The makers of Flippy, the burger flipping robot, have created Flippy Wings, a chicken wing frying robot. While the name — Flippy Wings? Really? — may make us think that the makers are not native speakers of English, the idea sounds great. Miso Robotics, the maker, has a deal with the Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant… Read more »
Hershey’s built a free-standing automatic Reeses Pieces distributing door last year to share candy bars with socially distancing trick or treaters. Sensors recognized a knock or “trick or treat” and dispensed full-size candy bars. That was last year. The CDC had advised most communities to skip trick or treat last year. This year, the CDC… Read more »
Robot umpires in sports are becoming commonplace. It’s expected that robots will referee Major League Baseball soon. But the New Yorker wonders, “But isn’t yelling and screaming about bad calls half the fun of baseball?” Their review of the Automated Ball-Strike System accepts the fact that an automated umpire is less biased and more accurate… Read more »
Among the changes that have affected manufacturing in the past couple of years have been a surge in automation and supply chain upheavals. But a less obvious change in our culture has also had consequences for manufacturing: an increased awareness of diversity and commitment to inclusion. Packaging One of the areas where we see this… Read more »
The Association of the United States Army’s 2021 annual conference introduced some lethal autonomous weapon systems, or LAWS. You might call them killer robots. One option looked like Spot, the familiar dog-shaped multipurpose robot, with a SPUR or Special Purpose Unmanned Rifle mounted on top. Human Rights Watch calls for a preemptive ban on the… Read more »
When our Eco Drive drive controllers are trying to communicate with us, we usually think in terms of fault codes or error codes. But it’s actually more complicated than that. For the ECODRIVE Drive Controller DKC02.1, for example, there are quite a few different diagnostic messages: Error diagnostic messages Warning diagnostic messages Command diagnostic messages… Read more »
F234 is the code for Emergency Stop Activated. This is obviously an important safety action, stopping machine movement which could damage your system or products, or which could create danger for your team. Knowing that this is a good thing doesn’t mean that you’re going to be happy to see Error Code F234. This code… Read more »
Manufacturing may be heading toward reshoring, but a lot of companies are still outsourcing jobs that used to be covered in-house. Sales, tech support, and everything from cleaning the facility to feeding the workers is very likely to be taken care of by independent contractors now. The savings can be significant. MRO companies are part… Read more »
Change can be tough, whether it’s running out of your favorite coffee and having to drink something else or seeing massive changes in technology completely change your workflow. The artisans who were put out of work by the new-fangled inventions of stocking frames and power looms in the early 1800s were the original Luddites.They crept… Read more »
Alec Ross tells us that the way the pandemic has accelerated adoption of automation in workplaces means that “computer science education should not be exclusive to engineers and elites.” We’d say it should never have been exclusive to engineers and elites, but Ross, author of The Industries of the Future and The Raging 2020s: Companies, Countries, People… Read more »
