Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

cars

Mitsubishi Motors considering building first factory in Myanmar

by

Mitsubishi Motors is considering building its first factory in the formerly communist and closed state of Myanmar, according to a report on the Nikkei Asian Review website.

Mitsubishi, one of Japan’s top 10 automotive companies, builds more than a million cars a year at more than a dozen plants and supply centres, and also has five research and development facilities.

The Asian countries in which Mitsubishi currently has manufacturing facilities include the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and China. [Read more…] about Mitsubishi Motors considering building first factory in Myanmar

Oil-producing nations struggling with economic woes as society shifts towards electric movement

by

Oil-producing nations located in the Middle East and North Africa are struggling with their economies, most of which are not diversified enough to offset the losses caused by falls in the price of crude.

A quick check shows that the current price of a barrel of crude oil – which is about 160 litres – is just above $40, which is significantly lower than certainly Arab countries need it to be.

According to the Economist, Algeria needs the price to be about $157 a barrel, while Oman wants to get to at least $87. [Read more…] about Oil-producing nations struggling with economic woes as society shifts towards electric movement

Electric vehicle market defies coronavirus threat

by

The electric vehicle market has apparently defied the coronavirus threat to rack up record sales for automakers all over the world.

From European companies Renault and BMW to Asian companies such as Hyundai and Toyota, and even US companies such as General Motors – deep in the midst of the the coronavirus crisis – have reported, and are projecting, strong sales and interest in electric and other “new energy” vehicles, as they are called.

Toyota, arguably the world’s largest automotive company, recently reported that it had sold a staggering 15 million hybrid electric vehicles worldwide. [Read more…] about Electric vehicle market defies coronavirus threat

The EV market continues to grow at an electrifying rate

by

It wasn’t all that long ago that we thought Doc Brown powering his DeLorean with banana peels and apple cores was the stuff of science fiction.

And while we haven’t quite gone the way of biofuel, the best electric cars on the market today show that the future is a lot closer than we thought.

We have already moved away from simple hybridization towards vehicles that run on electrons alone, but plug-and-play cars are just a stepping stone on the way to the future. [Read more…] about The EV market continues to grow at an electrifying rate

How Smartphones Can Impact Autonomous Vehicles

by

With the recent advancements in technology, the world is expecting more impressive breakthroughs in the future.

Even though some of the major tech companies around the world have been experimenting with driverless technology, and a couple have also released vehicles that offer users the feature, it still needs more improvements.

The changes in traffic can lead to much safer and more organized roads, as the steering wheels will be replaced with technology. [Read more…] about How Smartphones Can Impact Autonomous Vehicles

Autonomous cars and intelligent road systems improve road safety

by

Last year, there was a 2 percent reduction in the number of road fatalities in the US. One of the reasons for this drop is the increasing use of automated driver assistance systems now fitted into most new vehicles.

By minimizing the effects of human error, these additions can help to reduce the number of crashes, and the development of fully self-driving cars could improve safety even more.

As the adoption of autonomous vehicles spreads, roads could be made even safer and more efficient with intelligent infrastructure and traffic management systems, such as smart traffic signals, and even robot traffic controllers. [Read more…] about Autonomous cars and intelligent road systems improve road safety

6 Ways Autonomous Vehicles Will Impact Life As We Know It

by

In 2015, Google, under Alphabet Inc, produced the first autonomous (self-driving) car, and today we have more than 19 autonomous parts manufacturers in the world. In the US, automated vehicles have already started roaming the streets and integrated with self-driven cars.

Based on that, researchers have moved from wondering if these cars should exist to observe how they potentially impact cities and their residents if all vehicles become autonomous. Additionally, it’s been estimated that by 2035, 10 percent of road vehicles will be autonomous, and by 2050, that number will increase significantly to over 50 percent. This will, no doubt, impact life as we know it.

In this article, we will further examine the ways autonomous vehicles will impact our lives, from little things all the way to the big ones. [Read more…] about 6 Ways Autonomous Vehicles Will Impact Life As We Know It

AMS launches new position sensors for high-speed electric motors to ‘improve car industry’s electrification efforts’

by

AMS, a supplier of high performance sensor solutions, has introduced new position sensors that it says lower system cost and enhance electrification of safety-critical vehicle functions such as power steering, active damper control, and braking for safer, smarter, and greener cars.

The two new position sensors – the ams AS5147U and the AS5247U – bring new benefits and a lower system cost to the automotive industry, says ams.

The ams AS5147U is an intelligent magnetic rotary position sensor chip for use in electric motors that run at speeds up to 28,000 rpm. [Read more…] about AMS launches new position sensors for high-speed electric motors to ‘improve car industry’s electrification efforts’

Tech giants and driverless cars: Racing against the automakers

by

Modern tech conglomerate Amazon – whose interests range from online shopping, through computing devices such as the Kindle and Amazon Echo, to cloud computing and even space exploration – is in advanced talks to acquire self-driving startup Zoox, according to a report on the Financial Times website. 

It’s not the first time Amazon has shown interest in the automotive sector. The company was the lead investor in Aurora Innovation’s $530 million funding round last year.

Aurora is seen as a rival to Waymo, the driverless car company set up by Google, another tech giant. [Read more…] about Tech giants and driverless cars: Racing against the automakers

Math experts use drones to show it’s possible to ‘see’ perfectly using sound

by

The discovery’s potential applications include self-driving cars, smartphones that can guide the visually impaired and drones that can help firefighters at night

As the industry for self-driving cars, robots and other unmanned vehicles quickly evolves – and engineers work to overcome the limitations of sensors that use visual, infrared or thermal information – math experts at Purdue University and the Technical University of Munich have proven there’s another, equally viable solution: using sound. 

Mireille “Mimi” Boutin, associate professor of mathematics at Purdue University, and Gregor Kemper, professor of algorithmic algebra at Technical University, found that a drone equipped with four microphones and a loudspeaker can precisely reconstruct the wall configuration of a room by listening to echoes, similar to how bats use echolocation to orient themselves.

Their work is significant because it demonstrates the feasibility of using sound for navigation in unmanned systems, leading to many potential applications such as cars, drones, underwater vehicles or even devices that people can carry, such as a smartphone.  [Read more…] about Math experts use drones to show it’s possible to ‘see’ perfectly using sound