International

A University of Pittsburgh study suggests that while American workers who work alongside industrial robots are less likely to suffer physical injury, they are more likely to suffer from adverse mental health effects — and even more likely to abuse drugs or alcohol.

A quarter of the worlds energy is lost due to friction, corrosion and wear. Robots are machines with movable parts, and the machines that are used to make them obviously have moving parts too. This makes lubrication an interesting but largely ignored part of sustainability in robotics. That is why Castrol Industrial presented at the opening keynote at the European Robotics Forum in Rotterdam. Rocking Robots discussed the importance of reducing friction in robotics with Susan Frame of Castrol Industrial.

At the European Robotics Forum (ERF), which kicked off yesterday in Rotterdam, a broad range of topics related to robotics was discussed by representatives of science, business and public sector. In this interview with Rocking robots Bernd Liepert, president of euRobotics, discusses trends in robotics, the world class robotics start-up ecosystem in Europe and the crucial role of SMB.

The Executive Board of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) has elected Marina Bill of ABB as its new President. Kenji Yamaguchi of FANUC appointed as IFR´s new Vice President.

The Division of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH), better known as Cal/OSHA, has denied Monarch Tractor apetition to change safety guidelines in order to make autonomous tractors possible. Monarch, a maker of fully electric, driver-optional smart tractor, said it will ‘continue to drive farming toward a smart digital future’.

Can’t find skilled people for different automation roles externally? Look internally, to your employees, a lot of whom, after upskilling, are perfectly able to take on the role of citizen developer. After all, everyone working with IT will be a developer, eventually, says Patrick Kersten of UiPath Learning Partner Computrain/LLPA in this interview about upskilling, citizen developers and automation at TOGETHER Amsterdam.

Microplastics are found nearly everywhere on Earth and can be harmful to animals if they’re ingested. But it’s hard to remove such tiny particles from the environment, especially once they settle into nooks and crannies at the bottom of waterways. Now, researchers in ACS’ Nano Letters have created a light-activated fish robot that “swims” around quickly, picking up and removing microplastics from the environment.

NEURA Robotics has presented a range commercial cognitive robots family that can be used both in industry and as an intelligent Personal Assistant. Unlike conventional cobots, cognitive robots are meant to perceive their environment with all their senses, act autonomously based on AI, learn from experience, and can safely distinguish humans from other objects.

Inspired by the succesful Invest in Odense events in Denmark the Danish representatives of Odense participated in the FundingBox Start-up Arena at Automatica in Munich, where new connections were made between investors and robot companies. Rocking Robots discussed this event with Martyna Waliszewska, Investment Manager at Invest in Odense.

Aerobotix and Automated Solutions Australia (ASA)  officially announced a robotic automation international partnership between the two companies for the development, testing and manufacturing of hypersonic missiles. The partnership follows the 2021 signing of the AUKUS security pact between the U.S., U.K. and Australian Governments, which includes provisions for the allies to work together on hypersonic and counter-hypersonic capabilities.