Information briefs for the week check out the pattern in solution-selling of cobots vs. particular person machine gross sales, Doosan’s new food-safe cobots, cobot partnering for space-saving and collision-free operation, metal plant’s four-legged security robotic, UN’s robotic provide vans delivering whereas in hurt’s method, and robots gobbling plastic bottles in Paris.

Answer-selling gaining reputation

Amongst robotic and cobot distributors there’s a trending motion to promote options moderately than promoting particular person machines and elements.

An answer to a producing or logistics want is, in any case, the logical finish recreation for purchasers. They should get a job carried out; exhibiting a possible buyer precisely how to do this job may be the quickest route to creating a sale.

Korean cobot vendor Doosan Robotics teamed up with Telstar-Hommel, which is a three way partnership between Korea’s Telstar Engineering and Germany’s Hommel-Wertic. Telstar-Hommel builds and provides good manufacturing options to automate factories into “good” factories.

Telstar-Hommel’s AI-powered good manufacturing unit platform, LINK5, at the side of Doosan’s cobots, supplies a job-ready, full automation package deal, particularly for SMEs, which may in any other case be too advanced or be cost-prohibitive to do on their very own.

Such a partnership facilitates the method to place collectively full cobot cells for welding, screw fastening, choose and place, machine tending, and many others. Simple to see the attraction of such cost-appropriate, turn-key options to SMEs.

Doosan’s new food-safe cobots

With partnerships like Doosan-Telstar in place, cobot distributors then discover it simpler to broaden resolution promoting to a wider vary of prospects. Doosan has just lately produced a new F&B or meals & beverage cobot, that’s a food-safe automation resolution for a variety of meals and beverage objects, comparable to espresso, ice cream, fried meals, confectionery, quick meals, and barbecue cooking.

Key to the cobot’s attraction is its contamination-resistant coating and sealed gaps between connecting axes, which helped it safe meals hygiene and security certification from a US hygiene security company.

For 2024, Doosan plans its personal proprietary AI-powered good manufacturing unit platform “Dart Suite”, which permits straightforward design and sharing of features important for collaborative robotic operations.

“The E collection was developed to handle labor shortages within the meals service trade,” stated Ryu Jung-hoon, Doosan’s CEO. “We are going to keep our place because the No. 1 collaborative robotic firm in Korea by offering the most effective F&B resolution.”

Cobot options that save area

One other common cobot resolution is to not solely present automation for a course of, but additionally to preserve useful ground area for the method. As soon as once more, a partnership may be the quickest method to implement such a functionality.

For instance, Mitsubishi Electrical and Realtime Robotics automate collision-free motion of Mitsubishi Electrical’s cobots.

At Automate 2023, Mitsubishi and Realtime debuted how their new collaboration permits a number of robots to work in shut proximity with one another for quite a lot of purposes.

The choice is time-consuming, advanced, and costly, particularly if attempting to rapidly change a producing course of from one to a different (see video).

“With out the automated path planning and collision avoidance capabilities of the software program, integrators or finish customers must program every robotic independently and coordinate the robots’ strikes, which solely will get extra sophisticated if it is advisable to change robotic configurations within the cell.”

Metal plant’s four-legged security officer

It’s not arduous to think about a stainless-steel manufacturing unit being a spot the place industrial accidents appear to be a part of the job description. And when accidents do occur, they’re very severe. Iron & Metal Know-how reviews: “Accident statistics of the metal trade point out that metal manufacturing continues to be a harmful work atmosphere.”

In 2022, Finnish-based Outokumpu’s German facility in Krefeld, began researching the chances of an AI in security administration. From that preliminary search, security robotics emerged as the most effective different and “ANYbotics as the most effective provider for the robotics,” stated Thorsten Piniek, vice chairman, well being and security in Krefeld.

The corporate signed a cope with Swiss robotics vendor ANYbotics for an autonomous robotics resolution; in June of 2023, the primary 4-legged ANYmal robotic arrived at Outokumpu’s website.

Though it’s too early for any substantive stats on ANYmal’s deployment, Piniek says that ANYbotics’ robotics know-how will assist us to extend security by lowering worker publicity to hazardous substances and environments, optimize manufacturing by way of preventive upkeep, and reduce environmental impacts.

In keeping with Outokumpu, the usage of robotics might cut back human publicity to hazardous substances by 80%.

UN’s robotic vans to ship meals and provides

Autonomous avenue autos is probably not prepared for prime time on busy city streets and even in suburbia, for that matter. However in South Sudan throughout a civil battle, with UN help employees getting shot at and killed, autonomous vans will just do nice, so says Bernhard Kowatsch, who heads the innovation division on the UN’s World Meals Program (WFP).

“AI-powered robotic autos might ship meals parcels to battle and catastrophe zones,” says Kowatsch. Early in 2024, the WFP will give it a attempt in South Sudan the place assaults in opposition to humanitarian help employees have intensified in recent times. AI is used to mix information gleaned from varied sources together with satellites and sensors.

Airdrops are costly and require massive areas. As a sensible matter, to avoid wasting lives and ship enough meals and provides, robotic vans could also be splendid.

The vans are amphibious and may carry about 1-2 tons of meals every. As a part of the AHEAD (Autonomous Humanitarian Emergency Help Gadgets) undertaking with the German Aerospace Middle (DLR), “WFP will take a look at the autonomous vans early subsequent 12 months,” Kowatsch stated.

The U.N. company is already utilizing about 50 of the autos in South Sudan however they at present require drivers; subsequent 12 months (2024), the vans will likely be driverless.

Robots with mega urge for food for plastic bottles

There are 500 robots shredding plastic bottles all through France, on the charge of 500,000 bottles a day. Since 2021, the robots have shredded over 130 million bottles.

The numbers are so spectacular that the robotic firm, referred to as b:bot, simply raised $22.3 million to proceed its good work. “Plans are to double the dimensions of the robotic workforce by the top of this 12 months, broaden into new markets and to tackle the recycling of cans subsequent.”

“This funding will allow us to speed up the manufacturing and roll-out of our b:bot resolution whereas persevering with our R&D effort, as innovation is a core a part of our DNA”, says Benoit Paget, president and founding father of b:bot.

“Within the face of a world rPET market [rPET stands for recycled polyethylene terephthalate] with a big progress outlook however inadequate capability, b:bot goals to turn into a significant participant in assortment and recycling options.