Where Innovation Meets Imagination
China’s auto market is creating “explosive growth opportunity” for companies prepared to adapt their approach, according to a new report by Gao Feng.
The report, Rising Opportunities in China’s Automotive Independent Aftermarket, was produced by Bill Russo, Jason Zhang, Jackie Tang and Peter Hu.
The authors say China’s automotive market has “entered a new phase” which brings “enormous opportunities”. [Read more…] about China’s fast-growing automotive market presents opportunities for all
China’s plan to expand the nation’s robotics and automation industry seems to be working, according to a new survey by TheRobotReport.com.
The website tracks robotics companies worldwide and editor Frank Tobe says he wrote about 194 robot companies in China in 2015, but now that number has more than doubled to greater than 500.
The Chinese government launched a “robot revolution” as part of its Made in China 2025 program a couple of years ago, partly because it has become the world’s biggest buyer of robots and would like some of those robots to be made by domestic companies. [Read more…] about Chinese government’s plan to grow robotics and automation industry seems to be working
It’s not one of the most famous exhibitions in the world, and not the biggest, but that’s probably appropriate for EPHJ, because it’s all about small things, or – more accurately – what’s called the “microtechnology” sector.
Microtechnology includes such things as watchmaking, jewellery making, and precision instrumentation for medicine, all of which are relatively large business sectors in Switzerland, where EPHJ is being held, on 20-23 June 2017 – Geneva, to be exact.
Now in its 16th year, the event is described as “an unmissable event for high-precision manufacturers, with exhibitors from the worlds of watchmaking and jewellery, microtechnology and medtech”. [Read more…] about Microtechnology exhibition to showcase innovations in watchmaking and medicine
SoftBank, the maker of the Pepper and Nao humanoid robots, has reached a deal to buy Boston Dynamics, the robotics business owned by Alphabet, the parent company of Google.
Boston Dynamics has been building a wide range of robots, some of which are humanoid, others canine and one or two wheeled – or a hybrid of these structures.
But whatever robots the company has made, they’ve been widely acclaimed as having some of the most realistic movements and best balance of any robots made anywhere – watching them move can be quite unnerving because they move almost exactly like humans or canines. [Read more…] about SoftBank to buy Boston Dynamics, the maker of those unnervingly realistic humanoid and canine robots
By Eric Duchesne, SVP technology experts for Total, who will be addressing at the ERTC Ask the Experts conference in Cologne on 20-21 June
There have been many advances in the field of digitalisation in recent years.
As the industry moves towards remote operation it is plant optimisation and integrity management which will provide the tools to enhance safety and anticipate potential problems within the plant, ensuring that the right human assets and replacement parts are available when required.
Today, there’s lots of talk about big data, but before we start to consider how we use big data we can dramatically improve the performance of our plants through the more effective interpretation of data that already exists. We need to become proactive rather than reactive. [Read more…] about Opinion: Is digitalisation the key to remote plant operation?
Honda says it is targeting the year 2025 for the introduction of vehicles with highly-automated driving capability – or autonomy – in most driving situations (SAE Level 4).
Full list of SAE levels of automation, or autonomousness, available here.
This new goal builds upon earlier-announced plans for Honda and Acura vehicles to have highly-automated freeway driving capability (SAE Level 3) by 2020.
Honda says these are “critical steps” in its commitment to contribute to a “collision-free society”. [Read more…] about Honda aiming for Level 4 automated driving capability by 2025
Volvo Trucks has developed a new self-steering truck that it says could become a significant productivity booster for Brazilian sugar-cane growers. (See video below.)
The truck, which is used to transport newly harvested sugar-cane, is steered with “great precision” through the fields in order to avoid damaging the young plants that will form the following year’s crop.
At present, about 4 per cent of the crop is lost as young plants are run over and the soil is compacted by moving vehicles. This can translate into tens of thousands of US dollars in lost revenue per truck per season. [Read more…] about Self-steering Volvo truck set to increase Brazil’s sugar-cane harvest
Robotic Vision Technologies will be a co-exhibitor at EastPack 2017, on June 13-15, 2017 with the world’s largest collaborative robot maker Universal Robots.
RVT will be demonstrating its new collaborative 3D vision guidance software on a Universal Robot UR5. The 3D cobot packaging solution can be seen at EastPack ATX 2017 in East Booth 2529 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
RVT, a leader in vision software for industrial applications, has been integrated into Universal Robots’ cobot arms to demonstrate precise pick-and-place items off a conveyor in 2.5D and onto a movable tray in 3D. [Read more…] about Robotic Vision Technologies and Universal Robots introduce 3D cobot packaging application
Aethon has demonstrated new products at Automate 2017 in Chicago specifically designed to address the needs of manufacturers looking to automate material movement and connect islands of automation within their plants.
Aethon showcased new mobile robots and software control systems allowing their robotic platform to achieve Level 4 autonomy. (Full list of autonomy levels, as published by SAE.)
Aethon will feature the T3 and T3XL model robots, which represent the newest innovations in automated material movement. [Read more…] about Aethon launches new autonomous mobile robots at Automate 2017
Nidec, a Japanese electric motor manufacturer, says demand for its speed reducers has grown seven-fold.
The increase in orders has led the company to invest an additional $36 million in new equipment at its factory – operated by subsidiary Nidec-Shimpo – to produce more of the component.
Speed reducers are a core part in robots, and are used to control robotic limbs and give them power. [Read more…] about Nidec says demand for robot parts has grown by seven times
