I’m beginning to catch up on accumulated news from before my vacation. The market has seen consolidation among a variety of technical consortia. Most likely companies belong to too many of these and seek some consolidation where one investment and dues payment does the work of two. Others have been in instrumentation and networking. This one affects data and software standards.
EDM Council and Object Management Group Combine to Create Global End-to-End Data and Standards Authority
First-of-its-kind non-profit trade association to foster the growth of data, software, systems, knowledge engineering, and standards capability.
EDM Council, the global association for data management, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Object Management Group (OMG), the open membership, not-for-profit technology consortium. The combination brings together more than 700 corporate and public-sector member organizations, eight regional hubs, and a combined 50-year portfolio of internationally adopted standards and technology into a single non-profit association. The agreement is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025…
Tired of the hype and speculation surrounding the term Artificial General Intelligence? How about something that could be a useful tool for engineers? This release breeds questions as well as answers. How do you think you could use it?
Foundation EGI platform: Demonstrating AI- & physics-driven disassembly of Engineering files
With AI purpose-built for engineering, Foundation EGI is empowering teams to design faster, solve harder problems, and rethink what’s possible.
Foundation EGI, creator of the world’s first Engineering General Intelligence (EGI) platform, announced $23M in oversubscribed Series A funding, raising over $30M total. The company is accelerating its vision of turning manufacturing’s biggest bottlenecks into breakthroughs using domain-specific AI.
The latest round was led by Translink Capital with participation from RRE Ventures, McRock Capital, Escape Investment Management (Jim Scapa), Fifth Growth Fund, and returning backers including E14 Fund, UNION, GRIDS Capital, and Henry Ford III.
“We’re not just using AI to automate tasks. We’re building AI that knows when to break the rules,” said Wojciech Matusik, Ph.D., Co-founder & CSO of Foundation EGI and Professor of EECS and MechE at MIT. “The biggest leaps in engineering haven’t come from following best practices. They came from challenging assumptions. Foundation EGI is designed to do exactly that.”
EGI combines purpose-built large language models with physics-based context and engineering best practices to tackle the complex nature of engineering, from design to manufacturing to documentation. It transforms disorganized specifications, siloed tribal knowledge, and outdated instructions into succinct, structured, auditable, and human-/machine-executable workflows.
“The next industrial revolution will be AI-native,” said Mok Oh, Ph.D., Co-founder and CEO of Foundation EGI. “It begins by empowering engineers with AI tools that speak their language. From there, we move toward a future where humans and machines co-design with shared context and creativity.”
Foundation EGI was born from MIT’s cross-disciplinary research in AI for design and manufacturing, led by co-founders Matusik and Michael Foshey. Their seminal paper, Large Language Models for Design and Manufacturing, was published in 2024 and has influenced a new wave of intelligent engineering tools. Foundation EGI was founded to commercialize and power real-world AI applications for all manufacturing domains, including automotive, heavy industry, appliances, power tools, advanced manufacturing, and much more.
“We are thrilled to invest in Foundation EGI to support their next phase of growth,” said Toshi Otani, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Translink Capital, who led the Series A. “We backed Foundation EGI because this is one of the rare teams that combines deep technical mastery in AI with firsthand knowledge of how design and manufacturing actually work. In addition, we believe that there is a great market opportunity that exists in Japan, Korea and Taiwan where we have a strong track record of supporting our portfolio companies.”
“The best founders don’t just see around corners. They reshape the cornerstones of entire industries,” said Vic Singh, General Partner at RRE Ventures. “When we met Mok, Wojciech and Mike we were immediately impressed with their market depth and technical acumen. Foundation EGI is building core infrastructure for the next generation of industrial AI — transforming manual processes that traditionally cost millions of dollars and countless hours of skilled labor into Engineering Intelligence — upending the space while giving engineers leverage to focus on the higher order work.
I rarely report on personnel news or even awards. In this case, Hans Beckhoff was awarded a prestigious award in Germany. I have met and talked with him in the past in Verl. He and James Truchard, co-founder of National Instruments, comprise two of the outstanding visionaries and entrepreneurs of the early development of measurement and automation. His company continues to occupy a significant niche in the automation market.
Hans Beckhoff, Managing Director and founder of Beckhoff Automation, a technology company headquartered in Verl, was honored with the widely acclaimed 2025 Rudolf Diesel Medal. He received this prestigious award in the Most Successful Innovation Achievement category at the award ceremony held at the MAN Museum in Augsburg, Germany on July 10. This medal honors Hans Beckhoff as a visionary pioneer in automation technology.
The Rudolf Diesel Medal is one of the most renowned and long-standing awards for pioneering achievement in Europe. It recognizes the significance of the culture of innovation in Germany and honors inventiveness and entrepreneurial courage. It is awarded by the German Institute for Inventions and honors people and companies that have made significant contributions to society by improving quality of life, prosperity, and preserving the culture of innovation in Germany, thus inspiring the next generation of engineers and entrepreneurs.
The Rudolf Diesel Board of Trustees, which consists of around 60 leading technology directors and managing directors of medium-sized global market leaders, has recognized Hans Beckhoff as a visionary who embodies the values of the Rudolf Diesel Medal through his corporate principles and strong social engagement. The jury honored Hans Beckhoff in the Most Successful Innovation Achievement category. This category focuses on innovative prowess and the company’s overall impact on the economy.
Since the company was founded in 1980, Beckhoff’s ethos has been consistently reflected in the company’s technological innovations and revolutions – many of which have developed into global market standards in automation and have had a lasting impact on the industry.
Hans initiated a paradigm shift in automation with the PC-based control technology concept in 1985 and launched it on the German market in 1986. This technology revolutionized previous principles and made the family-owned company a major player in the SME sector. With his tireless commitment to innovation and ability to turn visionary ideas into commercial successes, Beckhoff’s company has become a leading manufacturer in the automation technology field. He consistently shapes the industry with innovative solutions and sets new standards that further the integration of IT technologies into automation. Beckhoff currently employs around 5,300 people across 41 subsidiaries and representative offices worldwide, achieving global sales of €1.17 billion in 2024.
I’m not a huge fan of market studies. My skepticism began at university in my first macro economics class. However, Interact Analysis’s methodology comes closest to winning me over than any others. Here are two recent reports from China-based market analyst Samantha Mou.
Growth Forecast for Machine Vision Market for 2025
Machine Vision market declined by 3.9% in 2024
Area Scan camera suffered largest decline
Market set to recover in 2025, despite Trump’s tariffs
The global market for Machine Vision declined by 3.9% in 2024 as global industrial automation markets struggled due to challenging macro-economic growth, according to Interact Analysis. However, the market intelligence specialist forecasts a return to revenue growth from 2025, despite worldwide uncertainty caused by the introduction of US trade tariffs by the Trump administration.
A contributing factor to the overall decline of machine vision revenues was excess inventory, which customers and distributors worked through in 2024. This led to a decrease in purchases of new machine vision products over the year. Many end customers also performed badly in 2024, with the general slowdown in manufacturing having a significant impact on the worldwide machine vision market.
Despite the decline of the machine vision market and the uncertainty caused by US tariff announcements, Interact Analysis projects market growth of 1.5% over the year to reach $5.7 billion. The general outlook for manufacturing and machinery production is starting to strengthen, driving machine vision growth in 2025 and the market is projected to reach a value of only $7 billion by 2028 (slightly lower than previous forecasts).
Commenting on the latest Machine Vision report, Jonathan Sparkes, Research Analyst at Interact Analysis, says: “Looking ahead, the outlook for 2025 is proving to be much more subdued than previously expected, with additional uncertainty in the market coming through as a result of the threat of tariffs. However, into 2026 and beyond, our belief is the fundamentals for the industry remain strong and the expectation is for a return to levels of growth more inline with our previous projections.”
Global industrial robot shipments declined in 2024, recovery expected in 2025
The global shipment volume of industrial robots in 2024 totaled just over 505,000 units, reflecting a 2.4% decrease compared with 2023. This reduction in shipments, coupled with a decrease in average prices, resulted in a drop in sales revenue of -5.8% year-on-year.
A slowdown in investments in the manufacturing sector has been observed across all major regions. The Asia-Pacific region saw a relatively modest decline in robot shipments at -1.1%, while the Americas and EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) experienced sharper drops of -3.7% and -8.1%, respectively.
However, while 2024 closed on a challenging note, there are signs the market will stabilize. Positive trends in some regional markets during the first quarter of 2025 support the outlook for a gradual recovery.
All three major regions saw robot revenue decline in 2024, with modest growth expected in 2025
Since the second half of 2024, monthly indicators for the industrial sector in both the US and China have shown signs of recovery. Europe, while still trailing behind, has also begun to show improvement more recently. Although looming tariff uncertainties pose risks to machinery orders in the second half of 2025, current demand trends in major regions suggest these will not lead to a market-wide contraction.
According to the Japan Robot Association (JARA), orders for manipulators and robots rose 32.2% in Q1 2025, with export shipment value increasing by 22.8%. Japanese robot vendors, which accounted for 47% of global robot revenue in 2024 (according to the Interact Analysis Industrial Robot – 2025 report), are often seen as reliable indicators of broader market health.
In this context, global shipments of industrial robots are projected to grow by 5% in 2025. However, due to continued downward pressure on average prices, revenue growth is expected to be more modest, at just 2.6%.
With rising production volumes and intensifying competition, the average revenue per unit (ARPU) of industrial robots declined significantly – from around $31,100 in 2018 to $25,600 in 2024. While there was a temporary price surge in 2022 amid the global supply chain crisis, prices resumed their downward trend in 2023 as demand cooled and competition increased. In 2024, ARPU fell more sharply than in previous years, dropping by -3.6% due to easing inflation and growing competition.
Fierce price competition has taken a toll on manufacturer margins, particularly among non-collaborative robot suppliers, where pricing flexibility has hit its limits. Many emerging brands have aggressively pursued market share at the expense of profitability. This has led to expectations that the pace of price erosion will slow in 2025, with ARPU declining at a more moderate rate of 1%-2% annually through to 2029.
Still, certain product segments may help support pricing. Rising shipments of large-payload collaborative robots and SCARA robots could help stabilize ARPU moving forward.
Collaborative robots (cobots) have experienced the steepest declines in ARPU, largely due to the rise of low-cost, pure-play vendors. In 2023 and 2024, cobot ARPU declined by -6.4% and -4.1%, respectively, with a further -3.5% drop expected in 2025. The influx of these budget-oriented players has shifted the competitive landscape and accelerated price-based competition within the segment.
The global industrial robot ARPU forecast has been reduced further compared to previous projections
The industrial robot market has consolidated over the past few years, with the “Big 4” industrial robot manufacturers – FANUC, Yaskawa, ABB, and KUKA – having long maintained a dominant position. However, 2024 marked a shift toward increased market fragmentation. The top 10 vendors saw their combined market share fall from 64.6% in 2023 to 62.3% in 2024, indicating meaningful inroads are being made by smaller and emerging players, challenging the established manufacturers amid slowing demand and increasing price pressures.
Several factors contributed to this fragmentation:
Many pure-play and emerging collaborative robot manufacturers successfully transitioned from niche pilots to scalable, general-purpose solutions, driving substantial revenue growth.
The automotive industry, a traditional stronghold for leading suppliers, saw sluggish demand for robots, disproportionately affecting the Big 4.
In China, aggressive price competition deterred major international vendors from participating in low-margin tenders, whereas domestic suppliers remained highly competitive.
In summary, 2024 was a year of contraction and strategic realignment in the industrial robot industry. Slowing shipments, declining prices, and intensifying competition challenged both revenue and profitability. However, regional signs of recovery, particularly in Asia and the US, and strong order books from major players like Japanese vendors point toward a likely rebound in 2025.
The industrial robot market is undergoing a critical transition. While 2024 reflected short-term headwinds, the structural trends – automation demand, labor shortages, and advances in robotics technologies – remain firmly in place. The ongoing fragmentation of the supplier base and evolution of pricing dynamics are redefining the competitive landscape, particularly in cost-sensitive segments like collaborative robots.
Looking ahead, we continue to view the market with cautious optimism. As investment cycles pick up and demand stabilizes across key industries, 2025 could mark the beginning of a new growth phase, albeit one characterized by tighter margins and more nuanced competition. Robot manufacturers will need to balance innovation, efficiency, and market agility to thrive in this next chapter.
To learn more, get in touch with Samantha Mou directly: [email protected].
Foxit, the pdf and eSignature upstart, has released two new products.
Foxit Seeks Making pdf Documents Meet Today’s Requirements
Foxit Launches AI-Powered Research Agent to Transform How Users Analyze Complex Documents
New AI Tool Turns Dense Research Documents Into Actionable Insights in Seconds
I’ve been using Foxit for reading pdf documents for some time. This company has been churning out advancements and improvements at a furious rate. This news sounds much like the email summary AI applications that have proven less than successful. When I asked, Foxit assured me that they understand the problems and have taken great pains to assure customers of the accuracy of its summaries.
Foxit, a leading provider of innovative PDF and eSignature products and services, announced the launch of its AI-Powered Research Agent, an intelligent tool designed to help users quickly understand and extract insights from complex research documents like academic papers, clinical trial reports, or usability studies.
Foxit’s new AI-Powered Research Agent helps channel partners and end customers do what previously took hours, if not days, in just minutes: extract meaningful, structured insights from dense, complex research documents. Whether it’s academic papers, clinical trial reports, white papers, or usability studies, these types of documents are typically filled with technical language, inconsistent formatting, and lengthy sections that require time, expertise, and focus to fully understand. The Research Agent solves this pain point by using AI to automatically break down each document into five clearly defined sections:
Overview – A summary of the document’s purpose and scope
Research Methods – How the study was conducted
Research Results – The key findings
Conclusions – What the results mean
Glossary – Definitions of technical terms
The Research Agent is part of a growing suite of AI features available at ai.foxit.com, which now also includes:
Document Translation – Instantly translate full documents into multiple languages
Read Aloud – Hear your documents read aloud for easier accessibility and review
Web Search – Enrich responses with real-time data from the web
Chat History – Organize and access past conversations in a refreshed left-side panel
Temporary Chat – Ask questions without saving the conversation history
Document View – View the uploaded document(s) side-by-side while chatting
Foxit’s AI-Powered Research Agent and expanding toolset are the latest example of the company’s commitment to creating intelligent, user-centric tools that enhance productivity and eliminate friction in everyday workflows. Explore these enhancements today at ai.foxit.com and discover how AI can help everyone work smarter with research-heavy documents.
Foxit Launches PDF and Document Workflow APIs for Developers
Foxit announced the launch of its new Foxit APIs, delivering developer-friendly access to Foxit’s powerful PDF and document generation technologies, all hosted securely in the cloud.
Foxit APIs are designed for speed, scalability, and simplicity. Allowing organizations to embed advanced document capabilities directly into their applications, customer portals, and digital workflows. From rendering interactive PDFs in a browser to automating high-volume document generation, these APIs help teams build smarter, faster document experiences without bulky infrastructure or bloated codebases.
Foxit’s new APIs include:
PDF Services API – Automate PDF creation, conversion, manipulation, and optimization. Ideal for back-end workflows like batch processing and document archiving
PDF Embed API – Deliver seamless in-browser PDF viewing with full control over appearance, permissions, and interactions, perfect for dashboards, portals, and CRMs
Document Generation API – Generate contracts, letters, invoices, and other documents from structured data using templates, at scale.
Up at my usual 5:30 am this morning. In place of my usual routine, I joined a Microsoft Teams conference at 6:00 (1300 CEST) for the announcement of two network associations from Germany, each promoting Single Pair Ethernet (SPE), have joined forces for joint marketing, PR, and most likely development.
Several of the major fieldbus associations joined forces recently as companies looked at the costs of overlap. This one appears to be a group begun by HARTING, TE Connectivity, HIROSE, Würth Elektronik, Bizlink, MURR Elektronik and Softing called SPE Industrial Partner Network and one headed by Phoenix Contact, Weidmüller, Sick called Single Pair Ethernet System Alliance.
The groups have been working separately for about six years for the development and promotion of SPE technology.
The SPE Industrial Partner Network e.V. and the Single Pair Ethernet System Alliance e.V., consisting of numerous well-known industrial companies, have been committed to the dissemination and further development of SPE since their inception. Until now, they have operated independently with their own members, working groups and areas of focus. With the growing awareness and relevance of SPE in the market, the networks have come closer together since the Hannover Messe 2025 and now plan to coordinate their activities in the future.
The aim is to bring the strengths and combined expertise of both networks even more effectively to bear in the market and to further accelerate the spread of SPE. The first joint activities are already planned for 2025: both networks will be represented with a joint stand at SPS Atlanta 2025 – Smart Production Solutions USA from 16 to 18 September. Both networks will also play a key role in shaping the SPE Forum on 22–23 October in Ludwigsburg, Germany, with coordinated presentations. The year will conclude with a joint exhibition stand at SPS – Smart Production Solutions from 25–27 November 2025 in Nuremberg.
Both networks have been committed to the development of international standards for SPE since the beginning. Together, they support the SPE connector standard IEC 63171-7 and are consistently driving forward its expansion to include a uniform IP20 SPE mating profile. This standard forms a connecting element for the world of automation and creates a uniform basis for future-proof industrial communication. Other existing connector solutions and the associated international standards remain unaffected and continue to be valid for the numerous fields of application of SPE.
A central focus of the collaboration is the further internationalisation of Single Pair Ethernet. The aim is to make the advantages of SPE visible worldwide and to give users around the globe access to a powerful, efficient and future-oriented network technology.
The numerous member companies of both networks are pooling their extensive expertise and innovative strength to create a strong and sustainable SPE ecosystem. This will enable users worldwide to benefit from practical solutions that pave the way for digitalisation.
