Siemens and Sony are joining forces to combine a new head-mounted display with Siemens software to create a new technology that will allow designers and engineers to create and explore design concepts in borderless immersive workspaces. The development was unveiled at CES – the Consumer Electronics Show – in Las Vegas this month, where Siemens also announced partnerships with Amazon Web Services (AWS) Red Bull Racing and others, aimed at propelling its vision of the industrial metaverse.
ABB is buying a majority stake in the Bosnian software service provider Meshmind to expand its R&D capabilities in AI, industrial IoT and machine vision. Financial details of the deal have not been released.
Growth in the global market for low-voltage AC motors market slowed from 16.4% in 2022 to 4.2% in 2023, and will fall back even further in 2024, according to a report by Interact Analysis. It expects worldwide revenues to reach almost $16.6bn this year, with average sales prices for motors increasing by 1.2%.
ABB is buying the Swiss AI-based AMR navigation specialist Sevensense, for an undisclosed sum. ABB, which has had a minority stake in Sevensense since 2021, says that the acquisition makes it the leader in next-generation AMRs (autonomous mobile robots) that integrate Visual Slam (simultaneous localisation and mapping) technology with hardware and software. In 2021, ABB bought the Spanish AMR developer, ASTI Mobile Robotics.
Volvo Cars to is buying more than 1,300 robots and functional packages from ABB to build its next generation of electric vehicles. The robots, which will be deployed at sites in Sweden and China, will help the car-maker to achieve its sustainability targets by cutting its energy consumption by up to 20% through the use of regenerative braking on the robots and efficient power electronics in their controllers.
A global poll of 1,100 IT and OT (operational technology) security professionals working in the industrial sectors has found that 75% of them were targets of ransomware attacks in the past year. The independent poll, conducted for the cybersecurity firm Claroty, also found that 69% of the targeted organisations had paid the ransom, and that more than half (54%) of those who paid suffered financial ramifications worth $100,000 or more.
The Swedish industrial communications specialist HMS Networks is buying the US-based automation supplier Red Lion Controls from its UK owner, Spectris Group Holdings, for a cash sum of $345m, on a cash- and debt-free basis. The deal will strengthen HMS’ presence in North America and enable cross-selling of both HMS’ and Red Lion’s products.
ABB has analysed the performance of more than 2,000 industrial electric motors in a variety of applications and found that their energy use could be cut by an average of 31% by upgrading them or using better controls. The potential energy savings equate to more than 2.1TWh across the 20-year lifetime of these systems – equivalent to the energy used every year by 1.25 million typical homes in the EU.
At the recent SPS exhibition in Germany Siemens announced several software and hardware developments designed to make motion programming easier and thus to tackle the shortage of skilled motion engineers around the world.
Mitsubishi Electric has formed a joint venture with a Finnish specialist in 3D manufacturing simulations, Visual Components, to develop and sell 3D simulators for manufacturing applications.Mitsubishi and Visual Components will hold 70% and 30% stakes in the company, called the ME Industrial Simulation Software Corporation, which will have its headquarters in Japan and a development base in Finland, initially with 13 employees.
A group of organisations representing advanced manufacturing interests around the world have joined forces to establish a global body with the aim of developing a decentralised and collaborative data ecosystem for smart manufacturing.
Rockwell Automation is buying the US industrial cybersecurity specialist Verve Industrial Protection, for an undisclosed sum. The deal will add asset inventory and vulnerability management systems to Rockwell’s portfolio.
Bosch Rexroth has announced that Dell Technologies, Nokia and the robot-maker Kuka are now supporting its ctrlX industrial automation ecosystem, joining Wago, which earlier this year announced plans to use the real-time Linux-based OS for its mid- and high-performance controllers. The latest signings will give a significant boost to Rexroth’s ambition to establish ctrlX as a universal open system for automation applications.
The US motor manufacturer Louis Allis has obtained a preliminary injunction order from a federal court in Delaware that immediately prohibits the Ideal Electric Power Company from using or displaying Louis Allis’ federally registered trademarks for its brand name and stylised LA logo. The preliminary injunction order will continue until the court has ruled following a trial on this matter, which is expected to take place in 2025.
ABB Robotics and Porsche Consulting are collaborating to help automate the construction industry. They say that their collaboration will help meet the need for more affordable and sustainable buildings and reduce the environmental impact of construction, amid widespread labour and skill shortages.
