Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

labour

Libiao Robotics finds first Japanese customer for its AirRob system

by

As part of a company-wide digital transformation to overcome labour shortages, a leading Japanese 3PL company has commissioned an AirRob automated warehouse storage system from Libiao Robotics to serve its e-commerce business.

The AirRob system is located in the company’s newly-built warehouse in the Tokyo metropolitan area, providing it with automated storage and retrieval functions for shoes, clothing, cosmetics and other products.

This introduction is not only the company’s first installation of an automated tote handling system, but also the first AirRob system to operate anywhere in Japan. [Read more…] about Libiao Robotics finds first Japanese customer for its AirRob system

Summer Berry Company partners with Tortuga AgTech

by

Cibus Capital says one of its portfolio companies, UK berry grower The Summer Berry Company (TSBCo), has extended its partnership with Tortuga AgTech, a provider of commercial harvesting robot fleet.

TSBCo has deployed 52 Tortuga robots in its 26 ha of glasshouses and 140 ha of polytunnels in Southwest England to harvest strawberries, provide forecasting on yields, plant health as well as providing support to their agronomists in fighting pests via UV light application.

Cibus Capital advises on investments that support sustainable agricultural production and the incorporation of disruptive technologies into its portfolio companies is pivotal to its mission. [Read more…] about Summer Berry Company partners with Tortuga AgTech

4Ocean robot cleans up Florida beach as part of startup’s mission to clean up the world’s oceans

by

A robot built by 4Ocean is cleaning up Florida beach as part of the startup company’s mission to clean up the entire world’s oceans.

An ambitious mission for sure, and one for which the company admits “there is no playbook”, but 4Ocean has already collected 28 million pounds of trash from the plastic-polluted salty waters of the world and its program is just getting started.

The robot 4Ocean has supplied to Florida beach is called the BeBot, which collects things like cigarette butts, pieces of plastic and other trash, according to a report on the Fox Weather website. [Read more…] about 4Ocean robot cleans up Florida beach as part of startup’s mission to clean up the world’s oceans

Construction robotics company Kewazo raises $10 million in Series A funding

by

Kewazo, a construction robotics startup, has closed its $10 million Series A funding round, bringing the total funds raised to date to approximately $20 million.

The round was led by Fifth Wall, with notable participation from Cybernetix Ventures, Unorthodox Ventures as well as the construction software company Nemetschek.

Existing investors True Ventures and MIG Capital also participated in the round. This round comes on the heels of Kewazo’s $5 million Pre-Series A that closed in September 2021. [Read more…] about Construction robotics company Kewazo raises $10 million in Series A funding

Opinion: How to double up grocery logistics productivity with autonomous mobile robots

by

With growing labour availability issues, how can grocery logistics operations significantly boost performance? Vincent Jacquemart, CEO at French autonomous mobile robot designer and manufacturer iFollow, offers a solution.

Faced with the likelihood of long term staff shortages and resulting rises in pay rates, warehouse and distribution centre operators in grocery and many other sectors are turning sometimes belatedly to automation. This is certainly an option but not all solutions deliver really significant productivity improvements.

Labour shortages in logistics have been building for some years, by no means just because of Brexit, and the inability to fulfil orders reliably is becoming an existential threat for many firms.

Logistics UK in October claimed that “13 percent of traders are reporting severe warehouse staff shortages”; in November the Cold Chain Federation noted “10 percent to 20 percent shortage rates” among its members. [Read more…] about Opinion: How to double up grocery logistics productivity with autonomous mobile robots

IAM Robotics wins contract with global health and beauty retailer

by

IAM Robotics, makers of autonomous mobile manipulation robots, has won a contract with new client A.S. Watson Group, one of the world’s largest international health and beauty retailers with over 15,700 stores in 25 markets.

A.S. Watson will implement a fleet of Swift robots from IAM Robotics at its Benelux e-commerce fulfillment center in the Netherlands to help solve labour and capacity constraints due to a fast-growing, high-volume health and beauty retail business.

Ed van de Weerd, CEO of A.S. Watson health and beauty Benelux, says: “Our business in e-commerce is growing rapidly, and we need a way to keep up with the growth while offering next-day delivery within our existing fulfillment center, which is important for us to deliver the group’s online and offline strategy. [Read more…] about IAM Robotics wins contract with global health and beauty retailer

Boeing ‘abandons’ robots in favour of humans

by

Boeing has reportedly abandoned the use of some robotic systems that were being used for fuselage work such as drilling and fastening.

According to the Seattle Times, the implementation of the robots “proved painful to set up and (was) error-prone”.

The news website quoted Jason Clark, Boeing vice president of 777/777X operations, who said back in 2015, when the robots were first introduced: “It’s a little tough in the teething. But as we get through it, it will create the rewards necessary for us to compete.” [Read more…] about Boeing ‘abandons’ robots in favour of humans

Wanted: Robot to load dishwasher. Must be careful

by

Chris Roberts, head of industrial robotics at Cambridge Consultants, provides an overview of the jobs robots could potentially do in future

Cambridge Consultants recently announced a new technology for automating one of the most unloved jobs in a commercial kitchen – loading the dishwasher.

This technology combines innovative robotics with cutting edge AI to achieve something hitherto impossible – detecting and handling a wide variety of dirty crockery haphazardly arranged on a tray.

However, the fundamental techniques used in this product can be applied to a wider range of situations and problems. There are many different tasks that it is only now possible to automate.

[Read more…] about Wanted: Robot to load dishwasher. Must be careful

Higher wages and pressure to bring back manufacturing to the US could result in millions of job losses in clothes-making industry in Asia

by

A combination of higher wages in Asian countries and a trend for bringing back manufacturing to the US could dismantle large parts of Asian economies, many of which depend on the textiles and clothes manufacturing trades for huge portion of their national income. 

An interesting video report by the Financial Times points to this possible future, but adds that in practice, for now, “almost all of the world’s T-shirts and jeans by millions of cheap workers, mostly women, watching over sewing machines”.

And beyond T-shirts and jeans, the vast majority of jobs and tasks in the clothes manufacturing sector in general is still done by humans.  [Read more…] about Higher wages and pressure to bring back manufacturing to the US could result in millions of job losses in clothes-making industry in Asia

Harvest Croo Robotics field tests autonomous strawberry-picking vehicle

by

Harvest Croo Robotics is field testing an autonomous vehicle designed to help plant and pick strawberries, according to a report on ThePacker.com. 

The new vehicle looks rather unlike your typical farm vehicle, and is designed to straddle six strawberry beds as it moves along. It uses GPS navigation, LiDAR vision and carries 16 robots which will do the actual planting and picking of the strawberries.

The robots will use a proprietary vision system which will identify which strawberries are ready to be picked (probably based on colour as robots can’t smell or taste yet as far as we know). Picked strawberries will then be moved to the platform level for further inspection and grading.  [Read more…] about Harvest Croo Robotics field tests autonomous strawberry-picking vehicle