Scientists invent robotic skin that can heal itself with touch

AsiaIndustrial NetNews: FANUC announced on April 27 that it will invest about 63 billion yen to build a new building in Chikusai City, Ibaraki Prefectureindustryrobotfactory. The new factory, which will start production in August 2018, is initially planned to produce 2,000 Robots per month. Due to domestic labor shortages and rising labor costs, Chinese companies are “buying” industrial robots. Driven by this, the global demand for industrial robots is increasing, and FANUC will build a new factory to respond. If the new plant is put into operation, Fanuc’s overall monthly production capacity will be increased to 1.5 times the current level to 9,000 units. The new factory will increase production capacity while focusing on demand, eventually increasing to 4,000 units, and Fanuc’s overall production capacity is scheduled to increase to 11,000 units.

Fanuc announced on the 27th that it expects consolidated operating profit for fiscal 2017 (ended March 2018) to increase by 1% year-on-year to 155.5 billion yen, and sales to increase by 6% to 569.8 billion yen. The 2016 fiscal year consolidated financial report released on the same day showed that Fanuc’s net profit decreased by 20% year-on-year to 127.6 billion yen, and sales decreased by 14% to 536.9 billion yen.

Real Wolverine?Scientists develop tactile, self-healing Robotic skin

Using graphene, researchers at the University of Glasgow in the UK have developed an electronic Robotic skin that is more tactile than the human hand. Ravinder Dahiya, a professor at the University of Glasgow, said the newly developed robotic skin is essentially a tactile sensor that scientists will use to create lighter prosthetic limbs and robots with surface skin that feels softer and more natural to the touch. The sensor is also the first step towards softer robots and more sensitive touchscreen sensors. This low-power smart robotic skin is made from a single atomic layer of graphene. The power per square centimeter of the skin is 20 nanowatts, which is equivalent to the lowest quality photovoltaic cells currently available.

The skin gives the robotic arm the pressure feedback it deserves, allowing it to better control the force with which it grasps objects, allowing even fragile eggs to be picked up and put down firmly. The superior robotic skin isn’t expensive either, Dahiya said, with the new skin costing as little as $1 for 5-10 square centimeters. In fact, graphene can do much more than give a robotic arm a sharp touch, it can also help the robot’s skin heal itself.

Researchers build robot that can drill holes in human skulls 50 times faster than surgeons

Researchers at the University of Utah have released their latest findings: a robot that specializes in drilling human skulls. They have developed a programmable robotic drill that can do this in just a few minutes. Before the procedure begins, doctors first perform a CT scan, and then they map the drill bit’s path, setting up safety zones so that the drilling accident does not cause unnecessary trauma. Once programmed, the robot goes to work, with doctors monitoring its movements at all times. In the team’s tests, the robot performed operations 50 times faster than human surgeons.

The device is primarily aimed at building from the skull, but it can also be used for other procedures, such as drilling holes in the femoral head.

Zhongtong cooperated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences to develop a fully automatic sorting system, which can process 18,000 pieces in one hour at the fastest

At the Shanghai Transit Center, the ZTO fully automatic sorting system was publicly exposed for the first time. The parcels with one side and one direction are running at a constant speed of 2 meters per second on an automatic sorting conveyor belt with a length of more than 300 meters. Hundreds of canvas bags are connected on both sides of the conveyor belt. When scanned by the laser, the packages on the conveyor belt fall into the corresponding bags. This is an advanced automatic sorting system jointly developed by Zhongtong and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It can process 18,000 pieces at the fastest one hour, and the sorting accuracy rate is as high as 99.99%. Calculated by working 8 hours a day, there are more than 140,000 pieces a day. 140,000 pieces are calculated according to the normal operation of 1,000 pieces by one person and one shift, and 140 people are required.automationOnly 25 people are needed after the sorting line.