Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Universal Robots unveils smaller, stronger cobot arm

UR30 can hoist 30 kg or 65 pounds for applications in material handling and palletizing

universal UR30 presented at iREX 2023_3.jpg

The Danish collaborative robot (co-bot) provider Universal Robots A/S today launched a robotic arm that can lift more weight than its widely-used UR20 model, saying the UR30 is a response to industry demand for stronger tools in machine tending, high torque screw driving, and material handling.

Built on the same architecture as its predecessor, the UR30 can hoist 30 kilograms, or about 65 pounds. With compact size and a weight of 140 pounds, it is designed to be moved easily between work cells.


Applied to logistics work, those attributes make the product appropriate for tasks such as material handling and palletizing of heavy products, relieving humans of the heavy lifting, Universal Robots’ VO for strategy and innovation, Anders Billeso Beck, said in an online press conference.

And improvements to its motion control ensures the perfect placement of large payloads, allowing it to work at higher speeds. “More manufacturing is becoming agile, flexible, and modular. The days of a static manufacturing line producing the same goods over and over again in the same way are gone. And overall, the UR30 doesn’t take up much more space in the workplace than a human worker would,” Beck said.

Universal Robot said it launches the new unit as global market for cobots is forecast to rise from $1 billion today to twice that size by 2027, due in part to labor and skill shortages and increasing demand for high quality products. The UR30 is available for pre-orders now and will begin shipping in Q1 2024.

 

 

 

The Latest

More Stories

Trucking industry experiences record-high congestion costs

Trucking industry experiences record-high congestion costs

Congestion on U.S. highways is costing the trucking industry big, according to research from the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), released today.

The group found that traffic congestion on U.S. highways added $108.8 billion in costs to the trucking industry in 2022, a record high. The information comes from ATRI’s Cost of Congestion study, which is part of the organization’s ongoing highway performance measurement research.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

From pingpong diplomacy to supply chain diplomacy?

There’s a photo from 1971 that John Kent, professor of supply chain management at the University of Arkansas, likes to show. It’s of a shaggy-haired 18-year-old named Glenn Cowan grinning at three-time world table tennis champion Zhuang Zedong, while holding a silk tapestry Zhuang had just given him. Cowan was a member of the U.S. table tennis team who participated in the 1971 World Table Tennis Championships in Nagoya, Japan. Story has it that one morning, he overslept and missed his bus to the tournament and had to hitch a ride with the Chinese national team and met and connected with Zhuang.

Cowan and Zhuang’s interaction led to an invitation for the U.S. team to visit China. At the time, the two countries were just beginning to emerge from a 20-year period of decidedly frosty relations, strict travel bans, and trade restrictions. The highly publicized trip signaled a willingness on both sides to renew relations and launched the term “pingpong diplomacy.”

Keep ReadingShow less
forklift driving through warehouse

Hyster-Yale to expand domestic manufacturing

Hyster-Yale Materials Handling today announced its plans to fulfill the domestic manufacturing requirements of the Build America, Buy America (BABA) Act for certain portions of its lineup of forklift trucks and container handling equipment.

That means the Greenville, North Carolina-based company now plans to expand its existing American manufacturing with a targeted set of high-capacity models, including electric options, that align with the needs of infrastructure projects subject to BABA requirements. The company’s plans include determining the optimal production location in the United States, strategically expanding sourcing agreements to meet local material requirements, and further developing electric power options for high-capacity equipment.

Keep ReadingShow less
map of truck routes in US

California moves a step closer to requiring EV sales only by 2035

Federal regulators today gave California a green light to tackle the remaining steps to finalize its plan to gradually shift new car sales in the state by 2035 to only zero-emissions models — meaning battery-electric, hydrogen fuel cell, and plug-in hybrid cars — known as the Advanced Clean Cars II Rule.

In a separate move, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also gave its approval for the state to advance its Heavy-Duty Omnibus Rule, which is crafted to significantly reduce smog-forming nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from new heavy-duty, diesel-powered trucks.

Keep ReadingShow less
screenshots for starboard trade software

Canadian startup gains $5.5 million for AI-based global trade platform

A Canadian startup that provides AI-powered logistics solutions has gained $5.5 million in seed funding to support its concept of creating a digital platform for global trade, according to Toronto-based Starboard.

The round was led by Eclipse, with participation from previous backers Garuda Ventures and Everywhere Ventures. The firm says it will use its new backing to expand its engineering team in Toronto and accelerate its AI-driven product development to simplify supply chain complexities.

Keep ReadingShow less