Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

optimization

Gideon launches autonomous case picking and process optimization solution

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Gideon, a warehouse robotics company, has launched Casey, an autonomous case picking and process optimization solution.

The new solution helps companies manage the severe labor shortages and surging e-commerce demand by automating and optimizing manual case picking. The rise of e-commerce, due to its higher labor intensity and customer expectations, is a clear signal that new automation solutions are the key to sustainable growth.

Recent forecasts – Statista data, for example, point to a 50 percent rise of e-commerce to $7.4 trillion worldwide by 2025 – add urgency. [Read more…] about Gideon launches autonomous case picking and process optimization solution

Things You Need to Do for Slow Website Performance

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Slow-loading websites can negatively impact both the desktop and mobile internet browsing experience.

Moreover, having a slow loading speed can compromise a site’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) performance by reducing its rank on search results.

Today, we will explore several practices you can try to have optimal website performance. [Read more…] about Things You Need to Do for Slow Website Performance

A system for designing and training intelligent soft robots

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‘Evolution Gym’ is a large-scale benchmark for co-optimizing the design and control of soft robots that takes inspiration from nature and evolutionary processes

Let’s say you wanted to build the world’s best stair-climbing robot. You’d need to optimize for both the brain and the body, perhaps by giving the bot some high-tech legs and feet, coupled with a powerful algorithm to help enable the climb.

Although design of the physical body and its brain, the “control”, are key ingredients to letting the robot move, existing benchmark environments favor only the latter. Co-optimizing for both elements is hard – it takes a lot of time to train various robot simulations to do different things, even without the design element.

Scientists from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), aimed to fill the gap by designing “Evolution Gym”, a large-scale testing system for co-optimizing the design and control of soft robots, taking inspiration from nature and evolutionary processes. [Read more…] about A system for designing and training intelligent soft robots

Kivnon unveils three new automated vehicles for material handling

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Kivnon has expanded its range of mobile robots with a new range of automated forklifts and the new rotational lifting platform.

Kivnon has unveiled three new models of autonomous vehicles: the K03 Twister, the K55 Pallet Stacker and the K50 Pallet Truck, capable of moving around the environment using magnetic guidance or mapping navigation, based on SLAM technology.

The new K03 Twister is a rotational mobile platform with dimensions of 700 x 500 x 280 mm, making it the smallest AGV in Kivnon’s portfolio of mobile robots. [Read more…] about Kivnon unveils three new automated vehicles for material handling

Coronavirus ‘exposes industry’s need to modernize operations’

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The coronavirus pandemic has “exposed industry’s need to modernize operations”, according to Hitachi.

The industrial giant made the assertion as it launched an expanded set of digital services through its Hitachi Vantara subsidiary to help manufacturers accelerate “Manufacturing 4.0 initiatives” and to assist with safely restarting production in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

For many manufacturers, the pandemic has not only affected worker health and safety, it has impacted demand, interrupted production, exposed vulnerabilities in supply chains, and driven an urgent need to modernize operations. [Read more…] about Coronavirus ‘exposes industry’s need to modernize operations’

AI driving actionable sales intelligence in manufacturing

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By Barrett Thompson, Zilliant Business Solutions

The manufacturing plant floor has been automated and optimized for years; yet revenue and profit growth remain stagnant.

Seemingly everything has been process-improved with lean manufacturing principles; however, the cost of doing business remains high and the C-Suite continues its demands for an increase in revenue per transaction and gross margins.

Two functions at manufacturing organizations are prime for process improvement:

  • selling; and
  • pricing.

A closer look at the selling function reveals that despite reducing labor costs via transformational automation solutions, sales teams still manage large, antiquated portfolios. They are expected to increase their book of business while retaining current customers. [Read more…] about AI driving actionable sales intelligence in manufacturing