Over the past several decades, industrial automation has continued to evolve. The manufacturing industry once relied solely on mechanical automation to boost efficiency. Now, a combination of hardware and software solutions is turning traditional factories into smart facilities that will be more commonplace in the future. Here’s what you need to know about the role of hardware and software solutions in automation.

The demand for robotics solutions is exploding as companies in a variety of sectors look for new ways to boost their productivity and competitiveness while also addressing ongoing supply chain issues. 

The COVID-19 pandemic emphasized some far-reaching trends, such as labor shortages, rising costs for materials, and growing pressure from consumers. Fortunately, technology is opening new opportunities for businesses to address these challenges. Here is why now is the ideal time to pursue innovation and some of the latest trends in robotics for 2022 and beyond.

From cleaning the floors in our homes to grocery deliveries to assisting surgeons in the operating room, autonomous robots are transforming our everyday lives and a variety of industries. Logistics is no exception. 

Autonomous robots, such as drones or self-driving vehicles, are intelligent machines that can perform tasks responsively without human control.

If you’ve been paying any attention to the news, you have probably heard that parents across the U.S. are grappling with a baby formula shortage. This situation is causing huge amounts of stress to new parents, some of whom are uncertain if they’ll have enough formula for their baby’s next meal.

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed some glaring weaknesses in the global supply chain. Businesses around the world learned that their networks were rife with error-prone, repeatable, process-oriented tasks, ranging from stocking and picking errors to manual documentation mistakes to problems with shipping and receiving. 

The field of artificial intelligence is advancing rapidly. We have seen dramatic breakthroughs in speech recognition, image recognition, language tasks, autonomous robotics, and game playing in recent years. And we are likely to see much more as researchers and scientists make even more progress. 

Since their invention, robots have been helping humans in manufacturing and other industries be more efficient and have safer processes. Over the past several years, modern technology has offered immersive platforms using augmented reality (AR) for media and gaming. But the two are now merging where the field of augmented reality is beginning to change the face of robotics.

When it comes to robots, bigger may not be better. Someday soon, tiny robotic “bugs” might help people with medical issues, search for survivors in a collapsed building, or diagnose a problem in your factory. Here is what you need to know about these tiny robots and how they could be poised to revolutionize the industry.