Many companies focus their attention on the hardware aspects of robotics systems - that’s what you can easily see. But equally important is the software side of the equation, from navigating integration with WMS and ERP systems to designing and optimizing workflows, orchestrating fulfillment processes, and innovative use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. There have been dramatic advances in the past two years in terms of warehouse robotics software. This broadcast will provide a non-commercial look at those advances, how they impact use cases and deployment, and where robotics software is headed. What do organizations need to know to…
Motor and drive designer and manufacturer Akribis Systems recently announced a new addition to its motion control product line. The company’s new RDM-A series rod motors are designed for space-constrained applications requiring high motor forces and smooth linear motion. Akribis said its RDM-A series rod motors are compact in size and feature a tubular design to distribute magnetic flux evenly along the circumference of the stator. With this approach, the motors can achieve continuous forces from 2.1 to 137.8 Newtons - about 0.5 to 31 pounds force - and peak forces from 6.2 to 413.4 Newtons - about 1.4 to…
Fulfillment software platform provider Roboteon has recently announced the addition of new capabilities to its multi-function Innovation Lab near San Jose, Calif. The 3,000 square foot lab, located a few minutes from the San Jose airport, features Roboteon’s Robotics Fulfillment Platform software working with different types of robotics and hardware systems from a variety of vendors. Roboteon said its platform can help companies achieve success with their investments in warehouse robotics. The lab supports demonstrations of different applications and use cases. Those applications include: Basic warehouse and manufacturing robotic transport functions using a variety of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). Full…
Sonair, a Norway-based ultrasonic sensor company, revealed its innovative developments in sensor technology designed to improve safety in industrial automation. The company, which has now exited stealth mode, also announced the upcoming launch of their first evaluation kit this summer, signaling a significant advancement in the field of robotic and machine autonomy. Confident navigation with a 3D ultrasonic sensor The Sonair 3D ultrasonic sensor allows autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) to detect distance and direction to all objects in a 180x180 field of view, up to a five-meter range. Combined with 2D images and AI, the outcome is confident navigation. The…
Medical robotics company Clarapath recently announced it has entered into a strategic collaboration with the Mayo Clinic. Clarapath said pathology laboratories currently rely on labor intensive, manual procedures to process tissue specimens for purposes of diagnosing cancer and other diseases. Faced with labor shortages, quality control challenges, and rapidly increasing sample volumes, pathology laboratories seek to improve the reliability and efficiency of creating glass slides for pathological review. Clarapath’s SectionStar is an automated tissue sectioning, transfer, and quality control system that combines robotics, computational AI, and integrated histopathology workflows, which the company said can provide standardized slide outputs and quantitative…
S&S Activewear (S&S), a wholesale apparel company, announced the expansion of its partnership with Körber Business Area Supply Chain and deployment of Geekplus robotics offerings at three warehouse sites across the Americas. The collaboration enables S&S to optimize on-site staff, order quality and delivery efficiencies to meet the surging demands of a rapidly evolving market, according to the companies. Integration has improved S&S performance “Innovation is a core tenet of S&S’s decades-long history in the wholesale apparel industry,” said Brian Beale, CTO for S&S. “Advancing our warehouse operations with Körber and Geekplus’s robotics and automation expertise has been a natural…
Sanctuary AI recently unveiled the seventh generation of its general-purpose robot Phoenix. The latest generation robot and its AI control system, Carbon, draw even closer to that of a person, according to the company. The newest Phoenix releases comes with wide ranging improvements to both the hardware and AI software. The announcement comes less than 12 months after Sanctuary AI’s sixth-generation robot was launched, and less than 16 months after its fifth-generation robot was first commercially deployed in January 2023. Improvements to Phoenix According to Sanctuary AI, this generation of Phoenix is one of the most sophisticated human behavioral data…
Motion plastics and robot component producer igus GmbH recently announced the winners of its 2024 vector awards. The company said its vector awards are a biennial competition that honors bold, exciting projects that incorporate igus e-chain cable carriers. The winners of the 9th vector awards - selected from 328 applications from 37 countries - were decided by a panel of research, press, and industry experts. The gold vector was awarded by igus to the University of Lisbon’s Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences, where researchers developed a spectrograph with a moon-sized field of view and ability to simultaneously observe over…
SprutCAM Tech, a Cyprus-based CAD/CAM/OLP software company, recently announced the launch of Updates 17.0.14 and 17.0.15 for SprutCAM X and SprutCAM X Robot. The newest updates feature more than 200 changes and provide additional support for new robot models, including ROKAE Robotics and Kawasaki. New functionalities in latest updates According to the company, this update enhances various functionalities, including: Support for new robot models: Added support for Kawasaki robots (BX300L model and others) in SprutCAM X Robot and MachineMaker. Additionally, support for 27 models of ROKAE robots has been added to MachineMaker. Kinematic models of these robots are now also…
