Tag Archives: business
#430640 RE2 Robotics Receives Air Force Funding ...
PITTSBURGH, PA – June 21, 2017 – RE2 Robotics announced today that the Company was selected by the Air Force to develop a drop-in robotic system to rapidly convert a variety of traditionally manned aircraft to robotically piloted, autonomous aircraft under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. This robotic system, named “Common Aircraft Retrofit for Novel Autonomous Control” (CARNAC), will operate the aircraft similarly to a human pilot and will not require any modifications to the aircraft.
Automation and autonomy have broad value to the Department of Defense with the potential to enhance system performance of existing platforms, reduce costs, and enable new missions and capabilities, especially with reduced human exposure to dangerous or life-threatening situations. The CARNAC project leverages existing aviation assets and advances in vehicle automation technologies to develop a cutting-edge drop-in robotic flight system.
During the program, RE2 Robotics will demonstrate system architecture feasibility, humanoid-like robotic manipulation capabilities, vision-based flight-status recognition, and cognitive architecture-based decision making.
“Our team is excited to incorporate the Company’s robotic manipulation expertise with proven technologies in applique systems, vision processing algorithms, and decision making to create a customized application that will allow a wide variety of existing aircraft to be outfitted with a robotic pilot,” stated Jorgen Pedersen, president and CEO of RE2 Robotics. “By creating a drop-in robotic pilot, we have the ability to insert autonomy into and expand the capabilities of not only traditionally manned air vehicles, but ground and underwater vehicles as well. This application will open up a whole new market for our mobile robotic manipulator systems.”
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About RE2 RoboticsRE2 Robotics develops mobile robotic technologies that enable robot users to remotely interact with their world from a safe distance — whether on the ground, in the air, or underwater. RE2 creates interoperable robotic manipulator arms with human-like performance, intuitive human robot interfaces, and advanced autonomy software for mobile robotics. For more information, please visit www.resquared.com or call 412.681.6382.
Media Contact: RE2 Public Relations, pr@resquared.com, 412.681.6382.
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#430556 Forget Flying Cars, the Future Is ...
Flying car concepts have been around nearly as long as their earthbound cousins, but no one has yet made them a commercial success. MIT engineers think we’ve been coming at the problem from the wrong direction; rather than putting wings on cars, we should be helping drones to drive.
The team from the university’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) added wheels to a fleet of eight mini-quadcopters and tested driving and flying them around a tiny toy town made out of cardboard and fabric.
Adding the ability to drive reduced the distance the drone could fly by 14 percent compared to a wheel-less version. But while driving was slower, the drone could travel 150 percent further than when flying. The result is a vehicle that combines the speed and mobility of flying with the energy-efficiency of driving.
CSAIL director Daniela Rus told MIT News their work suggested that when looking to create flying cars, it might make more sense to build on years of research into drones rather than trying to simply “put wings on cars.”
Historically, flying car concepts have looked like someone took apart a Cessna light aircraft and a family sedan, mixed all the parts up, and bolted them back together again. Not everyone has abandoned this approach—two of the most developed flying car designs from Terrafugia and AeroMobil are cars with folding wings that need an airstrip to take off.
But flying car concepts are looking increasingly drone-like these days, with multiple small rotors, electric propulsion and vertical take-off abilities. Take the eHang 184 autonomous aerial vehicle being developed in China, the Kitty Hawk all-electric aircraft backed by Google founder Larry Page, which is little more than a quadcopter with a seat, the AirQuadOne designed by UK consortium Neva Aerospace, or Lilium Aviation’s Jet.
The attraction is obvious. Electric-powered drones are more compact, maneuverable, and environmentally friendly, making them suitable for urban environments.
Most of these vehicles are not quite the same as those proposed by the MIT engineers, as they’re pure flying machines. But a recent Airbus concept builds on the same principle that the future of urban mobility is vehicles that can both fly and drive. Its Pop.Up design is a two-passenger pod that can either be clipped to a set of wheels or hang under a quadcopter.
Importantly, they envisage their creation being autonomous in both flight and driving modes. And they’re not the only ones who think the future of flying cars is driverless. Uber has committed to developing a network of autonomous air taxis within a decade. This spring, Dubai announced it would launch a pilotless passenger drone service using the Ehang 184 as early as next month (July).
While integrating fully-fledged autonomous flying cars into urban environments will be far more complex, the study by Rus and her colleagues provides a good starting point for the kind of 3D route-planning and collision avoidance capabilities this would require.
The team developed multi-robot path planning algorithms that were able to control all eight drones as they flew and drove around their mock up city, while also making sure they didn’t crash into each other and avoided no-fly zones.
“This work provides an algorithmic solution for large-scale, mixed-mode transportation and shows its applicability to real-world problems,” Jingjin Yu, a computer science professor at Rutgers University who was not involved in the research, told MIT News.
This vision of a driverless future for flying cars might be a bit of a disappointment for those who’d envisaged themselves one day piloting their own hover car just like George Jetson. But autonomy and Uber-like ride-hailing business models are likely to be attractive, as they offer potential solutions to three of the biggest hurdles drone-like passenger vehicles face.
Firstly, it makes the vehicles accessible to anyone by removing the need to learn how to safely pilot an aircraft. Secondly, battery life still limits most electric vehicles to flight times measured in minutes. For personal vehicles this could be frustrating, but if you’re just hopping in a driverless air taxi for a five minute trip across town it’s unlikely to become apparent to you.
Operators of the service simply need to make sure they have a big enough fleet to ensure a charged vehicle is never too far away, or they’ll need a way to swap out batteries easily, such as the one suggested by the makers of the Volocopter electric helicopter.
Finally, there has already been significant progress in developing technology and regulations needed to integrate autonomous drones into our airspace that future driverless flying cars can most likely piggyback off of.
Safety requirements will inevitably be more stringent, but adding more predictable and controllable autonomous drones to the skies is likely to be more attractive to regulators than trying to license and police thousands of new amateur pilots.
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#428626 Cimcorp to fully automate Turkish Tire ...
Cimcorp Selected to Supply Turnkey Automated Handling System to Large Turkish Tire Manufacturer, Petlas
The leading tire handling specialist’s system will handle tires in the tire-finishing and palletizing areas in Turkish manufacturer’s expanded facility
Ulvila, Finland – November 9, 2016 – Cimcorp, leading global supplier of turnkey automation for intralogistics and tire-handling solutions, announces it has been selected to implement a fully automated handling system in Petlas Tire Corporation’s (Petlas) factory in Kirsehir, Turkey. Based on Cimcorp’s Dream Factory solution, the automation will take care of the handling of passenger car radial (PCR) finished tires in the tire-finishing and palletizing areas. Work on the order is already underway and the’ turnkey material handling system will become fully operational in fall 2017.
The order, Cimcorp’s first project for Petlas, is part of a huge investment program to expand the Kirsehir plant in order to increase Petlas’ PCR production capacity and meet growing demand.
Turkey achieved record car production and export levels in 2015, with production up by 16 percent and exports up 12 percent over the preceding year. This growth rate is higher than in any other European country and, with its automotive plants rolling out 1.36 million vehicles in 2015, Turkey is now the seventh largest automotive producer in Europe.
With the production equipment – the tire-building machines, presses and testing machines – already installed, Petlas is commencing the automation of the plant’s material handling. This comprises Cimcorp’s robotic buffer stores, tire conveyors and control software – Cimcorp WCS (Warehouse Control Software) – to take care of all material flows. Using linear robots operating on overhead gantries, the system will automate the handling and transfer of finished tires from the trimming stations, through visual inspection and uniformity testing, to palletizing.
Yahya Ertem, general manager, Petlas Tire Corporation, said, “We think highly of Cimcorp’s software, which integrates the machines into one entity and keeps the flow of material and data under complete control. Cimcorp’s Dream Factory solution fits with our vision to achieve ‘excellence in business’ and will help us to achieve our strategic goals.”
Tero Peltomäki, vice president of sales and projects, Cimcorp, said, “It has been fantastic to work with the Petlas team, honing our design into the best possible solution for the Kirsehir plant. The automation will help Petlas to enhance its market position as a leading tire manufacturer and distributor and we look forward to working on future automation projects with the company.”
To receive high-resolution images, please send requests to Heidi Scott via email at: lasendio@dprgroup.com
About Cimcorp
Cimcorp Group – part of Murata Machinery, Ltd. (Muratec) – is a leading global supplier of turnkey automation for intralogistics, using advanced robotics and software technologies. As well as being a manufacturer and integrator of pioneering material handling systems for the tire industry, Cimcorp has developed unique robotic solutions for order fulfillment and storage that are being used in the food & beverage, retail, e-commerce, FMCG and postal services sectors. With locations in Finland, Canada and the United States, the group has around 300 employees and has delivered over 2,000 logistics automation solutions. Designed to reduce operating costs, ensure traceability and improve efficiency, these systems are used within manufacturing and distribution centers in 40 countries across five continents. For more information, visit www.cimcorp.com.
About Petlas Tire Corporation (Petlas)
Founded in 1976, Petlas Tire Corporation has operations in 98 countries worldwide and employs 2,150 people. The company’s plant in Kirsehir currently has the capacity to produce 8 million PCR (passenger car radial) tires, 2 million agricultural tires, 500,000 TBR (truck & bus radial) tires and 300,000 OTR (off-the-road) tires per year. For more information, visit www.petlas.com.
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#428357 UV Disinfection robot
Tech-Link Healthcare Systems partners with Blue Ocean Robotics Introducing UV-Disinfection Robot
Singapore, 1 November 2016 – The rise of robots have steered Tech-Link Healthcare Systems, a design and integrator of healthcare automation systems to offer solutions beyond automated storage and material handling systems. With a vision of providing holistic solutions for healthcare organisations, Tech-Link extends its capabilities by offering UV disinfection robot solutions via a strategic partnership with Danish robotics company, Blue Ocean Robotics to battle against Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs).Singapore’s labour intensive healthcare environment and the unknown impact of HAIs in the developed city-state had beckoned Tech-Link Healthcare Systems to offer solutions in the area of disinfection. We recognised the rise in demand for robots to collaborate with humans and have identified this need for customers. Introducing robotic technologies as part of our suite of solutions is the company’s mission to innovate the way healthcare organisations work and enhance their customers’ experience.Tech-Link’s partnership with Blue Ocean Robotics affirms both companies’ efforts in reaching out to new markets with technology and solutions to ease manpower crunch, deliver greater value and improve the quality of healthcare services. As an official sales partner, we bring together Blue Ocean Robotics’ expertise in automating disinfection procedures to promote safer, efficient and more productive work environment.
“Tech-Link looks forward to developing reliable healthcare solutions with hardware and latest technologies from Blue Ocean Robotics for our customers in Singapore and abroad.” said Director of Tech-Link Healthcare Systems, Tan Hock Seng. “Our similar beliefs in the Blue Ocean strategy synergise the collaboration to improve the quality of healthcare services through robotics.” he added.“We are very excited about our new sales partner Tech-Link Healthcare Systems, since it is of great importance for Blue Ocean Robotics to expand our sales of new technologies beyond Denmark’s borders. Blue Ocean Robotics focuses on creating new markets for robots. This includes both the development of new technologies and the creation of new markets for revolutionary robot solutions. We welcome Tech-Link Healthcare Systems with open arms and look forward to a fruitful collaboration in the years ahead.” said Claus Risager, Rune K. Larsen & John Erland Østergaard, Partners and Co-CEOs, Blue Ocean Robotics.
UV-Disinfection RobotThe UV-Disinfection Robot – also called UV-DR – is an autonomous disinfection robot for hospitals, production lines and pharmaceutical companies. The robot is used primarily in, but not limited to the cleaning cycle with the aim of reducing spread of HAIs, infectious diseases, viruses, bacteria and other types or harmful organic materials.UV-DR is a mobile robot that can drive autonomously while emitting concentrated UV-C light onto pre-defined infectious hotspots in patient rooms and other hospital environments, thus disinfecting and killing bacteria and virus on all exposed surfaces. An exposure time of ten minutes is estimated to kill up to 99% of bacteria such as Clostridium Difficile.
About Tech-Link Healthcare Systems Pte LtdTech-Link Healthcare Systems is a subsidiary of Tech-Link Storage Engineering established in Singapore since 2015. The company designs and provides innovative solutions for the healthcare sector, focusing on advanced and emerging solutions to support healthcare organisations in optimising available resources and services. Tech-Link Healthcare Systems design and implement automated material handling systems to enhance secured material transport and logistics storage management in hospitals and other healthcare facilities. As a complete solution provider, the company also provides consultancy in systems design to streamline and automate processes as well as integrated video solutions within healthcare facilities.About Tech-Link Storage Engineering Pte LtdTech-Link Storage Engineering is a group of companies established in Singapore with more than 25 years of principal activities in procurement, manufacturing and marketing of storage, distribution and materials handling products and systems. From its domain expertise in storage and racking systems, Tech-Link is also involved in R&D, system design, supply and implementation of logistics supply chain automation systems. The business expanded its global capabilities in the area of planning and consultancy to provide solutions for Built-to-Suit industrial developments and Healthcare logistics systems.
Tech-Link is an ISO 9001:2008 and OHSAS 18001:2007 certified company for Quality Management System and Occupational, Health and Safety System.Visit www.techlinkstorageengineering.comAbout Blue Ocean RoboticsBlue Ocean Robotics is an international company group with presence across the globe including America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The robotics company has its headquarter in the city of Odense (www.odenserobotics.dk) in Denmark. Blue Ocean Robotics applies robot technology to create solutions and innovation for end-users and new businesses in partnerships.Visit www.blue-ocean-robotics.com
Here is a video showing the robot in action:
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#428173 Next-Gen Robotics & Automation: ...
PRESS RELEASE:
The fall in price of next-generation robots from hundreds to tens of thousands of pounds means that the business case just became stronger for automotive vehicle and parts manufacturers to implement robotic solutions across individual manufacturing lines.
Challenges and pitfalls remain though, with nearly 76% of the target audience lacking clarity on robotic capabilities and implementation best practice. From how to prepare process for automation, to the individual capabilities of each type of robot for individual production lines, OEMs need to know the next best step.
This year’s must attend Next-Generation Robotics & Automation: Automotive Manufacturing Europe 2016 Summit will be the only event focused on robotic upgrade and innovation, specifically for the automotive industry.
Co-located with our UK flagship Joining, Forming & Manufacturing Technologies Summit, on 29th-30th November, at the VOX in Birmingham, this must attend event addresses how to retain cutting edge in automotive manufacturing and the tactics needed to get next-generation robots right, first time.
Reasons To Attend:
The Only European Robotics Event Dedicated To The Automotive Industry
Discuss selection and implementation challenges specific to your sector:
8+ Robotic Capabilities Case Studies – Comprehensive access to exclusive manufacturer perspectives on Next-Generation Robotic applications – direct from the plant
5 Process Specific Breakout Groups – Grapple with application, maintenance & selection considerations particular to your production process: Body Shop, Paint Shop, Power Train & Final Assembly
4 Robot-Type Deep Dive Discussion Groups – Discuss with peers the capabilities and attributes of each specific next-generation robot type to address their relevance to your needs: Zero Speed Monitoring, Power & Force Limited, Speed & Separation & Hand Guided Robots
Strategic & Technical Focus – A blended programme offers access to business case and strategic considerations, as well as tactical robotic application techniques
Speakers Include:
Willem Grobler, Technology Project Leader, BMW
Rich McDonnell, Senior Manufacturing Manager TS-22,
Jaguar XE & F-Pace Body Construction, Jaguar Land Rover
Dan Lämkull , Methods Developer, Volvo Car Corporation
Ali Ackay, Control Technologies & Robotics – Manufacturing Engineering Development, Daimler AG & Mercedes-Benz Trucks
Register today to profit from the Super Early Bird Discount, and reserve your place at the innovation hub of the European Automotive sector in time!
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