by Gary Mintchell | Jun 25, 2025 | Robots, Sensors, Software, Technology
This is part two of my reports from the Hexagon Live Global Event. I had been to one previous event for only a day. Hexagon is such a large company comprised of many parts that I had a bit of struggle understanding it all.
The core Hexagon involves measurement, metrology. They have precision measurement tools for the small, medium, and very large targets. Tools for building applications complement these instruments.
Hexagon also comprises much software, having acquired Intergraph years ago and others since. Company focus has become easier with the announced spinoff of much of the software business into a new company called Octave.
Octave
Mattias Stenberg, who is leading Octave, explained the new company’s focus taking the musical analogy of an octave—taking it to the next level. The core of the new company consists of these four businesses from Hexagon:
- Asset Lifecycle Intelligence—Intelligence that drives decision-making efficiency and lifecycle value creation
- SIG—Safety, Infrastructure, and Geospatial—Act on information to save lives, improve infrastructure and enhance services
- ETQ—ETQ Reliance—ETQ Reliance is a cloud-native quality management system solution (QMS), powered by an agile platform that drives 40+ best-in-class applications adaptable to your unique environment. ETQ is the leading provider of quality, EHS and compliance management SaaS software, trusted by the world’s strongest brands.
- Bricsys—Hexagon AB, a global leader in digital solutions, today announced the acquisition of Bricsys, a fast-growing developer of CAD (computer-aided design) software that has been at the forefront of providing open, collaborative construction technology solutions since its founding in 2002. Its CAD platform, BricsCAD, supports 2D/3D general, mechanical, and sheet metal design and building information modelling (BIM) in one system.
I don’t know if this was supposed to be another musical reference, but as a guitarist, I’ll take it as such. Octave is Intelligence at Scale. They see themselves not just as a builder of software, but as helping customers evolve, adapt, predict, prevent by providing pre-trained agents. The platforms will be embedded, context aware, mission critical systems, validated.
This comment struck me. I concluded my first report with the thought that software becomes more powerful, yet it’s still trying to solve the problems I had in 1977. With power comes complexity. Stenberg noted a survey they conducted with C-level executives see more software, more complexity, more dashboards…and yet, less actual visibility. Systems that don’t talk to each other creating silos.
My concluding thought on my last essay was that we must not have a technical problem—we must have a people problem.
Only 20% of execs told them they are getting something from digital transformation. OK, I can’t resist thinking of an irony—yet they order their employees to use AI, or else???
They envision a process where customers build digital first, where the digital twin is a reality (he calls it “mirrorworld”). These will enable the movement from reactive to predictive (another future vision I’ve written about for 20 years or more).
A final vision—Create self-aware, resilient infrastructure.
Robotics
Moving on to another product line—robotics. I shot a short video of Hexagon’s newest robot—Aeon. This “humanoid”, or human-form-factor, robot exhibits quite advanced ability to do the work of human assemblers. When I asked why they developed the robot to look and act like a robot, they told me that existing work stations are designed for humans. Therefore, this is an easy replacement for non-existent human workers on the assembly line.
Digital Twins
Returning to digital twins. I spoke with Jeremy Treverrow about uses of digital twins. Initially, customers could use Hexagon’s precision measurement technology to create a digital twin of a component part. Perhaps this is a service and repair part no longer in production with perhaps no good design information existing.
Using the Hexagon Design X software set, the imported digital twin can be exported in an igis file, used for simulation, and can even design a manufacturing process around it.
A lot of power.
by Gary Mintchell | Jun 19, 2025 | Robots, Software
Everyone wants to be NVIDIA’s best friend. This friendship focuses on the world of robotics and simulation. In brief:
Flexiv launches the Flexiv-Isaac Bridge App, empowering developers to design, test, and deploy force-controlled robotics applications in hyper-realistic virtual environments.
The interesting thing is the force-controlled part. I remember an application I wrote about a few years ago where the developer of a robotic prosthetic arm had a design goal of being able to pick up a grape with squishing it. I watch these technologies closely anticipating even greater use cases that will help us all.
Flexiv announced release of the Flexiv-Isaac Bridge App, bringing high-fidelity force-control simulation to NVIDIA’s Isaac Sim. This partnership enables robotics developers and end-users to program, model, test, and deploy complex force-controlled, AI-empowered robotics applications in simulated environments that closely mimic contact-rich real-world conditions.
To highlight this new capability, Flexiv’s engineering team released a video in which a simulated Rizon 4 robot completed the classic Tower of Hanoi puzzle in Isaac Sim. The simulation exactly replicated the robot’s real-world movements and showcased its force-controlled “hole search” and compliant movement capabilities. This underscores Flexiv’s commitment to minimizing the sim-to-real gap to improve training, programming, and operational performance. Additionally, this demonstration emphasizes Flexiv’s drive to ensure seamless compatibility with one of the world’s most widely used virtual robotics platforms.
Isaac Sim enables developers to build hyper-realistic, detailed virtual environments, while Flexiv’s Elements programming system allows robotic applications to be effortlessly programmed and refined. With the Bridge App connecting these tools, customers are empowered to create applications, build digital twins of their facilities, design mission profiles, and run high-fidelity virtual tests before deploying robots in real-world scenarios. These simulations provide valuable insights into application performance, risk assessment, and operational efficiency.
By leveraging both Isaac Sim’s ability to generate real-world simulations and Flexiv Elements’ support for simulating real-world force-based actions, Flexiv aims to accelerate the application development cycle. With developers now able to refine robot movements and iteratively test applications from anywhere in the world, development costs can be significantly reduced, while remote support can ensure greater reliability in real-world deployments.
In its continued commitment to community-driven innovation, Flexiv has made its Tower of Hanoi codebase freely available on GitHub. This initiative encourages developers, academics, and customers to build upon Flexiv’s work, fostering a collaborative ecosystem that promotes creativity and customization.
By combining force-controlled robotics and effortless programming with NVIDIA’s cutting-edge simulation tools, Flexiv is revolutionizing development workflows. This leads the way toward safer, smarter, and more adaptable robotic systems that transform both application development and human-robot interaction.
by Gary Mintchell | May 19, 2025 | Robots
Perhaps the final news coming my way from Automate 2025 and again robotic-oriented, this news concerns release of an off-the-shelf palletizing solution, said to be the first in North America. Doig Corp. Developed Pallet EZ with OnRobot and its D:PLOY platform.
Unlike traditional automation systems that require weeks of integration and specialized expertise, Pallet EZ is ready to install and deploy the same day. It allows manufacturers to be up and running within hours, and adjust to changing production needs in minutes, without programming knowledge or external support.
The solution eliminates traditional integration hurdles. Applications can be deployed and re-deployed in minutes, empowering users to handle new workpieces, adjust pallet layouts, and evolve with changing production demands, all in-house, without coding.
by Gary Mintchell | May 16, 2025 | Robots
More news from Automate. Most of the news has been robotics. This piece reports on Universal Robots introduction of its fastest Cobot, the UR15. Looks like there is still room for improvement in this technology area. They say shipping is to begin in June 2025.
The release states the maximum TCP speed of 5 m/s.
For pick-and-place applications, the UR15 delivers up to 30% cycle time improvements compared to other UR models. All the while retaining the unique UR trademarks of lightweight design and small footprint.
Combined with OptiMove, UR’s new motion control technology, those gains go even further, enhancing trajectory smoothness and ensuring consistently accurate movements – even in high-speed and high-payload applications.
UR15 runs with both PolyScope 5 and PolyScope X, UR’s software platform, and is AI ready. The UR15 can be used with the UR AI Accelerator, UR’s toolkit for developing AI-powered applications. The UR AI Accelerator is developed in collaboration with NVIDIA using NVIDIA Isaac’s CUDA-accelerated libraries and models and running on the NVIDIA Jetson AGX Orin system-on-module.
The UR15 has a payload of 15 kg (33 lbs) which can be increased to 17.5 kg (38.58 lbs) for applications with wrist-down orientation, such as palletizing. UR15 is a versatile cobot designed to empower multiple applications and industries – each with their own unique challenges where flexibility, efficiency and reliability are critical.
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 | 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.
