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Video: Hannover Messe 2017 review

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This is a collection of excerpts from interviews conducted with exhibitors at the recent Hannover Messe industrial trades show, in Germany.

For extended versions of the interviews, please visit our website over the next few weeks and check to see if they are published. Or contact us to find out.

Robotics and Automation News was represented by our editor, Abdul Montaqim, at the event, and was there for the whole week-long engineering extravaganza.

Read our overview article of the event:
Hannover Messe: Global software update

ABB and IBM form industrial artificial intelligence partnership

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ABB and IBM have formed a strategic collaboration that brings together ABB’s industrial digital offering, ABB Ability, with IBM Watson Internet of Things cognitive capabilities to “unlock new value for customers in utilities, industry, transport and infrastructure”, according to the two supersized tech companies. 

Customers will be provided access to ABB’s domain knowledge and portfolio of digital solutions combined with IBM’s expertise in artificial intelligence and machine learning as well as different industry verticals.

The first two joint industry solutions powered by ABB Ability and Watson will bring real-time cognitive insights to the factory floor and smart grids.  [Read more…] about ABB and IBM form industrial artificial intelligence partnership

Hannover Messe: Global software update

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Special report from Hannover Messe: How hard-bitten industrialists are turning to software 

Back in the old days, you knew what was what, who was whom, and industrial companies built machines and stuff, like cars, aircraft, power stations and whatnot.

In the past, General Electric could be said to have been a typical industrial company; so could ABB, Bosch and many others.

But now, all of them, almost without exception, seem to have caught the software bug. Now they all want to be software companies.

“Software will take over the world,” says Matt Wells, senior product general manager, GE Digital, in an exclusive interview with this website. [Read more…] about Hannover Messe: Global software update

Tata to launch first India-made industrial robot Brabo in May

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tata brabo

TAL Manufacturing Solutions, a Tata Group company, is expected to launch first ever India-made robot before May 2017.

Dubbed “Tata Brabo”, the robot has been showcased at the recent Make in India week in Mumbai.

Brabo has been developed in-house by a team of six engineers whose average age is 24 years, led by Anil Bhingurde, chief operating officer of TAL Manufacturing Solutions.

The development cost is reported to be about Rs 10 crore ($1.6 million).  [Read more…] about Tata to launch first India-made industrial robot Brabo in May

Universal Robots partners with Nissan to increase manufacturing productivity through collaborative robots

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Universal Robots says Nissan has simplified processes, reduced relief worker costs and stabilised production output through deployment of the company’s UR10 cobots

Universal Robots says the Nissan Motor Company has successfully deployed Universal Robots’ UR10 robot arms at its Yokohama factory. 

The automaker joins other global automotive manufacturers including BMW and Volkswagen who are using Universal Robots’ collaborative robots (cobots) to automate their processes.

Universal Robots says that through the deployment of its cobots, Nissan has enhanced its production processes, resulting in a higher level of output and stability as well as time and cost efficiencies. Nissan’s ageing workforce also enjoy a reduced workload, and were redeployed to less strenuous tasks.  [Read more…] about Universal Robots partners with Nissan to increase manufacturing productivity through collaborative robots

EIT Digital launches ‘Robot IoT Interface’ solution

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The Isoyobot collaborative robot
The Isoyobot collaborative robot

EIT Digital has launched what it calls a “Robot IoT Interface”, a new technology project being developed with the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and Poitiers-based startup Agileo Automation.

The goal of the technology is to enable different kind of robots and machines to connect to different cloud platforms.

Agileo’s managing director, Marc Engel, says: “Robots and machines may produce data in a standard or non- standard format according to their internal controller.

“The devised solution is a generic gateway that can receive the produced data, translate it into an OPC-UA model and then make it available in an IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) platform located in the cloud.”  [Read more…] about EIT Digital launches ‘Robot IoT Interface’ solution

ABB to acquire B&R

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abb b&r

ABB is to acquire B&R, said to be the largest independent provider focused on product- and software-based, open-architecture solutions for machine and factory automation worldwide.

B&R, founded in 1979 by Erwin Bernecker and Josef Rainer, is headquartered in Eggelsberg, Austria, and employs more than 3,000 people, including about 1,000 R&D and application engineers.

It operates across 70 countries, generating sales of more than $600 million (2015/16) in the $20 billion machine and factory automation market segment.  [Read more…] about ABB to acquire B&R

Learning through play: Omron shows off table tennis-playing robot

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For some time, practitioners of mind sports have been grappling with artificial intelligence (AI). Computer brains have already beaten the best human players in chess and Go.

The picture is quite different for sports that require both mental and physical skills. Physical interaction with a human is an enormous challenge for developers of intelligent robots.

Omron, one of the world’s leading companies in industrial automation, has successfully taken on this challenge.

The company is currently in Hannover to show how the third generation of Forpheus, a table tennis robot, adds artificial intelligence to its core skills of sensor and control technology.  [Read more…] about Learning through play: Omron shows off table tennis-playing robot

Kinema Systems claims ‘world’s first deep learning 3D vision system for industrial robots’

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kinema systems

Kinema Systems claims to have launched what it describes as “the world’s first deep learning 3D vision system for industrial robots”. 

A large part of the world’s commerce moves in boxes arranged on pallets. Depalletizing boxes in warehouses, distribution centers and factories is a difficult task that has become more challenging with changing demographics and an increase in product mix.

Kinema Pick is claimed to be the world’s first deep learning 3D vision system for industrial robots, and addresses the depalletization of both mixed SKU and single SKU pallets.  [Read more…] about Kinema Systems claims ‘world’s first deep learning 3D vision system for industrial robots’