Robotics & Automation News

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industrial

Gatik raises $25 million in new funding

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Gatik, a Palo Alto and Toronto based autonomous technology company deploying autonomous vehicles for B2B short-haul middle-mile logistics, announced today it has raised $25 million in Series A funding.

The round was co-led by Wittington Ventures and Innovation Endeavors with participation from FM Capital and Intact Ventures. Existing investors like Dynamo Ventures, Fontinalis Partners, AngelPad and others participated as well.

Gatik’s investors bring a wealth of deep experience in automotive, artificial intelligence and supply chain, making them a strong strategic fit for the company’s rapid growth. [Read more…] about Gatik raises $25 million in new funding

IDS launches new industrial camera range

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IDS has launched a new range of industrial cameras – the uEye XLE, which the company describes as “modern, small and consistently cost-optimised”.

Particularly affordable, particularly compact and particularly powerful when the essentials matter: the new uEye XLE camera family from IDS has been specially developed for high-volume and price-sensitive projects.

Thanks to their space-saving design, practical USB3 interface and support of the USB3 Vision Standard, the industrial cameras can be easily integrated into any machine vision system. [Read more…] about IDS launches new industrial camera range

Kivnon awarded AGV project by US truck-making giant Navistar

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Kivnon has been awarded an automated guided vehicle (AGV) project by Navistar, a top manufacturer of commercial trucks and other large vehicles in the USA.

Navistar has chosen Kivnon’s automation solutions for its new manufacturing plant in Texas.

The international group Kivnon, which specializes in the automation of industrial processes using self-guided vehicles (AGVs/AMRs), expands its presence in the American market through a contract agreement with Navistar to provide a complete mobile robotics solution and bring automation to their new assembly plant. [Read more…] about Kivnon awarded AGV project by US truck-making giant Navistar

Central McGowan expands its highly automated distribution hub

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Central McGowan is expanding its Fargo, North Dakota CO2 distribution hub, with the intention of turning it into a fully-stocked retail store and distribution site.

Central McGowan is a supplier of gases and technology for the manufacturing, welding, medical, and food and beverage industries in the upper Midwest. And the company is a Fanuc-authorized integrator of automation or robotic solutions

Central McGowan’s Fargo store is located at 1226 38th St N, Fargo, ND 58102 (next to the newly painted water tower). The store officially opens today. Central McGowan has had a presence in the area since 2017, when it acquired Pro-CO2. [Read more…] about Central McGowan expands its highly automated distribution hub

Cisco releases two new IoT sensor solutions

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Cisco has unveiled two new cloud-managed sensor solutions that the company says can help businesses simplify asset and facility monitoring across their organizations, from indoor IT closets to outdoor Operation Technology (OT) spaces at scale.

Many businesses today operate in commercial buildings with limited capacity and are supporting a growing mobile workforce. It is critical for business operators to have actionable data from their office space and assets to better manage network equipment performance and maintenance.

Remote monitoring using IoT sensors offers a list of benefits to help improve efficiencies including employee safety by preventing unnecessary site visits and equipment checks, reducing network outages and downtime and reducing costs for premature equipment failure. [Read more…] about Cisco releases two new IoT sensor solutions

Automating image-based inspection with artificial intelligence

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High demands on products as well as high time and cost pressure are decisive competitive factors across all industries and sectors.

Whether in the food or automotive industry quality, safety and speed are today more than ever before factors that determine the success of a company.

Zero-defect production is the goal. But how can it be guaranteed that only flawless products leave the production line? [Read more…] about Automating image-based inspection with artificial intelligence

Global Industrial Impact of Covid-19

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Covid-19 is not just a global pandemic and public health crisis. Industries around the world are adjusting to a new normal, but normal is no longer an option.

Strict social distancing rules have left many manufacturing businesses with fewer staff and, in some countries, these industries have had to close their doors to try and flatten the curve of infections.

As many manufacturing plant managers know, switching production on and off is not an easy or affordable task. Below we have highlighted just a few of the ways Covid-19 has impacted global industrial manufacturing. [Read more…] about Global Industrial Impact of Covid-19

Robotics and Automation News Awards 2021

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Vote for your favourite companies using this form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1c6DppSIyB8vSMo4fUWC1nGlXH5cmWTN4oS0EBSYS0ag/edit

After five years of publication, Robotics and Automation News is launching an awards competition to highlight and honour some of the many companies in the sector that we cover on a daily basis and which have done particularly well in terms of their technical innovations and their success in their respective markets. 

As a website and media outlet, and a group of people putting it together, we are honoured to be in this position.

Over the past few years, we have seen the website grow from literally nothing to one of the most influential websites in the market today, and we have some very strong, well-established competition to compare ourselves and aspire to.

For these awards, we have chosen categories based on popular articles we have published over the past few years. These include:

1. 3D printing: Top 10 3D printer manufacturers
2. Agriculture: 30 farm automation technologies
3. Agriculture: Top 25 vertical farming companies
4. Computing: Top 25 AI chip companies
5. Energy: Top 20 electric vehicle charging station companies
6. Industrial control: Top 20 programmable logic controller manufacturers
7. Industrial design: Top 10 industrial design software applications by install base
8. Industrial robots: Top 30 robotic arm makers
9. Logistics: 30 robotic solutions for warehouses (autonomous mobile robots, automated guided vehicles, and automated storage and retrieval systems)
10. Logistics: Top 20 autonomous delivery robots
11. Software: Top 10 product lifecycle management applications by install base
12. Transportation: Top 25 autonomous shuttle manufacturers (driverless minibuses)
13. Networks: Industrial cloud providers
14. Various: Robotics and automation software and other companies
15. Systems: End effectors, peripherals, sensors and embedded technologies

Although the above lists include up to 30 companies, we will whittle them down to a shortlist of three to five in each category, and some of the categories themselves are likely to be removed because 12 may be too many. We’ll just have to see how much interest there is – we may omit some categories if not enough people vote in them.

You can vote for a maximum of three companies in each category using the online form, or nominate a judge to us by email. We encourage you to take part in any way you can so we can make this project as broadly representative of the audience’s opinions as possible.

Initially, we can open up voting to readers through an online form. These votes will be counted towards the “readers’ awards”.

We will have separate “judges’ awards”, and the judges will be chosen from a variety of different technical backgrounds or companies.

Closing date for voting is 30th June 2021. Main picture is just for illustrative purposes, and shows MX3D’s innovative robotic arm section.

EasyMile launches autonomous tow tractor

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Autonomous shuttle manufacturer EasyMile has launched what it claims is the first autonomous tow tractor dedicated to material handling within a private site.

TractEasy is designed for use at a factory or a logistics center, and is able to operate both inside and outside in a complex urban-like environment.

EasyMile says it is building on its “successful experience in autonomous public transport”, and the applications for autonomous technology for industrial logistics are “numerous”. [Read more…] about EasyMile launches autonomous tow tractor

China has more industrial robots than next four countries combined

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China has more industrial robots than next four countries put together, according to a new report. 

Data presented by Buy Shares indicates that China, Japan, and the United States cumulatively control about 58.71 percent of the global industrial robot installations.

As of September 2020, there were 381,000 units of industrial robots globally. [Read more…] about China has more industrial robots than next four countries combined