Where Innovation Meets Imagination
BASF has completed the acquisition of numerous businesses and assets from Bayer in a deal worth almost $9 billion.
BASF says it has purchased “a range of businesses and assets from Bayer”, including crop protection systems, and some digital assets.
The deal also enables BASF to enter new markets such as seeds, non-selective herbicides, and nematicide seed treatments. [Read more…] about BASF completes $9 billion acquisition of businesses and assets from Bayer
Murata claims it has launched “industry’s first GHz Band 0201-inch noise suppression filter for automotive applications.
Murata has launched a BLM03EB_SH series, 0.6 x 0.3 mm GHZ band, high impedance ferrite bead, or noise suppression filter, for the auto industry.
This is intended mainly for use with automotive powertrain and safety applications. This product has already entered mass production. [Read more…] about Murata launches auto industry’s ‘first’ GHz band tiniest noise suppressor
The European Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises Robotics Applications organization has opened its first call for experimental proposals.
The EU-funded robotics project says this is its first competitive call for experiment proposals.
Within the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, ESMERA aims to boost robotics innovation by European small and medium-sized enterprises. [Read more…] about EU-funded organisation offers €200,000 in funding to each robotics ‘experiment’
Plex Systems, a provider of cloud enterprise resource planning and manufacturing execution systems software, has acquired Dattus, a supplier of industrial internet of things connectivity technologies.
Dattus solutions connect manufacturing equipment and sensors to the cloud, manage high-volume data streams, and analyze in-motion equipment data to optimize performance, reduce costs, and ensure uptime.
The acquisition is expected to accelerate Plex’s IIoT strategy, extending the Plex Manufacturing Cloud to new streams of machine data and the underlying intelligence. The acquisition was completed last month. [Read more…] about Plex Systems acquires factory data company Dattus
Collaborative robots were a big feature of the Hannover Messe trade show again in 2018.
Small, intelligent, sensitive, and self-learning: The ways in which robots can be used are increasing all the time.
And the level of acceptance is also rising – not least thanks to attractive prices and short return-on-investment times. [Read more…] about Kollmorgen servo motors provide boost for robotics start-up
InVia Robotics, a provider of warehouse robots and automation solutions for e-commerce fulfillment centers, has raised $20 million in new funding.
The Series B round was led by Point72 Ventures and included investments from Upfront Ventures and Embark Ventures.
The funds will be used to boost the commercial deployment of inVia’s Picker robots and cloud-based robotics-as-a-service management system in warehouses as necessitated by the scaling e-commerce market. [Read more…] about InVia Robotics raises $20 million in funding for warehouse automation robots
Manufacturers are concerned that skilled labor shortage could stymie innovation, finds LEK Consulting survey
Most US manufacturers agree that increased growth and investment opportunities are on the horizon, despite some of the uncertainties related to global trade.
But they say a major issue looms: Where are the skilled workers for the digital factories of the future?
In a recent survey of 200 decision-makers across seven manufacturing industries, global management consulting firm LEK Consulting found that four out of five US manufacturers are preparing for an increase in automation technology, with only 18 percent of companies saying they have minimal plans for automation. [Read more…] about Skills shortage could slow down the manufacturing sector, says report
General Electric is looking to sell its digital business, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
The sale would include Predix, GE Digital’s industrial internet of things platform.
Predix was claimed to be the first IIoT platform when it was launched a couple of years ago, and GE Digital was said to be generating approximately $4 billion a year in revenues at some point. [Read more…] about General Electric puts Predix IIoT platform and its digital business up for sale
The Russian space agency is planning to send its humanoid robot Fedor to the International Space Station.
Fedor stands for Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research and seems to have been developed as a fighting robot.
Fedor can shoot guns, drive cars and use a variety of tools, including drills, according to a video by Interesting Engineering (video below). [Read more…] about Robots in space: Russians to send Fedor the humanoid robot to the International Space Station
Mentor, a Siemens business, says the company’s Veloce Strato platform is now a customer-validated cloud computing emulation platform directly accessible on-demand on Amazon Web Services.
The Veloce Strato platform offers data center options, such as hardware emulation on-premises, off-premises and on AWS. It’s a computing system often used by chip designers.
This new data center use model extends the availability of hardware emulation across a broad range of deployment scenarios to ensure that all semiconductor companies have access to hardware emulation for system-on-chip and system-of-systems verification. [Read more…] about Mentor Veloce hardware emulation platform now available on Amazon Web Services
