Robotics & Automation News

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Burke Porter Group buys Van Hoecke Automation

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Burke Porter Group (BPG), a US-based global manufacturer of intelligent machines, has completed its purchase of Van Hoecke Automation (VHA), a Belgium-based global supplier of production automation and product manipulation and control in the food processing and automotive industries.

Established in 1990, VHA not only provides a complementary product portfolio to BPG, but also strengthens its manufacturing presence in Belgium, which includes BEP Europe NV in Bruges. VHA will remain at its current location in Gavere, near the city of Ghent.

The acquisition agreement provides for management continuity over the company’s business activities with no change in day-to-day business or contacts.

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New research: Massive rise in warehouse robots predicted

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A recent report from ABI Research estimates that shipments of global commercial and collaborative robots in e-commerce fulfilment will reach 443,000 units in 2026, 20 times more than current shipments in 2018.

This includes squat mobile platforms in goods-to-person systems, autonomous mobile robots with manipulators, last mile delivery robots, and collaborative robots.

Two major types of customers in e-commerce fulfilment are the major-e-retailers and third-party logistics service providers who engage in the contract logistics business. Currently, warehousing, order processing, and last mile delivery are all extremely labour intensive.

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Orange Business Services and Siemens partner on IoT solutions

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Orange Business Services and Siemens have joined forces to drive the adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the industrial sector by simplifying integration and promoting IoT innovation.

The initial focus will be to develop solutions around asset tracking and asset monitoring to optimize the supply chain and improve efficiencies, as well as to develop digitally enhanced products and create new business models.

The partnership will help businesses connect their machines and physical infrastructure to the digital world, allowing them to translate the wealth of data they produce into business results. Advanced analytics and digital services will help them increase productivity and efficiency across their business.

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Ensign-Bickford acquires Avior Control Technologies

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Ensign-Bickford Industries, Inc. (EBI) has acquired Avior Control Technologies, Inc., headquartered in Longmont, Colorado.

Avior Controls was founded in 2010 by Scott Starin with the charter to provide the highest performance, highest reliability motion-control components, coupled with world-class service and support.

Avior is engaged in the design and manufacture of custom, highly reliable, and space-rated motors, gearboxes, dampers, transducers, and actuators for the space, aerospace, and down-hole industries.

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Audi opts for FRS Robotics quality control on car doors

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FRS Robotics has introduced a new adaptive robot cell that automates the highly sensitive ultrasonic inspection of fold glue joints of Audi vehicle doors.

Vehicle door types consist of metal sheet inner and outer parts which are glued, plied and welded along the door edges. Ultrasonic inspection is performed manually to verify correct glue bonding.

Audi asked FRS Robotics to automate the highly sensitive ultrasonic quality control of the doors’ fold glue joints.

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Toshiba and Nebbiolo sign an industrial IoT partnership deal

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Toshiba Digital Solutions Corporation (Toshiba) and Nebbiolo Technologies Inc. (Nebbiolo) have signed a strategic partnership agreement to deploy industrial IoT solutions using fog computing technology.

As strategic partners, a complete suite of infrastructure products will be developed, driving new business supporting industrial IoT architecture and specifications.

The partnership establishes a large-scale initiative in the factory IoT domain to address modernizing the ageing fleet of hardware and software currently deployed on industrial automation floors using a virtualized fog platform.

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Universal Robots brings cobots to NPE2018 plastics show

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Universal Robots (UR) will make its debut at the NPE2018 in Orlando, USA, May 7-11, showing the new Kanga Poucher from RND Automation & Engineering.

Kanga is a vertical form/fill/seal pouching system that forms four-sided pouches for the medical device, pharmaceutical, and durable goods industries.

The system integrates with a UR cobot loading products into the pouches before the fourth, “top” seal is made after the product is indexed through the sealing gasket.

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Silicon Labs acquires Sigma Designs’ Z-Wave business

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Silicon Labs has completed the acquisition of Sigma Designs’ Z-Wave business, including a team of approximately 100 employees, for $240 million in an all-cash transaction.

Z-Wave is a leading mesh networking technology for the smart home. More than 2,400 certified, interoperable Z-Wave devices are available from the Z-Wave Alliance of more than 700 manufacturers and service providers worldwide.

Combining Z-Wave’s mesh technology and product interoperability focus with Silicon Labs’ multi-protocol expertise gives smart home developers access to a large, varied network of ecosystems and to a full range of end-node technology options.

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Komatsu acquires forest machine simulator firm Oryx Simulations

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Komatsu Ltd. has acquired Oryx Simulations through Komatsu Forest AB, a wholly owned subsidiary in Sweden. Oryx Simulations, headquartered in Umeå, Sweden, designs, develops, manufactures and sells simulators of forest machines.

Oryx Simulations has been developing forest machine simulators in collaboration with Komatsu Forest AB since the 1990s. As the operation of forest machines such as harvesters is very complicated, the use of simulators is indispensable for operator training.

The company designs, develops, manufactures and sells operator training simulators of forest machinery and construction equipment. Oryx Simulations has sold two harvester simulators in Japan so far.

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Schunk demonstrates how the electronics industry can be made more collaborative

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Schunk is now showcasing on a demo system to show how depanelling machines can be made collaborative for the electronics industry.

The depanelling machine, from its subsidiary Schunk Electronic Solutions, uses a robot arm for the loading and unloading processes, so that a single employee can operate up to five machines simultaneously.

The automated system consists of the SAR 1700 depanelling machine and a UR5 six-axis robot arm from Universal Robots equipped with a Schunk Co-act EGP-C gripper.

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