Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

chancellor

Continental shows off autonomous mobility tech to German chancellor

by

Automotive components giant Continental has been showing off its latest autonomous mobility technology to the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, at the IAA event.

Continental says Merkel’s visit is an implicit acknowledgment that autonomous vehicles have the potential to change everyone’s lives.

Chancellor was pictured (above) getting off a driverless “Robo-Taxi” – also called the “CUbE” and “EZ10 Shuttle” – which Continental developed in partnership with French company EasyMile, of which Continental has been a shareholder since 2017. [Read more…] about Continental shows off autonomous mobility tech to German chancellor

German Chancellor Angela Merkel looking for a ‘good solution’ in response to Chinese bid for Kuka Robots

by

chancellor anglea merkel
Chancellor Angela Merkel says she does not see why there cannot be a German solution to the Chinese takeover of Kuka Robots

Chancellor Angela Merkel is reported by Reuters news agency as saying she is looking for a “good solution” in response to the Chinese takeover bid for Kuka, one of the biggest industrial robot manufacturers in the world.

Midea, a Chinese producer of household appliances, recently offered $5 billion to take over Kuka, and the robot-maker’s chairman, Dr Till Reuter, has already said the bid “can support our strategy”.

However, Dr Reuter’s apparently positive vibes has many in Germany seething and looking for a counter-offer which will keep Kuka under German control.  [Read more…] about German Chancellor Angela Merkel looking for a ‘good solution’ in response to Chinese bid for Kuka Robots

Hannover Messe: Harting receives Obama and Merkel visit

by

harting obama merkel hannover messe
The Harting family greeting the two heads of state, (from left to right): Margrit Harting, Maresa Harting-Hertz, Dietmar Harting, Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, Philip Harting. (PRNewsFoto/Harting)

US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the Harting stand at the Hannover Messe, with the Harting family greeting the two heads of state. The US is this year’s partner country of the Hannover Messe.

President Obama was accompanied by a large delegation. Together with Chancellor Merkel, the 44th US president learned about Harting products and solutions, which are accompanying companies around the globe into Industrie 4.0.

The Harting Modular Industry Computing Architecture (Mica) has been developed for this digital transformation. [Read more…] about Hannover Messe: Harting receives Obama and Merkel visit

Stop praying to the gods of the free market and roll out the red carpet to robots, urges Labour

by

The UK Labour Party is urging the government to turn away from “the gods of the free market” and instead roll out the red carpet to our new robot overlords.

Or at least that’s what could be inferred from an opinion piece written by the Labour Party’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, who made it clear that he favours mechatronics over abstract notions of free markets.

“A robot driving a lorry may sound daunting, just as a horseless carriage did in 1890. But a driverless car doesn’t get tired, or drink alcohol, or have blind spots,” writes Watson in praise of the machines.

Watson calls for a royal commission into the issue of robotics and automation in the UK, claiming that the chancellor, George Osborne, is leaving to fate to decide whether technological change becomes “out ally not our foe”.

Full story at The Guardian.