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Electric vehicle market defies coronavirus threat

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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

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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

Automation and digitalization ‘competitive edge in volatile market’, says Siemens

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Automation and digitalization “offer a significant competitive edge in a volatile market environment”, according to Siemens.

Europe’s largest engineering company says the current situation creates major challenges for industrial companies worldwide – and shows that digitalized and highly automated production is more important than ever when it comes to gaining a competitive edge.

This is the only way that companies can react to current and future challenges with the required degree of flexibility, says Siemens. [Read more…] about Automation and digitalization ‘competitive edge in volatile market’, says Siemens

Spending on chip manufacturing equipment to reach record high of $70 billion in 2021

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Global sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment by original equipment manufacturers are projected to increase six percent to $63.2 billion in 2020, compared to $59.6 billion in 2019, before logging record high revenue of $70 billion in 2021 on the strength of double-digit growth, according to industry association SEMI.

The group revealed the figures is its Mid-Year Total Semiconductor Equipment Forecast – OEM Perspective at the annual SEMICON West exposition.

Growth across a number of semiconductor segments is expected to power the expansion. The wafer fab equipment segment – which includes wafer processing, fab facilities, and mask/reticle equipment – is expected to rise five percent in 2020 followed by 13 percent growth in 2021 driven by a memory spending recovery and investments in leading-edge and China. [Read more…] about Spending on chip manufacturing equipment to reach record high of $70 billion in 2021

ifm and CloudRail agree strategic partnership to provide IIoT solutions

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Sensor and automation specialist ifm and the IIoT expert CloudRail have agreed a strategic partnership to pool their skills to improve their positions on the strongly growing market for professional IIoT and cloud solutions. (See video below.)

Industry 4.0, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) or digitisation – there are many terms to describe the inexorable trend of networking machines, processes and people. What they all have in common is that they refer to interdisciplinary processes.

Felix Kollmar, CEO of CloudRail, says: “The IIoT has long ago ceased to be an exclusive topic of operation technology (OT).” [Read more…] about ifm and CloudRail agree strategic partnership to provide IIoT solutions

Spacetime Labs and Small Robot Company to develop swarm robotics for agri-business in Latin America

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SpaceTime Labs and Small Robot Company are partnering to co-develop swarms of fourth generation autonomous aerial and terrestrial robots to “transform” Latin American agriculture with “per plant farming solutions”.

The strategic partnership will focus on co-developing an on the ground, end-to-end “per plant” planting, weeds, pests and disease management and nutrition management “farming as a service” value propositions delivered through an integrated delivery “sense-predict-act” value chain for all key commercial crops in Latin America.

The companies will work with leading Brazilian and Argentinian farmers to prototype, test and scale Per Plant Farming – maximising yields whilst reducing the impact on the environment. [Read more…] about Spacetime Labs and Small Robot Company to develop swarm robotics for agri-business in Latin America

Top 20 programmable logic controller manufacturers

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Sometimes described as “the workhorse of industrial automation”, a programmable logic controller, or PLC, is a computing device that is specially designed for use in an industrial operation.

A PLC can take many shapes and sizes, but in most instances it does not look like a conventional desktop computer like the ones you find in offices or in homes – a PLC has no display screen, no hard drive, and no keyboard.

PLCs started out in the automotive manufacturing trade, although they can now be found in almost all sectors, where they tend to replace relays.

Relays are devices that essentially turn machines on and off, and are said to be time-consuming and complex to use compared to PLCs. Relays also require more operational downtime when they need to be reconfigured. PLCs are estimated by one research company to reduce downtime from 20 percent to about 4 percent. [Read more…] about Top 20 programmable logic controller manufacturers

Industrial Automation Market: Rapid Advances Result in ‘Countless Applications’

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The rapid advances in technology since the turn of the 21st century, have yielded countless applications; especially in the industrial and manufacturing sector.

Industrial automation involves the use of control systems such as computers or automated systems such as robots to simplify different processes in an industrial manufacturing sector.

In earlier days, the purpose of automation was improving the overall productivity, be it manufacturing of labor management. [Read more…] about Industrial Automation Market: Rapid Advances Result in ‘Countless Applications’

Robotic lawn mowers market to grow to $1.3 billion this year

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The global market for robotic lawn mowers is expected to reach $1.3 billion in 2020, growing at an annual rate of more than 12 percent during the period 2019-2025.

The is according to a study by Research and Markets called Insights on the Robotic Lawn Mowers Global Market to 2025.

The year-on-year growth of robotic lawnmowers will be in the double-digit due to the high demand from Europe, North America, and APAC, coupled with the rise in awareness of these devices in developing countries. [Read more…] about Robotic lawn mowers market to grow to $1.3 billion this year

Cloud robotics market predicted to grow to $157.8 billion by 2030

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The global market for cloud robotics is predicted to grow to $157.8 billion by 2030, according to ABI Research.

The analyst says cloud computing will be the “great enabler of mobile robotics”, and a massive, multibillion-dollar service opportunity over the next next 10 years.

Though only in its nascent stages, the value of cloud infrastructure to robots is key for both application, encompassing development, configuration, and installation; and operation, which includes maintenance, analytics, and control. [Read more…] about Cloud robotics market predicted to grow to $157.8 billion by 2030