Market trends and business perspectives
China’s largest food delivery company is to test robots, according to a report on Abacus News.
Meituan employs more than 600,000 delivery drivers across China, and deals with more than 25 million orders a day.
The company is predicting growth of 200 per cent by 2025 and is reportedly testing the delivery robots – called “Xiaodai”, meaning “pouch” – in Beijing and Shenzen. [Read more…] about China’s largest food delivery company to test robots
Toyota Motor Corporation, as a worldwide partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, aims to provide mobility solutions that go beyond providing official vehicles for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.
One way Toyota is doing this is by participating in the Tokyo 2020 Robot Project, led by the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, that brings the government, Tokyo Metropolitan government, as well as Games’ partners together with experts in the field of robotics.
At Tokyo 2020, the robots to be introduced by Toyota will be used to support the mobility of people at various locations and venues.
[Read more…] about Toyota robots to help at Tokyo 2020 Olympics
Swisslog, a warehouse automation company, has received a major order from Ikea Supply in Malaysia.
The contract is valued at approximately €43 million.
The project comprises of 215,000 pallet locations of clad-rack, 21 warehouse pallet stacker cranes Vectura, the pallet conveyor system ProMove, the electric Monorail System and the core of the system, the Swisslog software SynQ.
[Read more…] about Swisslog wins major order from Ikea in MalaysiaAt ProMat 2019, Yale showed its industry-first dual-mode pantograph robotic lift truck.
The truck is capable of autonomously depositing and retrieving loads from locations as high as 30 feet and reaching into double-deep storage.
The high-lifting capability of the reach/forklift truck makes it suited for distribution centres facing pressure to maximise vertical storage space, says the company.
[Read more…] about Yale unveils dual-mode pantograph robotic forklift truckNTT DoCoMo and Itochu Logistics are planning to trial an internet-of-things solution for delivery fleet management in the US.
The system uses devices compatible with low-power, wide-area LTE-M technology to enable delivery businesses to visualize the status of outsourced trucks in their fleets.
The trial will begin in the United States on May 1, 2019. [Read more…] about DoCoMo and Itochu to trial IoT solution for delivery fleet management in the US
NextShift Robotics, a provider of autonomous mobile robot solutions for automated order fulfilment and warehouse materials management, has been granted a second patent, US10214354B2, “Method and System for Automated Transport of Items”.
The patent pertains to operating a robotic picking system in which the containers to be picked are positioned on the shelves and within picking stations.
The patent covers the ability of the robot to raise itself vertically to access shelving of different heights in order to pick the appropriate container from a range of shelf heights and storage system configurations.
Foxconn, the Taiwanese manufacturing giant which makes Apple devices among other things, is considering its locations, incentives and other options for establishing manufacturing facilities in the US.
Among the locations being discussed are two cities in Oakland County, in the state of Michigan; and the amounts being mentioned range from $4.2 billion to $7 billion.
The Crain’s Detroit website reported that Foxconn’s expansion would create 2,000 to 5,000 jobs in the southeast Michigan area, but the situation is fast moving. [Read more…] about Foxconn considers options for establishing multi-billion-dollar manufacturing facilities in the US
Free “refuelling” at up to 100 Siemens locations in Germany, with charging stations “internationally linked”
Beginning in 2017, Siemens employees at as many as 100 of the company’s locations in Germany can “fill up” their electric vehicles free of charge. This will apply not only to all-electric vehicles but also to plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
For this service, Siemens will use its existing network of charging stations, which it is expanding with normal and high-speed charging stations.
To reduce their carbon footprint, the charging points will supply electricity only from renewable energy sources. The electricity and the use of the charging stations are likely to be free for the duration of 2017. [Read more…] about Siemens offers its employees free charging for their electric vehicles
