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Ultimation Industries recommends material handling solutions for a safer 2025

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Manufacturers, distributors and warehouses can ring in a safer new year with material handling solutions that offer product protection, minimize injuries and improve ergonomics, according to Ultimation Industries.

Ultimation is an MCE company that solves productivity challenges with special purpose machinery and industrial automation equipment systems as well as direct-to-consumer solutions for a broad range of end-markets, including energy, automotive, logistics and vertical farming.

Carl Milodrowski, operations manager for Ultimation, says: “The new year is a great time to take stock of potential material handling safety concerns and explore options for making improvements. [Read more…] about Ultimation Industries recommends material handling solutions for a safer 2025

The steel industry: Innovations, challenges, and future directions

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If you’re the kind of person who thinks steel is beautiful, you probably need to get a life. Or at least get out more.

But the thing about steel is that it’s always so shiny. So strong as well. If it’s stainless steel, like your average sink, you could use it for the rest of your life and it will look as shiny and as beautiful as the day it was made, provided you clean it of course.

Scientifically or technically speaking, even stainless steel does rust. But that’s boffins for you – always looking to spoil the party with useless facts. To the average person, with an average sink, stainless steel stays as good as new forever. [Read more…] about The steel industry: Innovations, challenges, and future directions

Interview: ‘Robotics in construction will revolutionize the sector’

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Cemex is a Mexican multinational building materials company headquartered in San Pedro, Mexico. It manufactures and distributes cement, ready-mix concrete and aggregates in more than 50 countries. In 2020, it was ranked as the 5th largest cement company by amount of cement produced annually in the world, at more than 87 million tonnes. 

In 2017, it founded its investment arm, Cemex Ventures, which currently has a portfolio that lists more than 30 companies on its books.

In this interview, we speak with Ibon Iribar, investment and open innovation advisor at Cemex Ventures, and ask him about robotics and automation in the construction sector and whether new technologies such as these can make a difference to the stagnant growth in productivity that the sector has historically shown over the course of many decades. [Read more…] about Interview: ‘Robotics in construction will revolutionize the sector’

Top 10 robotic insects: Can robotic bees save all plant life on Earth?

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As someone who eats honey on toast almost every day, I’ve been quite interested over the past few years by stories about the supposed collapse of the global bee population.

Bees not only produce honey, they are, of course, nature’s great pollinators. Although not the only pollinators around, they’re the only ones who produce honey, as far as I know.

So, I thought I’d delve into this topic a little bit, in light of various academic institutions and companies developing tiny flying robots or drones that could potentially do the job of natural pollinators. [Read more…] about Top 10 robotic insects: Can robotic bees save all plant life on Earth?

What happened to Germany? Manufacturing giant crumbles before our eyes

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Germany, often hailed as Europe’s economic powerhouse, is grappling with a significant downturn in its manufacturing sector. Once the cornerstone of its robust economy, manufacturing is now facing serious challenges that threaten the stability of the wider economy.

Germany is of particular interest to this website for obvious reasons. Apart from Japan, Germany has shown itself – or at least the manufacturing sector has shown itself – to be the most highly proficient at using robotics and automation technologies. That’s our opinion anyway.

And while China may have overloaded the world with manufactured products in every category you can imagine, German products still inspire confidence in people who appreciate precision, quality and originality. [Read more…] about What happened to Germany? Manufacturing giant crumbles before our eyes

Manufacturing robot numbers set to reach ‘16.3 million by 2030’

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In January 2024, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that manufacturers in America had more than 600,000 unfilled vacancies.

Two factors impacting the number of vacancies include not enough young people seeking a career in manufacturing and the wave of baby boomers reaching retirement age.

Technology research firm ABI Research forecasts that the installed base of commercial and industrial robots globally will reach 16.3 million in 2030 as manufacturers attempt to offset the baby boomer exodus from the workforce. [Read more…] about Manufacturing robot numbers set to reach ‘16.3 million by 2030’

Predictions on 3D printing: What does 2025 hold for additive manufacturing?

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Despite the tremendous success of 3D printing – also known as additive manufacturing (AM) – across many industrial sectors, the technology is still, in some ways, in its early days.

Here, a number of senior executives at 3D Systems – whose founder Chuck Hull is credited with inventing 3D printing – share their thoughts on what 2025 holds for additive manufacturing. [Read more…] about Predictions on 3D printing: What does 2025 hold for additive manufacturing?

The greatest mystery in history: Ancient monuments and lost civilisations

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Ancient monuments such as the pyramids of Egypt, Gobekli Tepe in Turkey, the Nazca Lines of Peru, and countless others scattered across the globe, hold mysteries that mainstream archaeology has yet to definitively explain.

These structures are united by their advanced construction techniques, astronomical alignments, and enigmatic purposes.

Alternative researchers, such as Graham Hancock, Eric Von Däniken, and Michael Tellinger, suggest these megalithic marvels may be evidence of a lost, highly advanced civilisation, or even the handiwork of extraterrestrial visitors. [Read more…] about The greatest mystery in history: Ancient monuments and lost civilisations

What is artificial general intelligence? Here’s what we think we understand

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Artificial general intelligence is probably an unnecessary term that confuses people and fails to encapsulate the basic concept of “intelligence”.

While almost everything in this article is debatable, it seems obvious to me that there isn’t much that is “general” about intelligence – in fact, intelligence is about the exact opposite, as far as I understand it. Intelligence is the ability to make a very specific choice – decide on the correct course of action or the right thing to do.

That requires learning at least something about what you are deciding on. Which is what other forms of artificial intelligence already do, don’t they? [Read more…] about What is artificial general intelligence? Here’s what we think we understand

Is there too much hype around robotics and automation?

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When our website, RoboticsAndAutomationNews.com, started 10 years ago, we were probably the only dedicated website reporting on robotics and automation, especially in the industrial sector, more specifically, about industrial robotic arms.

At the time, industrial robotics was a niche topic, generating little or no attention in mainstream media. Our interest was in the technology side of robotics first, and investment opportunities second. This enabled us to carve out a unique space, and now, our interests are accurately reflected in the composition of our audience – largest group is engineers and roboticists, the second-largest, investors.

And back when we started, and for the first five years or so, we dominated Google search results, appearing as the top result – and the 20 or so after that – for nearly any query related to robotics and automation. [Read more…] about Is there too much hype around robotics and automation?