Marco van der Hoeven

A slow U.S. economy and high interest rates have taken a toll on robot orders in North America, resulting in a decline for the second quarter in a row after record purchases in 2021 and 2022. According to the latest report from the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), companies ordered 7,697 robots valued at $457 million from April to July 2023, a 37% decline in robot orders and 20% drop in value over the same period in 2022.

Universal Robots’ UR20 cobot has been equipped with a specialized welding application. This updated feature offers an 18” additional reach radius and is complemented by next-gen design enhancements. Vectis Automation will showcase the welding-equipped UR20 at Universal Robots’ FABTECH booth, highlighting its broadened welding capabilities and efficiency improvements.

Agriculture firms, Krone and Lemken, have entered into a collaboration with Apex.AI, a company that specializes in safety-certified software for autonomous applications. The partnership is focused on advancing the ‘Combined Powers’ project, an autonomous farming system prototype.

By 2025, more than half of all software engineering leader (SWEL) role descriptions will explicitly require oversight of generative artificial intelligence (AI), according to Gartner.

MIT researchers have developed new algorithms for trajectory planning and control of a tailsitter that take advantage of the maneuverability and versatility of this type of aircraft. Their algorithms can execute challenging maneuvers, like sideways or upside-down flight, and are so computationally efficient that they can plan complex trajectories in real-time.

A recent survey of chief information security officers (CISOs) by Gartner revealed that 69% of top-performing CISOs dedicate recurring time on their calendars for personal professional development. This is compared with just 36% of bottom-performing CISOs who do so. But as AI adoption proliferates, CISOs are already behind the curve in assessing its risk impact.

Newegg Commerce, a global e-commerce provider for technology products, today announced it has recently deployed Geek+’s shelf-to-person mobile picking system that uses autonomous mobile robots (AMR) in its Ontario, Calif., warehouse.

The agricultural robots market is projected to grow from USD 13.5 Billion in 2023 to USD 40.1 Billion by 2028, at a CAGR of 24.3%, according to a new report by ResearchAndMarkets.com. Increased awareness about digital agriculture is driving the widespread usage of agriculture robots as farmers recognize the transformative potential of advanced technologies in modernizing and optimizing farming practices.

The 2023 World Robot Conference (WRC), themed “Spurring Innovation for the Future”, concluded successfully in Beijing. Running concurrently with the event were the 2023 World Robotics Expo and the 2023 World Robot Contest, which saw participation from about 160 robotics companies and research institutions globally, showcasing close to 600 advanced technologies and products.

Since 2016 Universal Robots has offered robotics training to customers and others with an interest in collaborative robots. And now, after having grown increasingly popular in the past years and with over 120 onsite training centers across the globe, more than 200,000 robotics enthusiasts have joined the Universal Robots Academy.