JAXA, Japan’s space program, has landed two robots on the surface of an asteroid. The asteroid, Ryugu, is roughly 200 million miles away. The Guardian described the robots as looking like biscuit tins. For our fellow Americans, we offer this picture of a biscuit tin: Now that you have a clear mental image, you can… Read more »
99% of manufacturers expect to have trouble finding qualified workers, according to a new SME report. The Skills Gap is not getting any smaller. 36% of respondents said that they were budgeting for training. Only 40% were investing in trainers. Only 31% offered structured training programs. SME concluded that manufacturers are still worrying about the… Read more »
The 2018 hurricane season is underway, but disasters can include wildfires, earthquakes, and plenty more natural and man-made events. Plan for the obvious If you’re in hurricane country, you know that high winds and flooding could be an issue. You have plans for coping with those issues, and you must make sure that responsible individuals… Read more »
The World Economic Forum has released new predictions about job loss and creation in Industry 4.0. First, they’re predicting that 70 million jobs may be lost to automation. On the other hand, 135 million new jobs may be created along the way. The net gain of 50+ million jobs will require different skills than the… Read more »
If there’s one industry that stands out in its need for automation, it’s agriculture. In the United States, agriculture relies heavily on immigrant labor. Agriculture involves a lot of jobs that Americans aren’t willing to do. It also involves jobs that are dangerous and difficult. That’s not a coincidence. But automation is supposed to solve… Read more »
Programming is obviously essential for Industry 4.0 innovation. But Rexroth is doing away with programming for many machine users. Just as the Personality Modules of the 20th century allowed an engineer on the floor to replace a faulty component with minimal downtime, the new alternatives to programming allow Rexroth motion control users to keep their… Read more »
Nearly eighteen years after joining forces with Bosch, Rexroth is getting a new branding look. A multicolored logo with the tagline “A Bosch Company” is designed to have animation enlivening its look online. The new look will come to printed materials, too, relying on the liveliness of the design to convey the idea of movement…. Read more »
More than a decade ago, an experiment found that people will empathize with robots, especially if the robots are designed with this in mind. Human subjects who had finished a task with a robot that looked a lot like a cat were about to turn off the robot. They were surprised to her the robot… Read more »
Automation World is suggesting that the next step in automation is the democratization of engineering. The democratization of publishing is a reality now: with open source publishing software, AI in the web and automation from websites, anyone can publish their thoughts online and reach people more or less the same way Life magazine used to…. Read more »
One of the special things about Rexroth’s motion control is its modular design. This allows you to pull a faulty component off the machine, replace it quickly with an identical unit, and get your facility back up and running fast. With the legacy components made by Indramat, Rexroth’s precursor in electric industrial motion control, this… Read more »
