Manufacturing Wire

A piece authored by viAct CEO Gary Ng examines the adoption of AI, robotics, and IoT wearables as primary safety and operational tools in high-hazard industries including oil and gas, construction, and mining. The article outlines how these technologies are being deployed as first-line defenses against workplace incidents in environments where human exposure to risk is structurally unavoidable. The trend reflects broader industrial movement toward sensor-driven monitoring and machine-assisted hazard detection across capital-intensive operations.

Autonomous systems demonstrate strong performance in repetitive, predictable environments but continue to struggle with low-frequency edge cases that fall outside their training datasets. Even advanced systems can be destabilized by anomalous inputs — such as unexpected objects in a travel path — that human operators handle through contextual reasoning and adaptive judgment. The gap between autonomous capability and human adaptability remains measurable and operationally significant.

Heavy equipment manufacturers are integrating robotics and automation technologies into truck-mounted crane systems, extending intelligent machine capabilities beyond the commonly discussed domains of autonomous mining vehicles and warehouse systems. The shift involves embedding smart control systems into crane trucks, a segment that has historically received less attention in industrial automation coverage. This represents a broadening of the automation frontier within material handling and lifting equipment categories.

A Robotics & Automation News piece outlines practical robot safety measures operators can implement, focusing on the highest-risk moments in robotic cell operations: paused cycles, jam clearance, and impromptu adjustments that bring workers inside guarded perimeters. The article bridges the gap between formal standards such as ISO 10218 and ANSI/RIA R15.06 and day-to-day shop floor behavior. It emphasizes that the moving arm itself is often less dangerous than the transitional moments when operators interact with partially energized equipment.

FANUC America has announced plans for a new manufacturing facility in Michigan representing a $90 million capital investment. The project encompasses 840,000 square feet of new production space and is projected to create 225 jobs, with completion targeted for late 2027. The expansion is positioned to support potential growth in robot production capacity for the North American market.

Robotics & Automation News has published a roundup identifying five servo drive solutions for factory automation applications. The piece focuses on how servo drives translate electrical commands into controlled mechanical motion, governing speed, position, and torque across production line motors. It frames drive selection as a critical decision, noting that underperforming units directly produce positioning errors, lost cycle time, and unplanned downtime.

Festo has introduced the HPSX Universal Adaptive Gripper, a pneumatic soft gripper designed for food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetics manufacturing environments. The gripper uses adaptive silicone fingers and food-safe materials to handle irregular or fragile product geometries at higher throughput without damage. It targets the well-documented automation gap in industries where product variability and hygiene requirements have historically limited robotic picking deployment.

UNFI is closing its Sturtevant, Wisconsin distribution center, eliminating 443 positions as part of a network consolidation strategy. The grocery wholesaler is redirecting service volume to a Chicago-area facility where it is investing in automated capabilities. The closure represents a deliberate trade-off between labor-intensive distributed operations and centralized, technology-enabled throughput.

Comau (Italy) and Reis Robotics (Germany) have signed a formal cooperation agreement to jointly develop and deliver automation systems across multiple industrial sectors. The partnership combines two established European robotics and automation integrators in a coordinated technical and commercial arrangement. No financial terms were disclosed, but the agreement signals a consolidation of European automation expertise aimed at competing across key verticals.

Neura Mobile Robots demonstrated an end-to-end mobile manipulation system for intralogistics at LogiMAT, combining its ek Robotics autonomous transport platforms with cognitive manipulation capabilities under a unified architecture. The demonstration showed a continuous workflow from material transport to physical handling tasks, representing a step beyond conventional AMR deployments that typically stop at point-of-use delivery. The integration aims to close the last-meter automation gap that has historically required human intervention between transport and workstation-level material handling.

Maximo, a solar robotics company incubated by AES Corporation, has completed the robotic installation of 100 MW of utility-scale solar capacity at the Bellefield complex near California City in Kern County. The project represents a deployment of autonomous installation technology on former agricultural land, with AES citing growing electricity demand from data centers, electrification, and industrial manufacturing as key drivers. Maximo's robotic approach displaces a significant portion of the manual labor traditionally required for utility-scale solar panel placement and wiring.

Uber, Pony.ai, and Verne have announced a partnership to launch what they describe as Europe's first commercial robotaxi service, beginning in Zagreb with public-road validation already underway. The collaboration brings together Pony.ai's autonomous driving technology stack with Uber's ride-hailing platform and Verne's operational infrastructure. The deployment represents a significant step toward scaled autonomous vehicle operations in a major regulatory jurisdiction.

Sonair is bringing its ADAR (Acoustic Detection and Ranging) ultrasonic 3D sensor to the North American market, debuting at Modex 2026 in Atlanta April 13-16. The sensor has already seen its first commercial deployment in serial production on Cleanfix autonomous cleaning robots, giving it a verified production track record prior to the North American launch.

Mitsubishi Electric has developed digital twin technology for CNC machine tools, validated through testing with RWTH Aachen University. The system uses real-time feedback loops and edge computing to mirror physical machine behavior in a virtual environment. Testing demonstrated up to 50% reduction in machining errors compared to conventional CNC control approaches.

Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits has formalized a strategic partnership with Corvus Robotics and expanded deployment of the Corvus One autonomous drone inventory system to more than 40 units across nine distribution centers over the past 18 months. The Corvus One system performs autonomous inventory cycle counts within warehouse environments, reducing reliance on manual scanning labor. Further expansion across Southern Glazer's distribution network is planned beyond the current nine-facility footprint.

Exotec has launched its Skyfleet program, deploying robotic warehouse automation for Decathlon across seven logistics platforms in five European countries: France, the UK, Portugal, Italy, and Germany. The initiative standardizes logistics flow management at a pan-European scale using Exotec's robotic systems. The multi-site rollout represents one of the more significant coordinated warehouse automation deployments in European retail logistics to date.