Robotics, Automation & Business News Index: 2019
Robotics | Automation | Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Advanced Manufacturing | 3D Printing
Welcome to 2019
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Asia: Overview by Region
OVERVIEW: ASIA
The Asian Century & The Xi Effect
Asia’s Rendezvous with the Future Is Arriving Fast
The world’s showcase and continent-wide laboratory for robot-driven automation in this The Fourth Industrial Revolution
East Asia Bears Watching
Something very big is going on here: Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo
OVERVIEW: ASEAN
Southeast Asia: The Bounty & Promise of ASEAN
Food, consumers and industry in exchange for investment and automation technology
OVERVIEW: CHINA
China’s Big Push: Xi, Robots and Productivity
Leap to manufacturing economy based on invention and technology demands increased productivity
OVERVIEW: JAPAN
Emperor of All Robots Put to the Test
Saving Japan from itself with robotics: Competition and productivity
for a shrinking workforce
OVERVIEW: KOREA
Korea Awakens, Reacts…and Accelerates
Economic urgency spurs demand for advanced manufacturing robots
OVERVIEW: TAIWAN
Crunch Time for Taiwan: Robotics and Automation
Aware of its limitations and very tardy, Taiwan hurries to catch up with East Asia
OVERVIEW: INDIA
Robots for India: Industry’s Troubling Headwinds
Robots, automation, Gandhi and “premature de-industrialization.”
January 2019
Japan Lags at Deploying Service Robots
Projected as a $35 billion industry by 2022, Japan is not keeping up with professional service robots
Why China Can’t Stop Spending Multi-Billions of Dollars on Robots, Cobots, Grippers, Robot Parts, and AVGs
Guarantees on $73 billion more in loans—while SMEs pick up $9.7 billion in government subsidies—to hurry automation through 2022
Robot Automation and the East Asian Workforce
Manufacturing technology is a “resource-liberating force” that will create abundance in new tech skills, good jobs at fair wages, and a life with promise
Reinventing the Robot: A Job Only AI Can Do?
Everything about an industrial robot has changed since Unimate (1961), except the robot. Isn’t it about time something was done about the “except”?
Round Two: Robot Disruption vs. Human Resolve
The message coming across loud and clear is that Round Two begins here and now…and that we’re all in it together…or else!
Littler Global: Employment Law Updates Worldwide
Advising Fortune Global 500, medium- and smaller-sized companies on the full array of labor and employment issues
Making CES 2020 Better Than CES 2019
Why not “smart” events? AI and digital disruption could profoundly change the $650 billion global event industry from the inside out
Chinese Exhibitors Down by 20% at CES2019, But…
Even when shaved by 20%, China’s presence at CES 2019 is still crazily massive; and the body of work on display in Las Vegas, like UBTECH’s humanoid robot, is equally remarkable.
February 2019
New-Age Asian Service Robots Meet the Public
$37 billion global sales, growing on average 21% a year, between 2019 and 2021
Click & Mortar—Robots Working Chinese Restaurant Industry
Can “machine people” 机器人 save China’s restaurant industry from severe labor shortages and high turnover?
Bypassing the Straits of Malacca
Kra Canal Project: Often proposed, never attempted, the $32B project has now taken on special meaning. Mega-boom for automation and robotics.
Is Thailand Next to Go Digital? Sure Looks That Way
Investment, infrastructure, new-tech automation, and digital living converge in the Land of Sanuk
The Gripper Chronicles
Grippers Chasing Cobots to Fame & Fortune
With cobot marketplace forecast at $9.2B by 2025, every cobot will demand a “skillful” gripper
Isn’t Global Robotics 2020 Already Here?
Industrial robot sales and deployments, AI/robot convergence, the Asian GDP forecast, and a look at a big year ahead for cobots in China
March 2019
New-Age Asian Service Robots Meet the Public
$37 billion global sales, growing on average 21% a year, between 2019 and 2021
Click & Mortar—Robots Working Chinese Restaurant Industry
Can “machine people” 机器人 save China’s restaurant industry from severe labor shortages and high turnover?
Bypassing the Straits of Malacca
Kra Canal Project: Often proposed, never attempted, the $32B project has now taken on special meaning. Mega-boom for automation and robotics.
Is Thailand Next to Go Digital? Sure Looks That Way
Investment, infrastructure, new-tech automation, and digital living converge in the Land of Sanuk
The Gripper Chronicles
Grippers Chasing Cobots to Fame & Fortune
With cobot marketplace forecast at $9.2B by 2025, every cobot will demand a “skillful” gripper
Isn’t Global Robotics 2020 Already Here?
Industrial robot sales and deployments, AI/robot convergence, the Asian GDP forecast, and a look at a big year ahead for cobots in China
April 2019
When Automation Goes to Sea, Things Happen
Lessons learned about automation from the low-tech shipping container
Automation of Jobs & Managing Employee Morale
How employers can preserve employee morale by proactively explaining the benefits of automation
Gripper Titan, Robotiq, Debuts New Products and New Plans for Growth
Robotiq gears up for major market expansion with two, brand-new vacuum grippers, and a first-ever sanding kit; following a trio of adaptive grippers introduced last year…plus $23 million in VC investments!
Intelligent Gripper for Demanding & Diverse Handling
Sturdy SCHUNK EGI well-suited for electronics, pharmaceutical and laboratory applications
Asian Future: Industrial Robots Meet Wright’s Law
Are industrial robots looking at a sudden cost decline? It could be good news for everyone, including robot manufacturers
Darwin Comes to Chicago: Automate/ProMat 2019
Upgrading the attendee experience: Should Automate and ProMat be a single organism?
Automate/ProMat 2025…Ooops!
If you can’t make it to Automate/ProMat 2025 in Shanghai this month, then check out Geek+ in Chicago at ProMat: The future of warehousing
Around Asia: Interesting Robot Innovation on the Grow
Robot trials, tryouts and auditions going on seemingly everywhere at once
May 2019
Part One of a Two-Part Article
The Three Sisters: Malaysia, Vietnam & Thailand
Avoid the middle-income trap, max out productivity, prepare citizenry for transformation…or else!
The Emma Coalition: Spreading Ideas That Matter
The Emma Coalition is decidedly fresh air for a world grown bone weary from chasing AI demons around their workplaces
The Gripper Chronicles
Research Shows Need for Smart Grippers to Skyrocket
Need for smart grippers is announcing itself as end users employ cobots in an ever-expanding diversity of jobs
The Future of Cobots in EuropeCobots (podcast): Progress, Potential and Overcoming Challenges for Adoption
The Cobot Guys from Genoa
The Cobotics World Catalog & Database of Cobots and Grippers
Cobot To-Do List: Cheaper to Buy, Easier to Use
The $6,500 cobot and cobots “mimicking humans” have arrived
Jibo, Kuri, Cozmo: Is This a Trend?
Is Something Stalking Social Robots? Maybe AI, NLP and Alexa?
June 2019
Feds Clueless About Impact of Automation
U.S. government admits it’s “unable to quantify automation’s effect on the workforce”
Digitization of the Workplace: AI, Automation & the Workforce
Full Podcast & Transcript [excerpts]: Artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and automation, and their impact on employers in the near and slightly more distant future
Philosophy Grads Sought for Careers in AI!
“Philosophers with dim career prospects are in demand to research the ethics of data tech.” —Financial Times
Robot Fatigue, Reskilling & Jobs
Workers and employers alike have robot fatigue; they have turned the page, and with clearer heads, are now preparing for a possible bright new future
Staying Hot: Logistics Market in Southeast Asia
It’s like China all over again! From $36B to $55B near term, Southeast Asia’s 600 million consumers acquiring a taste for e-commerce
Clash of Titans: Robot Makers vs. Robot Hackers
Who has the early advantage, how should industry respond, and how best to cyber-harden a robot?
Technological Disruption Creates Jobs…Good Ones!
Helping workers take advantage of the new jobs that technology will create
Asia’s New Frontier: Medtech Robotics
Surgical robots top the list of must-have devices; a quality, low-cost competitor could propel Asia to world leadership
Warehouse Alamo? Yes, but in Slo-mo!
Warehouse automation is rolling in and humans are being pushed out of order picking and freight handling jobs. But not fast enough! Why?
Reinventing the Robot: A Job Only AI Can Do?
Everything about an industrial robot has changed since Unimate (1961), except the robot. Isn’t it about time something was done about the “except”?
Part Two of a Two-Part Article on Southeast Asia’s Brightest Futures
The Three Sisters’ Greatest Automation Asset: Confidence
Buoyed by rising confidence, SMEs in Malaysia, Vietnam & Thailand are poised to accelerate transformation via automation beginning in 2020.
July 2019
Way Not Ready for Prime Time: Self-Driving Cars
Could it be that Level 5 self-driving vehicles may not be the solution we really need? What happened to all the research that says computers, AI, and humans together are the best-of-all teams?
China’s Journey to Self-Reliance in Robots
Difficult but doable. Under the gun of “modernize or perish,” it might be a good time for China’s domestic robot industry to step up and be counted
Forget 2019! Let’s Strap in for 2020. It’s Gonna Rock!
The “Roaring Twenties” for industrial robots and automation may be rolling in early, especially in Asia.
When Jay Invented Computer Memory
JAY’S MAGNET SHOP: One evening in the spring of 1949, Jay Forrester hit upon the idea of magnetic-core memory while leafing through a magazine.
In the Wake of FDI: Automation Arrives in Force
Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam, primed for more automation technology as region’s foreign direct investment (FDI) soars
Picking Winners for Wall Street
Can a new age of robot tech spark new investments?
The Hybrid Worker in the Hybrid Workplace
Say goodbye to vertical-specific expertise. With the aid and companionship of a digital partner—maybe even a robot—being a hybrid worker might well be the gateway to the future of all jobs…and a happy homelife
Siasun Seeks to Develop Huge Tract of Thailand
New-look FDI—tech with a future! —settles into Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC)
What I Want from a Home Robot
It’s not lawn mowing, vacuuming, doing laundry, or cooking meals.
August 2019
“Danger, Will Robinson! Deepfake!”
Robots spotting “deepfakes”
Antidote to synthetic media: Home robot that hunts deepfakes…and maybe thwarts robocalls, robotexts, bad bots, and creepy people ringing the doorbell.
Japan’s Kingpins Battle to Win!
No parts, no automation
Critical importance of robot parts gets pushed to the max.
Update: Warehouse Automation
The Market, Its Tech & Its $27B Future
From $13 Billion in 2018 to $27 Billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 11.7%
Genie vs. Anti-Genie
One Bottle, Two Genies; Neither Going Back!
The genie of unintended consequences just saved China’s tech industry.
Robotics and automation could be the better for it
Robots in Southeast Asia: The Big Next!
Industrial robot sales in Southeast Asia poised for rapid expansion as trade war tariffs drive low-end manufacturing south earlier than expected
The Great East-West AI Clash: China vs. U.S.
Not since the Cold War has technology anchored such a high-stakes power struggle. The real winner: Technology
AI: What Every HR Dept Needs to Know
Podcast & Transcript: Uncertainty can cause an employer to kind of “freeze in place” and be reluctant to advance the use of AI technology
September 2019
Do Cobots Have an Image Problem?
Is automation’s newest robot wonder machine experiencing market pushback. If so, what and why?
East-West: Future of Global Logistics
East Asia, ASEAN, India, EU & North America
Are Robots the Remedy for Lonely Hearts?
Is a “human-like” companion just as good as the real thing? With loneliness rising to alarming levels, how about lonely-hearts clubs where humans and robots hook up for lifelong companionship?
Robots, Prosperity and Asia’s Middle Class
Why Does Asia Need So Many Robots?
The Gripper Chronicles
The Rise of OnRobot in an Age of Grippers
Gripper newcomer, OnRobot, building powerhouse lineup of cobot tools for “collaborative applications”
The Gripper Chronicles
Gripper Sales to Skyrocket
Need for smart grippers is announcing itself as end users employ cobots in an ever-expanding diversity of jobs
Insilico’s Brave New World
AI Goes Where AI Has Never Gone Before
Artificial Intelligence (AI)—in a first-ever—has designed and validated a new drug candidate in days
ABB, KUKA & Siemens
Dueling Euros Square Off in China: 2020-2025
The Influence of European Technology on “Made in China 2025”
Robotics and 3D Printing Go Large Together
Maritime industry gets disrupted with a first-ever 3D printed ship’s propeller
End-to-End Automation
ABB’s Shanghai Showcase
This changes everything: China’s first smart factory where robots build other robots autonomously by the tens of thousands
December 2019
The Gripper Chronicles
The Rise of the Smart Gripper
What next for the all-important, business end of every robot…the gripper?
Will ordering a “smart” factory be as easy as ordering a Camry?
FaaS–Factory as a Service: Arrives in standard containers, snapped together onsite, and then disassembled and moved again as needed.Asian Robotics in the OR
Asian Surgical Robotics Market Doubles by 2025
Aging populations, increased acute and chronic disease to drive market from $4 billion to $8 billion.
The Canary Stopped Singing
China’s Robot Industry Comes Alive
Homegrown industry threatens Japan’s robot hegemony.
Supply Chain Resurgence
Next-Gen Supply Chain Market to hit $75B by 2030
Supply Chain 4.0 is ramping up—including 5G—and is slated to double in 10 years
What Automation Needs to Flourish
Why Is Southeast Asia So Investment Worthy?
Four charts, a slide deck, and a video explain it all.
Birthplace of the Cobot
Odense: A Robotics Life
It’s more than a robotics cluster. It’s rather a national treasure that daily grows more valuable. Plus, it’s a way of life that is as rich as the tech that it builds.
“The Gripper Chronicles” Turns One
All-Out Collaboration: Any Cobot, Any Tool, Any Job
As The Gripper Chronicles turns one, we chat with OnRobot’s Enrico Krog Iversen about being the “everything” gripper/EOAT supplier for every cobot brand. Is it possible…and is it necessary?
Who Needs Exports!?
China’s Inland Ocean of Trading Partners: Its Supercities
Bountiful ports of call for robots, automation, logistics, and AI…especially “smart” logistics.
November 2019
Cobots as Force Multipliers
Is Disruption Ahead for the Cobot Revolution?
Does the cobot revolution need the revolution of e-commerce to drive wide-scale adoption?
Reinventing Productivity with Cobots
The Promise of Cobots…Delivered!
Initially dismissed as a non-factor, this brilliantly-conceived robot arm has turned the robotics industry on its head.
Special 63-page Research Report
Automation & The Future of Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia Is China All Over Again…Only Better!
“Asia Is Asianizing!”
Thinking About Doing Business in Asia?
If you haven’t developed an Asian strategy yet, uh-oh! Better start.
Everything’s Converging!
Investing in Robotics? Bonanza in Convergence!
“Robotics and the increasing use of automation represent one of the most exciting investment avenues for stock buyers in the coming decades.” —The Motley Fool
October 2019
Era of Robotization Arrives
Three Trends in Global Robotics
The $5 trillion robotics dividend: The implications of the emerging challenges are immense, especially in Asia.
The World Gets Ready for Change…Finally!
Robot Fatigue, Reskilling & Jobs
Workers and employers alike have robot fatigue; they have turned the page, and with clearer heads, are now preparing for a possible bright new future
Learn, Unlearn, Relearn!
AI and Robot Hysteria Get a Little Clarity
Recent OECD research on how best to transit into the new world of automation
The Fritter Factor
Reskilling “Out” Lax Workplace Habits
Will slacking off still haunt the workplace of the future?
New Asia’s New Normal
New Automation, New Attitude, New Asia
Asia spending big and fast for technological advantage is making headway
When & How to Buy Cobots & Grippers
New Column: Shop Wisely
For: Potential buyers, especially SMEs, who want to know a little something about the automation vortex that’s pulling them closer to buying a cobot or gripper.
Looking for a “Smart” Job?
32 “Smart” Job Tracks Powered by Robotics & AI
Here’s what a little “intelligence” can bring to the life of a machine
“What a newspaper needs in its news, in its headlines, and on its editorial page is terseness, humor, descriptive power, satire, originality, good literary style, clever condensation, and accuracy, accuracy, accuracy!”
—Joseph Pulitzer