Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

plastic

Using Robotics in Plastic Surgery

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Often when we think of robotics, plastic surgery is not the first thing that comes to mind. In fact, if surgery even enters the picture, plastic surgery isn’t likely to be at the top of the list. However, robotics has changed how plastic surgery is performed.

We needed to understand better about how robotics is used in plastic surgery, so we consulted with a few plastic surgeons, such as plastic surgeon Dr. Asif Pirani. This is what we found out. [Read more…] about Using Robotics in Plastic Surgery

Robotic grippers 3D-printed for packaging machines

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Plastic grippers made from 3D printing and tribofilaments from Igus are 85 percent and 70 percent cheaper than the majority of competitors in the packaging industry.

3D printing is one of the most important trends in the industry today. It allows single batches to become a reality, allowing for personalized serial production of watches, furniture, and shoes. Additive manufacturing can also be a benefit to the packaging industry.

Metal grippers can be expensive and take a long time to produce.A certain company, after trying to 3D-print grippers using standard plastics like ABS and PLA with poor results, turned to igus. [Read more…] about Robotic grippers 3D-printed for packaging machines

ABB and Zume to accelerate transition away from single use plastics

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ABB Robotics has signed an agreement to collaborate with California-based Zume, a global provider of innovative, compostable packaging.

ABB will supply robotic cells that will enable Zume’s production of sustainable packaging on a global scale, helping to reduce reliance on single-use plastics.

ABB will integrate and install more than 1,000 molded fiber manufacturing cells (MFC) – including up to 2,000 robots at Zume customer’s sites worldwide over the next five years. [Read more…] about ABB and Zume to accelerate transition away from single use plastics

The Importance of Plastic Machining – How Impactful the Process is

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One of the principal credits of plastics materials is their capacity to be shaped into a completed segment with no requirement for resulting work to be done.

Convoluted shapes, openings and undercut highlights can be formed into the segment utilizing tooling and shaping methods. Anyway this includes some significant downfalls of tooling cost.

Trim apparatuses and shaping hardware utilized in the different plastic embellishment measures are constantly hand made oddball manifestations. They can frequently require many months to fabricate with a resultantly significant expense. [Read more…] about The Importance of Plastic Machining – How Impactful the Process is

Camera-based cap control with artificial intelligence

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Strong price pressure combined with high quality requirements – the beverage and bottle industry faces the classic dilemma of many industries.

This is also the case in the quality control department of a French manufacturer of plastic caps. Reliably detecting cracks and micro-cracks on plastic caps in 40 different colours and shades running at high speed on a production line is a real challenge.

APREX Solutions from Nancy, France has successfully achieved this goal with the help of image processing technology and artificial intelligence. The basic images are provided by a USB 3 industrial camera from IDS Imaging Development Systems. [Read more…] about Camera-based cap control with artificial intelligence

‘Autonomous vehicles’ tops Lux Research list of emerging technologies

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The category of “Autonomous vehicles” tops a new list of 12 emerging technologies for 2021 produced by Lux Research.

The research company says that, after a tumultuous 2020, organizations need to “re-examine their outlook on what emerging tech innovations will be critical for their future opportunities”.

Lux Research, a provider of tech-enabled research and advisory services, released its annual report on the top tech innovations that will have the greatest impact over the next 10 years, based on proprietary data science tools and expert insight. [Read more…] about ‘Autonomous vehicles’ tops Lux Research list of emerging technologies

Plastic-eating bacteria could help recycle waste ‘six times faster’

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The University of Portsmouth scientists who re-engineered the plastic-eating enzyme PETase have now created an enzyme “cocktail” which can digest plastic up to six times faster.

A second enzyme, found in the same rubbish dwelling bacterium that lives on a diet of plastic bottles, has been combined with PETase to speed up the breakdown of plastic.

PETase breaks down polyethylene terephthalate (PET) back into its building blocks, creating an opportunity to recycle plastic infinitely and reduce plastic pollution and the greenhouse gases driving climate change. [Read more…] about Plastic-eating bacteria could help recycle waste ‘six times faster’

Common 3D Printing Issues (and How to Address Them)

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Since the 1980s, 3D Printing has become more and more common in the industry. Also known as additive manufacturing, it is basically the process of putting together a three-dimensional object from a computer-generated CAD or 3D model.

Multiple computer-controlled processes are involved. Among the most commonly observed is the layer-by-layer joining of materials and eventual solidification.

3D printing offers a lot of advantages. Among the most frequently cited benefit is its ability to expedite production. [Read more…] about Common 3D Printing Issues (and How to Address Them)

How Robotics Work in the Plastic Injection Molding Industry

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Driven by the never-ending increasing demand for more flexible solutions, industrial robots are extensively used in today’s plastics industry in all areas of the production process, including injection molding related operations.

Industrial robots can be used to automate the injection molding process by using a pick-and-place robot to load plastic parts into the machine or to place the finished pieces onto a conveyor belt.

And as human-operated injection molding leaves room for variations, the use of robots in the process ensures the production of the highest quality, accurately cut, formed, and measured finished products every single time. [Read more…] about How Robotics Work in the Plastic Injection Molding Industry

Cobots v Covid: How Universal Robots and others are helping in the fight against coronavirus

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Collaborative robots, or cobots, are emerging as a “tremendous force for good” in the global battle against Covid-19, according to Universal Robots.

In this article, we highlight some of the ways in which collaborative robots from Universal Robots have contributed to the global response to the pandemic.

We take a look at disinfection and test kit solutions along with some less easily categorized solutions made possible by Universal Robots, the world’s leading manufacturer of cobots. [Read more…] about Cobots v Covid: How Universal Robots and others are helping in the fight against coronavirus