Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

Infrastructure

Perspective: Learning from urban mobility systems in the Middle East

by

By Ralf Baron, Thomas Kuruvilla, Morsi Berguiga, Michael Zintel, Joseph Salem, and Mario Kerbage

The Middle East may have been late to urbanization, but this has provided a unique opportunity to shape its urban mobility strategies.

Rather than adopting a piecemeal approach, leaders such as Dubai are following an ecosystem model that addresses mobility holistically.

In this article, contributed by experts at consultancy Arthur D Little, the authors explain this new model and the lessons it provides for other cities across the world as they struggle to meet their own urban mobility challenges.  [Read more…] about Perspective: Learning from urban mobility systems in the Middle East

Recharging the energy industry: Managing demand and constraint

by

city at night overview

Partners in industrial automation, Martyn Williams, managing director of industrial software expert, Copa-Data UK and Mark Hardy, CEO of Capula, reveal how new technologies, such as smart grids, big data and business intelligence enable a more efficient use of resources in the industry

Humans have always searched for ways to harness energy, whether it be to complete laborious tasks or just improve their livelihood.

Propelled by the discoveries and inventions of the industrial revolution, this thirst for innovation has led to humanity’s quest for more powerful, smarter and more efficient energy sources.

Recent years have seen a new wave of technology and opportunities hit the energy sector, several of which have been presented by the onset of big data and Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

Ensuring that supply meets the customers’ demand is a key responsibility of the energy industry, however, these smart technologies are changing the way the grid generates, manages, distributes and stores energy.  [Read more…] about Recharging the energy industry: Managing demand and constraint

Meinhardt partners with International Enterprise Singapore to expand into Africa and Middle East

by

nairobi tower kenya crop

Despite headwinds in the global economy, internationalisation will continue to drive the growth of companies in the engineering consultancy sector as infrastructure demand remains strong globally.

Meinhardt Group, a global engineering, planning and management firm, is working closely with International Enterprise Singapore, the government agency partnering Singapore companies in going global, on its expansion strategy to Africa and the Middle East.

This includes the company’s recent acquisition of African engineering consultancy to gain in-roads into East Africa.  [Read more…] about Meinhardt partners with International Enterprise Singapore to expand into Africa and Middle East

ABB approves Chinese company Recon to bid for major automation projects

by

recon

Recon Technology, which describes itself as an independent oilfield services provider operating primarily in China, has been authorised by ABB to participate in bidding for various projects in the future, including automation system products projects.

Recon says it anticipates cooperating with ABB in the future to provide integrated automation solutions, products and product quality assurance services for various projects beyond oil industry.

For any successful project bids, Recon expects it would provide on-site project commissioning and maintenance services.  [Read more…] about ABB approves Chinese company Recon to bid for major automation projects

Al Waha Petrochemicals to use Honeywell’s industrial internet to improve plant performance

by

Honeywell says it has been contracted to provide its industrial internet-based Connected Performance Services to Al Waha Petrochemicals Company to explore possibilities of maximizing propylene production.

CPS is a key part of Honeywell’s Connected Plant initiative that helps manufacturers leverage the IIoT to improve the safety, efficiency and reliability of operations across a single plant or several plants across an enterprise.

CPS integrates Honeywell UOP’s process and service expertise into the Connected Plant cloud platform. [Read more…] about Al Waha Petrochemicals to use Honeywell’s industrial internet to improve plant performance

Daimler offers vision of future cities built around autonomous vehicles

by

The Daimler and Benz Foundation is funding what it says is a new interdisciplinary research project which looks at the possible effects of autonomous driving on European cities.

The Foundation says the project is aimed at answering the question: How will autonomous vehicles shape the cities of the future?

Formally entitled “Avenue 21 – Autonomous Transport: Developments in Urban Europe”, the Foundation’s team of scientists is examining the question of how European cities will evolve through autonomous driving – and the influence of urban structures on the development of autonomous traffic.  [Read more…] about Daimler offers vision of future cities built around autonomous vehicles

Energy efficiency: The industrial sector can do much more, say experts

by

A coal power plant in Datteln, Germany
A coal power plant in Datteln, Germany. Picture courtesy of Arnold Paul

In this article by Hannover Messe, experts say the industrial sector has more potential to save on energy costs

Six out of ten companies are satisfied with the results of their most recent energy efficiency measures according to the energy efficiency index EEI’s winter evaluation.

The Institute for Energy Efficiency in Production at the University of Stuttgart surveys the German industry’s ongoing and planned activities regarding energy efficiency every six months.

“The latest information campaign from the German Ministry of Economics, is correct and will remain enormously important,” says the director of EEP Professor Alexander Sauer. “Ignorance continues to be a major obstacle.”   [Read more…] about Energy efficiency: The industrial sector can do much more, say experts

Big feature: Historic opportunities presented by smart cities

by

city by the water

Experts from the Arthur D Little consultancy provide a detailed overview of the historic, “trillion-dollar” opportunity presented by the move to smart cities, in this article by Ralf Baron, Morsi Berguiga, Jaap Kalkman, Adnan Merhaba, Ansgar Schlautmann, Karim Taga

The 100 largest cities in the world produce 25 per cent of the planet’s wealth. To succeed, more and more cities are going “smart” in order to meet their biggest challenges and enrich the quality of their citizens’ lives.

This unstoppable trend is driving double-digit growth in a trillion-dollar global market.

What are the opportunities for telecom companies, utilities, financial institutions, transportation companies, software developers, equipment manufacturers and others in the smart-city market?  [Read more…] about Big feature: Historic opportunities presented by smart cities

US President Donald Trump orders reduction of manufacturing and construction bureaucracy

by

Newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump has signed an order aimed at reducing the amount of bureaucracy involved in getting permissions and licences in the manufacturing and construction sectors. 

Trump got elected partly on a platform to rejuvenate manufacturing and industry – or his “make it in America” mantra – and these first few days have seen some big changes proposed.

The order he signed is designed to streamline the administrative process, which Trump said was “incredibly cumbersome, long, horrible”.  [Read more…] about US President Donald Trump orders reduction of manufacturing and construction bureaucracy

Electric power: Clean energy infrastructure driving switch from AC to DC

by

nikola tesla
Nikoa Tesla, pictured in his Colorado Springs lab in 1899. Picture courtesy of Smithsonian.com

Nikola Tesla was a famous scientist who developed alternating current, the means of distribution for electricity for the vast majority of devices, appliances and machines in households and factories and just about every other electrified thing in the world today. 

But even as Tesla was inventing much of the technology used in the alternating current electricity supply system, another famous inventor, Thomas Edison argued that direct current was the best way to distribute electricity.

By the time Tesla tech came onstream, DC had already been in use for a decade, but within a relatively small area, and Edison lost that argument mostly because the components of an alternating current grid enabled electricity to be carried far and wide beyond the power generating facility.  [Read more…] about Electric power: Clean energy infrastructure driving switch from AC to DC

Please switch off your ad blocker.

Our website relies on ads to provide free content and sustain our operations. By turning off your ad blocker, you help support us and ensure we can continue offering valuable content without any cost to you.

We truly appreciate your understanding and support. Thank you for considering disabling your ad blocker for this website