3 Key Ways Automation Reduces Safety and Ergonomic Concerns
As companies continue to rely on automation to remain competitive, employees will have the benefit of working in safer environments. In the years to come, the question wont be "Is your company automating?" but instead "How is your company automating?"
New Open Loop Current Transducers With Near Closed Loop Performance
Measured performance is at the level expected and increases the range of applications which may be addressed by open loop transducers instead of more complex solutions.
Robot That Copies Artist's Exact Strokes To Replicate A Painting In 3D
From the Instapainting Blog:
Over the past three weeks I’ve been working on a robotic painter to research the area of mechanical artwork reproduction and automated picture to painting creation for Instapainting.com and the print store e-commerce platform A Manufactory .
The initial prototype was built in about 3 weeks, and currently does mechnical reproductions. The AI painting mode which will paint a photograph will follow in the next post (putting some finishing touches on it)...
...The current prototype operates on 3 dimensions: X, Y, and a Z axis for pen pressure from the Wacom tablet. The artist can control the motion from a Wacom tablet and, for the most part, it’s lag-free. Every stroke is recorded so that it can be played back. You can see both the intitial painting and the playback in the video below... ( full post )
Stony Brook University Helps Prepare Next Generation of Farmers by Introducing a Hydroponic 'Freight Farm' On Campus
Cited as 4th most environmentally responsible university* in 2015, SBU is first higher ed campus to get a Freight Farm.
Breaking down the robot-factory language barrier
In most industrial settings, robots speak one language and the plants within which they work speak another.
Robotics firm GreyOrange raises $30 million, to expand overseas
GreyOrange, a robotics firm that is in the business of automating warehouses, has raised $30 million (Rs 191.6 crore) in a round led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from existing investors Blume Ventures.
The funding, which the company says is one of the largest for robotics company globally, will be used to invest in developing new products, expand internationally into Asia Pacific, Middle East and Europe. The company says it has a 90% market share of India's warehouse automation market and it powers over 180,000 square feet of warehouse.
"We are doubling our team size globally as we steer the company and our products beyond India and into international markets," said co-founder and CEO Samay Kohli, who founded the company with Akash Gupta in 2011.
The company has two products: The Sorter and the Butler. The former is a high-speed system that consolidates orders and routes parcels. By Diwali, the company will have installed sortation capacity of 3 million parcels per day.
The second product, the Butler, is an order-picking system that is tailored for high-volume, high-mix orders characteristic of e-commerce and omni-channel logistics fulfilment. Cont'd..
Foxconn Seeks Manufacturing Sites in India
SEAN MCLAIN for WSJ.com: Foxconn became the latest global giant to declare its intention to tap into India’s budding manufacturing potential.
The company is looking for manufacturing sites in India. So far it hasn’t been able to settle on any in particular, Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou told a news conference in New Delhi.
“India is a big, big country. Too many places, too many states, too many cities. The choice is difficult,” he said.
Foxconn is the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer by revenue. The Taiwanese company—known officially as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.—is looking to tap India’s massive labor pool and has big ambitions for its Indian investments. It has long-term plans for Asia’s third-largest economy and hopes to do more in India than simply assemble smartphones and laptops. “We want to bring the whole supply chain here,” Mr. Gou said.
Analysts say Foxconn is looking to diversify its global network of factories as the company faces more competition and rising wages in China, where it has most of its manufacturing operations. Cont'd...
Myth Busting: Greater Manufacturing Automation Doesn't Mean Fewer Jobs
When it comes to addressing manufacturing labor challenges, companies shouldnt be quick to assume that job opportunities will decrease as a result of an increase in automated systems.
Chinese factory replaces 90% of humans with robots, production soars
By Conner Forrest for TechRepublic: In Dongguan City, located in the central Guangdong province of China, a technology company has set up a factory run almost exclusively by robots, and the results are fascinating.
The Changying Precision Technology Company factory in Dongguan has automated production lines that use robotic arms to produce parts for cell phones. The factory also has automated machining equipment, autonomous transport trucks, and other automated equipment in the warehouse.
There are still people working at the factory, though. Three workers check and monitor each production line and there are other employees who monitor a computer control system. Previously, there were 650 employees at the factory. With the new robots, there's now only 60. Luo Weiqiang, general manager of the company, told the People's Daily that the number of employees could drop to 20 in the future.
The robots have produced almost three times as many pieces as were produced before. According to the People's Daily, production per person has increased from 8,000 pieces to 21,000 pieces. That's a 162.5% increase. Cont'd...
How to Prepare Now for the Industrial Internet of Things
The inevitable Internet of Things is already taking shape, absorbing the world of consumer devices and hovering on the horizon of industrial manufacturing.
Waterjet Cutting and OCTOPUZ a Powerful Combination
OCTOPUZ was created to meet the rising needs in the robotics industry, and uses a revolutionary method of combining offline programming of robots with manufacturing process simulation.
Industry 4.0 Ready: Vacuum Solutions for the Intelligent Factory
The gripper spider for fiber composite components is a great example how significant this contribution to the intelligent factory can be in practice.
How Does the Accident in Germany Affect Industrial Robot Safety?
by Patrick Davison, Director of Standards Development, Robotic Industries Association: Last week, an unfortunate fatality involving an industrial robot and a worker occurred at a Volkswagen plant in Baunatal, Germany. The Robotic Industries Association (RIA) and its member companies express its deepest sympathies to the victim’s family, friends, and colleagues.
According to news sources, the worker was part of a contracting crew responsible for setting up the robot, and was working inside the safeguarded space when the incident occurred. A second member of the contracting crew was standing outside of the safeguarded space and was not harmed.
The international media response to the incident was aggressive, swift, and expounded on topics that were not relevant to the incident. AWashington Post article referenced the dangers of Artificial Intelligence and posed the question, “Should the world kill killer robots before it’s too late?” In another story, a Financial Times journalist with a name similar to a popular character in The Terminator franchise started a social media frenzy with a tweet. A video from Ireland expounds on random tweets regarding the incident with backdrop footage of the Honda ASIMO robot and manual automotive operations. Also, according to this article on an automotive news and gossip site, a Times of India article posted a photo of a gun-wielding toy robot beside the story. Cont'd...
China's Hunger for Robots Marks Significant Shift
By TIMOTHY AEPPEL and MARK MAGNIER for WSJ.com - Having devoured many of the world’s factory jobs, China is now handing them over to robots.
China already ranks as the world’s largest market for robotic machines. Sales last year grew 54% from a year earlier, and the boom shows every sign of increasing. China is projected to have more installed industrial robots than any other country by next year, according to the International Federation of Robotics.
China’s emergence as an automation hub contradicts many assumptions about robots and the global economy.
Economists often view automation as a way for advanced economies to keep industries that might otherwise move offshore, or even to win them back through reshoring, since the focus is on ways to reduce costly labor. That motivation hasn’t gone away. But increasingly, robots are taking over work in developing countries, reducing the potential job creation associated with building new factories in the frontier markets of Asia, Africa or Latin America. Cont'd...
Echoing Government's Productivity 4.0, IoT Automation Boosts Taiwan's Competitiveness
Facing challenges of labor shortages and aging labor forces, Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs is implementing "Productivity 4.0" to stimulate economic growth and upgrade industries.
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Factory Automation - Featured Product
QC Industries - AS40: The Ultimate User-Friendly Conveyor
AS40 Conveyors are designed for ease of use and simple integration with robotic applications. Built on a rigid aluminum frame, they feature tee slots for rapid accessory mounting and a tail that flips up at the push of a button for easy under-belt cleaning and belt changes. Nosebar tails are available for transferring small parts between conveyors. All conveyors include a 10 Year Warranty and most are available with a fast five day lead time.
