Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

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Digital manufacturing needs Time-Sensitive Networking

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Thomas Burke, Global Strategic Advisor at the CC-Link Partner Association, looks at why TSN is the future of industrial communications

Time-Sensitive Networking (TSN) is a game-changing technology that can substantially reshape industrial communications and factory operations.

By enhancing the capabilities of conventional industrial Ethernet and providing new functionalities, TSN can truly support futureproof digital manufacturing. Because of this disruptive potential, businesses should implement TSN now.

TSN is an innovative technology defined by IEEE 802.1 standards that resides at the Layer 2 (Data Link) of the Open System Interconnection (OSI) reference model for communications. It ultimately makes Ethernet deterministic by design, thus improving data transfer accuracy and reliability. [Read more…] about Digital manufacturing needs Time-Sensitive Networking

IEEE adopts MIPI A-PHY, first industry-standard, long-reach data communications for automotive applications

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The MIPI Alliance, an international organization that develops interface specifications for mobile and mobile-influenced industries, has adopted the MIPI A-PHY v1.0 specification as an IEEE standard.

Published as IEEE 2977-2021, IEEE Standard for Adoption of MIPI Alliance Specification for A-PHY Interface (A-PHY) Version 1.0, A-PHY is the first asymmetric, industry-standard, long-reach, serializer-deserializer (SerDes) physical layer interface for automotive applications.

Joel Huloux, chairman of MIPI Alliance, says: “This is the first time MIPI has sought adoption by another standards body for one of our specifications. [Read more…] about IEEE adopts MIPI A-PHY, first industry-standard, long-reach data communications for automotive applications

World’s largest robotics conference to take place in Canada for first time

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ICRA, the world’s largest robotics conference, is set to be held in Canada for the first time, offering insights into the future of robotics across the globe.

ICRA, short for International Conference on Robotics and Automation, is organised by the IEEE, the world’s largest engineering association. Specifically, the IEEE Robotics & Automation Society.

With global spending on robotics systems and drones forecast to total $115.7 billion this year alone – an increase of 17.6 percent over 2018 – the world’s largest robotics conference is scheduled to get under way in Montreal later this month, unveiling the latest and greatest in robotics research and innovations from 71 countries under one roof.

[Read more…] about World’s largest robotics conference to take place in Canada for first time

Opinion: How assistive robots will transform the workplace and elderly care

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By Dr Antonio Espingardeiro, member of the IEEE

Robots can bring significant benefits to the workplace, positively impacting productivity, efficiency and quality.

There are challenges to realising these benefits – not least the complex subject of the degree and quality of human interaction that we want or need robots to deliver.

However, robotics offers tremendous scope for helping humanity, so the field will continue to develop the advanced technologies that make it possible.  [Read more…] about Opinion: How assistive robots will transform the workplace and elderly care

New $10,000 collaborative robot can build copies of itself

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FRANKA EMIKA industrial robot
The Franka Emika industrial robot

The makers of a new, collaborative robot called Franka Emika say the machine could build copies of itself. 

In an article published in the IEEE magazine, the robot’s creator, Sami Haddadin, is quoted as saying “there will be Frankas building Frankas”.

The article also suggests that Franka’s price is around $10,000 – and reveals the prices of other collaborative robots:

  • Rethink’s Sawyer ~ $30,000; and
  • Universal Robots’ best-selling UR5 ~ $35,000.

The collaborative robots market is currently dominated by Universal Robots, which has sold so many robots, it’s made it on the list of industrial robot manufacturers with the largest install base, with approximately 10,000 sold worldwide so far.

Full article on IEEE Spectrum

IEEE experts ‘driven by unconventional inspiration’ to help humanity

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emily-surf-breaching

The IEEE says its experts are “driven by unconventional inspiration” to advance technologies and help humanity

Members within the IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity, are incorporating outside technologies and ideas to drive innovation in a range of robotic fields such as disaster response, medical and biomechanical engineering. 

In this article, the IEE provides some areas its innovators are looking into.  [Read more…] about IEEE experts ‘driven by unconventional inspiration’ to help humanity

Spaceflight will be as common in the future as air travel is today

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Buying a ticket to outer space will be an everyday activity for millions of people in the future, as common as buying an airline ticket is today, according to an expert.

Paul Kostek, former president of the IEEE Aerospace and Electronics Systems Society, says the commercialisation of space is following the same trajectory as the air travel industry.

Virgin Galactic sub-orbital spaceship
Virgin Galactic sub-orbital spaceship

In an exclusive interview with Robotics and Automation News, Kostek says: “Just looking at the normal evolution of flight, it wasn’t until the 1930s that Boeing introduced the first pressurised planes that allowed them to fly higher… flying became safer.”

Kostek, who is the current principal of Air Direct Solutions, adds that it was approximately 40 or 50 years after the Wright Brothers’ first flight that commercial aircraft came along, with early air travellers being the equivalent of present-day adventurers who buy tickets for trips on Virgin Galactic’s sub-orbital flights.