Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

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Robotic concierge: Exclusive interview with Savioke boss

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Just ahead of appearing at the Consumer Electronics Show, Steve Cousins, CEO of Savioke gives Robotics and Automation News an exclusive interview

Some months ago, just after we started this website, we published a story about a new robotic concierge for hotels, launched by Savioke.

The company calls the robot “Relay”, although its buyers often give it nicknames – Dash, Botlr, and Wally are just some examples. 

Relay is not really a concierge – we just like that word… concierge… makes our website sound sophisticated. But anyway, the robot is smart enough to navigate its way within complex hotel interiors, with all their zig-zagging corridors and winding hallways, as well as their lifts with the slight gaps and uneven surfaces at the entrances.

These navigational challenges would of course not be a problem for most humans – we wouldn’t even think about them. Most of us are fortunate enough to be able to get around in hotels or in any other buildings quite easily – all the manoeuvring involved doesn’t present any difficulty, no matter how complex it may be.  [Read more…] about Robotic concierge: Exclusive interview with Savioke boss

Connected asparagus: Bosch outlines vision of a future with connected factories and robotic farmers

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Bosch Apas workstation, which includes a cobot the company claims is “the first collaborative robot to be certified as an assistance system”

One of the world’s largest engineering companies, Bosch, has outlined its vision of the future, which includes a world full of smart factories, robotic farmers and connected asparagus. 

Bosch made its views available to Robotics and Automation News in a series of documents sent to us this week.

The company believes two main areas of technological development stand out from the rest: connectivity and sensors.  [Read more…] about Connected asparagus: Bosch outlines vision of a future with connected factories and robotic farmers

China to publish standards to regulate industrial robot industry

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china robot conference 2016

The Chinese government is to publish technical standards to regulate its growing industrial robot manufacturing sector, according to a report on China.org.cn. 

Speaking at the 2016 China Robot Industry Conference on Wednesday, the deputy director of the Ministry of Industry’s Equipment Industry Department, Sun Feng, says the standards will cover aspects such as product quality, research and development capabilities, staff qualifications, sales practices and social responsibility.

The website also reports that Sun said the ministry will also launch pilot projects for service robots and set standards for those as well.  [Read more…] about China to publish standards to regulate industrial robot industry

Industry 4.0: 
Airgate develops connectivity solution for Universal industrial robots

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airgate for universal robots

If you are one of the many companies and people who have recently bought a cobot from Universal Robots, you may be asking yourself, “What if we could always get in touch with our UR robots, anywhere, anytime – from any device?”

That was the question Airgate, a Danish developer of customized IoT solutions, often encountered when talking to distributors and end users of UR robots.

Airgate had developed a GSM modem solution, ARCS basic, that provides a simple remote monitoring of the UR robots by sending text messages to the robot operator when the robot exceeded defined limits such as running out of material or stopping work unexpectedly.  [Read more…] about Industry 4.0: 
Airgate develops connectivity solution for Universal industrial robots

Boeing to acquire Liquid Robotics to ‘enhance autonomous seabed-to-space information services’

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Developer of Wave Glider ocean robot boosts Boeing’s ocean data collection capabilities

Boeing has reached an agreement to buy Liquid Robotics, a builder of autonomous maritime systems and developer of the Wave Glider ocean surface robot, to grow its seabed-to-space autonomous capabilities.

Leanne Caret, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space and Security, says: “With Liquid Robotics’ innovative technology and Boeing’s leading intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance solutions, we are helping our customers address maritime challenges in ways that make existing platforms smarter, missions safer and operations more efficient.”

In September 2014, Boeing and Liquid Robotics entered into a teaming agreement resulting in extensive integration on the Sensor Hosting Autonomous Remote Craft (Sharc), a version of the Wave Glider. [Read more…] about Boeing to acquire Liquid Robotics to ‘enhance autonomous seabed-to-space information services’

Daimler develops ways for industrial robots and factories to save energy under Areus project

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Saving energy has been a serious preoccupation of many industrial companies for many years, but especially in recent years with prices of fuel fluctuating and public concern about the environment growing. 

In the auto manufacturing sector, which buys the most number of industrial robots and uses vast amounts of energy, companies such as Kuka have been looking to make their automation systems more energy efficient.

Now, in the European Union, a project called Automation and Robotics for European Sustainable Manufacturing, or Areus, says it has developed the components of an energy-efficient automobile production system of the future.  [Read more…] about Daimler develops ways for industrial robots and factories to save energy under Areus project

Industrial robot sales in China increase 20 per cent

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Sales of industrial robots in China have grown 20 per cent this year, according to research by two industry associations in the country. The automotive and electronics sectors were the two biggest buyers. 

As reported in the South China Morning Post, the GG Robotics Research Institute and the China Artificial Intelligence Robot Industry Alliance expects approximately 80,000 industrial robots to be sold on the mainland this year.

But Zhang Xiaofei, founder of the GG Robotics Research Institute, says growth is slowing.  [Read more…] about Industrial robot sales in China increase 20 per cent

Case study: A task for two collaborative robots

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Vision-guided collaborative robots deliver fast return on investment in production of firehose valves

Task Force Tips, a manufacturer of firefighting equipment, wanted to promote and maximize their personnel tending machining cells into more complex tasks while keeping spindle time up and product quality consistent.

The Indiana-based manufacturer has now installed four collaborative Universal Robots delivering savings resulting in a return on their investment in only 34 days.

CEO of Task Force Tips, Stewart McMillan, still remembers his father looking up at him with pen in hand asking, “Are you sure about this?”, when the family-owned company bought their first CNC machine 40 years ago.
  [Read more…] about Case study: A task for two collaborative robots

Robomotion and Sotec demonstrate cloud-connected Kuka industrial robot work cell

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kuka sotec robomotion
The first KR 3 Agilus is handed over to Dr Andreas Wolf, of Robomotion (second from left) and Florian Holz, of Sotec (third from left)

Industrial robotics and automation solutions provider Robomotion and software company Sotec have demonstrated a robotic work cell which they built around the Kuka KR Agilus robot.

The companies claim the cell is an example of “hands-on Industrie 4.0”.

The KR 3 Agilus is at the heart of the demo cell developed by Robomotion and Sotec, and the companies say the cell “demonstrates how the flow of data between robots and the cloud can work”.

Florian Holz, CEO of Sotec, says: “We want to give people an opportunity to experience the technology of Industrie 4.0 that we developed together at first hand.”  [Read more…] about Robomotion and Sotec demonstrate cloud-connected Kuka industrial robot work cell

Robotics industry will be bigger than car industry, says Michio Kaku

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One of the world’s most famous scientists says the robotics industry will be bigger than the auto industry within decades. 

Professor Michio Kaku, who lectures at the City University of New York Institute of Advanced Study, is a familiar face who’s known for explaining complex science to the average person.

Kaku has written many articles in a variety of scientific journals and is a contributor to hundreds of documentary films and television programmes. He is also the author of numerous books, including his most recent, The Future of the Mind: The Scientific Quest to Understand, Enhance, and Empower the Mind.  [Read more…] about Robotics industry will be bigger than car industry, says Michio Kaku