Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

Industrial robots

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.

[Read more…] about Schunk demonstrates how the electronics industry can be made more collaborative

Epson Robots named a 2018 Silver Edison Award winner

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Epson Robots, which claims to be the “number-one SCARA robot manufacturer in the world”, says that its Flexion N-Series 6-Axis robot has been named a Silver Winner for innovation by the highly prestigious Edison Awards in the category of Applied Technology.

The Edison Awards have been honoring the best in innovation and excellence in the development of new products and services for 31 years.

Winners were announced during an awards gala at the April 11th event at The Capitale in New York City.  [Read more…] about Epson Robots named a 2018 Silver Edison Award winner

Universal Robots Academy now offers training in Korean and Japanese

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Universal Robots’ online robot training program, Universal Robots Academy, now offers training in two additional languages, Korean and Japanese, taking the total to seven languages.

Universal Robots introduced the online learning platform, Universal Robots Academy, in the beginning of 2017 to offer basic programming skills on the concepts of collaborative robots (cobots). More than 24,000 users from 130+ countries have joined the Academy to become robot programmers.

Universal Robots has now added Korean and Japanese to its curriculum, which means that the nine modules, which the full training program consists off, can be done in: Korean, Japanese, Chinese, English, Spanish, German and French.

[Read more…] about Universal Robots Academy now offers training in Korean and Japanese

Markets and politics contributing to the rise of Chinese robotics companies

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Commercial opportunities and government directives are coalescing to create a vibrant robotics and automation industry in China, according to a new report by ABI Research

Historically, the industrial robotics space has traditionally been dominated by Japanese and European vendors, while the commercial robotics has been the stronghold of robot startups from the United States and Europe.

However, recent developments suggest that Chinese vendors are staking a claim in the robotics territory, says ABI Research, a market research and advisory company.

Lian Jye Su, principal analyst at ABI Research, says: “The top four Chinese industrial robotics vendors reported a topline growth of 20 per cent year-on-year in 2016 and a similar figure is expected for next few years.  [Read more…] about Markets and politics contributing to the rise of Chinese robotics companies

Kuka expands China business

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Kuka is to combine its Chinese general industry business and the Chinese Swisslog business by setting up joint ventures with Midea Group companies. The respective shareholders of the joint venture companies will each have a stake of 50%.

The Robotics joint venture will be controlled by Kuka and the Chinese automotive business will fully remain with Kuka.

These joint ventures will significantly increase market penetration in China and expand Kuka’s Chinese business.

[Read more…] about Kuka expands China business

Robotic arms being employed as camera operators

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If you’re an enthusiast who occasionally makes a YouTube video, you probably use the webcam integrated with your computer. 

But if you’re more serious, you probably buy yourself good-quality video and audio equipment and your productions are of a higher standard.

Take one step further on from that and what’s possible is that you avail yourself of the services of a camera operator, someone who can move the camera to follow you around as you show us how to make that croissant and coffee we all so desperately need first thing in the morning.  [Read more…] about Robotic arms being employed as camera operators

PMC ‘increases efficiency and quality’ with Rethink Robotics’ Sawyer

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Plastic Molded Concepts, a plastics injection molding manufacturer, has installed Rethink Robotics’ Sawyer robot at its Eagle, Wisconsin facility to drive business growth and offer high-quality jobs for workers. (See video below.)

Rethink claims that PMC has found that using Sawyer “increases throughput efficiency and job quality” in its facility.

PMC has turned to automation to boost the productivity of its 38 molding machines. As a first step, Sawyer is making parts for a pressure gauge.

Larry Floyd, president at PMC, says: “We qualify our success in terms of efficiency, and there’s no better solution to efficiency than automation.  [Read more…] about PMC ‘increases efficiency and quality’ with Rethink Robotics’ Sawyer

Universal Robots sells 25,000 units

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Universal Robots says it has reached 25,000 unit sales of its collaborative industrial robot range. 

The company has now achieved the same unit sales as Omron, according to the Robotics and Automation News list of top robot companies with the most installations.

The figure for Omron has not been updated for a while, but that does not diminish Universal Robots’ achievement.  [Read more…] about Universal Robots sells 25,000 units

Universal Robots’ golden giveaway

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To celebrate the sale of 25,000 cobots worldwide, Universal Robots is giving away its first and only Gold Edition cobot, shipped free of cost, to the lucky customer who orders the 25,000th cobot.

With its joints painted in a gold-coloured finish, this Gold Edition cobot will be available in the UR3, UR5 or UR10 model.

“With this historic milestone, we celebrate not just the success of Universal Robots in empowering customers, but also the successes of our customers in innovating and changing their workplace with collaborative robots,” said Jürgen von Hollen, President of Universal Robots.

[Read more…] about Universal Robots’ golden giveaway

Fanuc launches new robot simulation software RoboGuide

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Industrial robot gigantico Fanuc has launched an offline robot simulation program called RoboGuide. 

The company says RoboGuide is a robot simulator that simulates both the robot’s motion and application commands, significantly reducing the time it takes to create new motion setups.

To ensure minimal impact on production, cells can be designed, tested and modified entirely offline.  [Read more…] about Fanuc launches new robot simulation software RoboGuide