by Gary Mintchell | May 9, 2025 | Robots
Last of a series of Automate show product announcements. More technology relative to robotics. And another one working to expand the function of Cobots to moving processes.
CoboMover is a robust linear track for cobots and small industrial robots launching at Automate 2025. At the show, Güdel is also showcasing a demo on how air bearings can eliminate the need for cranes or embedded rails, moving 3,800+ lbs on a cushion of air.
Güdel will unveil the Cobomover, a 7th-axis linear track purpose-built for collaborative and lightweight robots. Designed and manufactured in Switzerland, the Cobomover extends the working range of robots up to 5 meters (16.4ft), allowing them to operate multiple workstations and perform a variety of tasks without manual repositioning.
The CoboMover is compatible with over 60 cobots and small traditional robots. It offers mounting positions at 0° and 180°. The maximum payload, including robot weight, is 78 kg (172 lbs). Its drive system utilizes a toothed belt and Güdel’s HPG045 angular gearbox. Available stroke lengths include 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, and 5000 mm. The CoboMover has a maximum speed of 2 m/s and a maximum acceleration of 2 m/s², providing a repeatability of ± 0.05 mm.
by Gary Mintchell | May 9, 2025 | Sensors
Second of a series of Automate announcements. This technology enables better response for autonomous mobile robots. Another company I’ve only just learned about.
‘ADAR’, an award-winning 3D ultrasonic sensor poised to challenge the dominance of LiDAR in robotics perception, will launch at Automate 2025, May 12-15 in Detroit, Michigan. The first orders are already in place and the sensor is on track to achieve safety certification, an industry-first for 3D ultrasonic sensing in air.
Sonair, a Norwegian sensor firm, introduces ADAR, said to be the world’s first safe 3D ultrasonic sensor designed to boost safety in spaces shared by humans and robots to North American audiences May 12 at Automate 2025.
A typical 2D LiDAR safety scanner in an AMR only sees a person’s legs in one horizontal plane. In contrast, Sonair’s patented ADAR (acoustic detection and ranging) technology detects people and objects in 3D. A single ADAR sensor provides a full 180 x 180 field of view (FoV), and a 5 meters range, for the robot’s safety function.
The core technology behind ADAR has been in development at the MiNaLab sensor and nanotechnology research center in Norway for more than twenty years. The imaging method is called beamforming; it’s the backbone of processing for SONAR and RADAR, as well as in medical ultrasound imaging, and now ready for ultrasound in-air applications.
More than 20 global companies, including AMR manufacturers, industrial manufacturing conglomerates, automotive technology suppliers, and vendors within the autonomous health and cleaning industries, have quietly validated the Sonair ADAR sensor’s effectiveness as part of a successful Early Access Program launched in Summer 2024.
Acoustic detection and ranging (ADAR) uses airborne sound waves to interpret spatial information. ADAR is developed according to ISO13849:2023 performance level d/SIL2. The sensor creates a virtual safety shield with a range of 5 meters, that enables people and robots to share space safely. The innovation lies in combining wavelength-matched transducers with efficient signal processing for beamforming and object recognition algorithms.
Sonair ADAR is scheduled to be ready for shipment in July 2025.
by Gary Mintchell | May 9, 2025 | Robots
A number of releases regarding next week’s Automate show have just come my way from one of my favorite professional PR contacts. This one is robotic-oriented. It appears that this will be very much a robot show. A company I don’t know (Inbolt) partnering with one I’ve studied extensively as an analyst (FANUC). This is pretty cool stuff.
Inbolt and FANUC are enabling FANUC robots to perform production tasks on continuously moving parts at line speeds. With Inbolt’s AI-powered 3D vision, manufacturers can now automate screw insertion, bolt rundown, glue application and other high-precision tasks on parts moving down the line without costly infrastructure investments or cycle time compromises. The new Inbolt and FANUC integration allows the CRX cobot and other FANUC robot models to operate with real-time 3D vision and adaptive trajectory correction, even with part variation or imperfect environments.
General Motors is the first to adopt this new integration, while other leading brands, including Stellantis, Ford, Whirlpool, ThyssenKrupp Automotive, and Toyota, use Inbolt’s technology across various applications.
This solution combines FANUC’s streaming motion capabilities, which enable real-time trajectory input via Ethernet, with Inbolt’s lightweight, robot-mounted vision system and ultra-fast AI model.
- Real-Time 3D Guidance: Inbolt’s proprietary localization AI refreshes at a high rate continuously identifying object orientation and adapting robot paths on the fly, enabling high-speed screwdriving and part insertion without indexing.
- Flexible Deployment: Operates in low-space environments, with no need for fencing. Ideal for General Assembly stations.
Significantly lowering the barriers to high-performance automation, this integration eliminates the need for specialized lighting or custom jigs, making it easier to deploy robots in complex, real-world environments. A single robot can now handle over 100 part models with real-time accuracy, even on continuously moving lines. Deployment is streamlined through Inbolt Studio, an intuitive platform that allows users to import CAD files, train the AI model, validate tracking in real time, and launch the program directly on the line.
by Gary Mintchell | May 9, 2025 | News
Purchase In-Person Tickets for ICC 2025. I plan to attend once again. As much as I like Folsom, I’m happy they will be in Sacramento this year. Reduces my expenses 😉
Join us in Sacramento, CA for a three-day event of learning and networking with colleagues and industry leaders. You’ll also get thought leadership and information that’s sure to elevate your knowledge and lift your operations to new heights. In-person tickets provide access to all sessions, networking events, and meals at ICC, as well as an ICC Livestream pass to watch session recordings on-demand.
by Gary Mintchell | May 7, 2025 | Business
I jumped on Skype about as soon as it was launched. There were times I pushed its limits even for recording podcasts.
Then Microsoft acquired it. Skype quickly lost its utility. It has resided on my computer for years. I can’t think of a time when I’ve actually used it in the past 10 years.
This story of small, innovative company selling to a large corporation only for users to lose the utility of the product happens so often it’s almost trite. I bet you can think of a dozen examples just in the industrial technology arena. (I won’t list for the sake of brevity.)
But Skype was ground breaking. A great tool. Now Microsoft suggests that we should switch to Teams. I hate using Teams. I hate the interface. I hate the way it keeps asking for new logins. I hate the way it acts on a Mac. Good luck.
Om Malik, one of my favorite tech observers whom I’ve read for maybe 30 years, wrote a great obituary on Skype. It’s worthy of a read. Here’s the beginning.
On May 5, Microsoft retired Skype, the startup that sparked a communication revolution. I won’t repeat myself, as I’ve already published a postmortem analyzing Skype’s decline under Microsoft’s 14-year ownership of the platform, for which it paid $8.5 billion.
Just like Nokia, Skype created one of the most iconic internet ringtones, and it will likely exist in archives. At its peak in 2009, Skype had 405 million users. They all probably heard it. To me, it will always represent what the internet sounded like in the 2000s.
