Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

David Edwards

The 10 most highly prized industrial design awards

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An industrial design award can launch a designer’s career, so is highly sought after, and there are plenty of design competitions out there to enter if you’re interested. 

Although most of the competitions emphasise consumer product design, and often software-oriented products, the industrial product categories are also extensively included.

And if you can’t find one that has a category that seems to suit your category now, if you wait long enough, someone will organise one.  [Read more…] about The 10 most highly prized industrial design awards

Kuka wins prestigious Red Dot design award for industrial robot

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Kuka has won a prestigious design aware from the Red Dot organisation, which runs a competition which analyses products from an extensive range of industries.

The award that Kuka won was in the Red Dot industrial product design category, and it was for its industrial robot, the KR CyberTech (pictured).

Kuka says the jury’s reasoning was: “The KR CyberTech industrial robot – with its streamlined, elongated silhouette – stretches the limits of possibility in terms of speed and reach.”  [Read more…] about Kuka wins prestigious Red Dot design award for industrial robot

Top 10 graphics processing unit manufacturers: Nvidia clearly in the lead

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The whole world seems set on a course which will take everyone into a highly automated, robotic and artificially intelligent future. 

And much of the hardware used in the vehicles driving us to that utopia-like future is being supplied by Nvidia.

By many expert accounts, the chipmaker has taken a clear lead in the chip market and its processors are often the first choice for engineers building solutions in virtually all the current breakthrough technologies – from blockchain and cryptocurrencies to advanced driver assistance systems and autonomous cars.  [Read more…] about Top 10 graphics processing unit manufacturers: Nvidia clearly in the lead

Billion-dollar industrial estate to feature data centre infrastructure as part of its offering

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In what might be a sign that traditional industry is increasingly becoming digital, the developer of an industrial estate is making telecommunications and data processing a fundamental component of its offering. 

Traditionally, the priority for industrial estates have been to provide good road and other transport networks. Nowadays, data networks are sometimes even more important to companies of all types – including those in the manufacturing sector.

Bannon Investment Group, which is developing the 85-acre Elk Grove Technology Park near Chicago O’Hare Airport, says the estate will one of the largest of its kind in the US.  [Read more…] about Billion-dollar industrial estate to feature data centre infrastructure as part of its offering

Mazda to make all its vehicles autonomous by 2025

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Mazda has stated its intention to make all of its vehicles autonomous by 2025 as part of a broader plan to transform the entire company by 2030.

The company says it will “begin testing of autonomous driving technologies currently being developed in line with Mazda’s human-centered Mazda Co-Pilot Concept in 2020, aiming to make the system standard on all models by 2025”.

Mazda says it wants to build cars that “provide safety peace of mind”, and that provide “unrestricted mobility to people everywhere”.  [Read more…] about Mazda to make all its vehicles autonomous by 2025

Yaskawa Motoman adds new model to high-speed GP industrial robot series

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Yaskawa Motoman has added a new robot model to its GP series of industrial robots.

Yaskawa says the “efficient, high-speed” Motoman GP25 robot is a new, compact robot that is ideal for assembly, dispensing, handling, material removal and packaging applications.

All axis speeds have been increased, says the company, some by more than 40 per cent, surpassing other robots in its class and delivering increased productivity.  [Read more…] about Yaskawa Motoman adds new model to high-speed GP industrial robot series

Technically speaking, South Korea just introduced world’s first ‘robot tax’

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It was kind of funny when the idea of asking robots to pay their fair share of taxes was first floated, but it seems some are taking it seriously. 

Bill Gates was one of the first to talk about it, but not many probably took him all that seriously.

But then, not many people take the universal basic income idea seriously either, but some countries have already introduced it.  [Read more…] about Technically speaking, South Korea just introduced world’s first ‘robot tax’

Qualcomm and Apple’s legal battle may indicate the future of cars, as Foxconn looks to build driverless tech factory

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The legal battle between Qualcomm and Apple may portend the future direction of car technology.

Qualcomm says Apple manufacturers are not paying the correct amount of money for the chipmaker’s intellectual property the iPhone maker is licensing – basically they’re not paying anything.

The lower, or absent, payments probably account for Qualcomm’s patent licensing business falling 42 per cent this year, according to CNBC.  [Read more…] about Qualcomm and Apple’s legal battle may indicate the future of cars, as Foxconn looks to build driverless tech factory

Intel to build fleet of 100 autonomous vehicles

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Determined not to miss out like it did on the smartphone revolution, Intel is developing 100 of its own autonomous cars. 

Intel is still the largest chipmaker in the world in many sectors but in mobile computing technology, other companies have taken the lead.

But there’s not many things as mobile as a road-going vehicle, and newer versions of them need more chips than ever.  [Read more…] about Intel to build fleet of 100 autonomous vehicles

JPMorgan to employ trading robot because it’s more efficient than humans

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One of the world’s largest investment banks, JPMorgan, is preparing to employ a robot to work in its global equities business because it’s shown itself to be more efficient than traditional methods of buying and selling, according to a report on the Financial Times website. 

The artificial intelligence-based algorithm, which is called LOXM, has been tested in the US and Asia over the first quarter of this year, adds the FT.

The newspaper quotes David Fellah, of JPMorgan’s European Equity Quant Research team, as saying the work LOXM will do was previously done by humans, “but now the AI machine is able to do it on a much larger and more efficient scale”.