13 September 2016
Industrial and service robots will be demonstrated at the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) on 19th October.
KEY POINTS
Companies of all sizes with a concrete idea, challenge or development project related to industrial or service robotics are invited to the MTC’s next Open Lab event on 19th October, to find out how to access free robotics consultancy and a chance to secure further support and funding to build a complete pilot system.
Companies involved in industrial cleaning, waste management, testing and inspection, sorting, laboratory analysis, logistics and other service functions, will find out how they can benefit from the MTC and its technology partners’ hardware and software expertise that is on offer at the Open Lab, organised as part of the European ROBOTT-NET project. In addition, the event will also focus on industrial robotics, encouraging manufacturers to come and find out how effective use of automation can support their business, and how they can apply for a ROBOTT-NET voucher.
The objective of the European Union funded ROBOTT-NET programme is to accelerate the development of robotic technologies in business and increase the competitiveness of European companies, by teaching them about hardware, software, programming and assistance with funding the implementation of robots in business.
“We must not think of robots as just working in factories, they are absolutely relevant to professional service companies as well,” says the MTC’s Chief Technologist – Digital Engineering, Jeremy Hadall. “Technology is enabling a really broad range of service functions like inspection, cleaning and even business modelling, to be performed by robots quicker and more accurately than humans.”
Manufacturing companies were the main focus of the first Open Lab in May. The October event will focus on both industrial robotics for manufacturers, as well as service robotics and how these technologies can save companies money, time and labour in a range of functions. The event is targeting manufacturers, robot developers as well as service-sector organisations that have either begun to use automation technology and want to understand more about its capabilities, or are complete novices to how robots can be applied in their businesses.
Companies that use collaborative robots, or ‘cobots’, in small assembly and testing operations, will also learn much from the MTC’s experts and are encouraged to attend.
A key feature of the ROBOTT-NET programme, run in the UK by the MTC and organised in partnership with three European technology innovation centres (see below), is to show companies how their operations can be automated through the use of robotics and data systems. This programme is very compatible with the wider Fourth Industrial Revolution work in Britain, led by the MTC, to make factories and now service businesses more efficient and productive.
The next Open Lab, hosted at the MTC’s Advanced Manufacturing Training Centre on 19th October, will follow the MTC’s first successful Open Lab event on 26 May 2016, which demonstrated industrial robot technology to engineering companies.
Manufacturers who did not attend the Open Lab in May are encouraged to join the event on 19th October, as the ROBOTT-NET project is taking voucher applications relating to both industrial and service robotics until 14th December 2016, and this is the last Open Lab event in the UK before this deadline.
The MTC, part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, is one of just four leading European research organisations in the ROBOTT-NET consortium, including Fraunhofer IPA (Germany), the Danish Technological Institute (Denmark) and Tecnalia (Spain).
Further information – MTC: Sarah Turner, Manufacturing Technology Centre, tel 02476 701687