Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

Computing

Board leader: 10 million Raspberry Pi units sold and new kit launched

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Raspberry Pi sold its 10 millionth unit last month, four years after its founders launched the tiny computer, expecting to sell only a few thousand. 

Writing on the company’s blog, one of the founders, Eben Upton, says “imagine how strange it feels” to announce having sold 10 million, and that the figure has “beaten our wildest dreams by three orders of magnitude”.

Raspberry Pi was originally started to provide encourage to more people to join the Computer Science courses at Cambridge University, UK.  [Read more…] about Board leader: 10 million Raspberry Pi units sold and new kit launched

All’s well that ROS well: Robot Operating System taking over the world

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If aliens from beyond our solar system or even our galaxy were to land on Earth and wanted to communicate with intelligent machines that can move around and shake hands, chances are that one of the first in line to greet our otherworldly visitors will be a robot with a brain built using the Robot Operating System. 

The simple reason for this is that ROS is one of the most ubiquitous platforms for robotics in the world today, helped largely by the fact that it is an open-source project, in contrast to the majority of robot operating systems which are proprietary and closed.

Described as a collection of frameworks for robot software development, ROS was originally developed in 2007 at Stanford University’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. ROS was then extended by Willow Garage, and that’s when it really started taking off.  [Read more…] about All’s well that ROS well: Robot Operating System taking over the world

New flavour of Robot Operating System launched

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A new version of the Robot Operating System has been launched, and this is one for the machines. 

Officially called the Hardware Robot Operating System, the new solution is described as “a standardized software and hardware infrastructure to easily create reusable and reconfigurable robot hardware parts”.

Writing on Robohub.org, Victor Mayoral, CEO of Acutronic Robotics and a researcher at the Open Source Robotics Foundation, says H-ROS means “constructing robots will no longer be restricted to a small elite with high technical skills”.

H-ROS was initially funded by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency through the Robotics Fast Track program in 2016 and developed by Erle Robotics.

TheConstructSim launches beta of its IDE for ROS

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theconstructsim-ide

The Construct has launched a beta version of its integrated development environment. 

The company says users of the IDE don’t need to code, and can develop Robot Operating System programs “graphically”.

TheConstructSim.com is an online robot simulation environment in which users can develop and test their systems.

Top five causes of PLC control system failure

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Boulting Technology has released an infographic to help engineers mitigate problems with programmable logic controller (PLC) based control systems. The handy guide highlights the top five causes of failure and can be downloaded free from the Boulting Technology website. 

PLC-based control systems are invaluable to a manufacturing or processing business because they control and regulate critical production systems and processes.

A failed control system can cause significant plant downtime and is likely to be extremely costly; it can also create a hazardous situation when the system is controlling a critical process.  [Read more…] about Top five causes of PLC control system failure

Infineon launches what it claims is the first-of-its-kind online engineering prototype design application

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infineon-designer

Infineon Technologies has launched the first online prototyping engine combining analog and digital simulation functionalities in an internet application.

Infineon Designer requires a web browser only, and the company says it is “a perfect match for supporting customers in selecting the right product for a defined application”.

Infineon Designer works intuitively in a very short time, and neither installation nor licenses are needed, according to the company.  [Read more…] about Infineon launches what it claims is the first-of-its-kind online engineering prototype design application

Opinion: ‘How data science and machine learning will save lives on the roads’

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toyota car
Toyota is recalling 5.8 million cars globally to replace potentially faulty airbag inflators made by Takata, according to the IBTimes.co.uk

By Sundeep Sanhavi, CEO of Data RPM, who claims data science and machine learning will save lives in this exclusive article for Robotics and Automation News

Recalls happen all too frequently, often as a result of some horrendous accident or incident. But there are ways in which the predictive qualities of data science and machine learning can relegate recalls to the annals of history. 

“A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph,” explains the Narrator in the film adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club.

“The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don’t do one.”

Edward Norton’s chilling performance aside, vehicle recalls are a persistent problem. Their persistence – given the increasing availability of improved technology and insight – is baffling.  [Read more…] about Opinion: ‘How data science and machine learning will save lives on the roads’

RoboDK updates industrial robot simulation application

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robodk
RoboDK industrial robot simulation software has been given an extensive update

RoboDK has launched the latest version of its industrial robot simulation application. 

The company’s CEO, Albert Nubiola, says the software is now much faster and easier to learn and use.

He adds that RoboDK is working on producing more video tutorials and manuals. “RoboDK has been updated to better integrate into smart factories and Industry 4.0 networks.

“The RoboDK software enables your robots and your factory to automatically adjust processes according to any modifications, as well as accurately merge the virtual simulation with the physical world.”

Small potatoes: A closer look at chips

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microprocessor

One of the issues with analysing the chip market, as with some others, is that the products are complex and have a huge array of applications. This often makes it difficult to compare one chip with another. 

Moreover, some people might not know the difference between a micro-processor and a micro-controller, or what a semiconductor is… and where microchips fit into all this.

So here’s an attempt at an explanation. [Read more…] about Small potatoes: A closer look at chips

Qualcomm could become king of the road if it buys NXP

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qualcomm headquarters

Mergers and acquisitions happen quite frequently these days, and there’s a lot of interest surrounding them. 

For example, there are currently strong rumours that US smartphone chip giant Qualcomm is about to buy NXP Semiconductor for $40 billion.

NXP itself last year bought Freescale for $12 billion. The deal gave NXP access to the market for micro-controllers, in which Freescale is one of the leading companies.

And in a separate, similarly large deal, Japanese communications colossus SoftBank recently agreed to buy the British chip designer ARM for $32 billion.  [Read more…] about Qualcomm could become king of the road if it buys NXP

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