Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

Abdul Montaqim

Top 10 industrial design software applications by install base

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There is apparently some variation in what we have described as “industrial design software”. Some might call the category “computer-aided design and engineering” software applications. 

But almost everyone who knows even a little bit about the software tends to know that they are used in the design of physical objects, as in three-dimensional objects for the real world.

The reason why this distinction is worth making is that these days when you say “engineer”, more often than not, people might think you mean “software engineer”.  [Read more…] about Top 10 industrial design software applications by install base

AI and robotics stocks outperforming other shares on markets

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Artificial intelligence and robotics stocks are performing better than many other investments on the stock market, according to a report on CNBC. 

The website says robotics and AI stocks are “crushing” the old economy and is up by 30 per cent compared with under 10 per cent for other stocks.

In particular, the Global X Robotics and Artificial Intelligence ETF (BOTZ) and the ROBO Global Robotics and Automation Index (ROBO) have done well.  [Read more…] about AI and robotics stocks outperforming other shares on markets

Smartphones have created a whole new world of opportunities, says Hillcrest Labs boss

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Even for Apple, selling 60 million units of anything would be a big deal. For most small and medium sized companies, just six units might be the start of a wonderful voyage in the world of enterprise. 

For Hillcrest Labs, the journey started more than a decade ago, and over that time, the company has reached the milestone of having sold 60 million units.

Having started out selling software, the company moved into bundling that software into chips, which have become more elaborate over time and found an increasing number of applications.

In an exclusive interview with Robotics and Automation News, Chad Lucien, senior vice president of business development at Hillcrest Labs, tells the company’s story.  [Read more…] about Smartphones have created a whole new world of opportunities, says Hillcrest Labs boss

Interview: Robotic Vision Technologies boss eyes growth of global collaborative robotics market

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Interview with Rick Weidinger, CEO of Robotic Vision Technologies

A human eye transmits data to the brain at a rate of approximately 10 million bits a second, which is about the equivalent of the capacity of some Ethernet connections. 

This was the finding of a study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and while that may be debatable, and perhaps doesn’t tell the whole story of the complexity of the human eye, it’s probably a widely accepted idea that our eyes collect and transmit more data than do our other “sensors”, if they can be called that – the ones for sound, touch, smell and taste – which, with sight, make up our five human senses.

Robots, of course, only have senses because their makers want to integrate sensors into them.  [Read more…] about Interview: Robotic Vision Technologies boss eyes growth of global collaborative robotics market

A giant company built on tiny components: Interview with Bosch industrial internet boss

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In this interview, Stefan Hartung, a senior member of the board at Bosch, talks extensively about the industrial internet, detailing some of the components and devices the company uses to give old machines a new lease of life, and provides some insight into the company’s plans going forward

Bosch is as relevant in today’s computerised world as it was after the end of the first industrial age, and the company’s main concern now is keeping it that way. 

Its relevance comes from making the power tools and household appliances most readers will be familiar with, and also from its development of ideas and technologies which are likely to shape a future which many of us haven’t even thought about yet.

Nowadays, all the talk is of Industry 4.0, an umbrella term to describe a range of technologies which have at their centre two tiny components: sensors and chips – both of which are Bosch’s essential stock in trade.

And if you want someone to blame for the Industry 4.0 phrase, look no further than Bosch, because it was part of the working group of German industrial giants which coined the term in 2011.  [Read more…] about A giant company built on tiny components: Interview with Bosch industrial internet boss

Dassault Systèmes boss talks about generative design and whether humans are necessary

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Nothing is as straightforward as it might first sound. So, for example, one might imagine that, by using generative design software, a designer could set parameters for the computer to produce a structure and then use a 3D printer to output that structure, whether that structure is a single molecule of steel or a larger, more complex structure, like a car body. Basically, you could get the computer to do almost all of the design work.

The technology is available to do those things. And any designer who’s produced countless iterations of one basic design would certainly appreciate such powerful software. But is it really as simple as that? Probably not.

If anyone would know the answer for sure, it would be Stephen Chadwick, managing director of Dassault Systèmes for the north European region, or EuroNorth, and he says it’s possible to remove humans from the design process completely.  [Read more…] about Dassault Systèmes boss talks about generative design and whether humans are necessary

Interview: Fast-moving robotics and automation market prompts updates to forecasts

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The global market for robotics and automation systems is growing so fast that it’s causing seasoned industry analysts to revise their forecasts. 

For example, the Boston Consulting Group released a report into the robotics which it has now updated with new numbers.

The causes of the reviews include the relatively new interest in personal robotics technology for the home, and the burgeoning market in collaborative robots for industry.

Another key development is the launch of the Apple HomePod, which, along with Amazon Alexa and Google Home, looks set to automate a huge number of homes to levels never seen before.

[Read more…] about Interview: Fast-moving robotics and automation market prompts updates to forecasts

Interview: Big data suggests there’s a trade war looming

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One of the wonders of the modern, computerised world is the emergence of data science. Data science is, arguably, at the heart of most successful businesses today, and its favourite food is big data. 

For Panjiva, data science and big data enables it to keep track of virtually all goods moving from one country to another, with a particular emphasis on the US market.

But while it might sound straightforward to some, the actual collation and preparation of the data, and then the presentation of it, is not a simple process.  [Read more…] about Interview: Big data suggests there’s a trade war looming

Cyber-physical systems and manufacturing’s new frontier

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The real world and its digital twin are collaborating to bring forth something called “mass customisation”, a new manufacturing culture which, as the term suggests, will be the basis for the most diverse ecosystem of engineered products ever seen. 

To understand and articulate some specifics about what’s being called “the new frontier of manufacturing”, one of the world’s largest management consultancy firms, Deloitte, partnered with the Singularity University, a forum for technology futurists co-founded by Ray Kurzweil, to organise a conference called Exponential Manufacturing, featuring many thought leaders working in the industrial sector.  [Read more…] about Cyber-physical systems and manufacturing’s new frontier

China’s enthusiasm for robots and electric cars creating oversupply of clean technology

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China’s enthusiasm for new technology, combined with its paranoia about being left behind in a globally intensifying high-tech competition, sometimes leads it to create small bubbles in its economy which may or may not dissipate in the disciplined manner in which the markets they encompass may have emerged in the first place. 

Two years ago, the government of the world’s most populous nation of 1.4 billion people launched a 10-year national plan to “transform China from a manufacturing giant into a world manufacturing power”, in the words of XinhuaNet, the state propaganda outlet.  [Read more…] about China’s enthusiasm for robots and electric cars creating oversupply of clean technology