Wishing everyone an excellent holiday with no emergencies!
Happy 4th of July
Posts By: Rebecca Haden
The Robot Revolution
Automation World reports that there is a robot revolution going on. Just not the one you might have been expecting if you keep up with the movies. The first thing people think about when they invest in a humanoid robot like Baxter, its makers say, is how it might endanger them: Will it hurt me?… Read more »
Machines that Make Machines
For your Friday coffee break, check out an example of modular thinking in a hub-centered assembly line. Modular design has been a hallmark of Rexroth’s products for many years. It’s just one example of how design thinking can make big changes in productivity, use of space, and energy costs. There’s a servo motor behind every… Read more »
The Company-Wide Repair Agreement
It seems smart at the time. Your company enters into a company-wide repair agreement (let’s call it CWRA) with a vendor that works with automation. All automation, to hear them tell it, but then your legacy Rexroth machinery needs some support. The big automation company can’t repair the legacy components. They can’t get OEM parts,… Read more »
Jellyfish and Robots
We’ve seen so many cases of biology inspiring robotics that we shouldn’t be surprised by a new report from Caltech. Robotics engineers have been inspired by kangaroos, octopi, and more. So why not moon jellyfish? In this case, the big news is self-repair. Self-repair in the natural world usually involves regenerating limbs or healing wounds,… Read more »
People and the Internet of Things
IoT, Industrial Internet of Things, Industry 4.0… whatever you call it, it is bound to have some effects on human beings. Much of the discussion has been about economics. Will the robots take all the jobs? Will this settle the minimum wage argument? Will we be able to collaborate effectively with robots? All these questions… Read more »
No Ordinary Disruption
No Ordinary Disruption, a fascinating new book by Richard Dobbs, James Manyika, and Jonathan Woetzel, lists four global forces to be reckoned with. One of these four is the speed with which technological change is taking place. If you fell asleep like Rip Van Winkle in 1300 and woke up in 1400, you might not… Read more »
2AD Motors
2AD motors are designed for heavy use. They’re at their best at altitudes up to 1,000 meters above sea level (0.625 miles) and temperatures up to 45 centigrade (113 degrees fahrenheit)… so pretty much everywhere except high mountains in a seriously overheated room. One of the key features of 2AD motors is that they are… Read more »
Team Kaist Wins DARPA Robotics Challenge
South Korea’s Team Kaist has won the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC). The $2,000,000 prize is exciting, but it might not cover the team’s costs. The real money comes from sales of technological advances that can be applied in industrial or other real-world situations. The DRC was developed after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, when… Read more »
Worse than the Skills Gap?
U.S. manufacturers are having a hard time getting enough workers to fill the new orders coming in as American companies begin to bring manufacturing jobs back home. More than half of major U.S. manufacturing companies surveyed in a recent study said that they were or would be bringing their manufacturing processes back to the U.S…. Read more »