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NASA Invites Media to See Mars Habitat Before Crew Enters for One Year
NASA has invited the media to visit its simulated Mars habitat on Tuesday, April 11, at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. This summer, four volunteers will begin a yearlong Mars mission in the ground-based habitat, helping NASA prepare for human exploration of Mars. The mission is the first of three planned in the… Read More…
Video of the Week: RDI Adds Vibration Analysis to Industrial Operations
RDI Technologies, which develops Motion Amplification vibration analysis solutions, has announced that it is bringing this technology to Boston Dynamics’ mobile robot, Spot. The new camera-based solution, Iris Explorer payload for Spot, will combine the mobility and automation of Spot with the vibration analysis technology from RDI.
The combination will allow industrial customers to take next-generation vibration analysis right to the asset in even the most hazardous or remote environments, RDI said. The Iris Explorer robotic route-based vibration analysis solution means customers can perform high volume, highly repeatable autonomous route-based vibration analysis with reduced risk and increased efficiency.
Sponsored Video: Oriental Motor’s AZ Series mini Driver
The AZ Series mini Driver from Oriental Motor works with a variety of AlphaStep AZ Series, DC input products. This driver can be controlled using EtherCAT or RS-485 communication and daisy chained to maximize design, space and improve installation time. The mini Driver is also designed to be close to the motor, making it ideal for robotic applications.
Robotics World News
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IFR: 1M Robots Work in Car Industry Worldwide
The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) said the automotive industry has the largest number of working in factories around the world, with operational stock hitting a new record of 1 million units. The IFR said this represents about one-third of the total number installed across all industries. “The automotive industry effectively invented automated manufacturing,” said… Read More…
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Vitestro Raises €12M for Autonomous Blood Drawing Device
Netherlands-based Vitestro, which develops an autonomous blood drawing device, has announced completing a €12 million ($12.9 million) Series A financing round, led by California-based Sonder Capital, along with existing and new private investors. The company said proceeds from the funding round will be used to accelerate product development, prepare EU market authorization, and initiate production…. Read More…
Featured Robot: Flexiv Launches Moonlight, a Force-Controlled Parallel Robot
Flexiv, which develops general-purpose robotic solutions, has announced the release of its latest robot to its portfolio, the Moonlight adaptive parallel robot. Moonlight is a force-controlled parallel robot aimed at applications that require precise motion and force control, such as screw fastening, ultra-accurate loading, and polishing.
With Flexiv’s force control technology, Moonlight can measure force down to 0.1N, so even delicate objects can be handled, the company said. This enables tasks such as polishing and sanding uneven surfaces possible, while guaranteeing output quality and practically eliminating workpiece damage.
Products for Robots & Cobots
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Ouster, LASE Sign Multi-Year Agreement to Automate Port Operations
Ouster, which develops high-performance lidar sensors, has signed an agreement with LASE GmbH, which develops laser-based sensor applications for industrial equipment. The multi-year supply agreement aims to further automate and retrofit container terminals and crane systems at ports with 3D digital lidar sensors. The agreement includes a commitment for several hundred Ouster OS sensors through… Read More…
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Wisson Robotics Launches Pliable Robot Manipulators
China-based Wisson Robotics has announced the launch of the Nimbo pliable robotic manipulator series, based on its Pliabot technology that combines compliance, dexterity, a light weight and safety features to provide solutions to robots across several applications. Many innovations include Pliabot-compliant muscles as motion generation units and compact high-speed pneumatic controllers, in contrast to electric… Read More…
Robotics Market: Manufacturing
OnRobot Aims to Automate Robotic Deployment With D:PLOY
Denmark-based OnRobot has announced the launch of D:PLOY, designed to break down automation barriers to bring the benefit of collaborative automation to businesses of all sizes. Now available worldwide, D:PLOY is an automated platform for building, running, monitoring and re-deploying collaborative applications.
OnRobot said that by automating the process of getting a robotic application up and running, D:PLOY allows complete applications to be deployed and redeployed directly on the manufacturing floor in a few simple steps, without any programming knowledge needed. Applications supported in the launch include palletizing, CNC machine tending, packaging and pick-and-place, with additional applications coming in the future.
“The D:PLOY platform and its ability to truly democratize automation has been OnRobot’s goal from the beginning, and we have been laying the groundwork for years,” said Enrico Krog Iversen, CEO of OnRobot. “Today we offer the industry’s broadest range of tools and application solutions for every leading robot brand – all based on our ‘One System, Zero Complexity’ philosophy. Now that the building blocks are in place, we can finally launch the first version of D:PLOY, which will be a market enabler across the industry.”
Robotics Market of the Week: Material Handling / Logistics / Supply Chain
Editor’s Pick: Featured Article
ABB Develops Automated Antibody Testing to Help Tackle COVID
ABB Robotics has announced it developed an automated neutralizing antibody testing system with the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), aimed at providing an effective means of determining an individual’s immunity to various strains of COVID. Developed by ABB Robotics, LIfe Science and Healthcare Lab, located at the Texas Medical Center Campus in Houston, the system increases the number of neutralizing antibody tests performed, from 15 to more than 1,000 daily.
With a greater number of people assessed for immunity against the different strains of the COVID virus, automating the testing will help UTMB researchers gain a greater understanding of the effectiveness of COVID vaccines, ABB said.
“The ability to carry out more daily tests is the key to generating more data on individual immunity profiles that will help control the further spread of the virus,” said Dr. Michael Laposata, professor and chairman of the department of Pathology at UTMB. “By transforming the rate at which testing can be carried out and eliminating the need for large numbers of laboratory staff being exposed to the potential risk of infection in manual testing, the automated system we’ve developed with ABB provides an accurate, fast, flexible and safe way of meeting our goals.”
