Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 7.05
…Waymo/Google/Alphabet, working out kinks in the technology. Lyft and General Motors are combining efforts. And of course, Tesla and its innovative CEO Elon Musk, the peripatetic Canadian-American business magnate, investor, engineer, and inventor are bullish. The U.S. chip-making giant Intel announced Monday that it had reached a deal to acquire an Israeli company called Mobileye for $15 billion. The combination is expected to accelerate innovation for the automotive and trucking industry and position Intel as a leading technology provider for highly and fully autonomous vehicles. So What’s Happening in Trucking? Last October, a unit of Uber called Otto successfully produced…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.97
…second,” he observed. “In die casting, forge pressing, and general product assembly, companies are now investing in North American facilities built around automation.” Robotics vendors have their own supply chain challenges. “I describe robotics as an accelerant or a catalyst,” Finazzo added. “Everyone is selling to capacity, as demand outpaces supply. There's so much pent-up demand, that it will take a while to catch up from shortages in chips. I'm very bullish.” “There's an industry-wide focus on customer communications and being upfront about shipping and availability of components,” Shikany said. A3 offers multiple events A3 said it will discuss the…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.84
…numerical controls (CNC), industrial robots, and servo amplifiers and motors. The corporation's philosophy includes a commitment not only to providing superior solutions and service to Mitsubishi Electric customers, but also to contributing to the local community and creating a rewarding environment for its employees. Mitsubishi Electric Automation won a “Most Engaged Partner Award” from MassRobotics for its work with the first cohort of the Healthcare Robotics Startup Catalyst. Source: MassRobotics Novanta and Celera Motion participate “We are proud to support MassRobotics in its critical mission to create advanced robotics, particularly in the medical field,” said Matthijs Glastra, CEO of Novanta…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.54
…additional programs and curriculums that offer opportunities for the general workforce to develop the skills they need to work in robotics. For example, to meet the needs of neighboring businesses, Dallas College in South Dallas, Texas, recently developed a grant-funded mechatronics training program that provides its students with five mechatronics certifications in mechanical drives, fluid power, programmable logic controllers, electrical motor controls, and robotics. The program is based on the MRA program we created for our apprentices. Can you specify some of the skills that participants would be learning and using? Carter: The program teaches technical skills in areas such…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.26
…operations and manufacturing,” said Jim Lawton, vice president and general manager of robotics automation at Zebra Technologies. “Turnover rates are over 40% in both sectors, so labor is a constraint that must be dealt with.” “AMRs can quickly fill the labor gap. When AMRs collaborate with people, operational productivity, efficiency, and accuracy significantly improve,” he asserted. “Deploying even a small fleet of AMRs—as few as a dozen—that work autonomously with humans also adds a valuable measure of control.” The rise of autonomous mobile robots would not have happened without a number of technical advances, further convincing users of their value.…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.24
…the warehouse,” said Kevin Blankespoor, senior vice president and general manager of warehouse robotics at Boston Dynamics. “We took all of the technology that we've grown over the past several decades with Spot and Atlas, and everything that came before, and repackaged it for a purpose-designed solution for moving boxes.” Unloading trucks has been a challenge for short-staffed logistics providers, as well as robotics developers. Boston Dynamics announced the commercial availability of Stretch and unveiled the production version of the robot at MODEX 2022. The company noted that it is already sold out through this year and that it's accepting…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.24
…is serious about providing value for industrial applications. Hyundai Motor Group acquired the company from SoftBank Group Corp. in 2021. Since then, Boston Dynamics has demonstrated Spot in many different environments; offered the Stretch robot for unloading trucks; and continued to work with developers, software and sensor providers, and corporate customers. Last month, CEO Robert Playter joined Kiva Allgood, president and CEO of Sarcos Technology and Robotics Corp., at TCs Sessions: Robotics from TechCrunch. They discussed how their pioneering companies brought robots to market, from pilot testing to scaling manufacturing. Playter also replied to the following questions from Robotics 24/7…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.23
…Freight Division, in a statement. And Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President said: “This contract should improve the livelihoods of our YRCW Teamsters for the next five years. Freight is the backbone of our great union and this contract recognizes our members for their hard work.” The main components of this new contract include: $4.00 in wage increases over five years for the vast majority of workers (an 18% increase for most drivers and dockworkers) including a $1.00 wage increase retroactive to April 1, 2019 (a 4.5% increase for most drivers and dockworkers); significant increases for dock-only, clerical, maintenance employees, janitors…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.20
…AIA (Advanced Vision + Imaging), the Motion Control & Motor Association (MCMA), and A3 Mexico, will be uniting under the Association for Advancing Automation. The new www.automate.org website will be live on April 14. Why are the associations consolidating, and why now? “We've been talking about it for about five years,” replied Burnstein. “We originally launched as the RIA and added other associations along the way. But that's not how those in industry do things. They just want to solve problems with technologies, and as they converged, the associations realized, 'Why make this complicated? It's not intuitive between our sites…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.16
…Justin Vranic, Adam Dmytriw, and Aman Patel at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and Marcin Balicki of Philips Research North America. Tilt and twist for endovascular surgery Endovascular surgery is a specialized, minimally invasive procedure that involves carefully twisting and guiding a thin medical wire through the body's arteries and vessels to a target location, in a way that avoids damaging vessel walls. The procedure typically requires years of training for a surgeon to master. Robotic systems are being explored as assistive technologies in endovascular surgery. These systems mainly involve motor drives that advance and retract a wire while twisting it…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 6.15
…pick-to-light (PTL) workstations, notes Jim Bast, vice president and general manager of Matthews Automation’s Lightning Pick brand, which offers order picking solutions. “We see much of the advantage from mobile robots as coming from the flexibility of movement it allows for human operators,” says Bast. “When you start adding lots of automation to a DC, it can start looking like an expressway interchange in Southern California.” Fixed but modular While “fixed” automation like conveyor systems are seen as less flexible to change, flexibility is a relative thing. “Before flexible and scalable become an industry norm, we’d been using it as…
Found in Robotics News & Content, with a score of 5.71
…this week received a gold award in the actuators, motors, and drives category in Plant Engineering's 2023 “Product of the Year” program. Robotics 24/7 spoke with Martin Buena-Franco, product marketing manager of automation at Raymond, about the company's lift trucks, telematics, and service strategy. Areas of customer interest This past spring, there were plenty of trade shows—what products received the most interest? Buena-Franco: A big portion of our space at ProMat 2023 was AGVs [automated guided vehicles], which we're very excited about. We've had a pallet truck for some time, but it's enhanced. It's now faster and able to do…