Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

Abdul Montaqim

Market insight: Injection moulding plastics market set to double in size in 10 years

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Injection moulding is one of the most common manufacturing processes and generally involves creating a mould and injecting a molten material into it. That material then cools down and takes the form of the cavity inside the mould. 

The materials used in injection moulding can vary from plastics to metals, and even newer, modern composites. But mostly injection moulding used to make plastic parts and components.

Among the advantages of injection moulding is that it can be used for mass manufacturing and low-volume manufacturing, and for rapid prototyping.

Also, a crucial advantage is the quality of finish – you don’t get the roughness that you might get with 3D printing, where the depositing of successive layers creates a ripple or uneven effect.  [Read more…] about Market insight: Injection moulding plastics market set to double in size in 10 years

Bewildered and confused

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Technology is moving so fast that those of us who have been around a while may find a lot of things bewildering and confusing.

Why, for example, do so many websites and apps that you never heard of have so many visitors and users?

Why are startup companies whose product or service you don’t understand attracting tens of millions of dollars in investment money?  [Read more…] about Bewildered and confused

From academia to business: Making robotics as big as the computer industry

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In this exclusive interview, Dr Andrew Goldenberg, founder and chief technology officer of Engineering Services Inc, and currently also the chief technology officer of publicly listed Super Robotics Ltd of Hong Kong and of Anzer Intelligent Engineering of Shenzhen, China offers his perspective

When you’ve been in the robotics and automation industry for more than 35 years, you tend to form opinions that other people want to hear and learn from – even if those opinions are not entirely complimentary to the listener. 

Dr Andrew Goldenberg is professor emeritus at the University of Toronto and chief technology officer at Super Robotics, Engineering Services, and Anzer Intelligent Engineering – all part of the same group – and he’s an avid reader of Robotics and Automation News.

But just because he likes many things about the website doesn’t mean he agrees with some of our more “offbeat” articles, as we call them – the possibility of alien robots from Planet X infiltrating life on Earth and so on.  [Read more…] about From academia to business: Making robotics as big as the computer industry

Automated guided vehicles: Exclusive interview with Kivnon commercial director

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Automated guided vehicles could completely change the industrial technology ecosystem, ushering in the era of cyber-physical operations and reducing the reliance on traditional fixed infrastructure, like monorails and conveyors

Kivnon is probably the world’s leading manufacturer of automated guided vehicles. 

Its AGVs are particularly popular in the automotive sector, utilised by a large number of leading automakers – including Volkswagen, Renault, Nissan, Daimler, Seat and others.

Kivnon AGVs are also to be found in industrial companies from other sectors, being used to transport material from one place to another in their facilities.  [Read more…] about Automated guided vehicles: Exclusive interview with Kivnon commercial director

Play Misty for me: Exclusive interview with Misty Robotics CEO

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After selling 3 million robots in various markets, the people behind Sphero have launched a new business, Misty Robotics. 

In this exclusive interview, Robotics and Automation News speaks to the CEO of Misty Robotics, Tim Enwall, whose background includes senior jobs at Apple and Nest Labs.

Launching the Misty I Developer Edition, Enwall says the company’s masterstroke is its decision to adopt Javascript as the robot’s programming language, instantly opening up a market of millions of coders who otherwise would not have thought they had the skills to program a robot.  [Read more…] about Play Misty for me: Exclusive interview with Misty Robotics CEO

Material world: Exclusive interview with Wynright Robotics boss

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Daifuku Wynright was established in 2013 as a result of Daifuku Group’s acquisition of Wynright Corporation and is now the largest material handling company in the world.

Last year, the company generated almost $3 billion in revenue worldwide. Daifuku has approximately 6,500 employees globally, while Wynright has around 500. 

Material handling is the aspect of logistics which is mainly concerned with the movement of boxes from one place to another, usually over short distances, such as from a truck to a warehouse, and then from the warehouse to the trucks for the dispatching of goods to customers’ locations.  [Read more…] about Material world: Exclusive interview with Wynright Robotics boss

Exclusive interview: Hitachi Europe boss explains how company uses AI for IIoT

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Exclusive interview with Ram Ramachander, chief commercial officer for social innovation in the EMEA region, Hitachi 

Hitachi is one of the largest companies in the world, employing more than 300,000 people globally and generating revenues of more than $80 billion a year across all its many business units.

Classed as a conglomerate, Hitachi has interests in a huge variety of markets, including, of course, heavy industry.

The areas Hitachi has been particularly interested in lately could be summed up as smart cities and transportation, which the company tends to group under “social infrastructure and industrial systems”.  [Read more…] about Exclusive interview: Hitachi Europe boss explains how company uses AI for IIoT

Logistics robots: NextShift’s ‘unique workflow’ increases productivity and efficiency

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Exclusive interview with NextShift Robotics CEO

The robotics and automation industry has always held a fascination for many people – for seasoned professionals and even passing observers alike. 

And it’s been particularly interesting in the past couple of years, for several reasons.

One reason is the advancements in computing – both hardware and software, perhaps most importantly in networking.  [Read more…] about Logistics robots: NextShift’s ‘unique workflow’ increases productivity and efficiency

IT + OT = IIoT: Cisco Jasper’s formula for the industrial internet

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In this exclusive interview, Theresa Bui, IoT product marketing and strategy, Cisco Jasper, lays out the company’s solution for bringing together OT and IT 

In the past couple of years, networking giant Cisco has made a big push into the industrial sector to ride the wave of Industry 4.0 or the industrial internet of things or whatever you want to call the trend of connecting machines that previously operated mostly in isolation.

Computer networking equipment, which is generally to be found within the category of “information technology”, is quickly becoming a critical part of the traditional industrial company, alongside what is increasingly referred to as “operation technology”, referring to the machines and robots and such.

Industrial companies have been attaching tens of millions of sensors to equipment and components in all areas of their operation in order to make the data they collect available to IT.  [Read more…] about IT + OT = IIoT: Cisco Jasper’s formula for the industrial internet

The Digital Silk Road: Exclusive interview with Citic Telecom CPC boss

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About a week ago, a Chinese company called Citic Telecom CPC formally announced that it had completed its acquisition of a European company called Linx Telecommunications. 

While the story may be interesting in and of itself, it’s just one piece of a much larger jigsaw puzzle China’s Premier Xi Jinping wants to piece together.

A couple of years ago, Jinping sketched out a roadmap of what has come to be known as the “One Belt, One Road” project, often shortened to Obor.  [Read more…] about The Digital Silk Road: Exclusive interview with Citic Telecom CPC boss