Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

Abdul Montaqim

Automated guided vehicles: Exclusive interview with Kivnon commercial director

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Automated guided vehicles could completely change the industrial technology ecosystem, ushering in the era of cyber-physical operations and reducing the reliance on traditional fixed infrastructure, like monorails and conveyors

Kivnon is probably the world’s leading manufacturer of automated guided vehicles. 

Its AGVs are particularly popular in the automotive sector, utilised by a large number of leading automakers – including Volkswagen, Renault, Nissan, Daimler, Seat and others.

Kivnon AGVs are also to be found in industrial companies from other sectors, being used to transport material from one place to another in their facilities.  [Read more…] about Automated guided vehicles: Exclusive interview with Kivnon commercial director

Play Misty for me: Exclusive interview with Misty Robotics CEO

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After selling 3 million robots in various markets, the people behind Sphero have launched a new business, Misty Robotics. 

In this exclusive interview, Robotics and Automation News speaks to the CEO of Misty Robotics, Tim Enwall, whose background includes senior jobs at Apple and Nest Labs.

Launching the Misty I Developer Edition, Enwall says the company’s masterstroke is its decision to adopt Javascript as the robot’s programming language, instantly opening up a market of millions of coders who otherwise would not have thought they had the skills to program a robot.  [Read more…] about Play Misty for me: Exclusive interview with Misty Robotics CEO

Material world: Exclusive interview with Wynright Robotics boss

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Daifuku Wynright was established in 2013 as a result of Daifuku Group’s acquisition of Wynright Corporation and is now the largest material handling company in the world.

Last year, the company generated almost $3 billion in revenue worldwide. Daifuku has approximately 6,500 employees globally, while Wynright has around 500. 

Material handling is the aspect of logistics which is mainly concerned with the movement of boxes from one place to another, usually over short distances, such as from a truck to a warehouse, and then from the warehouse to the trucks for the dispatching of goods to customers’ locations.  [Read more…] about Material world: Exclusive interview with Wynright Robotics boss

Exclusive interview: Hitachi Europe boss explains how company uses AI for IIoT

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Exclusive interview with Ram Ramachander, chief commercial officer for social innovation in the EMEA region, Hitachi 

Hitachi is one of the largest companies in the world, employing more than 300,000 people globally and generating revenues of more than $80 billion a year across all its many business units.

Classed as a conglomerate, Hitachi has interests in a huge variety of markets, including, of course, heavy industry.

The areas Hitachi has been particularly interested in lately could be summed up as smart cities and transportation, which the company tends to group under “social infrastructure and industrial systems”.  [Read more…] about Exclusive interview: Hitachi Europe boss explains how company uses AI for IIoT

Logistics robots: NextShift’s ‘unique workflow’ increases productivity and efficiency

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Exclusive interview with NextShift Robotics CEO

The robotics and automation industry has always held a fascination for many people – for seasoned professionals and even passing observers alike. 

And it’s been particularly interesting in the past couple of years, for several reasons.

One reason is the advancements in computing – both hardware and software, perhaps most importantly in networking.  [Read more…] about Logistics robots: NextShift’s ‘unique workflow’ increases productivity and efficiency

IT + OT = IIoT: Cisco Jasper’s formula for the industrial internet

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In this exclusive interview, Theresa Bui, IoT product marketing and strategy, Cisco Jasper, lays out the company’s solution for bringing together OT and IT 

In the past couple of years, networking giant Cisco has made a big push into the industrial sector to ride the wave of Industry 4.0 or the industrial internet of things or whatever you want to call the trend of connecting machines that previously operated mostly in isolation.

Computer networking equipment, which is generally to be found within the category of “information technology”, is quickly becoming a critical part of the traditional industrial company, alongside what is increasingly referred to as “operation technology”, referring to the machines and robots and such.

Industrial companies have been attaching tens of millions of sensors to equipment and components in all areas of their operation in order to make the data they collect available to IT.  [Read more…] about IT + OT = IIoT: Cisco Jasper’s formula for the industrial internet

The Digital Silk Road: Exclusive interview with Citic Telecom CPC boss

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About a week ago, a Chinese company called Citic Telecom CPC formally announced that it had completed its acquisition of a European company called Linx Telecommunications. 

While the story may be interesting in and of itself, it’s just one piece of a much larger jigsaw puzzle China’s Premier Xi Jinping wants to piece together.

A couple of years ago, Jinping sketched out a roadmap of what has come to be known as the “One Belt, One Road” project, often shortened to Obor.  [Read more…] about The Digital Silk Road: Exclusive interview with Citic Telecom CPC boss

Foundational insights: Exclusive interview with Deloitte’s manufacturing leader

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Some sectors of technology change so fast it can be bewildering for people whose jobs and livelihoods depend on keeping up with new innovations and developments which can mean the difference between profit and loss, success and failure. 

Traditionally, larger companies have been wary of the threat of smaller, more nimble and more flexible competitors launching more innovative products and services faster and at a lower price point and taking away their market share.

It doesn’t always happen, but it does sometimes. Corporate history is littered with many stories of successful companies which went from being the dominant market leader to being an also-ran, or worse.  [Read more…] about Foundational insights: Exclusive interview with Deloitte’s manufacturing leader

As good as a lifelong guarantee: Interview with Fanuc America boss

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Exclusive interview with Neil Dueweke, general manager, automotive new domestic and automotive components group, Fanuc America

Industrial robotics and automation is a complex area for a someone with no background in engineering or any related disciplines. 

Which is why it’s always interesting to ask for the observations of experts who work within the sector.

Fanuc has a greater number of industrial robots installed worldwide than any other company – some 400,000 at last count. By that measure, it’s the biggest industrial robot company in the world.

And as Neil Dueweke (main picture), general manager, automotive new domestic and automotive components group, Fanuc America, explains in this exclusive interview with Robotics and Automation News, installation is by no means the end of the relationship with a customer.  [Read more…] about As good as a lifelong guarantee: Interview with Fanuc America boss

From the biggest to the smallest: Hitachi takes first nimble steps in robotics market

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Exclusive interview with Dong Li, research engineer at Hitachi R&D Europe, about the company’s new humanoid robot, Emiew

At street level, the Barbican area of London, England has the strange quality of looking like a small underground city. But it’s actually not.

True, it has an Underground railway station, but the rest of the commercial and cultural district – with its museums and office blocks – is mostly above ground.

It may be because the buildings are so imposing that they overshadow the often narrow streets and block out the sun in some places. The bridges overhead connecting one set of buildings to another, or one side of the road to the other, and the tunnels that go underneath the building complexes themselves, exacerbate the feeling of being underground.  [Read more…] about From the biggest to the smallest: Hitachi takes first nimble steps in robotics market