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A quarter of the worlds energy is lost due to friction, corrosion and wear. Robots are machines with movable parts, and the machines that are used to make them obviously have moving parts too. This makes lubrication an interesting but largely ignored part of sustainability in robotics. That is why Castrol Industrial presented at the opening keynote at the European Robotics Forum in Rotterdam. Rocking Robots discussed the importance of reducing friction in robotics with Susan Frame of Castrol Industrial.

At the European Robotics Forum (ERF), which kicked off yesterday in Rotterdam, a broad range of topics related to robotics was discussed by representatives of science, business and public sector. In this interview with Rocking robots Bernd Liepert, president of euRobotics, discusses trends in robotics, the world class robotics start-up ecosystem in Europe and the crucial role of SMB.

The Executive Board of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) has elected Marina Bill of ABB as its new President. Kenji Yamaguchi of FANUC appointed as IFR´s new Vice President.

This week Rotterdam will host the European Robotics Forum. At this event science, business and public sector will meet to discuss all aspects of robotics. Rocking Robots will cover ERF as mediapartner. For this preview we sat down with Professor Stefano Stramigioli and Nico Nijenhuis of Twente University, which organizes ERF on behalf of EU Robotics. 

The Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), better known as Cal/OSHA, has denied Monarch Tractor apetition to change safety guidelines in order to make autonomous tractors possible. Monarch, a maker of fully electric, driver-optional smart tractor, said it will ‘continue to drive farming toward a smart digital future’.

Can’t find skilled people for different automation roles externally? Look internally, to your employees, a lot of whom, after upskilling, are perfectly able to take on the role of citizen developer. After all, everyone working with IT will be a developer, eventually, says Patrick Kersten of UiPath Learning Partner Computrain/LLPA in this interview about upskilling, citizen developers and automation at TOGETHER Amsterdam.

Microplastics are found nearly everywhere on Earth and can be harmful to animals if they’re ingested. But it’s hard to remove such tiny particles from the environment, especially once they settle into nooks and crannies at the bottom of waterways. Now, researchers in ACS’ Nano Letters have created a light-activated fish robot that “swims” around quickly, picking up and removing microplastics from the environment.

What is the future role of automation and robotics in industry? Which developments and technologies will shape the work of tomorrow and what will be the importance of AI? automatica, which took place in Munich from June 21 to 24, 2022, provided both answers to these questions and numerous trends and innovations.

Aerobotix and Automated Solutions Australia (ASA)  officially announced a robotic automation international partnership between the two companies for the development, testing and manufacturing of hypersonic missiles. The partnership follows the 2021 signing of the AUKUS security pact between the U.S., U.K. and Australian Governments, which includes provisions for the allies to work together on hypersonic and counter-hypersonic capabilities.

A lot of the solutions shown at Automatica are based on Cobots. One of the companies using Cobots in their offering is Robotiq. originally started as a provider of ‘end of arm’- tools, it has developed into a provideer of a broader portfolio. Rocking Robots spoke about their strategy with Leif Möller and Vincent Vandomme.