Recently, I interviewed master inventor Dean Kamen, well known as the inventor of the stair climbing wheelchair and the Segway, as well as the creator of the FIRST Robotics competitions for school children. I explained to Dean how R&D World’s Global Funding Forecast was reporting China will outspend the U.S. for the very first time…

WTWH Media, parent company of The Robot Report, hosted a webinar with renowned economist Alan Beaulieu of ITR Economics. The event, which you can watch on demand here, offered an interesting look at the economy over the coming months and years. And the outlook Beaulieu gave was quite positive in nature, something we all could…

Piab has extended its piSoftgrip family with a new pinch gripper developed for the automation of the food/chocolate industry. The vacuum-based soft gripper can grip sensitive and lightweight oblong objects with odd geometries and/or objects with an unusual surface. piSoftgrip has two gripping fingers and a sealed vacuum cavity, all made in one piece, resulting…

Epson Robots announced major updates to its RC+ 7.0 development software. This latest update (version 7.5.0) expands the IntelliFlex Parts Feeding lineup to include the new IntelliFlex 80 and 380 Feeders, as well as the release of Add On Instructions for users of Allen Bradley PLC platforms to program and control Epson robots. These new…

I’d like to offer some positive news in the midst of the dire outlook that’s been the regular diet of late on news stations. Last week, we hosted a webinar with renowned economist Alan Beaulieu of ITR Economics that examined what the COVID-19 crisis means for the economy over the next few months and years. If…

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is a modern technique that allows surgeons to perform operations through small incisions (usually 5-15 mm). Although it has numerous advantages over older surgical techniques, MIS can be more difficult to perform. Some inherent drawbacks are: Limited motion due to straight laparoscopic instruments and fixation enforced by the small incision in…

The piSOFTGRIP from Piab is vacuum-controlled, comes with a stainless-steel fitting, and is made of food-grade silicone.

Whether it’s grabbing, holding or turning, touching, typing or pressing — in everyday life, we use our hands as a matter of course for the most diverse tasks. In that regard, the human hand, with its unique combination of power, dexterity, and fine motor skills, is a true miracle tool of nature. What could be…

At the Battery Show, taking place Sept. 11-13 at the Suburban Collection Showplace, Novi, Mich., Epson Robots (Booth #1110) is showcasing robots for the factory automation industry that include all the latest advances in robot design and performance, including integrated Vision guided battery load and Force guidance based battery test applications. The Battery Show covers today’s emerging advanced…

Yaskawa Motoman and RAMTEC (Marion, Ohio) have announced the formation of the Ohio Manufacturing Workforce Partnership. This strategic partnership will support the State of Ohio in creating a highly sustainable workforce development model and will provide Ohio educators and students with STEM-aligned curriculum and training in order to become proficient in Industry 4.0 technologies. Yaskawa…

igus has introduced a low-cost delta robot that can help small and medium-sized businesses get introduced to automation for an initial investment that is far less than units currently being used in manufacturing industries. The igus delta robot provides a thrifty and simple automation solution for assembly tasks. The low-maintenance, lightweight igus delta robot is…

With the launch of the new TS2 SCARA series, which is making its world debut at Automatica, Stäubli is entering a new performance class. The completely redesigned four-axis machine with proprietary JCS drive technology facilitates ultra-short cycle times. It also has a revolutionary hygiene design which opens up new possibilities for use in sensitive environments.…

IDS NXT is a new generation of vision app-based sensors and cameras from IDS. The devices offer maximum flexibility, as they can adapt to the users’ requirements and be used for different image processing tasks. For individual applications, which go beyond standard apps, users can create and install individual vision apps. The IDS NXT platform…

At 309 units per 10,000 employees, robot density in German manufacturing industry is the third highest worldwide. At the same time, the number of people employed in Germany reached 44 million in 2017, the highest figure since reunification. The rapid spread of industrial robots hasn’t made a dent in employment figures: today, new tasks have…

At NVIDIA’s GPU Technology Conference, I spoke with Xiaodi Hou, co-founder and CTO of TuSimple, a startup that is employing artificial intelligence to drive R&D of an SAE Level 4 autonomous trucking solution. Founded in 2015, the company has created a low-cost, commercially viable self-driving system to address a variety of pain points in the…

Three winners were awarded $1 million in prizes at Nvidia’s Inception Awards, a challenge for AI startups. The finale was held at NVIDIA’s annual GPU Technology Conference in San Jose. There was a “Shark Tank” vibe to the proceedings for the six finalist teams, whittled down from a dozen semi-finalists. You can re-watch the competition…

DENSO Corp. has unveiled its newest innovative satellite R&D team in Israel, accelerating advanced technologies like automated driving, cybersecurity, and AI. Starting in April, DENSO’s R&D satellite will begin collaborating with local startups to pioneer new technologies. This is the newest satellite in DENSO’s global R&D network located in key regions. DENSO distributes cutting-edge R&D…

NVIDIA and Arm announced at GTC 2018 a partnership to bring deep learning inferencing to the billions of mobile, consumer electronics and Internet of Things (IOT) devices that will enter the global marketplace. Under this partnership, NVIDIA and Arm will integrate the open-source NVIDIA Deep Learning Accelerator (NVDLA) architecture into Arm’s Project Trillium platform for…

More than 650 fluid power manufacturers, users and academics have come here to Aachen, a small western German city, to talk about the future of hydraulics and pneumatics technology, as well as current R&D projects. However, last night, what everyone was talking about was robots. The closing keynote at the 11th International Fluid Power Conference…

Autonomous Solutions, Inc. (ASI) technology will be used in two pilot programs with large scale commercial growers in California. A partnership agreement has been announced between ASI, New Holland Agriculture, and E. & J. Gallo Winery, the largest family-owned winery in the world, to operate the autonomous vehicles in their vineyard operations. Similarly, there has…

Festo has introduced the Festo Motion Control Package (FMCP), a control system for coordinated motion of up to six axes for pick and place and other high speed, precision Cartesian robotic applications. This prewired and ready-to-install control solution provides the kinematics for H-portal, T-portal, 2D, and 3D Festo standard gantry systems. OEMs quickly configure Cartesian…

Dematic, a supplier of integrated automated technology, software and services to optimize the supply chain, has announced the formation of the Robotics Center of Excellence business unit, dedicated to the development and engineering of robotic automation. The new business unit is responsible for the application and implementation of robotic solutions that make order fulfillment operations…