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Amsterdam to have new 3D printed stainless steel bridge

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Additive manufacturing company MX3D is 3D printing stainless steel bridge to cross one of the oldest and most famous canals in the centre of Amsterdam, the Oudezijds Achterburgwal.

Gemeente Amsterdam is MX3D’s collaborative bridge building department’s first customer.

The company equips typical industrial robots with purpose-built tools and develops the software to control them. The approach allows the company to 3D print strong, complex and graceful structures out of metal.

[Read more…] about Amsterdam to have new 3D printed stainless steel bridge

ABB to invest €100 million in global innovation and training centre at B&R location

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One year after announcing its acquisition of Bernecker + Rainer Industrie-Elektronik, ABB is to invest €100 million in Austria to build a state-of-the-art innovation and training campus at the home of B&R in Eggelsberg, Upper Austria.

It is the largest organic investment in industrial automation in ABB’s more than 130-year history and lays the foundation for around 1,000 new high-tech jobs in Austria.

The new innovation and training campus will develop technologies for the factory of the future, based on ABB Ability, in which production will be undertaken autonomously by smart and cloud-connected machines and robots.  [Read more…] about ABB to invest €100 million in global innovation and training centre at B&R location

The route to fulfilment: Exclusive interview with DHL robotics boss

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Exclusive interview with Denis Niezgoda, robotics accelerator lead at DHL

In this exclusive interview, Robotics and Automation News talks to Denis Niezgoda, robotics accelerator lead at DHL, who gets into details of the company’s automation strategy, highlights some challenges, and provides plenty of insight into numerous interesting initiatives DHL is currently engaged in. 

DHL, as many will know, is the world’s largest logistics company, and Niezgoda says that the German giant is forecasting “solid improvements” in global shipments, especially in its freight forwarding business – ocean freight, road freight, and rail freight – which are among its core business activities.

“One of the biggest growth factors is online shopping or e-commerce, where we see steady, low double-digit growth – not just only in domestic shipments, but what is getting much more interesting in the past one or two years is cross-border shipments,” says Niezgoda.  [Read more…] about The route to fulfilment: Exclusive interview with DHL robotics boss

Fetch Robotics expands autonomous mobile robot fleet

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Fetch Robotics, one of the first and leading makers of warehouse robots, has expanded its VirtualConveyor family of Autonomous Mobile Robots with the addition of CartConnect and RollerTop robots.

The company says it now has “the most flexible and broad range of workflows for material handling and transport”.

Through the FetchCore Cloud Robotics Platform, mixed fleets of “VirtualConveyor” robots uniquely complement any warehouse optimization strategy for mixed inventory and workflow environments associated with the largest third-party logistics companies, retailers, and manufacturers in the world.  [Read more…] about Fetch Robotics expands autonomous mobile robot fleet

TuSimple to launch autonomous truck for port logistics

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A startup company called TuSimple is said to be ready to launch its autonomous truck for logistics operations at seaports in China. (See video below.)

This is according to a report in the South China Morning Post, which says the company is in talks with 10 ports in the country and is just a couple of months away from rolling out is first driverless truck at one of those ports, possibly more.

The company has already conducted debut trials at the National Intelligent Connected Vehicle Pilot Zone in Shanghai, where the port is the second-busiest in the world.

TuSimple is a Chinese company with big-name investors in the US, including chipmaker Nvidia.  [Read more…] about TuSimple to launch autonomous truck for port logistics

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

Comau Robotics partners with FLT in Michigan

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Comau has announced a new system integrator partner in Michigan, Fibro Lapple Technology (FLT). FLT is a leading manufacturer of automation solutions in the areas of automotive, mechanical engineering and general industry.

As a system partner in handling, transport and installation technology, FLT offers individual complete solutions and standard modules in first-class quality.

“The diverse experience that FLT has in a variety of industries is the key to our partnership being a success”, says James Lakin, Comau Robotics NAFTA Partner Manager.

[Read more…] about Comau Robotics partners with FLT in Michigan

ABB cobots and software on show at Pack Expo East

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ABB will feature robotic and motion technologies such as the YuMi collaborative robot and the ABB IRB 460 palletizing robot for packaging and warehouse distribution applications at Pack Expo East 2018, April 16-18 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, USA.

For food & beverage, an ABB demo will feature an IRB 360 FlexPicker® with PickMaster™ software and an IRB 910SC SCARA robot working together to pick and place apples from a randomized infeed flow.

Both the FlexPicker and the SCARA robots feature Soft Robotics grippers, a technology that can manipulate items of varying size, shape and weight with a single device.

[Read more…] about ABB cobots and software on show at Pack Expo East

Opinion: The customer must be at the centre of the digital strategy

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By 

Colin Masson, global industry director of manufacturing solutions, Microsoft

Break down internal barriers to deliver highly tailored products and services

It’s easy to get obsessed with technology – it is the key enabler of today’s revolution – but the harder part of the transformation is cultural.

It’s about putting the customer experience and their business outcomes at the centre of everything. That means realigning engineering, manufacturing and the supply chain around delivering a world-class sales and service experience.

It means new thinking about optimising customer satisfaction and loyalty metrics such as Customer Satisfaction Scores or Net Promoter Scores rather than production efficiency.  [Read more…] about Opinion: The customer must be at the centre of the digital strategy

Hangar and Vapor IO to launch autonomous robotics data service

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Real-time system includes new data sources that support autonomous drones, cars and robotics

Vapor IO, which specialises in edge computing and edge data centers, and Hangar, which claims to be the world’s first Robotics-as-a-System data acquisition platform, have agreed plans for a commercial implementation of Hangar’s autonomous robotics for Industry on top of Vapor IO’s Kinetic Edge.

The implementation consists of Hangar’s Robotics-as-a-System platform running on Vapor IO’s Kinetic Edge, deployed to Project Volutus edge locations.

Hangar’s RaaS platform will utilize Vapor IO’s Kinetic Edge sites for safe navigation, connectivity, situational and airspace awareness, drone storage, drone recharging, high-speed data ingest and low latency processing.  [Read more…] about Hangar and Vapor IO to launch autonomous robotics data service