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Yaskawa Motoman expands painting robot line with two new models

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Two high-speed, six-axis MPX1150 and MPX2600 robots have been added to Yaskawa Motoman’s paint robot line. These models create smooth, consistent finishes for a variety of painting and dispensing applications, says the company.

The compact MPX1150 robot has a straight wrist with 5 kg payload capacity and is designed for painting smaller components. It is suited for mounting a variety of spray guns and small bells.

Its small footprint and slim arm design allow for minimum installation space. An optional location (right, left or bottom) for manipulator cable connection reduces interference with walls.

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Haier partners with SoftBank Robotics to develop service robots

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Haier and Soft Bank Robotics Group Corp. (SBRG) have launched a strategic partnership for the service robot market in China’s smart store and smart home fields, starting with SBRG’s humanoid robot ‘Pepper’.

The two companies will jointly develop a special version of Pepper, which is based on U+OS, an open system developed by Haier.

‘Pepper’, SBRG’s humanoid robot, is the first robot to be integrated into Haier smart home platform. Possessing a human-like appearance, it can be linked with a variety of smart appliances and equipment.

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Swiss students through to finals of Elon Musk’s Hyperloop competition

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ETH Zurich students are through to the next round of US entrepreneur Elon Musk’s SpaceX Hyperloop competition in Summer 2018 with their ‘Swissloop’ concept, against thousands of other teams.

Hyperloop is about moving pods through a vacuumed-sealed tube, transferring the tubular mail idea to passenger transport as a precursor to fast travel, and the competition is to design the best system.

The Hyperloop concept is based on vacuum technology: the vacuum tunnel massively reduces air resistance and thus enables smooth driving at speeds of up to 1,000 kilometers per hour.

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Revenue rockets up 72 per cent for Universal Robots

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Increased demand for its collaborative robot arms has propelled Universal Robots to revenue of $170 million in 2017 – a 72 per cent increase over 2016 performance.

Universal Robots’ annual result, which surpassed the $166 million 2017 goal set in 2013, was partly due to the company’s fourth-quarter returns of $54 million, which is a 61 per cent improvement from the same period a year ago and the best quarter ever at the company. The operating profit more than doubled from 9 per cent in 2016 to 19 per cent in 2017.

“We credit our 72 per cent year-over-year revenue gain to a continuing awareness of the economic advantages of our market-leading collaborative robots for a larger range of applications along with the continued commitment of our Universal Robots employees and partners to be the cobot technology of choice,” said Jürgen von Hollen, president of Universal Robots.

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New port technology conference debuts at CeMAT

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Digital processes for ports will be the main theme at the new CeMAT Port Technology Conference making its debut on 25 April as part of CeMAT 2018 in Germany.

Experts from industrial and transport enterprises estimate that 40 to 50% of total transport costs originate in ports.

This share of the overall cost of transport chains translates into enormous savings potential for inland and sea transport carriers – provided they are capable of implementing consistent digitization strategies when moving goods.

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New study: 42 per cent of US managers think automation will kill jobs

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Nearly half (42 percent) of U.S. managers say that automation and robotics will lead to a net loss of jobs in their respective industries, compared with just 18 percent who say that automation will help to create jobs, according to a new study from MindEdge Learning.

Managers at companies that have already adopted robotics and automation, a clear majority (52 percent) expect that automation will lead to job losses.

Of managers at firms that have not yet adopted robots and automation, only 15 percent say their employees are concerned about their job prospects over the next five years.

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Atlas Copco to acquire joining technology firm for automotive industry

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Atlas Copco is to acquire the assets of Klingel Joining Technologies, which specializes in flow drill technology, a joining method used in the automotive industry.

Klingel Joining Technologies is based near Munich in Germany and is one of three business units of Klingel GmbH. The business had revenues of approximately 8.5m euro in 2017 and 23 employees will join Atlas Copco.

Flow drill technology is a mechanical joining method used for aluminum and mixed material applications.

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Comau signs up new distributor in Malaysia

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Comau Robotics & Automation Products has a new distributor in Malaysia, DNC Automation. With headquarters in Puchong, Selangor Malaysia, DNC has over 20 years of industry automation experience and more than 2.000 customers.

The professional distribution and industrial engineering company provides a one-stop solution combining industrial automation, mechanical design, quality and cost-effective solutions with value-added services to its customers, says Comau.

DNC is also the distributor of Siemens, and other professional automation suppliers, as well as a partner of other manufacturers. DNC will focus on general industry, and industries in supporting applications such as palletizing, machine tending, assembling, welding, etc. in its region.

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Komatsu reaches 10-year milestone in autonomous haulage

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Komatsu is celebrating the tenth anniversary of the commercial deployment of its Autonomous Haulage System (AHS).

More than 100 AHS trucks operate in Australia, North and South America and Komatsu plans to accelerate the pace of AHS deployment.

In 2005, Komatsu began the AHS trial at Codelco’s copper mine in Chile and succeeded in achieving the world’s first commercial AHS deployment with Codelco in January 2008.

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Toshiba launches new robot in Chinese market

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Toshiba Machine Co., Ltd.  has launched sales of its new THE400, a THL series SCARA robot, for the Chinese market.

The THE400 model is a high-rigidity SCARA robot which is said to feature the high responsiveness and high tracking accuracy needed in 3C (Computers, Consumer Electronics, and Communication) industries.

The THE400 model uses an all-new mechanical system design and control functions to provide accurate movement tracking combined with high-speed operation and high payload capacity, says the company. The cycle time reaches 0.3 sec (for 2 kg payload) for enabling operations, which is 19% faster than the previous model.

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