Where Innovation Meets Imagination
Omron Adept has launched what it says is an artificial intelligence-equipped mobile robot.
The new vehicle was developed for indoor use by the company’s US subsidiary, Omron Adept Technologies.
Omron says it will release two variations of the Mobile Robot LD Platform in 33 countries simultaneously on January 20, 2017, as a “step toward realizing harmony between humans and machines in the field of manufacturing”. [Read more…] about Omron launches ‘AI-equipped’ mobile robot for logistics
Not so long ago, computers were almost always in a business location – an accountant’s office, or something like that. But gradually, partly thanks to Apple iMac, the machines started making their way into homes in large numbers.
But there are still categories of computers which don’t really belong in the home, or at least weren’t designed for domestic bliss. If you can comfortably fit a supercomputer or a mainframe into your house, that’s probably enough domestic bliss for you anyway.
For most of us, desktop computers – or increasingly laptop computers – are just about all the space we can share, and the largest manufacturers of such poor-man’s systems were recently listed by Gartner.
Worldwide computer shipments in second quarter of 2016
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Source: Gartner
[Read more…] about Manufacturing: A different type of industrial cloud
More and more companies in the textiles, clothing and footwear business are turning to advanced manufacturing technologies – robotic sewing machines and connected systems – to reduce the number of humans in their factories, along with the financial and social costs of employing them.
One of the largest apparel manufacturers in India, Raymond, which employs 30,000 human workers, says it plans to replace 10,000 of them with robots over the next three years. [Read more…] about Sewbots prepare to take millions of jobs off humans in clothes manufacturing sector
By Thomas R. Cutler
Robot-to-person solutions are on a rapid trajectory for 2017 and beyond. Yet discrete manufacturing organizations which initiate material replenishment automation programs without properly analyzing processes and priorities for internal and external stakeholders, find far less value than anticipated.
Manufacturers are unsure about current replenishment capabilities within ERP (enterprise resource planning) and other systems, and are even less clear whether to fix, buy, or build a solution to gain the capabilities needed.
Too often disruptions in leadership and a change-averse environment can create barriers to improved production flow and automating processes.
The manufacturing sector is well-served when considering whether a replenishment solution can enhance flow and enable continuous improvements; often best practice robotic solutions follow. [Read more…] about Automation fails without aligning materials support function with demand, says Synchrono
One of the world’s leading robotics and automation systems manufacturers, Omron, says it will introduce a total of 15,583 models in seven categories in its second wave of factory automation control devices built on a common design platform for unified product specifications.
Omron says it has been continuing to work for the innovation of making control panels which house and control factory automation devices on the production front line.
The company unified the design and size of factory automation devices, and introduced products in April 2016 which are built with the company’s proprietary wiring technology “Push-In Plus Terminal Block” for device and control panel makers in need of “downsizing and space-saving” of factory automation devices and control panels, “expedited delivery”, and “response to globalization”. [Read more…] about Omron to showcase 16,000 factory automation products
Towards the end of last year, the nominally communist Chinese government announced that it wants China to become the world’s largest producer of industrial robots.
In comments made in the past few months, China’s President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have clearly stated their intention to embrace robots and the new industrial revolution brought about by internet connectivity and artificial intelligence.
In a speech to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jinping called for a “robot revolution”, saying: “Our country will be the biggest market for robots, but can our technology and manufacturing capacity cope with the competition? Not only do we need to upgrade our robots, we also need to capture markets in many places.”
And speaking at the China Association for Science and Technology conference in Beijing, Keqiang said the conference will “spur the the growth of the emerging robot industry and create the world’s largest robot market”. [Read more…] about Chinese whispers: The most populous nation on Earth wants to replace millions of human workers with industrial robots it plans to manufacture
42Q, a provider of cloud manufacturing execution systems (MES), has introduced Semiconductor Equipment Communications Standard, Generic Equipment Model (SECS/GEM) protocol capability.
SECS/GEM is an industry standard factory equipment interface protocol for equipment-to-host data communications.
In securing SECS/GEM capability, 42Q says it greatly simplifies the implementation of factory automation, machine to machine (M2M) communication, real time in process data collection and data analytics, all key elements of Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
Several factories using 42Q have already deployed this new protocol in their operations, sasy the company. [Read more…] about Industrial internet: 42Q launches new protocol capability for factory automation
Engineers at the University of California San Diego have been given $1 million to research how to improve the way robots interact with people in US factories
Laurel Riek, a roboticist at the UC San Diego, will lead a three-year, $1 million project funded by the National Science Foundation to help change the role of robots in factories and make it easier for machines to work alongside people.
The goal of the project is to design an intelligent material delivery system, which supports and closely integrates with skilled workers in factories.
The researchers will investigate innovative, multi-disciplinary approaches to dramatically advance the state of the art in smart manufacturing and human-centered robotics. [Read more…] about University receives $1 million grant to improve collaborative robotics
Sewbo says its development is a major breakthrough in clothing manufacturing
A startup company in America is claiming to have developed a robotic system which can make complete garments.
The simple combination of a robot and a sewing machine has resulted in what the owner, Jonathan Zornow, says is “the world’s first robotically-sewn garment”.
Zornow says: “Many people are surprised to learn that this is the very first time that a robot has sewn a piece of clothing.
“Despite decades and millions of dollars worth of industrial research, the big hurdle has been that robots can’t reliably handle fabrics.” [Read more…] about Startup claims launch of ‘world’s first robot to sew complete garment’
Tag Team Manufacturing, a specialist in precision production runs and prototype work for original equipment manufacturers, says deploying Rethink Robotics’ Sawyer for large production jobs at its facility in Parker, Colorado, has led to significant improvements in its productivity.
Tag Team uses Sawyer in an effort to help decrease client costs while shortening the delivery times to market. Sawyer enabled Tag Team to work 24 hours per day, seven days per week to meet the condensed delivery window that otherwise would have required an addition of five machinists in a very tight labor market.
Within weeks of deployment, Sawyer bolstered Tag Team’s production figures by 25 percent, says the company. Sawyer operates a Tag Team computer numerical control (CNC) mill, constantly executing replicable tasks. [Read more…] about Tag Team Manufacturing says using Rethink Robotics machines has improved performance by 25 per cent
