Robotics

The last decade accounted for over four billion records tampered and stolen. Ten of the 15 biggest data breaches of all time took place in the 2010s. Here, industry expert Vincentas Grinius, CEO of Heficed, the IP address infrastructure service provider, has introduced the major cloud breaches of the past ten years and discussed how similar crimes could be avoided in the future.

The Robotic Industries Association (RIA), part of the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), has announced 2019 North American robot unit orders are up 1.6% compared to 2018 results, with 29,988 robotic units ordered. Order revenue for 2019 is down 1.3%, closing the year with $1.681bn.

The European Union (EU) became the first authority in the world to publish comprehensive drone regulations and rules for the safe, secure and sustainable use of drones. Published in June 2019, Regulation (EU) 2019/945 and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/947 cover commercial and leisure drones.

One of the UK’s drone experts has urged British property owners and business leaders to leverage the opportunity of their under-used land for drone testing, to help accelerate the rate of growth of the UK drone industry, in the face of what he described as ‘an emerging ‘bottleneck’ to growth’. 

Scribit has teamed up with the Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi, Director of The Dalai Lama Centre for Ethics and Transformative Values at MIT and President of Prajnopaya Foundation at MIT, to develop the latest installment of the Scribit Originals series, to explore how technology can help people to discover and express their spirituality.

Ross Robotics specialises in remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) that are modular. The robots are designed to be made from generic parts to build robots small, medium and large. Tools and sensors are modular too and can be plugged on to suit the application. One robot can then perform different functions, which is highly unusual in the robotic world. 

The UK industrial sector, alongside other elements of the UK economy, is undergoing a challenging time. While the decisive result of the general election has lifted much of the uncertainty around Brexit, there are still big unknowns regarding the future trading relationship with EU partners. 

The earliest printed circuit boards, patented by Austrian inventor Paul Eisler in 1943, were assembled by hand. The tedious method involved manually cutting, trimming and soldering numerous wires. The process was slow and prone to error and unfortunately, it hasn’t evolved much since.

We all appreciate that personal touch, whether it is a thoughtful gift, unique customer experience or made-to-measure clothing. As we value more bespoke products in both commercial and industrial settings, how can manufacturers ensure they meet demand without compromising on efficiency, cost or quality? Jonathan Wilkins, Director at EU Automation, explores how automation can help manufacturers improve mass customisation.

The RoboMantis modular robotic system from Motiv Robotics is capable of quadrupedal walking as well as wheeled motion. With four legs and up to two seven-axis manipulators, it can have up to 38 degrees of freedom, offering unprecedented dexterity. Exploiting this dexterity, however, can pose a daunting task for programmers.