The FTC’s ban on non-compete clauses for most workers throws a curveball at the manufacturing sector. While it has the potential to be a positive change, there are also potential drawbacks to consider. The good On the positive side, increased worker mobility could lead to a more dynamic manufacturing landscape. Without non-compete clauses restricting movement,… Read more »
Plastics have become an undeniable part of our lives. From food packaging to clothing and electronics, they’re everywhere. However, their convenience comes at a significant cost – plastic pollution is a major environmental problem with far-reaching consequences. Durability that backfires Plastics are incredibly durable, designed to last for a long time. This very characteristic makes… Read more »
Atlas, the humanoid robot from Boston Dynamics, is retiring. It is being decommissioned and installed in the company’s museum. They shared a video that shows Atlas running, jumping, doing gymnastics, and also falling down, getting into a fix with an elevator, and otherwise failing. The new Atlas After a decade of service, Atlas has been… Read more »
We can all remember the supply chain issues of the pandemic, when we drove around town to multiple stores in search of toilet paper, yeast, and face masks. Now store shelves are filled with products again. But we still havre supply chain issues. Supply chain issues that began with the COVID-19 pandemic continue to disrupt… Read more »
Or are you? The problem is, it can be very hard to distinguish between problems with your Rexroth Indramat motion control system and problems with the way you have it configured. Is it the machines, or the humans? We hear about problems, for example, when systems are shut down only once every year or two…. Read more »
We know about the robot dreams people have…dreams of robot butlers, robot buddies, and general purpose humanoid robot buddies that will eliminate physical labor for humans. We know about the robot nightmares, too. Those include robotic overlords taking over our jobs and highly biased AI controlling the world. But a new study shows that people’s… Read more »
If your facility is in a warm, humid climate, when your servo is stopped you might run into issues with condensation. Condensation is about droplets of water forming on your servos when the temperature is close to the dew point. Dry environments like Arizona or Utah have dew points as low as freezing temperatures during… Read more »
Outsourcing engineering is controversial. A company that keeps enough engineers on hand to cover peak demand may feel as though they’re underusing their current staff as it is, and may be unwilling to look outside for support when the machinery fails. On the other hand, a company that keeps all the engineers running ragged obviously… Read more »
The Mechanical Turk was a very special machine, an automaton built in the 1700s to play chess. In reality, the “machine” was just a box with a chess board on top and a cupboard in the side. A puppet, intend to look Turkish, provided the drama. A slim human being could climb into the cupboard… Read more »
Business Insider suggests that the development of humanoid robots could be the space race of the 21st century. Remember the space race? In the mid 20th century, the United States and Soviet Union were in competition to put a man into space, to land on the moon, and, along with the race for dominance in… Read more »
