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Bionik launches new InMotion Arm for stroke survivors

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Bionik Laboratories Corp. has launched its improved InMotion Arm interactive robotic system for clinical rehabilitation of stroke survivors and those with mobility impairments due to neurological conditions.

The new generation InMotion Arm will provide the same active-assisted robotic therapy, but with a new industrial design that is modern, smaller and sleeker, says the company. The software interface has been redesigned to allow greater ease of use and therefore reduced training requirements for clinical staff.

“The overall design is very different from before and allows us to be more user friendly for the hospital staff and the patient. It’s now a much more modern, smaller, sleeker robot which is important because hospital space is not large,” said Michal Prywata, co-founder, chief technology officer and director of Bionik Laboratories.

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New Bosch business unit pools software and service expertise

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Industrial giant Bosch is extending its industrial internet software portfolio to complement its digital manufacturing offer, and now has 500 associates in Germany, Hungary and China.

Digitalization and connectivity are transforming manufacturing at breakneck speed. The greatest potential in the long term is not only in hardware or device connectivity, but also smart software – the essential enabler of internet of things applications.

As a result, Bosch has made structural changes to increase its software business: at the beginning of January 2018, a new operating unit, Bosch Connected Industry, began operations with 500 associates in Germany, Hungary, and China.

Bosch is pooling all its Industry 4.0 activities in this new unit, including the fields of software and services. “We want to make the most of the potential inherent in connected industry, which means we need to assemble the best possible team,” says Bosch board of management member Dr. Stefan Hartung, whose responsibilities include manufacturing coordinating and, in turn, Industry 4.0.

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Siemens extends digital industrial network

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Siemens has set up 20 centers for digital customer applications in the industrial sector. Each of these MindSphere Application Centers for digital offerings from Siemens spans multiple locations in different countries and specializes in a particular industry in which Siemens is active.

Today, around 900 software developers, data specialists and engineers are already working together with Siemens customers at these centers to develop digital innovations for data analysis and machine learning.

These new solutions are being developed on MindSphere, Siemens’ open, cloud-based operating system for the Internet of Things (IoT). To be close to its customers, the company has distributed its 20 centers across around 50 locations in 17 countries worldwide.

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Robotiq discontinues sales of the FT 150 Force Torque Sensor

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Robotiq’s new FT 300 Force Torque Sensor is now able to perform the applications done by the FT 150 Force Torque Sensor. Considering this, Robotiq has discontinued sales of the FT 150 Force Torque Sensor.

The latest updates on the Robotiq FT 300 Force Torque Sensor hardware and URCap enabled this product to perform highly repeatable precision force control tasks such as finishing, product testing, assembly and precise part insertion.

Notwithstanding discontinuation, Robotiq’s standard terms and conditions, including the twelve-month warranty and end-of-life product support, will continue to apply to all FT 150 units sold.

Chinese more trusting of autonomous cars, says survey

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A survey conducted among more than 1,000 licensed drivers aged 18 years and above each in China, Germany, and the United States reveals that trust in technology of completely autonomous cars is nearly twice as high in China as the other two countries.

TUV Rheinland, an international testing service provider for quality and safety, carried out the global survey designed to assess consumer perception of safety of autonomous vehicles in different regions.

More than 63 percent of respondents in China believe driverless cars will increase road safety, while the figure is 34 percent in the United States and Germany.

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Extra sensitivity for robotic force sensor

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The Robotiq FT 300 multi-axis torque force sensor, designed specifically for operation with Universal Robots, has had its sensitivity increased tenfold, says UK supplier Raruk Automation.

With plug-and-play integration on all models of Universal Robots, the Robotiq FT 300 performs highly repeatable, precision force control tasks such as finishing, product testing, assembly and precise part insertion. It has a measuring range of ±300N.

Raruk Automation offers the complete range of Robotiq off-the-shelf 2-finger, 3-finger and dual grippers and 6-axis torque force sensor.

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Hollar deploys inVia Robotics mobile robots for warehouse operations

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Hollar has deployed inVia Robotics Picker robots and cloud-based Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) management system to streamline e-commerce fulfillment in its Los Angeles warehouse.

Hollar needed a cost-effective, collaborative mobile robotics platform to automate the goods-to-person fulfillment process. It will initially deploy 100 inVia Picker robots and scale as needed to address seasonal shopping and company growth.

The inVia Picker works collaboratively alongside Hollar’s human operators to pick and move items, automating the storage and retrieval process and minimizing operator risk exposure.

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Cobots halt slide to overseas manufacturing

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The long-standing industrial practice of outsourcing manufacturing operations to low-cost parts of the world to keep manufacturing costs down has recently taken a turn.

A report from Boston Consulting Group has shown that ‘the share of executives saying that their companies are actively reshoring production increased by 9% since 2014 and by about 250% since 2012. This suggests that companies that were considering reshoring in the past three years are now taking action.’

With rapidly rising labour costs in traditional low-cost countries such as China, manufacturers are now experiencing that the financial advantages of manufacturing overseas are being seriously eroded.

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Honeywell introduces industrial training simulator

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Honeywell has launched a cloud-based simulation tool that uses a combination of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to train plant personnel on critical industrial work activities.

With as much as 50 percent of industrial plant personnel due to retire within the next five years, the Honeywell Connected Plant Skills Insight Immersive Competency is designed to bring new industrial workers up to speed quickly by enhancing training and delivering it in new and contemporary ways.

The training solution combines mixed reality with data analytics and the company’s 25 years of experience in worker competency management to create an interactive environment for on-the-job training.

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Cimtec to repair Epson Robots in south-east US

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Cimtec Automation LLC is now an official Epson Robots certified repair center. The partnership will extend beyond the current scope of selling new Epson Robots and automation products to include maintenance and repair of the broad installed base of legacy systems throughout the Southeastern US.

The original agreement, in 2015, included distribution of all of Epson Robots’ automation products, including the large lineup of SCARA, 6-Axis and Linear Module robots as well as Vision Guidance, Force Guidance and many other industrial automation products.

Cimtec has helped Epson Robots grow new robot-based automation solutions throughout North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

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