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FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics was founded in 1989 with the mission to inspire young people in STEM fields and today provides a mentor-led program that promotes competition, creativity and teamwork. This week, Automation Distribution representatives introduced collaborative robots to the FIRST Robotics team at Lower Merion High School, Kobe Bryant’s alma mater. The team participates in complex competitions each year, which require the time c …

Martin Buehler, Executive R&D Imaginer at Walt Disney, took the stage at RoboBusiness 2017 to encourage all organizations to prepare for a future in robotics by stepping outside their comfort zone. He urged participants to use their creativity for user-friendly design and enhancing the customer experience. Earlier this year, Disney applied for a  patent on “soft-body” robots designed for “physical interaction with humans.” The design specifies the inside to be filled with gas or ai …

Labor costs in China have risen steadily over the last several decades. With the rise in international labor costs, the decreased interest of American workers in performing repetitive tasks, and a surge in affordable automation choices, robots are poised to take over jobs traditionally outsourced to international facilities.In the 1960s, robots were preferred to do dangerous jobs and smaller robots became popular later for assembling parts and material handling. The introduction of collabo …

Imagining an employee who can work 24/7, be completely consistent in their work, never take a vacation, never complain, never get distracted or file a workman’s comp claim sounds like a straightforward way to figure a great return on investment in a collaborative robot. But is it really that simple? Maybe in some cases, but it really depends on the work the robot will do and the associated value of that work. A more in-depth analysis of the overall situation may reveal that the robot …

This year’s SXSW festival in Austin, Texas featured a UR10 cobot in a show-stopping demo that highlights the robot’s creative capabilities. The demo was developed to help launch National Geographics’ new “Genius” TV series based on the life of Albert Einstein. People were invited to tweet a photo of themselves to a UR10 robot set up in front of a digital chalkboard. Using Einstein’s own handwriting, the cobot quickly began writing the inventor’s equations on the chalkboard, in seemingly random l …