Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

Sam Francis

Chinese government’s plan to grow robotics and automation industry seems to be working

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China’s plan to expand the nation’s robotics and automation industry seems to be working, according to a new survey by TheRobotReport.com. 

The website tracks robotics companies worldwide and editor Frank Tobe says he wrote about 194 robot companies in China in 2015, but now that number has more than doubled to greater than 500.

The Chinese government launched a “robot revolution” as part of its Made in China 2025 program a couple of years ago, partly because it has become the world’s biggest buyer of robots and would like some of those robots to be made by domestic companies.  [Read more…] about Chinese government’s plan to grow robotics and automation industry seems to be working

Microtechnology exhibition to showcase innovations in watchmaking and medicine

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epjh entrance

It’s not one of the most famous exhibitions in the world, and not the biggest, but that’s probably appropriate for EPHJ, because it’s all about small things, or – more accurately – what’s called the “microtechnology” sector. 

Microtechnology includes such things as watchmaking, jewellery making, and precision instrumentation for medicine, all of which are relatively large business sectors in Switzerland, where EPHJ is being held, on 20-23 June 2017 – Geneva, to be exact.

Now in its 16th year, the event is described as “an unmissable event for high-precision manufacturers, with exhibitors from the worlds of watchmaking and jewellery, microtechnology and medtech”.  [Read more…] about Microtechnology exhibition to showcase innovations in watchmaking and medicine

New Russian plane looking for room in global market dominated by Boeing and Airbus

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An MS-21 medium-range passenger plane, produced by Irkut Corporation, takes off in Irkutsk, Russia, May 28, 2017. Courtesy of Irkut / via Reuters

By Tim Hepher, Reuters

Russia’s new jetliner, which conducted its maiden flight on Sunday, may have a hard time challenging the sales duopoly of Boeing and Airbus, but it does point the way to radical changes in how they could be building jets in the future.

The MS-21, a new single aisle airliner produced by Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation, and its associate company Irkut, is the first passenger plane borne aloft by lightweight carbon-composite wings built without a costly pressurised oven called an autoclave.

The manufacturing process provides a test for a technology already being assessed by Western rivals, who are looking for cheaper and faster ways to build some of their aircraft with composites, according to aerospace executives and suppliers.  [Read more…] about New Russian plane looking for room in global market dominated by Boeing and Airbus

SoftBank to buy Boston Dynamics, the maker of those unnervingly realistic humanoid and canine robots

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SoftBank, the maker of the Pepper and Nao humanoid robots, has reached a deal to buy Boston Dynamics, the robotics business owned by Alphabet, the parent company of Google. 

Boston Dynamics has been building a wide range of robots, some of which are humanoid, others canine and one or two wheeled – or a hybrid of these structures.

But whatever robots the company has made, they’ve been widely acclaimed as having some of the most realistic movements and best balance of any robots made anywhere – watching them move can be quite unnerving because they move almost exactly like humans or canines.  [Read more…] about SoftBank to buy Boston Dynamics, the maker of those unnervingly realistic humanoid and canine robots

Opinion: Is digitalisation the key to remote plant operation?

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3d printing

By Eric Duchesne, SVP technology experts for Total, who will be addressing at the ERTC Ask the Experts conference in Cologne on 20-21 June 

There have been many advances in the field of digitalisation in recent years.

As the industry moves towards remote operation it is plant optimisation and integrity management which will provide the tools to enhance safety and anticipate potential problems within the plant, ensuring that the right human assets and replacement parts are available when required.

Today, there’s lots of talk about big data, but before we start to consider how we use big data we can dramatically improve the performance of our plants through the more effective interpretation of data that already exists. We need to become proactive rather than reactive.  [Read more…] about Opinion: Is digitalisation the key to remote plant operation?

Honda aiming for Level 4 automated driving capability by 2025

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Honda says it is targeting the year 2025 for the introduction of vehicles with highly-automated driving capability – or autonomy – in most driving situations (SAE Level 4).

Full list of SAE levels of automation, or autonomousness, available here.

This new goal builds upon earlier-announced plans for Honda and Acura vehicles to have highly-automated freeway driving capability (SAE Level 3) by 2020.

Honda says these are “critical steps” in its commitment to contribute to a “collision-free society”.  [Read more…] about Honda aiming for Level 4 automated driving capability by 2025

Self-steering Volvo truck set to increase Brazil’s sugar-cane harvest

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Volvo Trucks has developed a new self-steering truck that it says could become a significant productivity booster for Brazilian sugar-cane growers. (See video below.)

The truck, which is used to transport newly harvested sugar-cane, is steered with “great precision” through the fields in order to avoid damaging the young plants that will form the following year’s crop.

At present, about 4 per cent of the crop is lost as young plants are run over and the soil is compacted by moving vehicles. This can translate into tens of thousands of US dollars in lost revenue per truck per season.  [Read more…] about Self-steering Volvo truck set to increase Brazil’s sugar-cane harvest

Robotic Vision Technologies and Universal Robots introduce 3D cobot packaging application

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robotic vision technologies

Robotic Vision Technologies will be a co-exhibitor at EastPack 2017, on June 13-15, 2017 with the world’s largest collaborative robot maker Universal Robots.

RVT will be demonstrating its new collaborative 3D vision guidance software on a Universal Robot UR5. The 3D cobot packaging solution can be seen at EastPack ATX 2017 in East Booth 2529 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

RVT, a leader in vision software for industrial applications, has been integrated into Universal Robots’ cobot arms to demonstrate precise pick-and-place items off a conveyor in 2.5D and onto a movable tray in 3D.  [Read more…] about Robotic Vision Technologies and Universal Robots introduce 3D cobot packaging application

SAE’s full list of levels for autonomous vehicles

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This is the full list of SAE’s autonomy levels:

Level 0 – No Automation: The full-time performance by the human driver of all aspects of the dynamic driving task, even when enhanced by warning or intervention systems.

Level 1 – Driver Assistance: The driving mode-specific execution by a driver assistance system of either steering or acceleration/deceleration using information about the driving environment and with the expectation that the human driver performs all remaining aspects of the dynamic driving task.

Level 2 – Partial Automation: The driving mode-specific execution by one or more driver assistance systems of both steering and acceleration/deceleration using information about the driving environment and with the expectation that the human driver performs all remaining aspects of the dynamic driving task.

Level 3 – Conditional Automation: The driving mode-specific performance by an Automated Driving System of all aspects of the dynamic driving task with the expectation that the human driver will respond appropriately to a request to intervene.

Level 4 – High Automation: The driving mode-specific performance by an Automated Driving System of all aspects of the dynamic driving task, even if a human driver does not respond appropriately to a request to intervene.

Level 5 – Full Automation: The full-time performance by an Automated Driving System of all aspects of the dynamic driving task under all roadway and environmental conditions that can be managed by a human driver.

Aethon launches new autonomous mobile robots at Automate 2017

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aethon tug

Aethon has demonstrated new products at Automate 2017 in Chicago specifically designed to address the needs of manufacturers looking to automate material movement and connect islands of automation within their plants.

Aethon showcased new mobile robots and software control systems allowing their robotic platform to achieve Level 4 autonomy. (Full list of autonomy levels, as published by SAE.)

Aethon will feature the T3 and T3XL model robots, which represent the newest innovations in automated material movement.  [Read more…] about Aethon launches new autonomous mobile robots at Automate 2017

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