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Siemens acquires provider of virtual training for industrial companies Vizendo

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Siemens has acquired Swedish service and software company Vizendo, a provider of virtual operator training for automotive manufacturing.

Virtual training enables industrial companies to reduce their training times and launch new products faster and in higher quality.

Karen Florschütz, CEO of the customer services business unit at Siemens, says: “Virtual training has huge growth potential. Vizendo’s service and software range ideally complements our digital services and thus our Digital Enterprise portfolio. [Read more…] about Siemens acquires provider of virtual training for industrial companies Vizendo

Lumotive claims ‘industry-first’ LiDAR using liquid its Crystal Metasurfaces and CMOS manufacturing

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Lumotive, a developer of scalable solid-state LiDAR systems, has launched the first two in a series of 3D-sensing products that utilize its innovative Liquid Crystal Metasurfaces (LCMs) manufactured in CMOS semiconductor processes.

The company says the new systems are designed to meet performance, cost and size requirements across a range of industries.

With samples available in the fourth quarter of this year, the Lumotive X20 and Lumotive Z20 LiDAR systems target the automotive and industrial automation markets, respectively. [Read more…] about Lumotive claims ‘industry-first’ LiDAR using liquid its Crystal Metasurfaces and CMOS manufacturing

Interview: Startup Reflect developing new solution to ‘a real industrial problem’

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Interview with George Papanikolopoulos, CEO of CASP, which is developing a software solution to what he describes as ‘a real industrial problem’

Reflect is one of the experiments that successfully passed to Phase II of the first Open Call in ESMERA, the EU agency that has a multimillion-euro budget to help robotic startups. 

Being one of the 12 experiments that started in ESMERA in the summer of 2019, Reflect proved its concept to external evaluators and has been selected as one of the currently five final experiments in Phase II. [Read more…] about Interview: Startup Reflect developing new solution to ‘a real industrial problem’

5,000 deaths a year: A reminder of why safety systems matter

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Special Report by Robotics and Automation News in association with SICK

It’s been almost 50 years since the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, was established in the United States after much pressure from labour unions seeking more protection for workers.

In the half-century since OSHA’s creation, it is estimated that many thousands of workers’ lives have been saved and countless more have been kept out of harm’s way.

Today, OSHA, an agency of the Department of Labour, is more important than ever as people start returning to work after months of lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused almost 350,000 deaths worldwide to date, and infected 5.5 million more. [Read more…] about 5,000 deaths a year: A reminder of why safety systems matter

Groupe PSA restarts manufacturing at facilities in a ‘progressive’ way

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Groupe PSA – which owns automotive brands such as Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel and Vauxhall – says it is restarting manufacturing at facilities in a “progressive and secured” way.

The company says it has reinforced health measures, shared with the social partners, and deployed before any restart of activity with voluntary employees.

It says it will start an audit campaign to guarantee their “perfect implementation in 100 percent of the group’s industrial, commercial, tertiary and research and development sites”. [Read more…] about Groupe PSA restarts manufacturing at facilities in a ‘progressive’ way

Hyundai Robotics receives order for 370 industrial robots

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Hyundai Robotics has won what it describes as “a giant deal” from the Hyundai Motors Indonesian automotive plant for industrial robots.

Hyundai Robotics, which was officially launched as a new company on May 1st, 2020, says the order is for 370 industrial robotic arms for the new facility.

Located in the Deltamas Industrial Complex near Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, Hyundai Motors’ first manufacturing plant in southeast Asia will be completed in 2022. [Read more…] about Hyundai Robotics receives order for 370 industrial robots

Coronavirus ‘exposes industry’s need to modernize operations’

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The coronavirus pandemic has “exposed industry’s need to modernize operations”, according to Hitachi.

The industrial giant made the assertion as it launched an expanded set of digital services through its Hitachi Vantara subsidiary to help manufacturers accelerate “Manufacturing 4.0 initiatives” and to assist with safely restarting production in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

For many manufacturers, the pandemic has not only affected worker health and safety, it has impacted demand, interrupted production, exposed vulnerabilities in supply chains, and driven an urgent need to modernize operations. [Read more…] about Coronavirus ‘exposes industry’s need to modernize operations’

Engineering procurement platform Kreatize enters new market with Austrian investors

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Kreatize, which claims to be Germany’s largest procurement platform for mechanical engineering, has received a joint investment from Austrian company B&C Innovation Investments (BCII) and the industrialist Martin Ohneberg.

Kreatize says the new investment – which is described as being in the “mid single-digit million” euro range  – will enable it to expand its business in Austria.

The procurement of industrial components is often a costly, lengthy and non-transparent process. [Read more…] about Engineering procurement platform Kreatize enters new market with Austrian investors

NXP launches new bluetooth devices for automotive and industrial markets

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NXP Semiconductors has launched new devices within its KW3x range of microcontrollers (MCUs). The new KW39/38/37 MCUs add Bluetooth 5.0 long-range capabilities and expanded Bluetooth advertising channels.

These enhancements are made while offering seamless migration with hardware, software and tools compatibility with the previous generation of devices, KW34/35/36.

The connectivity MCUs allow Bluetooth LE devices to communicate at distances of more than a mile and increase the amount of Bluetooth advertising channels and advertising data within the Bluetooth standard, the predominant IoT protocol. [Read more…] about NXP launches new bluetooth devices for automotive and industrial markets

SICK to present webinar on customizing machine vision

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Register Now at this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__CwjopTiQ6uCbgYAB5rgbA
Customized Machine Vision Solutions to Improve Your Processes
June 1, 2020, 11am Eastern Time (US and Canada)

SICK is partnering with Robotics and Automation News to present a webinar on customizing machine vision, which has become absolutely critical to a vast number of industrial automation processes.

In this webinar, Sourabh Banerjee, Product Marketing Manager for Software and Systems at SICK, Inc., guides you through how you can customize your machine vision solutions using SICK AppSpace.

SICK AppSpace is an engineering framework for your individual sensor applications that enables a manufacturer to easily integrate customizable 2D and 3D vision solutions tailored to your business. [Read more…] about SICK to present webinar on customizing machine vision