Where Innovation Meets Imagination
Kuka, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of industrial robotic arms, is planning to expand into the area of personal assistance robotics.
This is according to an article on FT.com, which quotes Kuka chief executive Till Reuter.
Reuter told the FT that he sees potential for using Midea’s reach into the household appliances market to develop more complex, intelligent machines which can help with household tasks. [Read more…] about Kuka to build personal assistance robot business with Midea
Yaskawa is expanding its manufacturing operation in Sweden, according to a report on Evertiq.com.
One of the world’s largest industrial robot manufacturers, Yaskawa is investing a further €4 million into the plant at Torsås, Sweden.
The work will eventually expand the facility by 2,000 sq m and is expected to be completed by summer 2018. [Read more…] about Yaskawa invests €4 million in production facility in Sweden, and partners with Midea in Asia
ABB has installed three YuMi robots on a new production line at its electrification products plant in Ede, the Netherlands.
Designed for use in small parts assembly, the three YuMi robots will assemble a new cavity wall socket called HW52-F.
ABB says that, due to its “inherently safe” design, the YuMi collaborative dual arm robot solution will ensure the safety of those around it and elevate the nature of work at the plant by performing repetitive tasks to perfection. [Read more…] about ABB puts YuMi collaborative industrial robot to work making wall sockets at its factory in Holland
By Lisa Baertlein and Harriet McLeod, Reuters
The merger that shook food and retail stocks on Friday – Amazon’s proposed deal to buy Whole Foods Market – rattled some employees of the upscale grocery chain who expressed fears ranging from layoffs to the loss of their laid-back corporate culture.
The online retailer hopes the $13.7 billion acquisition helps it disrupt the grocery business and expand its real-world store footprint.
Carmen Clark, 37, a six-year employee at a store in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, said some workers worry that Amazon-led automation could lead to job cuts. [Read more…] about Amazon could assimilate Whole Foods workers into robots and drones in some sort of cyber-physical dystopian Borg-like nightmare
Elsevier has released a couple of new books that take deep dive into the programming of robots. [Read more…] about Books: Journeys into the minds of robots
Comau has provided RoboticsAndAutomationNews.com an insight into its production processes at the Torino, Italy plant of the prestige car marque Maserati.
Comau is part of the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles group, which also owns Maserati, along with a number of the world’s most famous and celebrated marques such as Ferrari and Alfa Romeo.
In this picture story, Comau shows its industrial robots performing complex tasks relating to body-in-white operations, spot welding and other crucial assembly functions. [Read more…] about Comau provides glimpse into Maserati plant in Italy
Epson Robots is showcasing a range of new technologies for a wide variety of applications in factory automation at the Automation Technology show, ATX East.
ATX is currently under way, running from June 13-15, and is being held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York, in the US. Epson’s booth is number 2405.
Epson’s showcase will feature the new and “revolutionary” Flexion N2 6-Axis robot as well as an assembly demo of an Epson Point of Sale printer built with a high precision SCARA robot and a compact 6-Axis robot. [Read more…] about Epson showcases new Flexion industrial robot and printer built using SCARA robot
Universal Robots is planning to showcase a range of new technologies and partnerships at ATX East, said to the largest annual design and manufacturing event on the US East Coast.
This year, the keynote speaker at the event will be Steve “Woz” Wozniak, co-founder of Apple and currently chief scientist at Primary Data.
Attendees at UBM’s ATX East in New York City, June 13-15, will be greeted by three collaborative robots from Universal Robots at the expo entrance. [Read more…] about Universal Robots and partners to demonstrate ‘next generation’ collaborative robot technology at ATX East
China’s plan to expand the nation’s robotics and automation industry seems to be working, according to a new survey by TheRobotReport.com.
The website tracks robotics companies worldwide and editor Frank Tobe says he wrote about 194 robot companies in China in 2015, but now that number has more than doubled to greater than 500.
The Chinese government launched a “robot revolution” as part of its Made in China 2025 program a couple of years ago, partly because it has become the world’s biggest buyer of robots and would like some of those robots to be made by domestic companies. [Read more…] about Chinese government’s plan to grow robotics and automation industry seems to be working
SoftBank, the maker of the Pepper and Nao humanoid robots, has reached a deal to buy Boston Dynamics, the robotics business owned by Alphabet, the parent company of Google.
Boston Dynamics has been building a wide range of robots, some of which are humanoid, others canine and one or two wheeled – or a hybrid of these structures.
But whatever robots the company has made, they’ve been widely acclaimed as having some of the most realistic movements and best balance of any robots made anywhere – watching them move can be quite unnerving because they move almost exactly like humans or canines. [Read more…] about SoftBank to buy Boston Dynamics, the maker of those unnervingly realistic humanoid and canine robots
