United Kingdom

Although America has lagged behind Asia in design and production of manufacturing robots, it is now positioned to catch up and lead in a new global robotics race, according to research by investment bank Strategic Exits Partners The study analyzed the last five years of transactions including 300 exits, and 5000 investments into 3000 global companies.

Sales of industrial robots have reached a strong recovery: A new record of 486,800 units were shipped globally – an increase of 27% compared to the previous year. Asia/Australia saw the largest growth in demand: installations were up 33% reaching 354,500 units. The Americas increased by 27% with 49,400 units sold. Europe saw double digit growth of 15% with 78,000 units installed. These preliminary results for 2021 have been published by the International Federation of Robotics.

Automation is technology, but in succesfully implementing it the human factor should be considered as well. This is one of the topics UiPath Immersion Labs is focussed on. At TOGETHER Amsterdam the Rocking Robots team disucussed the involvement of people and the opportunities digital upskilling provides them with Claudia Pedersen, Immersion Labs Operations Director at UiPath.

An AI-powered device, the Automated Needle Targeting with X-ray (ANT-X) now offers better precision in percutaneous renal access along with automated needle trajectory, which is crucial in removing kidney stones.

This week Amsterdam hosted the largest automation event in Europe: UiPath Together 2022. A broad range of topics related to automation was presented to the people attending, showing automation at this stage is far more then just RPA. A growing number of organizations is not just scaling their software robots, but actually innovating with technologies like AI, machine learning, document understanding and process mining.

ABS has signed a joint development project (JDP) with SpaceX to review the remotely controlled functions of autonomous rocket recovery droneships used for booster rocket recovery at sea.

EV Safe Charge, provider of electric vehicle (EV) charging technology, has unveiled ZiGGY, its mobile EV charging robot. ZiGGY will bring EV charging to parking facilities, shopping and entertainment centers, hotels, fleet operators and property owners, providing cost-effective charging, overcoming the limitations of stationary EV chargers without the need for costly electrical infrastructure. In addition, ZiGGY’s digital ad server can generate advertising revenue for the facility and display customized information.

Teledyne FLIR Defense, part of Teledyne Technologies, announced at Eurosatory the launch of its new Kobra 725 modular robot. The tracked multi-mission platform delivers new capabilities and technology upgrades to the Kobra 710 unmanned ground system, with the lift capacity and mobility customers demand for operations in harsh conditions.

After several year of research and development Delft start-up IMSystems is ready to present its patented speed reducer to the market. This high precision gearbox uses rollers instead of gear teeth. At Automatica in Munich it will demonstrate its first product, a development kit for robot companies to test the system.

A horse, a zebra and artificial intelligence helped a team of Carnegie Mellon University researchers teach a robot to recognize water and pour it into a glass.