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Analysis: Universal Robots continues to dominate cobot market but faces many challengers

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By Ash Sharma, research director, Interact Analysis

Universal Robots continued to dominate the collaborative robot industry in the first half of 2018, although Interact Analysis estimates its market share dipped a little this year.

Despite the exit of cobot pioneer, Rethink Robotics, UR faces an increasing number of challengers and the fledgling industry remains fragmented.

Universal Robots still maintains an incredibly strong hold over the collaborative robot market. However, its market share has gradually decreased from more than 55 percent in 2016 to 46 percent in 2017 – which was inevitable given how quickly the industry is growing and the increasing number of suppliers now competing.  [Read more…] about Analysis: Universal Robots continues to dominate cobot market but faces many challengers

Computer games-obsessed Japanese local authorities decide to model their home town on SimCity

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The Japanese, of course, are widely known to be fanatical about computer games. But planning a real-world city based on a fictional place inside a computer game might be going a bit too far. 

Kobayashi City, in Miyazaki Prefecture, and computer games giant Electronic Arts have agreed the establishment of “Kobayashi City Department of SimCity BuildIt”.

The partners are calling it “a unique regional planning partnership project”, which may well be true as we don’t know of any other city in the world which is modelling itself on a computer game.  [Read more…] about Computer games-obsessed Japanese local authorities decide to model their home town on SimCity

Autonomous vehicles will increase traffic congestion before ‘dramatically reducing it’, says report

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Introducing autonomous vehicles will initially increase traffic congestion before dramatically reducing it, according to a new report.

Arthur D. Little has published a real-world simulation analysis that demonstrates that switching to totally autonomous vehicles significantly reduces urban congestion by a factor of 10, but that mixing human and robot drivers together will increase traffic jams by over 16 per cent.

The micro-simulation was based on a major intersection in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, notorious for its evening traffic jams.  [Read more…] about Autonomous vehicles will increase traffic congestion before ‘dramatically reducing it’, says report

Opinion: China’s ‘three-layered duality’ continues to evolve

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By Edward Tse, Gao Feng Advisory

The past 40 years of reform and liberalization have brought incredible changes and progress to China, turning the image of the country upside down, from a planned economy to one of the world’s most dynamic business landscapes.

Along the way, China has evolved its own development path, without consciously knowing it. At the top, the central government’s guidance is setting goals and directions for the country.

At the grassroots level, private-sector entrepreneurs have re-emerged and become a major force in driving the growth of China.   [Read more…] about Opinion: China’s ‘three-layered duality’ continues to evolve

Dr Koh Poh Koon officiates at Singapore International Robo Expo

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Earlier today, Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry, officiated at the opening of Singapore International Robo Expo 2018.

Dr Koh announced that the Building and Construction Authority has developed the Built Environment Robotics Research and Development Programme that focuses on three key areas of research, development and deployment.  [Read more…] about Dr Koh Poh Koon officiates at Singapore International Robo Expo

Robot Operating System market forecast to expand almost 9 per cent a year because of its ‘user friendly nature’

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The global market based on the Robot Operating System is likely to grow at an “exponential rate”, according to the report by Transparency Market Research, which estimates the expansion to be almost 9 percent to more than $400 million by 2026. 

The researcher says the success will be because of ROS’ “user-friendly nature”, which may or may not have accounted for the success of open-source software in general.

ROS, which itself is open source, is not actually an operating system, it’s what’s called “middleware”, which acts as a bridge between the actual operating system and the applications.  [Read more…] about Robot Operating System market forecast to expand almost 9 per cent a year because of its ‘user friendly nature’

Denso shifts strategy to craft the core technologies for the future of mobility

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Denso, the world’s second largest mobility supplier, has made recent changes that represent one of the largest shifts in business strategy in its 70-year history – expanding into software-based solutions in addition to its hardware expertise.

The company says that the strategy pushes the company beyond a vehicle-centric focus in order to help create an new mobility paradigm for society.

The global auto industry is undergoing a once-in-a-century shift that will fundamentally reshape transportation.

[Read more…] about Denso shifts strategy to craft the core technologies for the future of mobility

MSNBC’s Michael Rogers to join Intelligent Automation Week Austin

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Intelligent Automation Week Austin has announced Michael Rogers from MSNBC as its keynote speaker.

His address, titled “Taking the Fear out of Man and Machine”, will discuss how new technology is impacting the workforce and the employee change management initiatives that should be developed in order to avoid any fear or disruption.

Rogers’ address will take place on main conference day one, December 4th, at 9am.  [Read more…] about MSNBC’s Michael Rogers to join Intelligent Automation Week Austin

Nvidia says its deep learning research is putting robotic picking within reach

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Picking the right items from a disparate range of objects is a difficult challenge for a robot, but Nvidia says it is making progress. 

As another step toward enabling robots to work effectively in complex environments, robotics researchers from Nvidia says it has developed a novel deep learning-based system that allows a robot to perceive household objects in its environment for the purpose of grasping the objects and interacting with them.

With this technique, the robot is able to perform simple pick-and-place operations on known household objects, such as handing an object to a person or grasping an object out of a person’s hand. 
[Read more…] about Nvidia says its deep learning research is putting robotic picking within reach

Omron launches lighting solution to ‘improve defect detection’

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Automation solutions provider Omron Automation Americas has developed a unique technology that can automatically detect small defects and subtle changes in color with great sensitivity.

It can also simultaneously detect defects with different characteristics, says the company.

One of the key technologies in the Omron vision solution is an advanced lighting technology that changes illumination angles, directions, and colors depending on the specific characteristics of the object under inspection.  [Read more…] about Omron launches lighting solution to ‘improve defect detection’

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