May was another big month for robotics – 13 companies were funded to the tune of $111 million. Four companies were acquired with 2 of the 4 reporting selling prices totaling $422 million. And that’s without the $5.2 billion bid for Kuka by Chinese Midea, or the pending sale of Google's Boston Dynamics. UPDATE: June 1, 2016: Forbes wrote…
The State of the Art in Wind Power
Wind turbines are complex systems that convert the low speed, low kinetic energy of wind into electricity. The current state of the art involves using very large propellers turning at around 20 rpm to turn a 60 times gear increaser and spin a generator at 1200 RPM. From a purely mechatronic standpoint, this is a […]
Insights from 1400 Year Old Windmills
Windmills have figured prominently in mankind’s ability to prosper on planet earth. The windmill gets its name from using wind power to grind (mill) grain for food. One of the main building blocks of sustainable food production is flour. If you haven’t ever tried it, manually grinding flour requires a lot of work. As with […]
The Obvious isn’t always…
Engineering of complex systems can sometimes be represented as a series of simplified approximations based on the performance of known subsystems. In the case of wind turbines, there are 4 subsystems, aerodynamic, gearing, generator and power conversion. In order to simplify the evaluation process of competing technologies in each category, they can be assigned an […]
How is Pepper, SoftBank’s emotional robot, doing?
Pepper is a child-height human-shaped robot described as having been designed to be a genuine companion that perceives and acts upon a range of human emotions. SoftBank, the Japanese telecom giant, acquired Aldebaran Robotics and commissioned the development of Pepper. Subsequently SoftBank joint ventured with Alibaba and Foxconn to form a development, production and marketing entity for the…
Tesla Model S Autonomously Crashes on Highway
A Tesla Model S on Autopilot driving in Switzerland fails to recognize a stopped van and accelerates into the rear of the van. According to the driver, none of the Autopilot safety features worked properly.
Festo Online Configurator slashes OEM engineering costs and speeds delivery for Cartesian robots
Festo introduced today the Handling Guide Online configurator for Cartesian robots. This new productivity tool significantly reduces engineering overhead for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and speeds delivery to laboratory equipment, electronic light assembly, end of line packaging, food and beverage, automotive, and machine tool manufacturers. More after the jump. Equipped with basic application information such […]
TM Robotics partners with Caionix to sell Toshiba Machine industrial robots in Egypt
Today TM Robotics and Toshiba Machine announced they have partnered with Caionix, a distributor of industrial robots in Egypt. With this partnership, Caionix is now responsible for providing the area’s industrial market with the pre-sale, sale and after sale services for Toshiba Machine’s Cartesian, 6-axis and SCARA robots. The companies will be displaying the THL600 […]
Machine Vision Attracts International Investment
The promise of safer and more efficient factories, smart homes, and more responsive robots is encouraging the latest wave of machine vision spending.
ST Robotics Announces Strategic Distribution Partners in North America
ST Robotics is pleased to announce new distribution agreements with RobotShop and SuperDroid Robots to deliver its low-cost, easy-to-use ST R Series articulated and cylindrical robot arm systems across North America. “We are excited about our new collaboration with RobotShop and SuperDroid Robots which will allow us to provide the ST robot systems to a […]
Plastic strain wave gearing from igus for 6-axis robotics at lower price
For cost-effective, customizable robotic systems, igus has further updated the Robolink D modular robotic kit with new strain wave gearings in two installation sizes. The gearing, available as an individual component, or with integrated NEMA motor, consists of an outer ring gear and flexible, wear-resistant inner ring gear made from self-lubricating, wear resistant iglide plastic. […]
Pittsburgh Steelers Practicing with Robots
The Pittsburgh Steelers are using Mobile Virtual Player (MVP) robot tackling dummies during offseason workouts in an effort to enhance drills and reduce injuries to players.
Mitsubishi Electric Automation introduces large capacity 6-axis robots
Addressing the need for higher capacity robots to meet the demands of today’s advanced automated manufacturing processes, Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc. introduces the latest in its line of RV-F Series 6-axis robots in 35, 50 and 70 kg payloads. These new robots extend the Mitsubishi Electric RV-F Series product line to address applications that require […]
Pepper Working as a Pizza Hut Cashier
Pepper humanoid robots will soon be working as cashiers at Pizza Hut restaurants in Asia. And thanks to a partnership with MasterCard, Pepper will be able to process payments and make recommendations based off ordering habits.
EU’s Horizon 2020 has funded $179 million in robotics PPPs
Over the past two years, research in 5G and robotics PPP projects have received the highest funding awards within Horizon 2020, the EU’s research and innovation program. PPPs are Public-Private Partnerships which align private and public research objectives under one sponsored umbrella and channel those efforts in specifically funded projects. Of 850 projects involving 3,312 groups receiving $2.7 billion…
Jibo SDK Beta Version Available to Developers
Developers now have access to the beta version of the Jibo SDK, allowing them to build Jibo skills using JavaScript. Skills built by developers will be put through a certification process and will be accessible in the Jibo Skill Store, which the company says will launch later in 2016.
4 of 4 — Two robot experts answer: How bad is today’s robotic programming for newbies?
At the recent A3 Business Forum — held in conjunction with the Robotics Industries Association, or RIA, the Automated Imaging Association, or AIA, and the Motion Control & Motor Association, or MCMA, I got the chance to interview some robotics experts about the current state of technology. Nigel Smith, President and CEO, and Ryan Guthrie, […]
3 of 4 — Two experts on dissuading engineers from robot technology that’s not right
At the recent A3 Business Forum — held in conjunction with the Robotics Industries Association, or RIA, the Automated Imaging Association, or AIA, and the Motion Control & Motor Association, or MCMA, I got the chance to interview two robotics experts about robot technology is changing myriad industries and the way they’re automated. Nigel Smith, President and CEO, […]
Podcast: Amazon Echo vs. Google Home in Battle of Virtual Assistants
The battle of the virtual assistants is on! Will Amazon Echo or Google Home come out on top? How will Apple respond? We debate on The Robotics Trends Show.
Kitagawa now offers automated jaw pallet system for lights-out machining in robot-tended mill and turning cells
Kitagawa North-Tech — maker of workholding products, standard and custom engineered solutions and services — now sells a new Automated Jaw Pallet System (AJPS) for Robot tended CNC Mill and Turning cells used in flexible automated production environments. The Kitagawa Automated Jaw Pallet System in conjunction with Kitagawa Promano Grippers provide seamless flexibility in a Robot tended machining environment by […]
Germán Villalobos joins Yaskawa Mexico as general manager
Yaskawa Motoman announces that Germán Villalobos has joined the company as General Manager of Yaskawa Mexico. In this position, he will be responsible for the company’s strategic direction and sales growth in Mexico. He will also be responsible for the operation of Yaskawa’s three facilities located in Mexico (Aguascalientes, Apodaca and Queretaro). Villalobos brings nearly […]
Cyton frame grabber combines CoaXPress and Gen 2.0 PCle interface for faster data transfer
BitFlow Inc. is offering the Cyton CXP4 four-channel frame grabber based on the CoaXPress standard. Key to its success is the incorporation of the Gen 2.0 x8 PCI Express bus interface on its back-end, an advancement that doubles the data rate of the Gen 1.0 bus for the ultimate high speed access to host memory […]