Robotics & Automation News

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Industrial robots

Universal Robots go to work making oil burner parts

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Fluidics Instruments, a Dutch manufacturer of oil burner components, has taken collaborative robot deployment to the next level with seven UR3 cobots working in tandem on an assembly line producing 1,000 oil nozzles per hour.

The company has additional Universal Robots cobots on mobile platforms ready to address ever-changing tasks and has also developed a cobot-powered screw driving application.

With a total fleet of twelve cobots, Fluidics Instruments is constantly increasing production and sales despite the shortage of skilled workers.

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NextShift Robotics to show ‘no-following or waiting’ robots at ProMat

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NextShift Robotics, a provider of autonomous mobile robot solutions for automated order fulfilment and warehouse materials management, will be demonstrating its No Following / No Waiting robotic workflow solution at ProMat 2019.

NextShift recently released a video highlighting some of the innovations they will be demonstrating at Promat 2019, to be held April 8-11, 2019 in Chicago, USA.

The company will demonstrate what it claims is a fundamentally different autonomous mobile robot workflow for material handling. The NextShift solution is based on robots that can load and unload containers autonomously.

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Double-speed SCARA hits the US market

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TM Robotics is launching Toshiba Machine’s THE600 SCARA robot to the North American market at Automate 2019, held at McCormick Place, Chicago, from April 8–11, 2019.

At the region’s largest automation technology showcase, TM Robotics will showcase Toshiba Machine’s latest robots. Demonstrations include models from the SCARA and six-axis range, as well as a robot programming tool, TSAssist.

The THE600 is the latest addition to Toshiba Machine’s range and builds upon the established specifications of the THE400.

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Kawasaki adds new high-speed, low-payload robots to line-up

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In response to the rising demand for fast, flexible and compact industrial robots in food and other industries, Kawasaki has developed two 6-axis vertically articulated robots with a maximum payload capacity of 7 kg and different reach.

The RS007N and RS007L models are the latest additions to the company’s general-purpose R series line of small-to-medium payload (3-80 kg) robots, suited to a wide range of applications including packing, material handling and machine tending.

The Kawasaki RS007N and RS007L robots offer the operational features of the R series robots while incorporating a newly redesigned arm structure and main-unit weight reductions.

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Collaborative robot maker Kassow Robots to make its Hannover Messe premiere

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Collaborative robot manufacturer Kassow Robots will make its first appearance at the Hannover Messe event this year.

The technology trade fair takes place from 1 to 5 April 2019. It will be the first chance to visit the company’s own booth since Kassow’s market launch at Automatica in Munich last summer.

The Danish start-up will be attending Hannover Fair together with Project Automation & Engineering. The partner from Kranenburg, Germany, will showcase an automated banding application.  [Read more…] about Collaborative robot maker Kassow Robots to make its Hannover Messe premiere

Majority of companies ‘do not understand safety requirements of collaborative robots’

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The vast majority of companies implementing automation technologies “do not understand safety requirements of collaborative robots”, according to a survey undertaken by TM Robotics. 

The company asked for the opinions of automation distributors on current challenges related to robotics for its Global Robotics Report.

The answers showed that 79 per cent of automation distributors do not believe their customers understand the safety requirements of installing a collaborative robot.  [Read more…] about Majority of companies ‘do not understand safety requirements of collaborative robots’

Norway develops picking robot

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At Eidsnes, Norway, a robot is being developed that will pick inventory goods.

“We are making robots for the grocery industry. We have created a prototype that we have started testing at H.I. Giørtz,” says Torbjørn Vestnes Krogen.

Torbjørn is the general manager of start-up company Currence Robotics AS, which is one of two companies in Møre og Romsdal that receives money from the Norwegian Research Council for companies that run research-based innovation.

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Vecna Robotics launches fifth generation Pallet Jack

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Vecna Robotics (Vecna) has unveiled its latest product in fifth generation autonomous pallet handling. The new Pallet Jack will be the first self-driving vehicle to include autonomous pallet identification, lifting, and pickup.

The model also features an OEM agnostic base. The enhanced software delivers faster, smoother pickups across a broader variety of pallets and goods, including pallets with bottom boards and partial pallets.

This new technology is a further extension of Vecna’s Autonomy Stack, which is said to instil independence in all its vehicles with dynamic obstacle avoidance, topological reasoning, local decision making, high-confidence navigation, and self-learning capabilities.

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Record number of robots shipped in North America in 2018

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Robots shipped to North American companies in record numbers last year, with more non-automotive companies installing robots than ever before, according to statistics from the Robotic Industries Association (RIA).

35,880 units were shipped in 2018, a 7 percent increase over 2017, with 16,702 shipments to non-automotive companies, up 41 percent.

Notable growth came in areas like food and consumer goods (48 percent), plastics and rubber (37 percent), life sciences (31 percent), and electronics (22 percent).

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The story behind Kawasaki’s duAro 2 robot

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In June 2018, a new model of the dual-arm SCARA robot “duAro” series, the duAro2, was released. The duAro is a collaborative robot (cobot) first launched by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, or Kawasaki, in June 2015.

Like humans, it has two arms and is capable of working alongside humans in the same environment. While the series’ inaugural duAro1 model specialises in horizontal motion, the duAro2 improves upon its capabilities, extending the range of its arms’ vertical stroke from 15 cm to 55 cm, and increasing the maximum payload of each arm from 2 kg to 3 kg.

Shogo Hasegawa (General Manager of FA Solution Second Department of Robot Business Division in Precision Machinery & Robot Company) is known as the “Father of duAro”, who has been involved since development of duAro1 first began. He talks about developing the duAro2 and the story behind it.

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