Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

microsoft

GE and Microsoft extend partnership to accelerate industrial IoT adoption

by

GE and Microsoft Corp. have announced an expanded partnership, bringing together operational technology and information technology to eliminate hurdles industrial companies face in advancing digital transformation projects.

As part of the union, GE Digital plans to standardise its Predix solutions on Microsoft Azure and will deeply integrate the Predix portfolio with Azure’s native cloud capabilities, including Azure IoT and Azure Data and Analytics.

The parties will also co-sell and go to market together, offering end customers premier Industrial IoT (IIoT) solutions across verticals.

[Read more…] about GE and Microsoft extend partnership to accelerate industrial IoT adoption

Commentary: Exponential growth of IoT becoming the next tech revolution

by

MarketNewsUpdates.com news commentary

Global internet of things markets are poised to achieve significant growth through the use of sensors, widgets, cameras, and platforms that are used to help implement precision digital control and send alerts for all manner or management of devices and machinery.

Visualization and digitization are permitting a growing number of companies and individuals better control of any device or mechanical thing while present a diversity of uses for digital tracking devices in industry, healthcare and consumer markets.

The market is growing at a rapid pace because of increasing popularity and integration in various consumer markets.  [Read more…] about Commentary: Exponential growth of IoT becoming the next tech revolution

Bühler partners with Microsoft to launch new digital solutions for the food processing industry

by

Bühler says it will unveil “ground-breaking digital technologies” that include minimizing toxic contamination, reducing food waste and increasing end-product quality across the whole food value chain as part of a new partnership with Microsoft.

The new digital solutions and services will be presented at the Microsoft booth at Hannover Messe in Germany.

“Today’s food value chains are facing tremendous challenges,” says Ian Roberts, CTO at the Bühler Group.  [Read more…] about Bühler partners with Microsoft to launch new digital solutions for the food processing industry

Opinion: The customer must be at the centre of the digital strategy

by

By 

Colin Masson, global industry director of manufacturing solutions, Microsoft

Break down internal barriers to deliver highly tailored products and services

It’s easy to get obsessed with technology – it is the key enabler of today’s revolution – but the harder part of the transformation is cultural.

It’s about putting the customer experience and their business outcomes at the centre of everything. That means realigning engineering, manufacturing and the supply chain around delivering a world-class sales and service experience.

It means new thinking about optimising customer satisfaction and loyalty metrics such as Customer Satisfaction Scores or Net Promoter Scores rather than production efficiency.  [Read more…] about Opinion: The customer must be at the centre of the digital strategy

GE Digital expands industrial internet partnership with Microsoft

by

GE Digital has expanded its industrial internet partnership with Microsoft, according to Reuters. 

The two companies had already been working together on further developing GE Digital’s Predix platform.

Manufacturers tend to connect sensors to their machines and then connect the sensors to Predix.  [Read more…] about GE Digital expands industrial internet partnership with Microsoft

Microsoft and partners lay superfast subsea cable across Atlantic

by

 

There’s not many things more fascinating in today’s high-tech world than subsea cables.

In and of themselves, in principle, they’re just cables. But also in and of themselves they are highly sophisticated and powerful pieces of equipment.

And the sheer magnitude of the engineering involved in laying them undersea across oceans and connecting continents is arguably a wonder of the modern world.  [Read more…] about Microsoft and partners lay superfast subsea cable across Atlantic

Video: Microsoft looks to strengthen partnerships with industrial companies

by

Microsoft has been offering industrial companies a range of digital services based on its Azure platform over the past few years and is probably the leading tech company in the space.

Microsoft’s global infrastructure and Azure cloud platform enables companies with worldwide manufacturing or logistics operations to create software applications either specifically for their own companies or for other companies.

The company has also developed special connectors which can accept data from devices which use the OPC-UA standard, a data transmission protocol which is increasingly being adopted in industry for sensor-laden machines and components.  [Read more…] about Video: Microsoft looks to strengthen partnerships with industrial companies

How Burger King’s OK Google ad exposed flaws in home automation

by

Burger King recently decided to try something different to promote its classic Whopper. The fast food giant aired a commercial in which a Burger King employee who says he doesn’t have time to talk about all of the ingredients in a Whopper comes up with another way for customers to learn about its ingredients.

The employee leans into the camera and says “OK Google, what is the Whopper burger?” This activated Google’s smart speakers — Google Home, and that’s when people started having fun. The actual ingredient list, as published on Wikipedia, was edited with some items replaced with things like children, toe-nail clippings and rat — among other creative ingredients.

Google wasn’t in on the plan, which led to an interesting chain of events that exposed some of the weaknesses of virtual assistants and home automation.  [Read more…] about How Burger King’s OK Google ad exposed flaws in home automation

Sarcos Robotics raises $25 million in funding from the likes of Microsoft and General Electric

by

Startup company Sarcos Robotics has raised another $15.625 million in financing, bringing its total funding to $25 million.

The company’s investors include Caterpillar, Microsoft and GE Ventures.

Sarcos is developing an exoskeleton which the company describes as a “dexterous robotic system for unstructured environments”.  [Read more…] about Sarcos Robotics raises $25 million in funding from the likes of Microsoft and General Electric

ABB and Microsoft launch next-generation electric vehicle charging services

by

The cloud based e-mobility charging platform will combine ABB’s vehicle-charging technologies with Microsoft’s cloud services

ABB and Microsoft have launched a new electric vehicle (EV) fast-charging services platform which they say is available worldwide.

The companies say the systems combines ABB’s EV charging stations with Microsoft’s Azure cloud-based services and will ensure stability, global scalability and advanced management features for ABB customers.

The collaboration will also take advantage of machine learning and predictive analytic capabilities to drive future innovations.  [Read more…] about ABB and Microsoft launch next-generation electric vehicle charging services