Day: February 2, 2022

  • BlueBotics acquired by Zapi Group

    BlueBotics acquired by Zapi Group

    BlueBotics, a developer of navigation systems for automated guided vehicles and autonomous mobile robots, has been acquired by Zapi Group. Zapi is a global provider of electrification and manufacturer of electronic speed controllers, electric motors, battery chargers, and associated products for electric and hybrid vehicles. Zapi’s acquisition includes the shares held by investor Forestay Capital.…

  • Yaskawa launches two new collaborative robots for industrial applications

    Yaskawa launches two new collaborative robots for industrial applications

    Yaskawa Motoman, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of industrial robots, has launched two new collaborative robots – HC10DTP and HC20DTP, each of which has six axes. The company describes them as “highly reliable robots (that) enrich easy capability for Yaskawa’s HC-series line”. Hand-guided programming allows users to direct teach points without a pendant, and…

  • TuSimple to operate nation’s first autonomous trucking route between Tucson and Phoenix

    TuSimple to operate nation’s first autonomous trucking route between Tucson and Phoenix

    TuSimple, an autonomous driving technology company, says that the Union Pacific Railroad, the largest Class I railroad in the US, will become the first customer to move freight on TuSimple’s fully-automated trucking route between the Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona metro areas. Union Pacific is leveraging Loup Logistics, a wholly-owned subsidiary, to coordinate the freight shipment…

  • Swiss university shows brain-computer interface for controlling robots

    Swiss university shows brain-computer interface for controlling robots

    A Swiss university called the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne has showcased a new brain-computer interface that can be used to control robots. (See video below.) Unlike previous BCI’s famously demonstrated to former US president, Barack Obama, the EPFL brain-computer interface does not require a hole to be drilled in the user’s head. Two EPFL…

  • Industrial robot sales have ‘strongest year ever’ in 2021

    Industrial robot sales have ‘strongest year ever’ in 2021

    Industrial robot sales in North America have had their “strongest year ever in 2021”, according to a new report by the Association for Advancing Automation (A3). Propelled by a surge in non-automotive sectors, the number of robots sold in North America set a new record in 2021, with 39,708 units sold at a value of…

  • How to Level up Your  Marketing Strategy in 2022

    How to Level up Your Marketing Strategy in 2022

    The year 2021 is fast drawing its curtains. Businesses are fast closing end-of-the-year deals and are applying finishing touches to their calendar for 2022. If you’ve not finished setting up your brand or business calendar for 2022, you might as well get started. With the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, businesses worldwide had to shut…

  • Governor Whitmer launches ‘first’ US wireless electric vehicle charging road system

    Governor Whitmer launches ‘first’ US wireless electric vehicle charging road system

    Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has announced the award of a contract to build a first in the United States public wireless in-road charging system allowing electric vehicles to charge while in motion and stationary. A company called Electreon has been selected to build an electric road system in Detroit as part of the inductive vehicle…

  • STIHL acquires stake in line-marking robot maker TinyMobileRobots

    STIHL acquires stake in line-marking robot maker TinyMobileRobots

    German industrial group STIHL, a manufacturer of chainsaw power tools, forestry machinery and robotic lawn mowers, has made a significant investment in the Danish robotics company, TinyMobileRobots. STIHL says its robotic lawn mowers “share a strong technical kinship” with the advanced and fully autonomous line-marking robots produced by TinyMobileRobots, which are intended for use in…

  • Epson signs Heitek Automation as distributor in western US

    Epson signs Heitek Automation as distributor in western US

    Epson Robots has signed Heitek Automation, a distributor of automation products and solutions, as an official distributor of Epson Robots automation solutions. Heitek caters to a range of customers in the medical machine building, automotive, semi-conductor, packaging, industrial laundry, food and beverage, printing, and machine integration industries in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.…