Information briefs for the week check out the development 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 vehicles delivering whereas in hurt’s manner, and robots gobbling plastic bottles in Paris.
Resolution-selling gaining reputation
Amongst robotic and cobot distributors there’s a trending motion to promote options relatively than promoting particular person machines and parts.
An answer to a producing or logistics want is, in any case, the logical finish recreation for patrons. They should get a job achieved; displaying 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 facility platform, LINK5, together with Doosan’s cobots, supplies a job-ready, full automation package deal, particularly for SMEs, that may in any other case be too complicated 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 so on. Simple to see the enchantment 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 increase answer promoting to a wider vary of 
clients. Doosan has just lately produced a new F&B or meals & beverage cobot, that’s a food-safe automation answer for a variety of meals and beverage gadgets, akin to espresso, ice cream, fried meals, confectionery, quick meals, and barbecue cooking.
Key to the cobot’s enchantment 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 facility platform “Dart Suite”, which allows straightforward design and sharing of capabilities 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’ll preserve our place because the No. 1 collaborative robotic firm in Korea by offering the most effective F&B answer.”
Cobot options that save area
One other widespread cobot answer 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 a wide range of functions.
The choice is time-consuming, complicated, and costly, particularly if attempting to rapidly swap 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 difficult 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 facility being a spot the place industrial accidents appear to be a part of the job description. And when accidents do occur, they’re very critical. Iron & Metal Know-how reviews: “Accident statistics of the metal trade 
point out that metal manufacturing continues to be a harmful work surroundings.”
In 2022, Finnish-based Outokumpu’s German facility in Krefeld, began researching the probabilities 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 answer; 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 expertise will assist us to extend security by lowering worker publicity to hazardous substances and environments, optimize manufacturing by means of preventive upkeep, and reduce environmental impacts.
In accordance with Outokumpu, the usage of robotics may scale back human publicity to hazardous substances by 80%.
UN’s robotic vehicles to ship meals and provides
Autonomous road automobiles will not be prepared for prime time on busy city streets and even in suburbia, for that matter. However in South Sudan throughout a civil struggle, with UN assist staff getting shot at and killed, autonomous vehicles will do exactly tremendous, so says Bernhard Kowatsch, who heads the innovation division on the UN’s World Meals Program (WFP).
“AI-powered robotic automobiles may 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 towards humanitarian assist staff have intensified lately. AI is used to mix knowledge 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 adequate meals and provides, robotic vehicles could also be superb.
The vehicles are amphibious and may carry about 1-2 tons of meals every. As a part of the AHEAD (Autonomous Humanitarian Emergency Support Units) challenge with the German Aerospace Heart (DLR), “WFP will check the autonomous vehicles early subsequent yr,” Kowatsch stated.
The U.N. company is already utilizing about 50 of the automobiles in South Sudan however they at present require drivers; subsequent yr (2024), the vehicles might be driverless.
Robots with mega urge for food for plastic bottles
There are 500 robots shredding plastic bottles all through France, on the price 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 tip of this yr, increase 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 answer 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 worldwide rPET market [rPET stands for recycled polyethylene terephthalate] with a big progress outlook however inadequate capability, b:bot goals to grow to be a significant participant in assortment and recycling options.
