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 »
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, 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 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 »
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 »
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 »
Industry 4.0 is here, or at least in a taxi and just about to pull up outside. Rexroth has a fully functional smart factory in place, and the Internet of Things is a reality. “We used to have to send out a team to find a problem in a system,” an engineer told us yesterday,… Read more »
You may have heard of Shark Tank, a TV show where entrepreneurs pitch products to venture capitalists who use their shark-like tendencies to make discussions of profit margins and SKUs into drama. People with brand new ideas for wheels, sunscreen, dog biscuits, and golf putters bring their prototypes or products into a studio where half… Read more »
Since 1974, Rexroth has been working with manufacturers in India from its facilities in Ahmedabad, Bangalore. In 2013, Rexroth built a state of the art factory in Sanand. And now, Rexroth is supporting the Make in India campaign (or the Make in India movement, as it is sometimes called), working toward making India a manufacturing… Read more »
We specialize in electric servo motors, drives, and controls, so we naturally are rooting for the electric contenders in the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals coming up next week. There will be 25 entrants in the finals, which challenge robots to clear up debris from simulated disasters. Seven of the contenders are based on Atlas, a… Read more »
