Market trends and business perspectives
The Fraunhofer Institute will showcase a contactless and fiber-free high-speed optical communication solution at the Automate Show.
Instead of radio frequency, the solution uses light to transfer data wirelessly.
Automate 2019 is scheduled to be held at McCormick Place in Chicago from 8-11 April. [Read more…] about Fraunhofer to showcase wireless high-speed communication solution at Automate event
Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU have developed an innovative technology enabling people and large industrial robots to work together in an intuitive way that feels a lot like human teamwork.
Currently, heavy-duty robots operate alongside their human coworkers without safety fencing, but direct interaction is a no-go. Safety precautions dictate that the robot freezes as soon as a human sets foot in a sizeable surrounding safety zone.
Using the benefit of this technology, robots can recognise gestures, faces and postures to make this collaboration that much safer and more efficient.
[Read more…] about New algorithms for heavy industrial robot-human collaboration
The Fraunhofer Institute in Germany is developing what it says will be the “next generation of industrial robots”, which integrate new kinematics for milling, customized, high-precision manufacturing
Manufacturers generally must offer high-quality products at low prices in order to remain competitive.
In a bid to provide the production technologies they will require, three Fraunhofer Institute teams are working together on what they say is “the next generation of industrial robots which will facilitate cost-effective production processes”.
The researchers are focusing on developing a new kinematics for milling lightweight materials, metals, and steels. The aim: achieving a production tolerance of just 0.1 millimeters all over the robot workspace starting with the very first component. [Read more…] about Fraunhofer developing ‘next generation of industrial robots’
Progress in the field of robotic agricultural technology continues apace as German research institute Fraunhofer demonstrates what it says is a lightweight robot that can harvest cucumbers.
Fraunhofer developed the robot as part of the European Union’s Catch project, which is aimed at developing robotic solutions for agriculture, especially cucumber-picking.
Fraunhofer says its robot has the potential to keep crop cultivation commercially viable in Germany, where labour costs are high and farming can be expensive. [Read more…] about Fraunhofer demonstrates lightweight robot that can harvest cucumbers
