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Fanuc launches new 1,000 kg payload industrial robotic arm

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Fanuc America, the world’s largest maker of industrial robots, has introduced the new M-1000iA robot capable of handling very heavy products including automotive components, construction materials and battery packs for electric vehicles.

The M-1000iA’s serial-link construction gives the robot a wider range of motion in every direction. It can extend its arm upright or rotate it backwards, which is not possible for typical heavy-payload robots with a parallel-link mechanism.

With a 1,000 kg payload, a 3,253 mm horizontal reach, and a 4,297 mm vertical reach the M-1000iA is ready to go to work for manufacturers looking to increase output and maximize their production line’s efficiency. [Read more…] about Fanuc launches new 1,000 kg payload industrial robotic arm

New Honeywell warehouse automation technology allows sites to maximize storage and increase order fulfillment

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Honeywell has launched its latest solution in intelligent automated handling designed to help warehouses, distribution centers and manufacturing sites receive, process and fill orders faster and more accurately while potentially reducing storage footprint.

Honeywell’s next-generation Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS) leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to allow warehouse and distribution center operators to better keep up with unprecedented ecommerce growth.

Ben Cardwell, president of Honeywell Intelligrated, says: “The rapidly evolving retail market is pushing distribution centers to find and use innovative, flexible and automated approaches to e-commerce order fulfillment. Growing inventories, the rising cost of land and other pressures are pushing operations to make the most efficient use of available space. [Read more…] about New Honeywell warehouse automation technology allows sites to maximize storage and increase order fulfillment

Air taxi winners: Watch orders not investment, says IDTechEx

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Air taxi operators are unfazed by the 200 or so organizations designing vertical take-off electric aircraft. The IDTechEx report with the big picture is, Manned Electric Aircraft: Smart City and Regional 2021-2041.

Air taxi operators have placed large orders with a company that models itself on Tesla, entirely making born-electric, conventional take-off, fixed-wing aircraft.

Using extreme lightweighting, efficiency, and aerodynamics, Bye Aerospace has over $250 million of orders for two and four-seaters from air taxi operators and flying schools. It spent only $24 million to have certifiable demonstrators aloft.

Bye is so inundated with orders it has just doubled its prices because the aircraft still cost far less per mile than the polluting traditional equivalents. In the US, 11,000 of those are approaching 50 years old and illegality. Bye deliveries start from 2022. [Read more…] about Air taxi winners: Watch orders not investment, says IDTechEx

Upward Farms launches first organic vertical farm in the US Northeast

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Upward Farms, an aquaponics vertical farming company, has opened its new headquarters in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York.

The innovative new facility – which is Upward Farms’ first – utilizes the company’s next generation technology in both commercial production and research and development.

The operation, powered by breakthrough end-to-end automation, is USDA Certified Organic, making Upward Farms the first and only Certified Organic vertical farm in the Northeast region. [Read more…] about Upward Farms launches first organic vertical farm in the US Northeast

Swisslog brings supply chain automation to vertical farming

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Swisslog, a provider of warehouse automation systems, is making a push into the vertical farming market and has demonstrated newly built technologies specifically designed for the sector. 

The company says its automation systems can bring scalability, flexibility and lower costs to vertical farming, allowing them to be installed and maintained in a wide range of pre-existing and purpose-built spaces.

These systems help broaden the applicability of growing crops and bring food production closer to consumers in densely populated urban areas. [Read more…] about Swisslog brings supply chain automation to vertical farming

GreyOrange and Vicarious launch autonomous vertical pick-and-pack solution for apparel

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GreyOrange, a provider of AI-enabled software and robotics for fulfillment automation, is partnering with Vicarious, an AI robotic integrator that automates tasks too versatile and complex to be handled by traditional, hard-coded automation systems.

Together Vicarious and GreyOrange have launched what they say is “the industry’s first and only autonomous vertical picking solution for automated pick-n-pack operations in omnichannel fulfillment”.

Autonomous Vertical Picking from Vicarious interfaces smoothly into a global workflow orchestrated by GreyOrange’s GreyMatter Fulfillment Operating System (FOS), which uses advanced science to continuously evaluate order fulfillment performance and prioritize decisions and workflows. [Read more…] about GreyOrange and Vicarious launch autonomous vertical pick-and-pack solution for apparel

Investment in agricultural automation increases as farmers look to offset labor shortages

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Total investment in agricultural robot startups has increased significantly as farmers look to offset labor shortages partly caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report on the Financial Times website.

Citing data collated by DealRoom.co, the news website says investment in vertical and indoor farming startups has grown by more than 40 percent this year compared with last year.

Indoor farming is basically the process of growing inside large buildings, some of which are like greenhouses and use natural light coming through transparent roofs, while others use artificial lights if their roofs are opaque. [Read more…] about Investment in agricultural automation increases as farmers look to offset labor shortages

New AppHarvest funding round brings total to $150 million

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Indoor farming startup AppHarvest has raised $28 million in its latest funding round, bringing the total to $150 million.

As Bloomberg reports, AppHarvest is building “the world’s largest greenhouse” in Morehead, Kentucky in the US.

AppHarvest uses similar indoor farming techniques to those used by so-called “vertical farming” companies in that it can irrigate its crops using 90 percent less water than traditional farming techniques. [Read more…] about New AppHarvest funding round brings total to $150 million

Samsung rolls out new spherical robot at CES

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Samsung has made a keynote presentation at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show which featured a number of robotic developments.

Samsung Consumer Electronics President and CEO, H.S. Kim, unveiled the company’s vision of robots as “life companions”, and introduced Ballie, a small, rolling robot that “understands you, supports you, and reacts to your needs to be actively helpful around the house”, according to Samsung.

Sebastian Seung, executive vice president and chief research scientist at Samsung Electronics elaborated on Ballie, explaining that its on-device artificial intelligence capabilities enable it to be a fitness assistant and a mobile interface that seeks solutions for people’s changing needs. [Read more…] about Samsung rolls out new spherical robot at CES

Yamaha looking to invest in vertical farming companies

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Yamaha’s agricultural technology investments leader says he is observing the vertical farming market with a view to backing startups in the sector. (See video below.)

In a wide-ranging interview with Robotics and Automation News, Nolan Paul, partner, global agricultural technology lead at Yamaha Motor Ventures & Laboratory Silicon Valley, says he finds vertical farming

“Vertical farming is one of those technologies which has the ability to transform the way food is grown and consumed,” says Paul. [Read more…] about Yamaha looking to invest in vertical farming companies