Steve Crowe

ABB’s IRB-7720 modular industrial robot arm. | Credit: ABB ABB Robotics’ third Automotive Manufacturing Outlook Survey offers some great insights into how automotive manufacturing leaders and key suppliers view electric vehicle (EV) production objectives. According to the survey, there is a positive outlook from manufacturing leaders on the growth of EV production in 2025. Thirty-one percent of the 434 survey respondents predicted EV output would increase by more than 10%. A further 44% said production

[embedded content] The Robotics Summit & Expo, produced by The Robot Report, has unveiled the first look at its conference agenda for the April 30-May 1 event at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The Robotics Summit & Expo brings together 5,000+ developers focused on building robots for a variety of commercial industries. Attendees will gain insights into the latest enabling technologies, engineering best practices, and emerging trends. There will be 70-plus speakers on stage,

[embedded content] Physical Intelligence, the San Francisco-based startup that has raised more than $400 million, has open-sourced its Pi0 robotic foundation model. Pi0 was introduced a few months ago and can be tuned to a range of tasks, including folding laundry, cleaning a table, scooping coffee beans, and more. Physical Intelligence has released the code and weights for Pi0 as part of its experimental openpi repository on GitHub. It also provides checkpoints for a few

A screenshot from the Gazebo robotics simulator. Credit: Open Source Robotics Foundation Gazebo Classic, a popular robotics simulator developed by the Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF), reached end of life last week. Going forward, only versions of modern Gazebo will be supported by the Gazebo team. All versions of Gazebo Classic, denoted by numbered release names, are end-of-life. The last version of Gazebo Classic, Gazebo 11, was released in January 2020 as a long-term supported

The VDMA Robotics + Automation Association (VDMA R+A) is voicing concerns about Germany’s robotics industry. The German trade association, which falls under the VDMA umbrella that has 420-plus member companies, said the country’s robotics and automation industry “has lost competitiveness.” The VDMA R+A forecast that Germany‘s robotics and automation industry will drop 9% in total turnover in 2025 to €13.8 billion ($14.4 billion U.S.). “Total turnover” is the term Germany uses to describe the amount

The Intel RealSense D421 Depth Module. | Credit: Intel We were a little surprised in mid-September 2024 with the launch of the entry-level Intel RealSense Depth Module D421. With the recent financial turmoil and changes at the company, there was uncertainty whether Intel would continue to invest in the product line. Well, today The Robot Report learned more about the plans for the line of depth cameras. Intel is spinning out RealSense as an independent

Hexagon, a global leader in precision technologies, has agreed to acquire Septentrio NV, a developer of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) technologies. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2025. Sweden-based Hexagon said the acquisition will ensure greater accessibility to high-accuracy and high-performance positioning technology with low SWaP (Size, Weight and Power) characteristics. It added that the deal will accelerate the adoption of

New Symbotic CTO James Kuffner. Credit: Toyota James Kuffner, a pioneer in robotics, has been named chief technology officer at Symbotic Inc., a leading developer of warehouse robots. Kuffner is replacing former CTO George Dramalis, who retired on Jan. 1, 2025. Kuffner will be responsible for advancing the company’s technologies and long-term growth. “James has more than 30 years of leadership experience in robotics,” stated Rick Cohen, chairman and CEO of Symbotic. “He has helped

Listen to this article The UR20 cobot with its increased payload at the 2024 China International Industry Fair. | Credit: Universal Robots Universal Robots A/S is looking to significantly expand its presence in China, the world’s largest market for industrial robots. The world’s leading developer of collaborative robot arms is opening a production facility there and introducing two robots that will be available exclusively to the Chinese market. To meet increasing Chinese demand, Universal Robots

Listen to this article [embedded content] The Robot Report invites you to submit a session abstract to be considered for presentation at the Robotics Summit & Expo, which will be held April 30-May 1, 2025 in Boston at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The Robotics Summit is the leading event focused on the technical issues involved with developing commercial robots. We are seeking sessions that should be technical and educational to help attendees overcome