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You could be seeing things that aren’t there: Google Glass finds new home in old industries

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About four years ago, when Google first showed off its Glass product – a pair of hi-tech spectacles capable of running augmented reality apps – it was met with some scepticism, incredulity even. 

Few people thought it would take off, as interesting as the idea was. Maybe people generally couldn’t see themselves walking around wearing glasses which could be seen as intrusive.

Theoretically, Google Glass could display images on pretty much everything and everyone you looked at while wearing them – and would people in your eyeline appreciate that?  [Read more…] about You could be seeing things that aren’t there: Google Glass finds new home in old industries

Kollmorgen and VH Vertical Packaging realise new potential with a separate labeler

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The art of reduction: the packaging machines from VH Vertical Packaging have a simple structure

By Jens Depping

A Dutch packaging machinery manufacturer has now developed a labeller as part of a retrofit with servo-drive technology based on 48 volts.

This is designed as an optional module for the company’s own vertical packaging machines on the one hand and as a functional enhancement for retrofitting older machines of well-known producers on the other.

The combination of the new 48 volt DC Servo Motor low voltage from Kollmorgen and a motion control solution from SigmaTek makes it possible for the labeling module to be integrated easily into new machines or for existing machinery to be retrofitted.  [Read more…] about Kollmorgen and VH Vertical Packaging realise new potential with a separate labeler

Dassault Systèmes boss talks about generative design and whether humans are necessary

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Nothing is as straightforward as it might first sound. So, for example, one might imagine that, by using generative design software, a designer could set parameters for the computer to produce a structure and then use a 3D printer to output that structure, whether that structure is a single molecule of steel or a larger, more complex structure, like a car body. Basically, you could get the computer to do almost all of the design work.

The technology is available to do those things. And any designer who’s produced countless iterations of one basic design would certainly appreciate such powerful software. But is it really as simple as that? Probably not.

If anyone would know the answer for sure, it would be Stephen Chadwick, managing director of Dassault Systèmes for the north European region, or EuroNorth, and he says it’s possible to remove humans from the design process completely.  [Read more…] about Dassault Systèmes boss talks about generative design and whether humans are necessary

North American robotics market growing and creating new types of work, says A3

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fanuc at hm 1

The fast-growing North American robotics and automation market is creating new kinds of jobs, according to the Association for Advancing Automation, or A3. 

The association says new technologies, such as collaborative robots and advanced vision systems are driving growth and diversity of employment in the sector.

Jeff Burnstein, who has a number of roles in the association including A3 president, says: “Automation technologies are fueling entirely new categories of jobs – really creating the jobs of the future – in addition to enabling companies to become more productive and create higher-quality products in safer environments.”  [Read more…] about North American robotics market growing and creating new types of work, says A3

Prefabricated construction using robots set to increase in next few years

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Prefabricated construction is where the individual components and parts of a building are manufactured in a factory and then transported to the building site and assembled together to form the final house or commercial building, or whatever it may be. 

This construction technique or methodology has been around for quite some time and its proponents have probably often wondered why it doesn’t become the main way dwellings and office blocks are built.

Its supporters say it reduces the costs of construction significantly and enables more accuracy and quality in the final building process.  [Read more…] about Prefabricated construction using robots set to increase in next few years

Genesis Robotics accelerates development of prototypes based on its ‘revolutionary’ LiveDrive actuator

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genesis robotics actuator

Well-funded startup Genesis Robotics has accelerated the development of a range of products based on its “ground-breaking” technology, which the company claims will transform the entire industry. 

All of the new products Genesis has developed are based on something it calls LiveDrive, an actuator system which uses a gear with no teeth, invented by the company itself.

Making a gear work without teeth sounds impossible – how does it move connected parts without teeth? Imagine a gear on a bicycle without teeth and you’ll get the picture.  [Read more…] about Genesis Robotics accelerates development of prototypes based on its ‘revolutionary’ LiveDrive actuator

World’s largest automotive companies and an intro to their autonomous and electric vehicle tech moves

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In the first of a series of articles about large industrial companies, we list 20 of the leading automakers in the world in order of their last reported annual revenue amount, and highlight some of their more interesting developments in autonomous technologies. 

Automakers are have long been the largest market for industrial robotics and automation systems, but also, more recently, the vehicles they produce have become more robotic.

The design and development of road vehicles are becoming increasingly an exercise in developing computing technology – both hardware and software. Add to that the growing importance of artificial intelligence to run the advanced driver assistance systems that many new cars already have. [Read more…] about World’s largest automotive companies and an intro to their autonomous and electric vehicle tech moves

Solar power revolution ‘unavoidable’ in Asia, says industry expert

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REC solar panel manufacturing plant in Singapore
A robot operates at a production line during a tour of an REC solar panel manufacturing plant in Singapore. Reuters / Edgar Su

By Henning Gloystein and Vera Eckert, Reuters

Investors are increasingly excited about the prospects for much faster growth in the solar power industry in Southeast Asia, which has until now been a backwater for renewable energy.

They say that the region is in a perfect position to benefit from rapidly declining prices in solar panels. It has strong economic growth, relatively high costs of electricity and a shortage from traditional sources, undeveloped infrastructure in more remote areas, plenty of sunshine, and backing for more renewable energy from many of Southeast Asia’s governments.

“Dramatically falling costs for solar energy technologies means businesses and governments are choosing renewable energy not for environmental reasons but for economic ones,” said Roberto De Vido, spokesman for Singapore-based Equis, one of Asia’s biggest green energy-focused investment firms with $2.7 billion in committed capital. “It simply makes good business sense. And that’s a trend that’s not going to change.”  [Read more…] about Solar power revolution ‘unavoidable’ in Asia, says industry expert

Uber’s autonomous truck journey off to a bumpy start

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By Heather Somerville and Julia Love, Reuters

Uber Technologies’ drive to become a major player in the trucking business is off to a bumpy start, with analysts and industry executives questioning what exactly the company can bring to the sprawling $700-billion industry.

The San Francisco ride-services giant had planned to disrupt freight hauling by offering a complete package of trucking technology including self-driving trucks and smartphone-based logistics services.

But what has emerged so far, industry watchers say, is a modest effort to build a brokerage service connecting truckers looking for loads to shippers with cargo to haul.  [Read more…] about Uber’s autonomous truck journey off to a bumpy start

China’s enthusiasm for robots and electric cars creating oversupply of clean technology

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China’s enthusiasm for new technology, combined with its paranoia about being left behind in a globally intensifying high-tech competition, sometimes leads it to create small bubbles in its economy which may or may not dissipate in the disciplined manner in which the markets they encompass may have emerged in the first place. 

Two years ago, the government of the world’s most populous nation of 1.4 billion people launched a 10-year national plan to “transform China from a manufacturing giant into a world manufacturing power”, in the words of XinhuaNet, the state propaganda outlet.  [Read more…] about China’s enthusiasm for robots and electric cars creating oversupply of clean technology