Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

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Festo invests in artificial intelligence

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Festo has bought IT enterprise company Resolto Informatik GmbH, which offers solutions including high-performance artificial intelligence for real-time applications in industrial companies.

Resolto solutions allow data to be interpreted in the field, and in close proximity to machines. This makes it possible to save energy, shorten cycle times, decrease the number of machine failures and minimise production scrap rates.

“We’ve been able to gain a leading company in the field of artificial intelligence for industry applications with Resolto”, said Dr Frank Melzer, Member of the Management Board Product and Technology Management at Festo.

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Thyssenkrupp opens ‘world’s biggest virtual warehouse’

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Thyssenkrupp Materials Services is digitising its entire range of more than 150,000 products and services and consolidating it in the world’s biggest virtual warehouse.

With more than 3.5 million square meters of storage space at 271 operating sites around the world, Materials Services offers round-the-clock access to through its new ‘omnichannel’ structure, enabled by a powerful, self-developed artificial intelligence solution.

“By digitally connecting our global inventories we can offer our customers the widest possible selection of our various materials and services and optimum availability 24/7,” said Hans-Josef Hoss, from the Board of Thyssenkrupp Materials Services.

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DJI unveils new professional camera tools

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DJI, a leader in creative camera technology, has introduced new cinema grade tools, DJI Master Wheels and DJI Force Pro, that offer professional gimbal control solutions for every type of filmmaker and scenario.

Built to deliver precise gimbal movements, these new products offer filmmakers reliable tools that help capture complex shots with ease while adding a cinematic quality to any scene.

Master Wheels and Force Pro control DJI’s Ronin 2 and Ronin-S gimbals, expanding the creative possibilities for cinematographers of varying experience levels.

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Research: Consumer robotics market to rise to $23 billion by 2026

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The consumer robotics market is evolving rapidly and covers a wide array of products, from homecare systems to children’s toys to smart ‘humanoid’ robots that provide personal and social engagement.

According to ABI Research, a market-foresight advisory firm providing strategic guidance on the most compelling transformative technologies, the entire consumer robotics market will reach 100 million shipments and US$23 billion in revenue by 2026.

Home-care robots are already the primary driver of revenue for the wider consumer robotics market. This trend is expected to increase, following a banner year of revenue and shipment growth from floor care market leader iRobot.

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Comau partners with Nordica Sterling

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Comau has a new system integrator partner in Florida, USA, Nordica Sterling. Nordica Sterling specialises in the design, manufacture and installation of full turnkey robotic and industrial automation solutions.

As an international partner in robotic automation, Nordica Sterling Robotics and Automation provides solutions that are designed to ensure optimum performance and cost effectiveness through increased efficiency and productivity.

James Lakin, Comau Robotics NAFTA Partner Manager says, “Nordica Sterling offers a wide range of impressive solutions that span across all industries. This is an asset we value in a system integrator partner and we look forward to expanding our automation horizon as a team.”

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All Nippon Airways and Honda Aircraft Company sign deal to expand business jet market

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ANA Holdings Inc. and Honda Aircraft Company have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a strategic partnership supporting the expansion of the business jet market around the globe by using Honda Aircraft’s technologically advanced HondaJet.

ANA, ANA Holdings’ flagship carrier and largest airline in Japan, which currently operates about 260 commercial aeroplanes throughout the world, will introduce current business jet users and its commercial flight customers to the HondaJet by maximising the utilisation of the aircraft.

ANA will use the HondaJet for its charter and feeder flights connecting them to the existing broad network at major travel hubs in North America and Europe.

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Omron partners with Techman to sell TM cobots

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Omron Corp. and Techman Robot Inc. have signed an agreement to form a strategic alliance on collaborative robots under which Omron will globally market and sell Techman’s TM series of collaborative robots via its worldwide distribution network under a co-branded logo, starting in the second half of FY2018.

In addition, Omron and Techman will cooperate in developing the next generation of collaborative robots that will be easier to integrate with Omron’s other factory automation products.

Factories worldwide are facing major challenges in having to manufacture a high mix, low volume of products to meet their customer demands, combined with shorter product life cycles and labour shortage issues.

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Panasonic shows off smart city parking technology

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Panasonic North America highlighted some of its latest parking and safer roads technology at Smart Cities New York earlier this month, an event looking at future technologies for the urban space.

The company highlighted its IoT-connected Smart Parking Meter, which enables people to search and book vacant parking spaces on their smartphones, alongside another solution for cities to use parking space operational data for future transport and development planning.

In addition, Panasonic introduced the “Smart Street solution” which combines security camera and image analysis of pedestrian traffic with AI.

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Yamaha Motor debuts at Hannover with digital production lines

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Yamaha Motor booth made its debut at Hannover Messe last month, showcasing fully-digitalised production lines, including transport processes. Its stand featured an operational demonstration of the Advanced Robotics Automation Platform.

This new robotics system enables automation of complex advanced production facilities, integrating control of multiple robots and peripheral devices necessary for production facilities in one unit.

The company also highlighted the YK400XR SCARA robot, which features both high quality/functionality and excellent cost-performance, according to Yamaha.

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Siemens to acquire software framework provider for building automation and IoT

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Siemens is acquiring J2 Innovations (J2), a leading software framework provider for building automation and IoT, headquartered near Los Angeles, California.

The company has been a successful player in the Internet-of-Things (IoT) software business for 10 years, building a strong reputation in the US and internationally with its FIN (Fluid INtegration) Framework technology.

Both parties have agreed not to disclose financial details. The transaction is expected to close by the end of May 2018.

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