The German gripper manufacturer Schunk has won this year’s Hermes Award for technological innovation at the 2024 Hannover Messe industrial fair in Germany. The award is for Schunk’s AI-powered 2D grasping kit which simplifies the autonomous handling of objects in random positions. No expert knowledge of programming or image processing is needed to set up a gripping application ..read more

At the Hannover Messe, Festo unveiled the latest in a long line of bionic versions of living creatures – this time, a bionic bee which weighs around 34 grams, is 220mm long and has a 240mm wingspan, making it the smallest flying object created so far by Festo’s Bionic Learning Network. The bees can fly in large numbers and move autonomously in swarms, following paths specified by a central computer ..read more

Boston Dynamics, the developer of the pioneering Atlas humanoid robot which has starred in many YouTube videos, has retired the original hydraulically-powered version and replaced it with a new electrically-powered successor ..read more

Siemens has opened the first part of its Siemens Technology Centre (STC) near Munich, in which it is investing more than €100m. The Centre will be the company’s largest global research hub, bringing together all of its corporate research activities in Germany, with around 450 people working on future technologies during its first phase ..read more

The Somerset-based electromechanical services provider, Rotamec Engineering Solutions, has acquired the gearbox repairs specialist Nottingham Electrical Transmissions (NET), for an undisclosed sum. Rotamec describes this as “a pivotal moment” in its strategy to extend its reach and refine it service offerings ..read more

A Californian company has demonstrated a software-based motor control technology which, it claims, can boost motor efficiencies while avoiding the need for rare-earth materials. At a symposium in Austria, Tula Technology showed a Tesla Model 3 vehicle retrofitted with an externally excited synchronous motor (EESM) running its Dynamic Motor Drive (DMD) software, and claimed that this could cut the EV’s energy consumption by up to 3 ..read more

At the 2024 Hannover Messe, Siemens is launching the first new generation of its Simatic S7-1200 PLCs for ten years. The new models are designed to help bridge the worlds of OT (operational technology) and IT (information technology), with high communications performance and efficient data-processing, thus boosting output. By connecting the controllers to IT systems, it is also possible to use advanced data analysis in the cloud, for example ..read more

At this month’s Hannover Messe, Siemens will be previewing a new SaaS (software-as-a-service) designed to identify cybersecurity vulnerabilities rapidly in factories. The cloud-based Sinec Security Guard offers automated vulnerability mapping and security management optimised for operators in OT environments ..read more

The Danish firm MiR (Mobile Industrial Robots) has announced a pallet-moving AMR (autonomous mobile robot) which uses AI (artificial intelligence) to identify, pick up and deliver pallets “with unprecedented precision”. The company says that the MiR1200 Pallet Jack sets new standards for the handling of palletised goods and solves many of the challenges that enterprises face when trying to add automation to complex, dynamic factory and warehouse environments ..read more

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