industrial robot

Boston Dynamics has unveiled significant updates and hardware improvements for its Spot robot. These advancements are designed to enhance Spot’s autonomous inspection capabilities and improve human-robot interaction in various industrial settings.

ABB is expanding its FlexPicker Delta robot portfolio with the IRB 365. With five axes and 1.5kg payload, the IRB 365 is both flexible and the fastest in its class for reorientating packaged lightweight products such as cookies, chocolates, peppers, candies, small bottles, and parcels.  

The World Robotics 2021 Industrial Robots report shows a record of 3 million industrial robots operating in factories around the world – an increase of 10%. Sales of new robots grew slightly at 0.5% despite the global pandemic, with 384,000 units shipped globally in 2020. This trend was dominated by the positive market developments in China, compensating the contractions of other markets. This is the third most successful year in history for the robotics industry, following 2018 and 2017.

Trimble announced the release of the Trimble X7 3D laser scanner and Trimble FieldLink software fully integrated with Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot. This solution is jointly developed with Boston Dynamics, and it facilitates autonomous operation on construction sites and takes advantage of the robot’s capabilities to navigate challenging, dynamic and potentially unsafe environments. 

Velodyne Lidar announced ANYbotics is equipping its autonomous mobile robots with Velodyne’s Puck lidar sensors. ANYbotics robots provide industrial operators with an automated robotic inspection solution to support efforts in monitoring and maintaining plants.

The past year OnRobot unlocked several new markets with its collaborative robot solutions. The pandemic led to new industries discovering robotics, food with disrupted supply chains to pharmaceuticals with increased production combined with enhanced safety. Rocking Robots talked to Vikram Kumar, General Manager DACH & Benelux at OnRobot about the strategy of his company.

Fluke Process Instruments, provider of infrared imaging and thermal profiling solutions for industrial applications, has partnered with Boston Dynamics to bring Fluke Process Instruments’ new SV600 Fixed Acoustic Imager capabilities to Boston Dynamics’ agile mobile robot Spot.

Seegrid Corporation, provider of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) for material handling, announced the addition of a Robots as a Service (RaaS) subscription model. The additional purchasing model provides customers with more alternatives to get access to the latest Seegrid Palion AMR fleet and enterprise software solutions.

Universal Robots’ best-selling robot UR10e is launching with an increased payload, enabling the cobot to serve even more applications and handle heavier items while improving overall productivity for customers. Universal Robots (UR) is launching an enhanced UR10e with an increased payload of 12.5kg (27.55lbs), creating new possibilities for applications such as palletizing, machine tending, and packaging.

Manufacturing at Ford Motor Company uses a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and industrial robotics. Symbio Robotics announced it will work with Ford Motor Company to deploy an AI-controlled robot at the automaker’s Livonia Transmission Plant. The robot is programmed and managed with Symbio’s robot-agnostic platform, SymbioDCS, to assemble transmissions for the Bronco Sport, Escape and Edge, to name a few.