Robotics & Automation News

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Robomotion and Sotec demonstrate cloud-connected Kuka industrial robot work cell

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The first KR 3 Agilus is handed over to Dr Andreas Wolf, of Robomotion (second from left) and Florian Holz, of Sotec (third from left)

Industrial robotics and automation solutions provider Robomotion and software company Sotec have demonstrated a robotic work cell which they built around the Kuka KR Agilus robot.

The companies claim the cell is an example of “hands-on Industrie 4.0”.

The KR 3 Agilus is at the heart of the demo cell developed by Robomotion and Sotec, and the companies say the cell “demonstrates how the flow of data between robots and the cloud can work”.

Florian Holz, CEO of Sotec, says: “We want to give people an opportunity to experience the technology of Industrie 4.0 that we developed together at first hand.”  [Read more…] about Robomotion and Sotec demonstrate cloud-connected Kuka industrial robot work cell

China making ‘30 per cent more industrial robots’

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cctv propaganda

China made 30 per cent more industrial robots in the first nine months of this year compared to the same period last year, according to the Communist government’s propaganda outlet CCTV. 

CCTV quoted a “ministry of industry and information technology official”, who was speaking at the Shanghai Industry Fair last week, when providing the figure.

China is already thought to be the world’s largest market for industrial robots, but it wants to become a maker of the machines as well.  [Read more…] about China making ‘30 per cent more industrial robots’

Kuka unveils Cybertech industrial robots in China

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Kuka has presented its new Cybertech range of industrial robots for the first time, choosing the China International Industry Fair in Shanghai as the venue for the launch. 

The company says the “Cybertech Nano” robots can be used in a variety of applications, including loading and unloading of machines and for welding operations.

Kuka’s brand ambassador Timo Bell – the famous table tennis player – was scheduled to present at the event, and will be helping to demonstrate its other established robot range, the KR3 Agilus.  [Read more…] about Kuka unveils Cybertech industrial robots in China

Paul von der Bank invents ‘world’s smallest’ robotic arc welding cell using Kuka industrial robot

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Kuka has revealed what it claims is the world’s smallest robotic cell for arc welding, developed by a company called Paul von der Bank Schweisstechnik. 

The tiny cell – of about 1 cubic metre – is also said to have achieved a 50 per cent increase in productivity. It uses Kuka Agilus robots.

The cell, named the WTG 1200, is already being used by companies such as Brüninghaus & Drissner.  [Read more…] about Paul von der Bank invents ‘world’s smallest’ robotic arc welding cell using Kuka industrial robot

Chinese manufacturing industry setting itself copy deadline

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Picture of Haima Mazda factory, China, by John Lloyd

China-based investment expert Edward Tse, CEO of Gao Feng, says Chinese manufacturers have progressed from being considered “shanzai” – copycats – to embracing the idea of becoming developers of advanced robotics and automation systems

Chinese electrical appliance manufacturer Midea’s move to acquire Kuka, the German robot maker, could be a defining moment in the evolution of China’s manufacturing sector.

China’s reliance on low-cost, labour-intensive manufacturing to power its immense economy is no longer attractive, mainly due to the rise in labour and other costs.

The world’s second-largest economy needs to seek alternative ways to grow and companies like Midea are showing the way.  [Read more…] about Chinese manufacturing industry setting itself copy deadline

Investing in robotics: Established companies or startups?

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Picture courtesy: Caixin Online

In this part of our series of articles about investing in robotics and automation, Brian Gahsman, managing partner and chief investment officer at GBSfunds, explains what type of robotics and automation enterprises his company, Gahsman Branton, is interested in investing in 

Check out realtime stock prices for companies in the robotics, automation and relating computing sectors

Robotics and Automation News: Are you mainly looking at investing in established companies or startups?

Brian Gahsman: Actually both. There is a great number of publicly traded companies in this space with established earnings and the leaders make a solid foundation of the holdings in my strategy. That being said, even these established companies began as startups in the not so distant past.

I believe that robotics and automation in itself is currently in its infancy stage so maintaining a solid blend of micro-cap, small cap, mid-cap and large cap stocks is the only way to assure my strategy as a whole rides the same wave as the technological evolution that it is based on.  [Read more…] about Investing in robotics: Established companies or startups?

Kuka selects Apttus digital commerce solution

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Companies say the new customer relations management system will lead to greater efficiencies in complex product ordering 

Software company Apttus has been selected by Kuka as its digital commerce provider.

Kuka is a German manufacturer of industrial robots and solutions for factory automation and has been a leader in its industry since its inception in 1898.

Kuka’s business is dedicated to providing its customers with specific, often customized, factory automation tools.  [Read more…] about Kuka selects Apttus digital commerce solution

Chinese whispers: The most populous nation on Earth wants to replace millions of human workers with industrial robots it plans to manufacture

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Towards the end of last year, the nominally communist Chinese government announced that it wants China to become the world’s largest producer of industrial robots. 

In comments made in the past few months, China’s President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have clearly stated their intention to embrace robots and the new industrial revolution brought about by internet connectivity and artificial intelligence.

In a speech to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jinping called for a “robot revolution”, saying: “Our country will be the biggest market for robots, but can our technology and manufacturing capacity cope with the competition? Not only do we need to upgrade our robots, we also need to capture markets in many places.”

And speaking at the China Association for Science and Technology conference in Beijing, Keqiang said the conference will “spur the the growth of the emerging robot industry and create the world’s largest robot market”.  [Read more…] about Chinese whispers: The most populous nation on Earth wants to replace millions of human workers with industrial robots it plans to manufacture

Top 14 industrial robot companies and how many robots they have around the world

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Finding statistics on the install base of robots is not as straightforward as it might be, but RoboticsandAutomationNews.com has compiled its own list of available data and the bar chart below is the result.

Many well known companies are missing from the list and graph, but that’s because we could not find any credible and up to date figures for their install base.

We will of course try and persuade those companies to release that information to us so that we can provide a more complete picture of the market.

We’ve called this list “Top 9”, but that is based on available information.

Update: Fanuc claims to have sold 400,000 robots worldwide. That takes it from fourth on our previous list to first place in the new 2016 list. So, Fanuc is now the world’s largest maker of industrial robots according to the latest information we have. We will update the list as and when we get more information.

Update: Epson claims to have sold 10,000 more robots worldwide since our previous list. The company says it now has 55,000 industrial robots installed worldwide. Our previous list had their install base at 45,000 – this has now been updated (below).

Update: Comau says it has 30,000 robots installed worldwide. In exclusive comments to Robotics and Automation News, a senior executive at the Italian company provided the statistic as part of an extended interview. Our previous list did not include Comau as we could not find the data – this has now been updated (below).

Update: Universal Robots says it has installed 10,000 of its collaborative industrial robots worldwide.

Update 11 January 2018: Universal says it has sold an additional 10,000 units, bringing its total to 20,000.

Update: ABB says it has 300,000 robots installed worldwide, up from our previous number of 250,000. We have updated the list, and will update the pie chart at a later date. The new figure places ABB in joint-second place, along with Yaskawa, although our list shows ABB at number 3.

Update: Foxconn says it has installed 40,000 industrial robots in China, according to reports. We had not found this in official company documents, which is why we did not initially include it in the list for now. However, the report was in a reliable publication, so we have decided to include it.

Update: Mitsubishi Robotics says it has 70,000 industrial robots installed worldwide, which makes it number 8 in our list. The parent company is going through some interesting times, after a $2.3 billion capital injection, and reports that it is preparing to triple its executive pay.

Update: Stäubli is one of the original robot manufacturers, and still one of the largest. We estimate that the company has a large number of robots installed worldwide. However, in the absence of any available data, we have made our estimate as to how many robots the company has installed worldwide.

Update: Denso reveals it has a total of 95,000 robots installed.

Update 11 January 2018: Yaskawa says it currently has more than 360,000 industrial robots installed worldwide, which is 60,000 more than we had previously reported, so we have updated the list below.

Top robot companies in the world – robot install base worldwide

  1. Fanuc – 400,000
  2. Yaskawa – 360,000
  3. ABB – 300,000
  4. Kawasaki – 110,000
  5. Nachi – 100,000
  6. Denso – 95,000
  7. Kuka – 80,000
  8. Mitsubishi – 70,000
  9. Epson – 55,000
  10. Stäubli – 45,000
  11. Foxconn – 40,000
  12. Comau – 30,000
  13. Omron / Adept – 25,000
  14. Universal – 25,000

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Source: RoboticsAndAutomationNews.com

If new information becomes available, we would be happy to make additions and corrections if appropriate.

We recently found out that Nachi Robotics has a substantial number of industrial robots installed worldwide, which is why we have included it in the list.

We would very much welcome any information that will help us add more companies and more stats to the list.