Category Archives: Robotics

For many decades now, businesses have been integrating robotics, automation and AI into their systems and processes. Robots, which are essentially programmable machines, offer businesses greater productivity. Machines, unlike humans, can work endlesslydays, nights, weekends and holidays. They are also better suited to repetitive and mundane tasks, which humans can find boring.

But robots also offer answers to demographic questions. Thanks to the global ageing population, labour shortfalls are on the horizon. Countries such as Japan where the robotics industry is among the most developed in the world are already leaning on robotics and automation to plug the gap.

The companies listed below are all found in the ETFS ROBO Global Robotics and Automation ETF (ASX: ROBO).

Materialise NV is a Belgian 3D printing and software company. They specialise in 3D printing of healthcare products but have recently expanded into metal manufacturing. To give examples, for medical printing they can create personalised implants like dental implants, prosthetic limbs or create 3D models of hearts for surgeons. Their 3D printing software is widely regarded as the best in the market and used by many other companies.

Zebra Technologies makes barcode scanners and printers, which help companies track their assets. Zebra has benefitted from e-commerce and the growing use of warehouses, which require vast electronic cataloguing systems in order to automate delivery. Many companies use Zebras barcoding system to make things more efficient. Zebra has also benefited from hospitals using barcode technology to keep track of specific samples and medicines.

Kohyoung Technology is a Korean business that helps factories make better electrical equipment and remove defects. It does this by making computers that can detect soldering defects on circuit boards, a crucial component given that over 70% of defects can be traced back to bad soldering. Kohyoung has marquee customers such as Apple, Samsung and Tesla.

iRobot Corporation came from humble beginnings as an MIT start-up and builds robots that are used at home, as well as by the military and police. Its most famous robot is its vacuum cleaner Roomba, which is used in millions of households worldwide. iRobots military robots are used for bomb disposals and entering environments that are too dangerous for humans.

Hexagon AB is a Swedish business that makes sensors and measuring machines, like level meters and total stations. Its sensors are often used as component parts for robots that require sensors for their navigation systems. It has also been boosted by the logistics and ecommerce sector thanks to the coronavirus. Many robots in warehouses require accurate sensors. Its measuring equipment and software are often used in engineering and construction.

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5 robotics and automation stocks to supercharge your portfolio - Rask Media

Ask anyone who runs a fulfillment/warehouse robotics company what companies top motivation is for embracing automation and theyll probably cite labor shortages or shipping speeds. The looming truth of the matter boils down to one word: Amazon. And while its true that smaller businesses are feeling the worst crunch, no one is immune to the online retailers dominance. Not even Walmart.

Today, the fellow retail giant announced its latest robotics partnership, teaming with Massachusetts-based automation company Symbotic. The two announced today an extension of their relationship that will bring robotics to 25 regional Walmart distribution centers. The company says the rollout will take several years to complete.

The deal follows a 2017 pilot that brought Symbotics autonomous robotics platform to Walmarts Brooksville, Florida distribution center in a bid to increase freight sorting, stocking and unloading.

The digital transformation happening today, alongside evolving customer habits, is reshaping the retail industry, Walmarts Joe Metzger said in a release. To serve customers now, and in the future, our business must provide the right tools and training to our associates so they can deliver the items our customers want, when they want them, with unmatched convenience. Were investing in our supply chain at an unprecedented scale in order to optimize that process end-to-end.

Walmart has been aggressive about piloting robots over the last several years, in hopes of expediting some of its processes. As weve noted before, however, its results have, thus far, been uneven. Most notable is the case of Bossa Nova Robotics. The startup was thrown for a loop when Walmart ended its contract with the inventory robotics maker. Thats what pilots are for, of course, but that likely doesnt dull the sting for the smaller company.

Symbotic has a significantly stronger track record, however. The company lists among its partners one of Walmarts biggest competitors: Target. And while Walmart could be exploring the possibility of acquiring its own startups ( la Amazon, which built its robotics wing atop its acquisition of Kiva Systems), it seems like existing ties could make such a deal a large hurdle.

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Walmart will be bringing Symbotic robots to 25 distribution centers - TechCrunch

Industrial Robotics Market in Europe 2021-2025. The analyst has been monitoring the industrial robotics market in Europe and it is poised to grow by USD 2. 51 billion during 2021-2025, progressing at a CAGR of almost 11% during the forecast period.

New York, July 14, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Industrial Robotics Market in Europe 2021-2025" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p05891139/?utm_source=GNW Our report on the industrial robotics market in Europe provides a holistic analysis, market size and forecast, trends, growth drivers, and challenges, as well as vendor analysis covering around 25 vendors.The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. The market is driven by rising industrial automation, rising demand for collaborative robots across industries, and increasing demand from Central and Southeast Europe. In addition, rising industrial automation is anticipated to boost the growth of the market as well.The industrial robotics market in Europe analysis includes the end-user segment and geographic landscape.

The industrial robotics market in Europe is segmented as below:By End-user Automotive Industrial machinery Electrical and electronics Food and beverage Others

By Geographical Landscape Germany Italy France Spain Rest of Europe

This study identifies the technical advances in smart robots as one of the prime reasons driving the industrial robotics market growth in Europe during the next few years. Also, advances in vision systems and increasing investments in Europes robotic industry by venture capitalists will lead to sizable demand in the market.

The analyst presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters. Our report on industrial robotics market in Europe covers the following areas: Industrial robotics market sizing in Europe Industrial robotics market forecast in Europe Industrial robotics market industry analysis in Europe

This robust vendor analysis is designed to help clients improve their market position, and in line with this, this report provides a detailed analysis of several leading industrial robotics market vendors in Europe that include ABB Ltd., b+m surface systems GmbH, Comau Spa, DENSO Corp., FANUC Corp., KUKA AG, OMRON Corp., Staubli International AG, Teradyne Inc., and Yaskawa Electric Corp. Also, the industrial robotics market in Europe analysis report includes information on upcoming trends and challenges that will influence market growth. This is to help companies strategize and leverage all forthcoming growth opportunities.The study was conducted using an objective combination of primary and secondary information including inputs from key participants in the industry. The report contains a comprehensive market and vendor landscape in addition to an analysis of the key vendors.

The analyst presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters such as profit, pricing, competition, and promotions. It presents various market facets by identifying the key industry influencers. The data presented is comprehensive, reliable, and a result of extensive research - both primary and secondary. Technavios market research reports provide a complete competitive landscape and an in-depth vendor selection methodology and analysis using qualitative and quantitative research to forecast the accurate market growth.Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05891139/?utm_source=GNW

About ReportlinkerReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.

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The Industrial Robotics Market is expected to grow by USD 2.51 billion during 2021-2025, progressing at a CAGR of almost 11% during the forecast...

The world of robotics has changed our lives in exceptional ways. From cooking, reading, customer service to assisting the healthcare industry, robotics has paved the way which is beyond excellence. Now it has stepped towards another level of innovation, a step towards cleaning oceans. Considering the vastness of our oceans, it covers more than 70% of the Earths surface. To preserve the ocean, robotics brought Jellyfishbot, a robot that eats trash.

The picturesque port at Cassis, southern France, has discovered the perfect solution to plastic bags, discarded beverage bottles, and even food wrappers, floating in the water among the boats in the marina. The solution is a bright yellow-colored remote-controlled electric powered boat that dodges around the harbor pulling the trash into a net that it trails behind its twin hulls. This robotic boat is called Jellyfishbot. It is about the size of a suitcase which enables it to get into the corners and small tapered spaces which are difficult for the cleaner with nets to reach. The Jellyfishbot is now operating in around 15 French ports and also has been exported to countries including Japan, Norway, and Singapore.

The boat has the power to go anywhere. The boat is created by IADYS. Looking into this, San Diego non-profit Clear Blue Sea is developing a proto-type trash-collecting robot called FRED. A marine technology firm based in the Netherlands, RanMarine, has also developed a robot called the Waste Shark which has been established to clean up garbage in Rotterdam harbor.

The boat has a radio-controlled guidance which is of 400 m (1300 ft) range with a dimension of 0.7 x 0.7 x 0.5 m (2.3 x 2,3 x 1.6 ft) weighing 18 kg (40 lbs). The battery level of the boat can be read via smartphone applications like Bluetooth. It is waterproof and robust. It can be easily handled by one person and has high cleaning performance.

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Robotics At its Next Level Featuring a Robot That Can Eat Trash - Analytics Insight

Remember the Harry Potter world, where kitchens used to make dinner by themselves; well, it is not an imagination anymore. Moley Robotics has brought in a game-changing revolution in the cooking industry, with its first-ever Robotic Kitchen that can automatically cook your food in no time. Moley cookware and utensils were designed together with a leading Italian appliances handicraft company. Key features of this set-up include ergonomic thermoresistant handles, mirror-polished stainless steel, an inner aluminum layer, and a magnetic outside stainless steel layer, which makes the cookware adaptive to any hob. Meanwhile, exceptional design makes the cookware worthy of being used at the table as well.

Moley Robotics was founded in 2014 by London-based computer scientist, robotics, and healthcare innovator Dr. Mark Oleynik, who has created the worlds first fully automated robotic kitchen unit. Moley Robotic Kitchen is a 3D cooking platform that allows the management of different cooking techniques (e.g., frying, steaming, boiling, baking, and adding ingredients on time to assemble the whole complicated dish from raw ingredients to achieve the highest quality result) and dish preparation stages in parallel and sequentially.

The need for RoboChef was identified in 2013 when Mark detected a gap in the current robotics market to radically change the volume of service, economics, and carbon footprint. Since then the company has had a long innovative journey from concept generation through system design, software, and hardware systems development to product launch in December 2020 during the only offline exhibition in Dubai.

Mark Oleynik, Ph.D., Founder/CEO/Interim CTO is an accomplished Ph.D. mathematician, computer scientist, and proven trailblazer. Mark has a truly exceptional vision for Moley Robotics. He has managed to patent robotic methods and manipulations in 12 countries and design patents and trademarks in 9 countries. He has invented a new system of robotic application not only in residential/commercial cooking environments but in other instrumental environments, where a system consisting of one and more integrated robotic arms can operate in all environments to complete multi-stage parallel and sequential process files.

Moley Robotics is solving the problems of households seeking higher standards of nutrition but having less time and willingness to cook. Restaurant delivery helps only partially, however, it does not keep the freshness and quality of the meal. People need an automated solution for cooking in their kitchen. At the same time, restaurants and other commercial kitchens struggle from staff turnover, increasing labor cost and human mistakes as well as increasing hygiene kitchen standards. Commercial kitchens need an automated solution for cooking and replacing part of human labor. There are many institutions and locations where top-quality chefs wont work: hospitals, night shifts/breakfast service in hotels, senior houses, penitentiary, dark kitchens. The company has joined partnership with SCHUNK and Universal Robots.

The main challenge through the journey of Moley Robotics is price optimization. According to Mark, the robotics market is high-margin and low-volume, and there are no applications that are currently implemented into the mass market. The companys strategy is to gradually increase the range of products that it develops, which will allow them to decrease the price and enter the mass market, cascading from the highest price segment to medium into low through the pyramid of demand.

Moley Robotics won the Best of the Best award during CES Asia in 2015. It has the strongest and oldest patent portfolio from 2014 with 8 granted patents as well as the first and only robotic kitchen in the world to be able to cook a whole dish from fresh ingredients. It is famous for its unique robotic hand developed and produced with SCHUNK, the world-leading robotic manufacturer. It has a cloud-based library of robotic recipes from world-class chefs along with the high-end design of the residential version. Moley Robotics integrated multiple recipe types and variations capabilities in one machine.

Moley Robotics has finalized the platform integration into residential kitchens, which allows the creation of a wide functional map of the integrated kitchen, meeting the household requirements. The next stage is to increase the kitchen system performance and reliability, which will allow it to be used in commercial applications, where high productivity of food preparation based on the renowned chefs various recipes is required. In the future, the company plans to integrate the platform into other environments: laboratory application, biotech, chemical, highly hazardous environment, medical, etc.

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Moley Robotics: Innovating the Future of Cooking - Analytics Insight

Jul. 14Cobb Schools Superintendent Chris Ragsdale will unveil plans on Thursday for the first phase of $160 million in federal money to come to the school district.

While Ragsdale said specific categories where money will be used will be presented during the meeting, the superintendent previously told the MDJ about 20% of the $160 million from the American Rescue Plan must be used to combat learning loss from extended online learning during the pandemic.

He said Thursday's discussion will focus on what he called the "first phase" of the money, the $104 million. He declined to give more details until his presentation to the board.

The school board is also expected to consider construction contracts for a $13.1 million performing arts center at Osborne High School and a $300,000 robotics lab at Walton High School.

Both projects would be paid for under the current cycle of the county's 1% sales tax for education.

The Osborne High School Performing Arts Center is expected to be complete in July 2022, according to the board's agenda item listing the contract with Carroll Daniel Construction of Gainesville.

The new 23,731-square-foot theater will seat 750 people, including a stage and associated support spaces, according to district officials. The project also covers the renovation of the existing 5,530-square-foot auditorium into a "black box theater" and two additional instructional units.

Osborne High School's main school building recently received a rebuild. The new, four-story $30 million Osborne opened its doors in August. The Osborne campus's rebuild is being completed in phases, said Ragsdale, and construction has now moved into the performing arts center phase.

Walton's $307,007 robotics lab would be built by Prime Contractors, Inc., of Powder Springs, and is expected to be complete in November, according to the school district.

That project, Ragsdale said, will give the robotics team at the high school its home back.

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"That is a new building. They were currently using, I believe, the old East Cobb Middle, because they had to relocate during the construction phase of Walton," he said. "So this will prepare them and provide them a place on campus."

The project covers the renovation of the existing 7,579-square-foot practice gymnasium into the robotics lab, inclusive of a practice field and associated shop areas.

Ragsdale said both the Osborne and Walton projects are "a great example of how Ed-SPLOST provides so much for our district."

In other business, the board is expected to consider:

An $887,050 track resurfacing at McEachern High School, to be paid for with money from the McEachern Endowment Fund;

A resolution calling for a special election on Nov. 2 to be held for a 1% special sales tax for education (Ed-SPLOST VI) that would begin collections in January 2024;

A contract with the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration for Ed-SPLOST VI election services. The district would pay for the costs attributed to its Ed-SPLOST election, which the agenda lists as "to be determined";

Adopting a resolution establishing the same millage rate as last year, at 18.9 mills. The adoption of that millage would increase the district's property tax revenues by about $32.2 million over last fiscal year.

Follow Thomas Hartwell on Twitter at twitter.com/MDJThomas.

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Federal money plans, Osborne theater, Walton robotics lab up for consideration Thursday - Yahoo News

CARRARA, Italy For centuries, the massive marble quarries above the Tuscan town of Carrara have yielded the raw material for the polished masterpieces of Italian sculptors like Michelangelo, Canova, Bernini and, most recently, ABB2.

Carving with pinpoint precision, and at least some of the artistic flair of its more celebrated (and human) predecessors, ABB2, a 13-foot, zinc-alloy robotic arm, extended its spinning wrist and diamond-coated finger toward a gleaming piece of white marble.

Slowly and steadily, ABB2 milled the slab of stone, leaving the contours of soft cabbage leaves for a sculpture designed and commissioned by a renowned American artist.

ABB2 is hardly a lone robotic genius, toiling away in anthropomorphic solitude. Just a few meters away, in a facility humming with robots, Quantek2 was rubbing away on another marble block, executing a statue envisioned by a British artist who had contracted out the manual labor to a robotic hand.

Since at least the Renaissance, the creative output of Italys artistic workshops has been among the countrys best-known and most valued exports. The founders and employees of this robotics lab believe that embracing advanced technology is the only way to ensure the country stays at the artistic forefront.

We dont need another Michelangelo, said Michele Basaldella, 38, a technician who calls himself the robots brain. We already had one.

One thing that hasnt changed in hundreds of years is artists sensitivity about who gets credit for their work. In Florentine workshops, many artisans worked in obscurity, with a sculpture or painting created by many getting just one masters signature.

Now, it is Carraras robots who work anonymously. Many of the artists who employ them demand that their identities be kept secret.

Artists want to perpetuate this idea that they are still chiseling with a hammer, said Giacomo Massari, one of the founders of Robotor, the company that owns the sculpting robots. It makes me laugh.

Standing amid the quarry dust, and wearing sunglasses to block the glare bouncing off the tons of marble transported down from the nearby Apennine Mountains, Mr. Massari, 37, argued that abandoning traditional handmade techniques was the only way to allow Italian marble sculpture to survive and thrive.

Carraras prosperity has long depended on the appeal of its marble to artists.

During the towns Renaissance boom years, Michelangelo roamed the surrounding quarries for weeks to find the perfect piece of marble for his Piet masterpiece.

In the 18th century, Carraras marble was transformed into scores of neo-Classical statues, and dozens of ateliers opened up here.

But among Modern and contemporary artists, Carraras marble fell out of favor, the translucent, gray-veined stone becoming more the stuff of bathroom floors, kitchen counters and funerary monuments.

Mr. Massari said that many artists had dismissed marble as a medium because of the months or even years it took to complete a single statue by hand.

And fewer young people in Carrara were up for the crushing work of chiseling stone, not to mention the dust-eating and all the other health risks that came with it. Canova is said to have deformed his sternum by bending his chest on a hammer for hours.

At a warehouse down the mountain, where technicians were testing a gigantic new robot, Mr. Massari pointed at a reproduction of Psyche Revived by Cupids Kiss, a masterpiece of neo-Classical sculpture. Canova took five years to make this, he said, we took 270 hours.

Mr. Massari and his partner initially bought their robots from local technology companies. But as clients including, among those who can be named, global stars like Jeff Koons, Zaha Hadid and Vanessa Beecroft gave them what Mr. Massari called increasingly crazy commissions, they started producing their own machines with homemade software and German parts.

Mr. Basaldella, the technician, said many of his former art school classmates were excellent sculptors but did not stand out, because manual dexterity is not new or in demand. But robots can achieve groundbreaking results if they are built with an artistic sensitivity, he said, sitting in a control room where he inspected a 3-D marble block scanned into his computer.

I think our robots are a work of art, he said.

He has even grown fond of some of his collaborators. He is doing everything he can to save one of the labs first, very tired models from the scrapyard.

OK, it doesnt talk, it does not have a soul, he said, but you get attached.

The robots are fast and precise, but not perfect. When one dug a deep crack from the forehead to the knee of a Sleeping Hermaphrodite reproduction for the American sculptor Barry X Ball, Mr. Basaldella almost fainted. The best-known version of this ancient sculpture sleeps at the Louvre on a marble mattress carved by Bernini.

While Mr. Basaldella cares enough about his robots that he started drawing up a horoscope for one, not everyone around Carrara shows the same level of empathy.

If Michelangelo saw the robots, he would tear out his hair, said Michele Monfroni, 49, in his workshop in the mountains near Carrara, where he sculpts Hercules reproductions, cherubs and the occasional police crest by hand. Robots are business, sculpture is passion.

Mr. Monfroni picked up his first hammer at 7 and virtually never put it down, refusing to employ machines, convinced that pulling a statue out of a marble block from scratch with ones hands is what defines sculpture.

Far from saving the countrys artistic legacy, he said, Italian art risks losing its international appeal if it drops its handmade tradition.

He approached a life-size marble portrait of a topless woman a present from the models husband for their poolside and started smoothing her cheek with a pumice stone. Sculpture is something you have inside, he said. If you use a robot, you also become a machine yourself.

Marco Ciampolini, an art historian and the director of a local museum, does not consider the use of robots a total break from the past, since many of historys greatest artists, including Michelangelo, delegated a big part of their work.

The idea of the artist working alone is a romantic concept created in the 19th century, he said. He added that while he welcomed technological advances that facilitate the sculptors job, he still thought a human touch was necessary to preserve artistic value.

Only a human knows when to stop, he said.

In the Robotor workshop, Mr. Massari said he didnt disagree with that assessment. The human touch, he said, represents just 1 percent of the work, but is essential.

In a nearby room, a dozen young, human sculptors were bent over some of the robots unfinished statues including one designed by the mischievous Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan refining the last details and fixing the inevitable imperfections left even by an intelligent machine.

The good thing about robots is that they cannot do everything, said Emanuele Soldati, 26, a former sculpture student, as he smoothed some details of a marble cabbage.

In three to four years they will be able to, replied a colleague, Lorenzo Perrucci, 23, as he traced holes in a marble sea sponge. And I will do something else. Maybe program a robot.

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We Dont Need Another Michelangelo: In Italy, Its Robots Turn to Sculpt - The New York Times

PITTSBURG, KS Pittsburg State University is giving kids the chance to hone their STEM skills for the next couple of weeks.

All part of the universitys annual Robotics and Construction Camp.

All classes are being held inside the Kansas Technology Center, and involve area kids between the ages of 9 and 14.

The two-week camp kicked off today.

We believe that the reason why students get so much out of this is because were using a basic system through LEGO that theyre able to grasp onto and yet were able to use it in a way that we can actually do what we like to call Edu-tainment or I like to call Learning Through Play. Says Norman Philipp, PSU College of Technology.

Each day consists of a morning session where the focus is robotics.

The kids then learn about construction during the afternoons.

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Pittsburg State University is hosting their annual Robotics and Construction Camp - KSNF/KODE - FourStatesHomepage.com

A series of online events during the summer and autumn will offer small businesses insight into how they could make use of robotics and automation.

Smart Hub Lanarkshire has announced a programme of free online events to help small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in different sectors explore the benefits of robotic technologies.

The programme begins on 28 July with an online event looking at the use of cobots collaborative robots in the food and drink sector.

Aimed at small food and drink businesses who are considering introducing automation, the event will be delivered by experts in the field of robotics, who will answer questions and help attendees make informed investment decisions.

They will also discuss the support that is available.

This will be followed by a similar event on 25 August , also looking at cobots, aimed at the life sciences sector, followed by a third event on 24 September for engineering and fabrication businesses.

Smart Hub Lanarkshire a newly opened centre dedicated to helping SMEs in the manufacturing sector grow and prepare for the future.

Run as a partnership between North Lanarkshire Council, New College Lanarkshire and the University of Strathclyde, it is home to a robotics and automation training facility and is a space for SMEs to access academic expertise and business support.

The hub opened virtually in April and aims to physically open its doors at New College Lanarkshires Motherwell campus later this year.

It was one of 12 projects to be awarded a share of 15.8m of funding from the Scottish Government through the Advancing Manufacturing Challenge Fund.

Professor Christopher Moore, principal at New College Lanarkshire, said: If you are considering introducing automated processes to your factory, and would welcome impartial industry insight and expertise to guide you, then these events will be invaluable.

As well as answers to technical questions, the panel will also be able to help you with queries about funding and finances.

Councillor Allan Graham, convener of the Enterprise and Growth Committee at North Lanarkshire Council, said: The events offer an excellent opportunity for local manufacturing SMEs to learn about the benefits of new robotics technologies.

As we start to recover from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Smart Hub Lanarkshire will provide support for manufacturing businesses to help them use these innovative technologies to develop and grow for the future.

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Smart Hub Lanarkshire offers small businesses insight into robotics and automation - Holyrood

Interoperability the ability of computer systems or programs to exchange information continues to enrich the robotic environment. Even though the term interoperability has been known in the industry for a while, there is a clear lack of industry-wide adoption of the practice when it comes to mobile robot fleets.

There are two main factors driving the need for interoperability -- the growing demand for mobile robots and their increasing specialisation.

The robotics industry has been booming for a while and will continue to do so for many years to come. In fact, the global robotics market is projected to reach $209.38 billion by 2025, growing at a 26% CAGR. Not only will this create many new opportunities, but a great number of challenges will arise too, especially with autonomous mobile robot (AMR) adoption increasing at a fast pace.

With this increasing demand for robots, automation is gaining a lot of popularity in warehouses around the world. In fact, the warehouse automation market is forecasted to reach a value of $30 billion in 2026 at a 10.41% CAGR during the forecast period. Thats double the value it had back in 2019.

With new technological advances, we can see higher levels of specializations of mobile robots. They are now being developed to serve more specific use cases. With robot sales hitting the roof, no manufacturer will be able to keep up with the demand. Instead, companies will need to deploy robots from multiple manufacturers in order to live up to their operational needs.

The result? Diverse robot fleets. We can already see many warehouses, logistic centers, hospitals and factories around the world deploying different types of robots that are often supplied by different manufacturers. For example, they will have a specific robot for lifting heavy items, another one for moving small items, one for security purposes, another for cleaning and so forth.

Heres where the real problem arises. Each manufacturer will supply its robot with its own operating system. This means that as soon as a robot is introduced to a fleet with robots from one or more other manufacturers, these robots will not be able to communicate with each other. Besides, as robots become more autonomous, they need to begin to communicate effectively to avoid collisions, delays in operations and other serious accidents on the work floor.

A case study found in Meili Robots recent report explores the pain points of interoperability.

As described in the case study, the project tested, adjusted and customized a fleet management solution for diverse mobile robot fleets at a Danish hospital. As expected, the main pain point turned out to be the inability of the robots own independent control systems to integrate into other systems these included both the logistics system of the hospital itself and the operating systems of other robots within the fleet.

It is very clear that there is a need for one universal fleet management system that can provide an overview and information including data analytics of the entire fleet, regardless of their type or brand. Moreover, it is crucial that third-party robots locations, routes, speed, etc. can be controlled in a levelled way. Not only will this help avoid collisions or other accidents on the work floor, but it also optimizes operational efficiency.

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Why the Need for Interoperability Will Shake Up Robotics Industry - Supply and Demand Chain Executive