Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

company

On a roll with Cold and Hot Rolling Day 2019

by

Leaders in the field of steel rolling from across Europe and North America met at the Rolling Day metalworking event in Memphis, Tennessee to unveil the most innovative technology in hot and cold steel rolling available on the market today.

Hosting companies – Atlantic, Fraunhofer IZFP, Gontermann-Peipers, Herkules, IMS Messsysteme, Lechler, Lismar, Quaker Chemical, REBS, Schaeffler, and Steinhoff – spearheaded the event with numerous lectures detailing their newest developments for critical applications in metal production.

Smart industrial engineering ecosystems, inspection technology, coatings and energy-efficient heat treatments were just a few of the topics covered by experts over the course of the two-day conference. [Read more…] about On a roll with Cold and Hot Rolling Day 2019

Factories yet to realise full potential of robotics

by

Download our new white paper, Smart Factory: Material Handing in the Factory of the Future

The way manufacturers set up their production lines hasn’t fundamentally changed much in decades. For example, automakers use a linear assembly line where the bodies of cars are sometimes suspended above a linear production line and moved along slowly as robots or workers perform various tasks all the way along the line.

This method has been the main method of assembly for around a century, but autonomous mobile robots are now challenging this status quo.

Instead of using what could be described as an ground-based or overhead conveyor to move the cars along the assembly line, autonomous mobile robots could carry them along instead. [Read more…] about Factories yet to realise full potential of robotics

Senseye extends automotive footprint with new US installations

by

Senseye, the industrial software company, is rolling out its suite of technologies and methodologies in automotive manufacturing facilities in the US.

Senseye’s technology suite, Senseye PdM, is used by global automotive manufacturers to monitor the condition of machinery in real time.

It spots emerging problems with monitored assets and identifies when they are most likely to fail by using machine learning algorithms to analyse data relating to key condition indicators such as vibration, pressure, temperature and torque levels. [Read more…] about Senseye extends automotive footprint with new US installations

CloudMinds opens cloud robotics support centre in Chile

by

CloudMinds Technology, a provider of cloud artificial intelligence architecture for robots, has opened a new support centre in Santiago, Chile.

The company says the office will expand support for customers across Mexico and South America. The new operation will report to the company’s global co-headquarters in Santa Clara, California.

said Robert Zhang, company co-founder and president of international business development, says: “Our new operation in Latin America is a reflection of the continued global momentum CloudMinds has been building, driven by our proprietary cloud artificial intelligence architecture and cloud robot solutions that are already helping to transform various industry verticals around the world. [Read more…] about CloudMinds opens cloud robotics support centre in Chile

UPS attains FAA’s first full approval for drone airline

by

UPS subsidiary UPS Flight Forward says it has received the US government’s first full Part 135 Standard certification to operate a drone airline.

The company will initially expand its drone delivery service further to support hospital campuses around the country, and to provide solutions for customers beyond those in the healthcare industry.

UPS Flight Forward plans in the future to transport a variety of items for customers in many industries, and regularly fly drones beyond the operators’ visual line of sight. [Read more…] about UPS attains FAA’s first full approval for drone airline

Kuehne + Nagel breaks ground for new Luxembourg logistics hub

by

Kuehne + Nagel held the ground-breaking ceremony of a new contract logistics centre in Luxembourg.

The event also marked the 10-year contract extension between Kuehne + Nagel and sports equipment supplier On AG, a co-operation that started in 2010.

The new contract logistics centre, due to open in the second half of 2020, will serve On as its advanced European distribution centre for both off- and online channels and will play an important role in the rapid international expansion of the Swiss company specialized in performance running shoes. [Read more…] about Kuehne + Nagel breaks ground for new Luxembourg logistics hub

Honeywell Intelligrated to help Apparel Logistics ‘triple’ daily output using automation

by

Honeywell Intelligrated says it is helping Apparel Logistics Group to “triple daily output” from its e-commerce distribution center by using automation technologies.

The two companies signed an agreement to automate third-party logistics company Apparel Logistics Group’s fulfillment services for apparel, footwear and accessories.

Honeywell Intelligrated’s technology and technical support services will help the logistics provider expand its e-commerce parcel shipping capability, increase productivity at the shipping dock, ensure order accuracy and expand its value-added services capacity, which includes returned merchandise management and product customization. [Read more…] about Honeywell Intelligrated to help Apparel Logistics ‘triple’ daily output using automation

BWIndustrie installs world’s first UR16e collaborative robot to optimise throughput

by

Universal Robots says that BWIndustrie, a French specialist in machining, assembly and robotics, has installed the world’s first UR16e heavy-duty payload collaborative robot.

It becomes the company’s sixth cobot from UR, where it is streamlining the time-consuming and labour-intensive process of deburring metal parts.

Launched at China International Industy Fair to wide acclaim, the UR16e enables BWIndustrie to overcome the barriers of traditional manufacturing by automating the deburring processes in a matter of seconds compared to the several minutes incurred by manual labour. [Read more…] about BWIndustrie installs world’s first UR16e collaborative robot to optimise throughput

Special feature: Tour of Airbus’ advanced manufacturing facility in Germany

by

Airbus is in the midst of revolutionary changes that may lead the aerospace giant to spend more than $1 billion on robotics, automation and digitalisation technologies across its global operation in the next few years – that’s if the advances at the company’s Hamburg, Germany facility are duplicated in all its facilities worldwide. 

The multinational consortium could end up spending a lot more: for example, the final stages of its internal assembly is labour-intensive, with all equipment – seats and luggage compartments – installed by humans. If this stage is roboticised, as the company’s chief operating officer has suggested, it would fundamentally change the current production process, something which he is envisaging anyway.

Robotic technologies have already transformed the way Airbus manufactures the exterior shell of its planes. Whereas, in the past, human workers would have drilled the 6,000 or more external holes in the fuselage of a typical commercial airliner, now, robots not only drill them, they also rivet or fasten them.

Perhaps surprisingly to some readers, the drilling was done by humans all these years until now, and even now, it’s only at the Hamburg facility that robots have been brought in.

Last week, Airbus provided more insight into its highly automated aircraft manufacturing facility in Hamburg – a place called Finkenwerder, to be precise, at what’s described as a “private airport”.

The aerospace jumbo invited a small group of journalists, including one from Robotics and Automation News, for a visit to the vast, sprawling complex, and a detailed, guided tour of Hangar 245, the advanced manufacturing facility in which aircraft belonging to the “A320 Family”, as Airbus describes them, are currently being assembled.  [Read more…] about Special feature: Tour of Airbus’ advanced manufacturing facility in Germany

Diligent Robotics raises $3 million seed funding to launch Moxi the hospital robot

by

Startup company Diligent Robotics has raised $3 million in seed funding to launch “Moxi”, the company’s hospital robot.

Diligent Robotics describes itself as an artificial intelligence company which builds socially intelligent robots that help people with their jobs.

Its first product, hospital robot assistant named Moxi, is now out of beta and into market, beginning with the roll-out of Moxi into a Texas hospital starting October 2, 2019. [Read more…] about Diligent Robotics raises $3 million seed funding to launch Moxi the hospital robot