Robotics

In practice

Robotic automation is racing ahead

It is an exciting time in engineering automation. Over the past decade, the pace of innovation has accelerated automation and robotics to meet demands from the sector. Global sales volume of industrial robots has tripled[1] and the industrial robotics market is projected to reach USD 30.8 billion by 2027, from 17.68 billion by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 14.3% during the forecast period[2] .

In practice

Robotic automation, development at pace!

Whether it is the alignment of key technological trends or the societal upheavals caused by global pandemics and rising climatic temperatures, the impacts are being felt in our factories and our shops. We have talked for many years in the engineering automation sector about the accelerating pace of innovation and whether this is real or solely our viewpoint perception. I believe there are many exciting changes afoot. Talking with our customers at shows and events I hear about the change drivers they are experiencing and how these manifest in their businesses: for example, as labour shortages in fields and factories, rising energy costs or the need for higher flexibility and productivity. For Festo and other automation suppliers, the result is increasing opportunities for automation and robotics.

Perspectives

Robotics in the Food Industry

Andy MacPherson, Industry Manager for Food & Beverage at Festo GB, shares his thoughts on why this is the perfect time for the food industry to invest in robotics and automation.

Bionics

Programming a robot is child’s play

When it comes to programming, most of us probably think about complicated lines of code with lots of abbreviations, brackets and other symbols. But programming a robot can actually be very easy, as is shown by the software that Festo developed for its pneumatic lightweight robot, the BionicCobot.

Innovation

Fascinating interaction

Whether at Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida or in the Phaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg, visitors like to converse with the humanoid robot RoboThespian. It approaches them directly and does so with movements that look quite natural. All this is made possible by the latest technology from Festo, such as the fluidic muscle and piezo valves. The 1.75-metre-tall humanoid weighing 33 kilograms was developed by Engineered Arts Limited in the English town of Penryn in Cornwall.

Bionics

A dress made of circuits

With Moulded Interconnect Device technology – MID for short – visible, three-dimensional conductive paths can be applied to the surface of injection-moulded components. This enables mechanical and electronic functions to be integrated on a single shaped part in a unique way.