grote is a manufacturer of food processing equipment and the system it showcased at the International Baking Industry Exposition is said to be feature “robotic food contact for the first time in America”.
Grote’s systems shows how it utilizes Stäubli’s TX2-60 HE robotic arms to assemble sandwiches, cut them, and place them on trays. [Read more…] about Grote demonstrates robotic sandwich-making system
Realtime Robotics, a developer of responsive motion planning software for industrial robots and autonomous vehicles, is expanding its partnership with Mitsubishi Electric.
The company is to develop a “custom integrated solution” that pairs Realtime Robotics’ smart motion planning technology with Mitsubishi Electric’s industrial and collaborative robot product lines.
The intelligent robots will be on display at iREX later this month and there will be a series of demonstrations showcasing the motion-planning technology in action. [Read more…] about Realtime Robotics extends technology relationship with Mitsubishi Electric
The next automatica event will occupy a record area of 76,000 square meters. There will be an additional hall, more than 900 exhibitors and new highlights. Munich will be the meeting place for the international automation industry from June 16 to 19, 2020.
Visitors to automatica 2020 will find answers to the questions about how the topics of digital transformation, man and machine as well artificial intelligence will affect the manufacturing world of tomorrow.
Falk Senger, managing director of Messe München, organiser of the event, says: “automatica is aimed at companies from all sectors of industry. The range of topics goes far beyond a traditional exhibition. [Read more…] about Robotics and automation event ‘automatica’ to occupy record 76,000 square meters
The growth of industrial robot revenues slowed in 2019 but is forecast to pick up again towards late 2020 and accelerate in 2021, according to new market research from Interact Analysis.
The market intelligence firm released a new market report focusing on the industrial robot market which outlines reasons to be positive in the sector, despite an immediate, short term decline in revenues. [Read more…] about Growth of industrial robot market ‘slowed in 2019 but long-term forecast is positive’
Fanuc, the world’s largest manufacturer of industrial robots, is partnering with Soft Robotics to develop new gripper solutions. (See video below.)
Soft Robotics, a startup which has produced much-discussed end-effectors that are soft and capable of handling soft products that may be of variable shape, says the strategic partnership with Fanuc will accelerate the adoption of integrated soft robotic solutions into high-growth automation markets worldwide.
Soft Robotics’ “mGrip” modular gripper system and automation solutions have enabled implementation of robotic applications in the highly variable and unstructured environments of consumer goods manufacturing, food processing and packaging, and e-commerce supply chain automation. [Read more…] about Fanuc partners with Soft Robotics to integrate new gripper solutions into its industrial robots
The European Space Agency is planning to send a robot out into space to clean it of debris, which mainly consists of the countless satellites sent into orbit over the past few decades.
The vast majority of these “junk” satellites – communications, weather, military – have operational lifetimes lasting a few years – about five to 10 years, after which there is no system for bringing them back or clear them in any way. (See simulation of space debris around Earth below.)
Some have previously proposed to build robots that can travel to those obsolete satellites to perhaps fix them or make use of them somehow or at least maintain them so they are operational for longer, but that is an idea that is still in development, although also mentioned as part of ESA’s plan. [Read more…] about European Space Agency to launch robot to clean up space
Boeing has reportedly abandoned the use of some robotic systems that were being used for fuselage work such as drilling and fastening.
According to the Seattle Times, the implementation of the robots “proved painful to set up and (was) error-prone”.
The news website quoted Jason Clark, Boeing vice president of 777/777X operations, who said back in 2015, when the robots were first introduced: “It’s a little tough in the teething. But as we get through it, it will create the rewards necessary for us to compete.” [Read more…] about Boeing ‘abandons’ robots in favour of humans
Nidec is to supply “super flat” actuators for a new German Bionic exoskeleton prototype, which will be showcased at an exhibition in Tokyo.
A German Bionic exoskeleton prototype based on its Cray X power suit that uses Nidec-Shimpo’s innovative super flat actuator will be displayed at the International Robot Exhibition 2019 (iREX 2019), a trade show focusing on industrial and service robots and related equipment, taking place December 18-21 at Tokyo Big Sight.
Hitoshi Inoue, CTO at Nidec-Shimpo, says: “After investing substantially in its development, we are very proud to now see our groundbreaking actuator integrated in the German Bionic exoskeleton prototype that is being shown at this year’s iREX.” [Read more…] about Nidec to supply actuators for German Bionic exoskeleton
A new version of the robotic astronaut assistant Cimon – Crew Interactive MObile companioN – has been sent to the International Space Station.
Cimon-2 lifted off on its journey into space on 5 December 2019. This modified version of the astronaut assistant has been equipped for new tasks and was developed and built in Germany.
Like its predecessor, Cimon-2 will be deployed in the Columbus European research module. Cimon is a free-flying, spherical technology demonstrator for human-machine interaction and features artificial intelligence. [Read more…] about Astronaut assistant Cimon-2 travels to International Space Station
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