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All Nippon Airways and Honda Aircraft Company sign deal to expand business jet market

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ANA Holdings Inc. and Honda Aircraft Company have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a strategic partnership supporting the expansion of the business jet market around the globe by using Honda Aircraft’s technologically advanced HondaJet.

ANA, ANA Holdings’ flagship carrier and largest airline in Japan, which currently operates about 260 commercial aeroplanes throughout the world, will introduce current business jet users and its commercial flight customers to the HondaJet by maximising the utilisation of the aircraft.

ANA will use the HondaJet for its charter and feeder flights connecting them to the existing broad network at major travel hubs in North America and Europe.

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Omron partners with Techman to sell TM cobots

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Omron Corp. and Techman Robot Inc. have signed an agreement to form a strategic alliance on collaborative robots under which Omron will globally market and sell Techman’s TM series of collaborative robots via its worldwide distribution network under a co-branded logo, starting in the second half of FY2018.

In addition, Omron and Techman will cooperate in developing the next generation of collaborative robots that will be easier to integrate with Omron’s other factory automation products.

Factories worldwide are facing major challenges in having to manufacture a high mix, low volume of products to meet their customer demands, combined with shorter product life cycles and labour shortage issues.

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Panasonic shows off smart city parking technology

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Panasonic North America highlighted some of its latest parking and safer roads technology at Smart Cities New York earlier this month, an event looking at future technologies for the urban space.

The company highlighted its IoT-connected Smart Parking Meter, which enables people to search and book vacant parking spaces on their smartphones, alongside another solution for cities to use parking space operational data for future transport and development planning.

In addition, Panasonic introduced the “Smart Street solution” which combines security camera and image analysis of pedestrian traffic with AI.

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Yamaha Motor debuts at Hannover with digital production lines

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Yamaha Motor booth made its debut at Hannover Messe last month, showcasing fully-digitalised production lines, including transport processes. Its stand featured an operational demonstration of the Advanced Robotics Automation Platform.

This new robotics system enables automation of complex advanced production facilities, integrating control of multiple robots and peripheral devices necessary for production facilities in one unit.

The company also highlighted the YK400XR SCARA robot, which features both high quality/functionality and excellent cost-performance, according to Yamaha.

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Siemens to acquire software framework provider for building automation and IoT

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Siemens is acquiring J2 Innovations (J2), a leading software framework provider for building automation and IoT, headquartered near Los Angeles, California.

The company has been a successful player in the Internet-of-Things (IoT) software business for 10 years, building a strong reputation in the US and internationally with its FIN (Fluid INtegration) Framework technology.

Both parties have agreed not to disclose financial details. The transaction is expected to close by the end of May 2018.

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General Motors to build self-driving cars in Michigan, US

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After more than a year of building test vehicles for development of its self-driving technology, General Motors will build production versions of its Cruise AV at its Orion Township assembly plant in Michigan.

Roof modules for GM’s self-driving vehicles will be assembled at its Brownstown plant.

The Cruise AV, which the company plans to commercialize in 2019, is the first production-ready vehicle built from the ground up to operate safely on its own with no driver, steering wheel, pedals or manual controls.

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The daily dance of 2,000 robots at Seat’s Martorell facility

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A lot goes into making a SEAT vehicle, including an intricate dance routine. The show starts at five in the morning in the sheet metal workshop in Martorell, when 2,000 robots and 1,700 factory workers begin moving in unison to build a car body in just over one minute. This is how an Industry 4.0 choreography is performed.

Thousands of articulated mechanical arms weave in and out in synch to handle up to 2,300 parts daily. They work in harmony and in continuous movement for 24 hours on end. (See video below.)

Their abilities include welding different body parts, assembling car doors and verifying the geometry of the chassis with precision measuring instruments.

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Nissan aims to sell 1 million electrified vehicles a year by 2022

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Nissan is aiming to sell 1 million electrified vehicles – either pure electric models or those with e-POWER powertrains – annually by fiscal year 2022.

The target is part of as part of its Nissan M.O.V.E. to 2022 midterm plan, under which it plans to launch growing numbers of electrified vehicles, expand and evolve autonomous driving systems, and accelerate vehicle connectivity.

The company also intends to develop eight new pure electric vehicles, building on the success of the new Nissan LEAF; launch an electric car offensive in China under different brands; and introduce an electric “kei” mini-vehicle in Japan.

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BMW opens autonomous driving campus in Germany

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The BMW Group has opened its autonomous driving campus in Unterschleißheim, near Munich, Germany.

The campus is a state-of-the-art centre of excellence, which offers 23,000 square metres of office space with room for 1,800 employees.

The BMW Group is intending to drive forward development of highly automated vehicles with the new campus and is looking to recruit IT specialists and software developers in the areas of artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analysis. [Read more…] about BMW opens autonomous driving campus in Germany

Robotics-as-a-Service to reach $34 billion by 2026

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New research suggests ‘Robotics-as-a-Service’ (RaaS), where robotics providers rent or lease their products with solutions to customers as a full service, will be the next stage of market development.

ABI Research estimates that the installed base for RaaS will grow from 4,442 units in 2016 to 1.3 million in 2026. The yearly revenue from RaaS providers is expected to increase from US$217 million in 2016 to nearly US$34 billion in 2026.

“This will make the yearly revenue of RaaS providers (including all payments for services) greater than the shipment revenues for industrial robots, which currently accounts for the lion’s share of the robotics industry in terms of revenue,” explained Rian Whitton, Research Analyst at ABI Research.

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