Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

David Edwards

Eclipse Foundation launches openMobility group to plan future of autonomous cars

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The Eclipse Foundation has launched the openMobility Working Group, which will focus on open and shared collaboration around one of the major issues in urban planning around autonomous vehicles and future transportation requirements – traffic simulation and modelling.

The Eclipse Foundation is an independent, not-for-profit corporation that acts as a steward of the Eclipse open source software development community.

Based on the cutting-edge Eclipse Simulation of Urban Mobility project that originated at the German Aerospace Center, the openMobility Working Group brings together researchers and industry to create a common simulation platform for urban areas in a shared collaboration, open source environment.

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Wanted: Robot to load dishwasher. Must be careful

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Chris Roberts, head of industrial robotics at Cambridge Consultants, provides an overview of the jobs robots could potentially do in future

Cambridge Consultants recently announced a new technology for automating one of the most unloved jobs in a commercial kitchen – loading the dishwasher.

This technology combines innovative robotics with cutting edge AI to achieve something hitherto impossible – detecting and handling a wide variety of dirty crockery haphazardly arranged on a tray.

However, the fundamental techniques used in this product can be applied to a wider range of situations and problems. There are many different tasks that it is only now possible to automate.

[Read more…] about Wanted: Robot to load dishwasher. Must be careful

Automotive and industrial automation sectors forecast to drive micro motor market revenue to $38 billion

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Demand from the automotive and industrial automation sectors is expected to drive micro motor market revenue to $38 billion, according to a new report by Fact.mr.

With soaring vehicle production and sales, the applicability and adoption of electrical equipment are also witnessing a consistent rise globally.

While automatic, quantitative fuel injection systems have already substituted conventional carburetors, micro motors are also rapidly replacing the anti-lock braking systems, which is foreseen to account for remarkable sales of micro motor within the automotive industry.

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Hitachi Vantara launches Lumada Video Insights for ‘smart spaces’

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Hitachi Vantara has launched Lumada Video Insights to enable the development of what it calls “smart spaces”.

Vantara, which is a subsidiary of Hitachi, says Lumada Video Insights is an end-to-end, intelligent and adaptable suite of applications that delivers operational safety and business intelligence using the internet of things, video, artificial intelligence, and analytics.

Lumada Video Insights complements and extends Hitachi’s Lumada platform and services ecosystem with expanded AI, computer vision, advanced analytics, data integration, and orchestration capabilities to help enterprise and industrial customers accelerate their IoT, initiatives and cultivate their own smart spaces and ecosystems.

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Amazon testing automated custom packaging machine

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One of the things many people have noticed about receiving goods they ordered online is the amount of empty space inside the box. Sometimes, more than 90 percent of the box is empty.

This is obviously inefficient and can result in much additional and unnecessary cost, from the amount of box material wasted, through the amount of wasted space within vehicles in transit, to name just two aspects.

While these inefficiencies have continued, for a long time, machines that automate the process of putting items inside boxes have been available. Not only can these machines box things up, they can also custom-build the box to fit the item on the fly.

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Volkswagen to invest €1 billion in new battery cell production facility

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Volkswagen is planning to move into the battery cell manufacturing market with an investment of €1 billion in a new production facility in Europe.

The automotive giant will set up the battery cell production facility in the Lower Saxony region of its native Germany.

The company is working with the local government to choose a suitable location for the factory complex, and is likely to partner with businesses from relevant sectors.

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Continental expands logistics center for car aftermarket

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Continental has expanded its logistics center in Gross-Rohrheim south of Frankfurt, the site that supplies dealers all over the world with spare parts.

During the course of the second quarter, the technology company will put its new 7,000 sq m warehouse extension into operation, expanding the total available area to 34,000 sq m.

The new logistics area serves as a picking and storage area. It has a separate small parts warehouse with more than 25,000 storage spaces – almost 20,000 more than before – so dealers can also be supplied economically with spare parts in small quantities and with shorter order cycles.

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GM confirms discussions to sell Lordstown Complex to Workhorse

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General Motors has confirmed that it is in discussions with Workhorse Group and an affiliated, newly formed entity to sell the company’s Lordstown Complex in Lordstown, Ohio.

The move – which was informally announced by US President Donald Trump earlier –  has the potential to bring significant production and electric vehicle assembly jobs to the plant, says GM.

Upon final agreement, the entity, led by Workhorse founder Steve Burns, would acquire the facility. Workhorse would hold a minority interest in the new entity. [Read more…] about GM confirms discussions to sell Lordstown Complex to Workhorse

Sick launches ‘first ever’ outdoor safety laser scanner

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Sensors manufacturer Sick is launching its newest safety laser scanner, outdoorScan3.

The company says outdoorScan3 is the first safety laser scanner certified to IEC 62998 for use in outdoor applications.

The outdoorScan3 allows automated guided vehicle systems to navigate safely through outdoor industrial environments.

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Exoskeleton market projected to grow to $6 billion

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The current robotics limelight tends to focus on the ability of new innovations to automate tasks, but a less publicized development is taking place whereby passive exoskeletons have been slowly deployed and adopted to help augment the capability of human workers.

Exoskeleton popularization through passive suits will provide a base for increased resources for powered suits, which will eventually provide significant augmentative capability to the industrial workforce.

By 2028, global Exoskeleton revenues will reach $5 billion with hundreds of thousands of active exoskeletons being deployed, according to ABI Research. The research consultancy’s findings are on its report, Exoskeletons for Industrial Use Cases.

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