Robotics & Automation News

Market trends and business perspectives

robots

Research: Consumer robotics market to rise to $23 billion by 2026

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The consumer robotics market is evolving rapidly and covers a wide array of products, from homecare systems to children’s toys to smart ‘humanoid’ robots that provide personal and social engagement.

According to ABI Research, a market-foresight advisory firm providing strategic guidance on the most compelling transformative technologies, the entire consumer robotics market will reach 100 million shipments and US$23 billion in revenue by 2026.

Home-care robots are already the primary driver of revenue for the wider consumer robotics market. This trend is expected to increase, following a banner year of revenue and shipment growth from floor care market leader iRobot.

[Read more…] about Research: Consumer robotics market to rise to $23 billion by 2026

The daily dance of 2,000 robots at Seat’s Martorell facility

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A lot goes into making a SEAT vehicle, including an intricate dance routine. The show starts at five in the morning in the sheet metal workshop in Martorell, when 2,000 robots and 1,700 factory workers begin moving in unison to build a car body in just over one minute. This is how an Industry 4.0 choreography is performed.

Thousands of articulated mechanical arms weave in and out in synch to handle up to 2,300 parts daily. They work in harmony and in continuous movement for 24 hours on end. (See video below.)

Their abilities include welding different body parts, assembling car doors and verifying the geometry of the chassis with precision measuring instruments.

[Read more…] about The daily dance of 2,000 robots at Seat’s Martorell facility

Robots are useless at these tasks that humans are good at

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Some people say robots will put millions of people out of work and even enslave and kill us all, but that’s a little bit hysterical really. 

What looks realistic is that robots will continue to make working life easier and more manageable for humans.

Yes, of course, some jobs may disappear for humans because robots will do them, but hopefully, they will mostly be the dull, dirty and dangerous jobs humans would generally rather not do anyway.  [Read more…] about Robots are useless at these tasks that humans are good at

Protecting the environment with drones and robots

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New commercial and research roles for unmanned vehicles. By Peter Feuilherade for the International Electrotechnical Commission

History provides many instances of technologies developed for military application being spun off and used in the civilian sector for different, broader uses and at lower prices.

Drones and other unmanned powered vehicles are a good example.

The earliest recorded military action using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), more commonly known as drones, dates back to 1849, when Austrian forces used pilotless balloons to drop bombs fitted with timed fuses on Italian revolutionaries besieged in Venice.

However, strong winds blew many of the “flying bombs” back across the city, and they fell on Austrian troops encamped on the mainland.  [Read more…] about Protecting the environment with drones and robots

New research: Massive rise in warehouse robots predicted

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A recent report from ABI Research estimates that shipments of global commercial and collaborative robots in e-commerce fulfilment will reach 443,000 units in 2026, 20 times more than current shipments in 2018.

This includes squat mobile platforms in goods-to-person systems, autonomous mobile robots with manipulators, last mile delivery robots, and collaborative robots.

Two major types of customers in e-commerce fulfilment are the major-e-retailers and third-party logistics service providers who engage in the contract logistics business. Currently, warehousing, order processing, and last mile delivery are all extremely labour intensive.

[Read more…] about New research: Massive rise in warehouse robots predicted

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

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Android apocalypse
Do androids walk among us today? Do we know? Do the androids know they are androids? If they look like us, live like us, and are made of flesh and bone just like humans, how can we tell them apart from us?

We’re all gonna die. That’s a fact. But some of us refuse to accept it. From Dr James Bedford, who became the first person to be cryogenically frozen in 1967, to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, who also want to be cryogenically frozen upon their passing through this world onto the next, there are many famous and non-famous people who simply refuse to accept that death is the end of their life.

For an increasing number of people, leaving a last will and testament, or a video, or a message stored with a company like Heavenote, is simply not enough. They don’t want to leave anything, least of all life itself. They want to cling on, no matter how tenuous their connection.

And who can blame them? Nobody wants to die. It’s this primaeval drive to avoid death that, arguably, gave rise to some of the world’s largest religions. Christianity and Islam both offer clearly articulated visions of life after death, although Judaism is less clear about what lies beyond this “mortal coil”, as William Shakespeare called it.  [Read more…] about Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

SCM to demonstrate robotic integration for woodworking

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SCM, a supplier and integrator of industrial machinery and components, is to showcase technologies for robotic integration into woodworking. 

The company currently provides a wide range of production technologies for furniture and housing sectors, supplying industrial giants and small workshops.

But while machinery has been used in woodworking for a very long time, robotics in the sector is relatively new.  [Read more…] about SCM to demonstrate robotic integration for woodworking

Boston Dynamics terrifies the internet again with robots that can open doors like the dinosaurs did in Jurassic Park

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Boston Dynamics, maker of the most terrifying robots in the world, has again brought the internet to a standstill with a demonstration video of how its robots can open doors for each other. (See video below.)

The company’s new video is reminiscent of scenes in the film Jurassic Park, where agile, fast-moving velociraptor dinosaurs chase a group of humans through a science lab, opening doors as they hunt the humans.

The Boston Dynamics robots were not shown to be going after any humans but the implications are obvious.  [Read more…] about Boston Dynamics terrifies the internet again with robots that can open doors like the dinosaurs did in Jurassic Park

How robots and artificial intelligence will transform the mining industry

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By Joao Piexe, FN Media Group’s Safehaven.com

Drones are sweeping over the global mining industry and for good reason.

The future of mining will increasingly rely on the use of drones and automated systems, slashing costs while helping mining companies find and dig up more gold, silver and other metals and minerals.

According to a 2015 survey of 190 mining companies around the world, about two thirds of them were aiming to integrate remote operations and monitoring centers into their operations.  [Read more…] about How robots and artificial intelligence will transform the mining industry

ABB opens first-ever robotics training centre in Romania

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Industrial robotics giant ABB has opened what is said to be the “first-ever” robotics centre in Romania, according to local media.

BusinessReview.eu, an English-language Romanian website, says the new robotics facility is a public-private partnership between ABB and the Polytechnic University in Bucharest.

The centre will offer advanced training in robotics and industrial automation to future engineers and provide support to ABB customers in the future.  [Read more…] about ABB opens first-ever robotics training centre in Romania