Manufacturing & cobot roundup, this bot's got religion, agribots brief (from Ukraine to China), Yaskawa-Midea to launch new business in China, and much more. We hope that the news we have selected will interest and amuse you. Enjoy!

Manufacturing & Cobot Roundup

Researchers from ETH Zurich have used a Universal Robots arm and a Robotiq Gripper to create a system that allows robots to autonomously stack objects with an irregular shape.  

 IEEE Spectrum reports:

The overall idea here is that eventually, robots will be able to take advantage of hyper local building materials (like the nearest pile o’ rocks) and make useful, environmentally friendly structures out of them without the need for either processing or adhesives (like concrete). 

Moody's Investors Service has found that increased use of automation could help cushion the demographic blow of an aging workforce in Germany and Japan, Bloomberg reported. 

Plastics Technology reflected on the rising popularity of cobot technology: 

From what I’ve seen at recent trade shows, a potentially significant trend to keep an eye on is suppliers of conventional robots making their units “collaborative”—i.e., safe—without sacrificing high speed and load-carrying capacity.

Yaskawa showed a group of prototype MotoMINI robots building a model car at CeBIT 2017...  

 The Robotics Industries Association ran a long and useful feature on how manufacturers can prepare for Industry 4.0: 

The smart factory connects the digital world of information technology with the physical world of operational technology, what many call IT/OT convergence. But Industry 4.0 is not a distant vision for the factory of the future. It is here and it is now. Networks of robots are connecting to the cloud and contributing mass amounts of insightful data. Today, manufacturers are using these information pipelines to simplify asset management and maintenance, maximize equipment and process efficiency, and improve product quality.

A Robotiq Gripper was spotted in Austria... 

Cobots can boost productivity and expand female employment in Sri Lanka according to EconomyNext: 

[Pradeep David, General Manager for Sri Lanka of Denmark-based Universal Robots] says a firm called Aurolab in Tamil Nadu, India, that was making intra-ocular lenses used in cataract operations started using cobots a few years ago.

From a firm that was making 150 lenses a day with a dozen workers, it grew to one that is now making 10,000 lenses a day with 700 workers. About 80 percent of the workers at Auolabs are female, he says, with cobots helping with the 'physically challenging' parts of their jobs.

Coworkers think that the relay robot from Savioke is "kinda cute," MarketPlace reported. I tend to agree. 

Caption: Savioke's robot is a hit with coworkers. 

Elsewhere, Wired asked 'Who will pay for the future if not the robots?,' Automotive News reported on the rising use of cobots in the automotive industry, and Engineer Live examined the use of automation in the construction sector. 

ICRA 2017 is taking place in Singapore this week. We'll cover the big stories from the event in next week's roundup. 

AgriBots Brief 

FreshPlaza reported on French-firm Naïo Technologies' plans to bring its row-straddling, mechanical weeding robot to the international market. 

This year, Naïo Technologies will market 10 Dino robots as part of their partnerships with different agricultural players in France and Denmark . Lettuce is the first crop on our list this year. Trials will also be conducted on other types of vegetables as well as on field crops,” explained Lionel Montchalin, Naïo Technologies’ product manager.  

Wired investigated the growth of agricultural robotics firms in California's Salinas Valley: 

Here in the Salinas Valley, farmers and tech types are teaming up to turn this into a kind of Silicon Valley for agriculture. And they’re not stopping at water-knife-wielding robots. Because it’s data that will truly drive this agricultural revolution. It’s not just about robots doing jobs humans don’t want to do, but AI doing jobs humans can’t do. And AI can’t go anywhere without data.

 Ukranian researchers have developed a swarm of autonomous mini-tractors. In China, the world's largest delivery drone (Payload: 1 tonne) is being tested as a delivery system for farmers. A Queensland politician has promised to create a low-regulation environment for farmers that want to use drones.

And while the Yakima Herald sounded a cautionary note when it comes to the adoption of agricultural robot systems, a new report released by Grand View Research this week predicts that the agricultural robots market will reach a massive USD 8.82 billion by 2025.

Yaskawa & Midea to Launch Nursing Care Business

Caption: Yaskawa Electric and Midea jointly developed a pedaling machine to help the elderly exercise.

Via Nikkei Asian Review: 

Japan's Yaskawa Electric and China's Midea Group will begin by selling a stationary bicycle-like pedaling machine through a local joint venture at the end of this month. The device will let users exercise their legs and arms to rebuild physical functions. It will have variable resistance settings to match the strength of the users. 
 

This Bot's Got Religion 

Remember the Buddhist monk robot, from 2016?

Well, there's a new religiously-themed bot in town.

Dubbed "Bless U-2," the bot was created to commemorate  the 400th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation and to help answer a theological question: 

“We wanted people to consider if it is possible to be blessed by a machine, or if a human being is needed,” Stephan Krebs of the Protestant church in Hesse and Nassau, which is behind the initiative, told the Guardian.

 Via Quartz: 

Working the priest is not unlike ordering a meal from a McDonald’s kiosk. Simply select your language and the blessing you require. Then the robot raises its arms, shoots some light from its palms, and recites a blessing. If you want a receipt, the robot can print a copy of the prayer. The robot speaks English, German, Spanish, French, or Polish, and can have either a male or female voice.

I'll be back next week with more gospel from the world of robotics. Until then, hope you enjoy these videos and links! 

Estonia’s robot graffiti artists (BBC) 
Robots copy their coolest moves from animals (Recode) 
Seattle Startup WiBotic Readies Wireless Recharge System for Drones (Xconomy) 
Keeping HAZMAT Professionals Out of Harm’s Way: Robots (HazMat Magazine)
Robot which makes 'more accurate cuts than humans' performs surgery in Edinburgh (Daily Record)
Shedding light on how humans walk, with robots (Science Daily) 
Scientists imbue robots with curiosity (Science) 
May 2017 fundings, acquisitions, IPOs and failures (Robohub) 
New Automation, New Attitude, New Asia (Asian Robotics Review) 
The Next Big Leap In AI Could Come From Warehouse Robots (The Verge)