Today was a whirlwind of a day at Automatica 2022. We saw so many amazing new technologies and trends in the world of robotics, from "The Future of Coffee Bars" to weightlifting robots.
Here are just a few of the things that knocked our socks off on Day 2 of the show.
Collaborative Robot Welding? Robotics comes full circle
Some years ago at Robotiq, we had a solution called Kinetiq Teaching. This was a solution that used our Force-Torque sensing technology to allow you to "drive" your welding robot by hand.
Well… it seems we were ahead of the curve!
Now, there are a bunch of collaborative robot welding solutions popping up all over the place.
This solution from Cobot Weldspace even has a demo where you can try out programming the welding robot for yourself.
Though, do be aware that a welding robot is not inherently safe around people. It's fine for the programming, but when the welder turns on, the people need to be out of the way
This welding solution is so safety-conscious, it's seems to be inside a nuclear-style bunker!
The Future of Coffee Bars… and alcohol bars?
One very popular part of Hall B5 today was this robotic coffee bar as part of the Kawasaki booth B5.328.
You could order a coffee from 2 robot baristas, which would then operate the coffee machine. As you typed in your name, there's less chance of the robots getting your name wrong!
Though the robots still had a human helper on hand to make sure.
There was also a human helper for this robot bartender we saw.
Well… you wouldn't want to leave people alone with a robot that would serve you unlimited amounts of beer!
A weightlifting robots shows off its payload capacity
How do you show off the payload capacity of your robot. We've seen a couple of innovative approaches today.
This robot at the Nachi booth (B5.320) had a hologram, which showed a series of images, including its payload (you'll have to watch the video above to get the full effect).
But this Epson robot has got to be one of the most unique ways to demonstrate payload – it was lifting weights! Well, that is how we humans "show off our payload" isn't it?
That's it for Day 2 at Automatica 2022
All in all, it's been a fun day at Automatica. We've seen some cool applications of robotic technology. The general trend feels a bit more "tentative" than previous years, but people are still recovering from the impacts of the pandemic.
We can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!
What are your thoughts on Day 2 of Automatica?Have you noticed any trends that we've missed?
Let us know in the comments or come and visit our booth (B4.502) if you're here!
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