Automation

The decision to replace Australia’s submarines has been stalled for too long by politicians afraid of the bad media about “dud subs” the Collins class got last century. Collins class subs deserved criticism in the 1990s. They did not meet Royal Australian Navy (RAN) specifications. But in this century, after much effort, they came good. Though they are expensive, Collins class boats have “sunk” … Continue reading Could robot submarines replace the ageing Collins class? →

For family-run businesses like Australia’s Prysm Industries, providing a high quality product while also keeping costs down can be a challenge.

“The alliance with WEG, will enable Direct Automation to offer a complete switchgear range to our industrial controls business,” said Katie Davies, Direct Automation’s Director.

Rethink Robotics’ Sawyer robot, announced in March last year, is available in Australia through distributor Impact Robotics.

Faced with increased international competition and a steep drop in mining construction, Doyalson-based Kmar Engineering sought to automate its structural steel coping process.

Though not a new term, “advanced manufacturing” has gained a lot of traction in Australia in the last year or two. There is no universal definition of the term, despite organisations all over the world making their own attempts to pin it down.

A new report by Bank of America Merrill Lynch has predicted a massive impact on manufacturing employment through the use of robotics.

Universal Robots recently hosted Manufacturers’ Monthly at the Clayton offices of a local supplier. Brent Balinski spoke to the company’s Andrew Pether about the UR3 tabletop robot’s features.

Also known as Variable Speed Drives, VFDs vary the frequency and voltage supplied to the motor, allowing for different speeds, torque or power to be used at different times (a high torque upon startup, and a lower torque during operation, for example).

For the second year in a row, Gartner has positioned Schneider Electric as a leader in its Magic Quadrant for DCIM Tools, measured by ‘completeness of vision’ and ‘ability to execute.’

Professor Toby Walsh, an artificial intelligence expert from UNSW’s School of Computer Science and Engineering, will speak at the United Nations in New York this week, calling for a ban on autonomous weapons.

Those who have prepared for the IIoT trend can consider its growth as a natural progression of their current practices and successes, rather than a disruptor.

Siemens and GlaxoSmithKline, one of the world’s leading research-based
pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, have entered a global strategic
partnership.

More and more factories – and the robotics companies that supply them – are seeing the appeal of collaborative robots. Brent Balinski spoke to Dr Esben Østergaard and Dr Rodney Brooks, both CTOs/co-founders of the two leading “co-bot” companies, about the development of the category, what it offers, and what the future might hold.

Nearly 60 per cent of Australian students are being trained for occupations where at least two thirds of jobs will be automated in coming years, according to a report.

Advanced manufacturing firm SAGE Automation and Spanish shipbuilding giant Navantia have formed a joint venture to develop defence technologies for the Australian Navy.

Most managers agree that automation is an important part of their business’s future, though there are worries around the effect on employment. Brent Balinski reports on some recent research and trends, and how they might reshape the industry.

Artificial intelligence and automation experts have said that the death of a young worker in a Volkswagen factory should be recognised as both a rarity and an unfortunate accident.

ABB has won an order worth $52 million to boost the flexibility and efficiency of Changan Ford Automobile Co’s new production facility in Harbin, China.

Cisco has released an Internet of Things system to manage large scale systems of diverse endpoints and platforms, and the data deluge they create.