Where Innovation Meets Imagination
In a significant shift in US trade policy, President Donald Trump has declared a 90-day suspension of elevated tariffs on most countries, while concurrently intensifying tariffs on Chinese imports to 125 percent.
This move comes amid global economic uncertainty and mounting pressure from international allies, domestic lawmakers, and financial markets. [Read more…] about Trump pauses tariffs for 90 days for most nations, escalates duties on Chinese imports
President Donald Trump has rolled back some of his most aggressive trade measures by granting tariff exemptions for a range of consumer electronics, offering critical relief to companies such as Apple, Dell, and Nvidia.
In guidance issued late Friday, the US Customs and Border Protection agency confirmed that smartphones, laptops, computer chips, and other electronics would be excluded from the administration’s latest round of reciprocal tariffs targeting China.
The exemptions apply retroactively from April 5 and cover approximately 20 product categories. [Read more…] about Trump grants tariff exemptions for Apple and other tech firms
By Laurent Coussonnet, business development director, Linxens
The automotive industry is at a crossroads: between technological innovations and environmental challenges, it must reinvent its models for a sustainable future. But which regions, technologies, and policies will shape this global revolution?
Despite a 10 percent growth in 2023, global car sales are expected to slow to 2-3 percent in 2024, far from pre-pandemic levels.
Electric vehicles (EVs), the drivers of this transition, saw record growth of 32 percent in 2023, but rising interest rates and stricter credit conditions will weigh on the ability of households and businesses to finance capacities, postponing some vehicle purchases to 2025. [Read more…] about Automotive revolution: Innovation, industrial autonomy, and global challenges
Germany, often hailed as Europe’s economic powerhouse, is grappling with a significant downturn in its manufacturing sector. Once the cornerstone of its robust economy, manufacturing is now facing serious challenges that threaten the stability of the wider economy.
Germany is of particular interest to this website for obvious reasons. Apart from Japan, Germany has shown itself – or at least the manufacturing sector has shown itself – to be the most highly proficient at using robotics and automation technologies. That’s our opinion anyway.
And while China may have overloaded the world with manufactured products in every category you can imagine, German products still inspire confidence in people who appreciate precision, quality and originality. [Read more…] about What happened to Germany? Manufacturing giant crumbles before our eyes
Here at RoboticsAndAutomationNews.com, we often wonder about the relationship between a nation’s reported economic growth and its utilisation of robotics and automation systems. We have a hunch that the more automated machines a country integrates into its economy, the more growth it experiences. We can’t say we prove this hunch in this article, but we think most readers will agree that it is an important correlation that deserves some investigation.
Economic growth sounds like a concept that’s easy to understand, but we don’t think it’s as straightforward as it seems. Each nation and region has its own way of calculating what is called “economic growth”, and there are countless gears turning to drive nations’ economies forward.
Among these, automation – robotics being a sub-set of automation – has emerged as one of the most powerful engines for transforming many previously small economies into global payers. Over the past few decades, while being derided for using cheap labour to gain an advantage – which undoubtedly has happened, countries like China, Japan, and South Korea have surfed the automation wave to reach remarkable economic heights. [Read more…] about Opinion: Exploring the correlation between robotics utilisation and economic growth
Laser engraving technology helps make it easier for you to turn a drawing into a physical object in a short period of time.
In order to maximize the reproduction of your design and create a better physical object, you should start by making a qualified design original.
Traditionally, design originals are rendered on drawings, and in the digital age, digital artwork design helps us do this.
[Read more…] about How to design laser engraving workQ&A with Jason Hehman, Client Partner at TXI
Popularized by the bestselling book of the same name, written by three McKinsey analysts, “The Titanium Economy” refers to “a group of companies (that) could consistently outperform the market, create millions of high-quality American jobs and lead technological innovation while building a more sustainable future”.
Such companies already exist, say the authors. They are part of what they called “the Titanium Economy”, a cohort of industrial technology companies that are “redefining the future of US manufacturing”.
One company which could be described as being an integral part of the Titanium Economy is TXI, a digital product innovation firm composed of strategists, designers, and engineers. Below is a Q&A with one of those people. [Read more…] about TXI lends weight to America’s ‘Titanium Economy’
By 2027, the city of Helsingborg aims to become one of the world’s best cities to live and work in. Recently, the city received a grant from Sweden’s Innovation Agency, Vinnova, to test autonomous robots in garbage collection.
Traditionally, garbage collection has involved loud trucks blocking the streets and interrupting early mornings. In collaboration with Robot Minds AB and the regional waste management company Nordvästra Skånes Renhållnings AB (NSR), the City of Helsingborg aims to implement a project where service robots collect the garbage instead.
In mid-June, it was decided that the project would receive funding of SEK 2.8 million from Vinnova, Sweden’s innovation agency, through the strategic innovation program Drive Sweden. [Read more…] about Swedish city Helsingborg receives $258,000 grant to test robotic garbage collection
When it comes to the workplace, developments in automation mean that the future landscape of work is changing and, in turn, the roles that we undertake.
While many people fear that this contributes to a decrease in employment, many industries continue to grow and adapt despite automation.
In some instances this can improve work-life balance, allowing manual workers to work normal shifts and robots to work overnight or to remove the menial tasks from your role and retrain to complete tasks that cannot be automated. [Read more…] about 2023 Predictions & Forecasts: European countries expected to be worst affected by automation
Everyone believes that sustainable development should be a global priority, yet it can be challenging to incorporate this global concern into governmental policies.
Strategies for sustainable development are defined as growth that meets current demands without jeopardizing the capacity of future generations to content their own needs.
According to economists, strategies for sustainable development are an economic process that preserves and passes on to future generations the quality and quantity of our natural resource stocks and the integrity of biogeochemical cycles. [Read more…] about A Look at 3 Strategies for Sustainable Development
