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ZF joins Mobility as a Service Alliance group

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The automotive components and systems supplier ZF has become the first major automotive supplier to participate in the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Alliance.

The objective of this special interest group that spans Europe is to bring about a paradigm shift in urban mobility, promote networked mobility concepts, and create uniform standards for technologies and legislation.

ZF says traffic jams, lack of parking, and air pollution mean that better mobility concepts are needed to avert the threat of complete gridlock in many city centers. [Read more…] about ZF joins Mobility as a Service Alliance group

Acme Manufacturing opens R&D center in Singapore

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Acme Manufacturing, a specialist provider of robotic finishing systems has officially launched its Singapore office.

Acme Singapore includes a standalone research and development centre focused on creating new solutions and customised robotics systems for the company’s extensive customers in Southeast Asia.

“The establishment of Acme Singapore reflects our commitment to bring our state-of-the-art innovations closer to customers in Southeast Asia,” said Fritz Carlson, president and CEO of Acme Manufacturing, who was present at the grand opening of the company’s Singapore facility. [Read more…] about Acme Manufacturing opens R&D center in Singapore

General Motors and University of Michigan develop automated safety features

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As General Motors moves toward its vision of a world with zero crashes, the company is partnering with the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute to understand the real-world effectiveness of some of its available active safety, driver assistance, and advanced headlighting features that may prevent or mitigate different types of crashes.

The company says results show that several of these features are making a statistically significant impact in helping to reduce crashes.

The study leveraged 3.7 million GM vehicles across 20 different models from 2013-2017. Fifteen different systems were evaluated using police report crash databases available to UMTRI from 10 states. [Read more…] about General Motors and University of Michigan develop automated safety features

Campaign to Stop Killer Robots sends peace envoy robot to United Nations

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The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots – an actual political and social group run mostly by humans – has sent a peace envoy robot to deliver a letter to the United Nations building in New York, in the US.

According to the Guardian newspaper, the campaign group will give UN diplomats a letter in which it is demanding that the world stops the development of autonomous war machines.

These can include, but are not limited to, technologies such as drones, tanks and other other machinery controlled by an autonomous computer which is running artificial intelligence systems that decide whether to kill people or not. [Read more…] about Campaign to Stop Killer Robots sends peace envoy robot to United Nations

New consortium to develop a common computing platform for autonomous vehicles

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A group of leading companies from the automotive and computing industries have formed collaborative effort toward making fully self-driving vehicles a reality.

The new Autonomous Vehicle Computing Consortium (AVCC), officially launched recently at Arm TechCon in San Jose, brings together industry leaders from automotive, automotive supply, semiconductor and computing to serve as the leading organization for autonomous computing expertise.

Together with the consortium’s growing membership, the initial AVCC members Arm, Bosch, Continental, Denso, General Motors, Nvidia, NXP Semiconductors and Toyota will collaborate to help solve some of the most significant challenges to deploy self-driving vehicles at scale. [Read more…] about New consortium to develop a common computing platform for autonomous vehicles

Arsenal launches three new robotic dispensing systems on the Universal Robot platform

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New cartridge based robotic dispensing systems for low and medium volume manufacturing processes

Arsenal, an Austin, Texas based developer of robotic dispensing systems and turnkey integration solutions, has recently released three new cartridge-based dispensing systems.

Arsenal’s dispensing systems leverage the flexible and easy to use Universal Robot platform which makes them ideal for low and medium volume manufacturing processes.

Cartridge-based robotic dispensing solutions bridge the gap between time consuming, unpredictable manual dispensing and high volume pumping systems. [Read more…] about Arsenal launches three new robotic dispensing systems on the Universal Robot platform

DMG MORI and Jungheinrich partner to develop driverless transport technologies

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DMG MORI and Jungheinrich have formed a partnership to develop driverless transport systems – and have already demonstrated a first product.

The company says the DMG MORI PH-AGV 50 (main picture) “heralds a new era of flexible automation solutions in intralogistics”.

Because the driverless transport system enables the fully automated loading and unloading of workpiece pallets on machine tools. [Read more…] about DMG MORI and Jungheinrich partner to develop driverless transport technologies

Controlling complexity: Powerful new tech tools are bringing lean manufacturing principles to life

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By Dan McKiernan, president of eFlex Systems

Lean manufacturing principles and practices aimed at minimizing waste and maximizing productivity, have been shaping the manufacturing sector for decades now.

The necessary end-goal for manufacturers is to ensure that products are built correctly, every time, even when changes are made in-process.

While this goal is nothing new, the rise of complexity and customization challenges presents a constant counterpressure against the continuing push for improved consistency and quality. [Read more…] about Controlling complexity: Powerful new tech tools are bringing lean manufacturing principles to life

NASA takes delivery of first all-electric experimental aircraft

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The first all-electric configuration of NASA’s X-57 Maxwell now is at the space agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California.

The X-57, NASA’s first all-electric experimental aircraft, or X-plane – and the first crewed X-plane in two decades – was delivered by Empirical Systems Aerospace (ESAero) of San Luis Obispo, California on Wednesday, October 2, in the first of three configurations as an all-electric aircraft, known as Modification II, or Mod II.

The X-57’s Mod II vehicle features the replacement of traditional combustion engines on a baseline Tecnam P2006T aircraft, with electric cruise motors. [Read more…] about NASA takes delivery of first all-electric experimental aircraft

Alstom unveils recharging system for electric buses

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Alstom has launched the latest innovation in its range of ground-based recharging systems – SRS dedicated to electric buses.

The premiere, as part of the “Paloma” pilot project currently under way in the southern Spanish city of Malaga, sees a prototype of SRS for e-buses operating at a bus stop in front of the University of Malaga’s School of Industrial Engineering.

It is equipped with a 200 kW charger and is associated with a 12-metre Linkker e-bus which is running on Bus Line 1, operated by EMT, the local transport operator. [Read more…] about Alstom unveils recharging system for electric buses