Market trends and business perspectives
Soft Robotics has raised $23 million in an oversubscribed Series B funding round.
The round was co-led by Calibrate Ventures and Material Impact and includes additional existing investors Honeywell, Hyperplane, Scale, Tekfen Ventures, and Yamaha.
With this round Soft Robotics also adds Fanuc, the world’s largest industrial robot manufacturer, as a new investor. [Read more…] about Fanuc invests in Soft Robotics as startup raises $23 million in oversubscribed funding round
Cybercriminals are always evolving their efforts and coming up with more advanced ways to target their victims. And while there are many tools available to stop them, there is a lot of space for improvement. Especially if you take automation into account.
Machine learning and artificial intelligence are playing a significant role in cybersecurity. Automation tools can prevent, detect, and deal with tons of cyber threats way more efficiently and faster than humans. And it will continue to expand down the road. To that end, here’s a quick look at the significant differences AI/ML technologies can make to corporate cybersecurity approaches.
Mitigating the risks posed by omnipresent technology
Technology has permeated every facet of personal and work lives. Above anything else, it increased their attack surface. And it has become a massive problem for companies in recent years – they have to account for many applications and devices. [Read more…] about How Automation and Artificial Intelligence Can Boost Cybersecurity
Startup company Naïo Technologies has raised €14 million in a new funding round to develop and expand its farming robots business.
After a first round of €3 million in 2015, the French start-up Naïo Technologies specialized in agricultural robots, announces the closing of a €14 million funding round led by Bpifrance.
Impact investor Pymwymic and Codema and its historical shareholders, Demeter and Capagro, flanked Bpifrance in this investment round. [Read more…] about Naïo Technologies raises €14 million for farm robot business
By Mike Franz, founder and creator of the WorkCenter from ManufacturingPower
Automated access to summary cost and margin information for each SKU delivers light SaaS “MRO/tail-spend” price transparency, returning a minimum 11-14 COGS (cost of goods sold) reduction to the bottom line.
Every manufacturer must pay attention to costs and competitors’ pricing. For better or worse, purchasing professionals are rewarded for capturing the lowest price; few have the time to scour the internet for ever RFQ to see if the bid offered is indeed competitive. Measuring value with price experiments is not realistic.
Full-time competitive pricing professionals could work 24/7 to generate statistically valid and accurate data. For the small and mid-sized manufacturer, the solution is to automate price comparison functionality. Until recently this was prohibitively expensive and often too complex. Automating costs and competitive prices can be achieved in a $5,000 per year SaaS solution. [Read more…] about Automation Drives COGS Reduction for Small and Mid-sized Manufacturers
Two Silicon Sensing Systems ultra-precise AMU30 inertial measurement units (IMUs) will provide critical navigation data to the autopilot capability for the Mayflower Autonomous Ship (MAS) throughout her milestone trans-Atlantic voyage this autumn.
Setting sail this September, the 15 meter-long, 5-ton MAS400 will repeat the Mayflower’s original epic voyage 400 years ago. Led by marine research organization ProMare and powered by IBM, she will sail from Plymouth, England to Plymouth Massachusetts, USA.
Instead of a captain and crew, she will use computer vision, machine learning, edge technologies and sensors to navigate and detect hazards. [Read more…] about Silicon Sensing to provide navigation technology for Mayflower autonomous ship
French robotics software startup Balyo has signed a seven-year commercial agreement with Amazon on robotic solutions.
Balyo says the deal is a “decisive step” in its development, and supports the added value of its robotic solutions and will potentially boost their deployment.
Under the agreement, Amazon would obtain the right to subscribe up to 29 per cent of Balyo’s capital depending on the level of potential future orders by Amazon up to €300 million. [Read more…] about Amazon signs up Balyo to provide robotic solutions
Industrial automation giant Kuka is launching a new industrial robot range, the KR IonTec, which the company says is “a robot for any task in the 30 to 70 kg payload category”.
Kuka is market-launching the new product series, which it says is the successor to the KR 60-3.
Kuka says the KR IonTec “sets standards in terms of flexibility in the medium payload category”. [Read more…] about Kuka launches new industrial robot range
Hanwha Systems is making a $25 million investment in US air taxi startup Overair, and has received approval from the relevant authorities for the move.
Hanwha Systems and Overair research and development are planning to co-develop and bring the “Butterfly” to the US air-taxi market by the year 2025.
In early December of 2019, Youn-Chul Kim, CEO of Hanwha Systems, said that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) approved Hanwha Systems’ $25 million investment in Overair (previously K4 Aeronautics), a leading US air-taxi startup. [Read more…] about Hanwha Systems gearing up to enter air taxi market
