News Archives - Page 12 of 14

Mechatronics at the XVIII Italian Business Culture Week

13 November 2019

by paris News

The XVIII Business Culture Week will take place from the 8th to the 22nd of November, 2019 and will deal with the theme “A REGOLA D’ARTE.
L’Italia delle culture d’impresa: inclusiva e sostenibile TO THE HIGHEST STANDARDS. the business cultures of Italy: inclusive and sustainable”.

Inclusive and sustainable: this is the way to do business today, pursuing the general interest without giving up the economics results.

With this concept, the capacity of the entrepreneurial fabric to evolve and continuously innovate is placed at the centre of attention of the industrial associative system, following the trajectories of change stimulated by social, economic and environmental transformations, at national and global level.
It is in the midst of this event – precisely on November 13th, 2019 – that Kohler Lombardini opens the doors of its factory in Rieti (central Italy) to accommodate school students and let them visit the production departments.

After the guided tour, a company specialist will “moderate” a discussion session with the young students, where they can share impressions and feelings experienced during the day.
Kohler Lombardini, a company with a strong aptitude for innovation and investment in new technologies and talents, is an Associated Partner to our NewMetro project.

Self-Assembling Modular Robots Show Promise in Inspection and Rescue Operations

12 November 2019

by paris News

Simple and interacting robots, in large numbers, can possibly unlock stealthy capabilities for realizing complicated tasks. However, it has been rather challenging to get these robots to achieve a real hive-like mind of coordination.

In an attempt to overcome this challenge, a team of researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) has developed an amazingly simple strategy—self-assembling robotic cubes that can roll across the ground, jump through the air, and climb over and around one another.

Six years following the first iteration of the project, the self-assembling robots can presently “communicate” with one another through a barcode-like system on every face of the block. This block enables the modules to recognize one another. The autonomous fleet, totaling 16 blocks, can currently achieve simple behaviors or tasks such as tracking light, following arrows, or forming a line.

Every modular “M-Block” is integrated with a flywheel that moves at 20,000 revolutions every minute and uses angular momentum when it is halted. Permanent magnets, located on each edge and every face, allow any two cubes to adhere to one another.

Although the cubes cannot be exploited as easily as, for example, those from the video game “Minecraft,” the researchers believe that they could provide robust applications in inspection, and ultimately disaster response. One can imagine a burning building, where a staircase has vanished.

In the coming days, one could simply throw the M-Blocks on the ground and watch them build out a transitory staircase for ascending the roof, or descending the basement to save victims.

Μechatronics at the center of the third edition of the E_mob event.

5 November 2019

by paris News

From September 26 to 28 2019 the “E_mob 2019” event – now in its third edition – took place, which is a benchmark for electric mobility and which in the previous year attracted over 21,000 visitors to Palazzo Lombardia in Milan, the headquarters of the Region that this year too hosts the event.

E_mob is a place of analysis, discussion, circulation of ideas, exchange of experiences and comparison between all the players interested in electric mobility and its mission is to promote electric mobility by creating a synergic network between all the players in the sector (Public Administrations national and territorial, energy companies, companies that produce electrical artefacts, institutions and university and research institutes), to the advantage of reducing polluting emissions, both global and local.

The 2019 edition also had four days of “preview” at the main event, intending to form and inform the audience with a more specific focus on the central issues related to electric mobility. It is precisely on day 2 of the preview – Thursday, September 19, 2019 – that E_mob has dealt with the theme of mechatronics, titling the day “ELECTRIC MECHANICS: the new frontier for the development of new business and professional figures”.

The day, set up as a seminar with phases of debate, focused on a question that has become crucial: what will be the companies of the future and the new professions following the development of Electric Mobility? The more and more frequent use of electric vehicles will lead to the birth of new companies and specific professional figures that need adequate training. So answering such questions can be useful to understand the evolution of the automotive market better and intercept in advance the new opportunities.

To see the program of the day and all the speeches, click here.

Source: https://emob-italia.it

Mechatronics leads the employment trend in Italy.

30 October 2019

by paris News

Over 21 thousand more work contracts planned (+ 5.7%) in October 2019 compared to the same month of the previous year and 100 thousand more (+ 10.6%) in the current quarter compared with last year. As shown by the monthly Bulletin of the Excelsior Information System, by Unioncamere and Anpal, the labour demand of Italian companies continues to mark a growth trend. There are 391 thousand contracts scheduled in October and will rise to over 1 million in October-December 2019. To create more job opportunities will be, once again, some of the distinctive chains of Made in Italy, with mechatronics in the lead (49,960 activations with a 12.5% trend growth), followed by metallurgy and creation of metal products (40,350 contracts and a 14.8% growth). The contribution of IT and telecommunications services is also substantial, with 30,170 contracts and a growth rate of 19.1%.

On the other hand, the difficulty in finding professional profiles reported by companies remains high. The most difficult to find are, among others, the IT services and telecommunications companies (52% of the profiles sought is challenging to find), the companies of the metallurgy and the products produced in metal (47%) and the companies of the mechatronics (45%). In fact, companies find it more difficult to find graduates in electronic and information engineering (67.9%) and in industrial engineering (54.0%); also difficult to find graduates in chemistry and pharmacy (58.6%) as well as graduates with a scientific, mathematical and physical orientation. In addition to STEM graduates, also those with a linguistic orientation, translators and interpreters (53.9%) are difficult to find.

Consequently, considering the difficulties in obtaining STEM graduates, it is not surprising that these are the business areas where these professionals are managed to register the most severe problems in finding.

Read more at source

Mechatronics as the key to the future

29 October 2019

by paris News

The established annual congress International Forum Mechatronics and European marketplace for networking the mechatronics scene takes place annually alternately in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and South Tyrol. The 13th International Forum Mechatronics took place on the 24th and 25th of September in Cham, Upper Palatinate.

In cooperation with the European region Donau-Moldau and the Mechatronics Cluster, the participants were offered numerous lectures by recognized experts under the motto “Future of Production: Digital – Networked – Global”. There was plenty of space for the networking of established companies with the mechatronic start-up scene, and the opportunity for technological presentation and expert discussion for business and science.

Especially for start-ups, the International Forum Mechatronics was an ideal platform to exchange experiences and show developments. Ten founders from Bavaria and the Czech Republic presented their business ideas in a start-up competition. More than 60 participants have already arranged talks with potential discussion partners prior to the event.

In order to further advance digitization, it is important to bring together innovative start-up companies with established companies and investors. The EDM B2B exchange was a perfect networking opportunity at the International Forum Mechatronics.

The next International Mechatronics Forum will take place in Upper Austria in 2020.

Further information can be found at https://www.mechatronikforum.net/

How Robotics Improves Education at School

17 October 2019

by paris News

Educational Robotics allows students to learn in different ways STEM disciplines, with the objective to facilitate students’ skills and attitudes for analysis and operation of robots. But robotics in the classroom has several other benefits.

Programming becomes easy and funny

Educational robotics strengthen and support students’ skills developing their knowledge through the creation, design, assembly, and operation of robots. Children and young students find it funny and engaging because they feel free to interact directly with both electrical and mechanical processes and procedures.

In fact, the programming can be too difficult and boring when learned through the “traditional” abstract method. On the contrary, by having to control a physical robot and seeing what goes wrong, students learn what robots can and can’t do with an immediate experience and understanding.

An assistive technology to attend school

Educational robotics represent a helpful solution for those students who cannot attend school. As the technological world evolves daily, the educational world will continue to benefit from the opportunities offered by its new innovations, tools, and discoveries.

Robots can be used to bring into the classroom all those students who otherwise might not be able to attend the lessons, because of their particular physical conditions. Let’s think about children with severe allergies or students who are recovering at home after surgery. Thanks to his personal robot, a student can access a “real school” experience: the device attends school and brings the student with him via a dedicated internal video conferencing system.

Developing skills for the future

Robotics prepare students for the competitive workforce of tomorrow. By programming robots, students can discover if their aptitudes and interests correspond to those skills that will define the job market of the future, like programming, science technology or engineering.

Working on a robot stimulates students to build their engineering intuition and emphasizes the meaningful problem-based learning through the integration and application of their knowledge. Strategic problem-solving, computational thinking, higher order thinking, logical and analytical reasoning: these are just a few examples of the abilities developed by educational robotics, abilities that will be fundamental in a lot of professional areas.

read more at source

85 out of 100 mechatronics students work after graduation, but women in the field are poorly represented.

9 October 2019

by paris News

“The mechatronic industry has an urgent need for girls”. These are the words of Daniele Vacchi, director of the Its Maker foundation, founded in 2013 by the union of the three ITS of Bologna, Modena and Reggio Emilia, to which was added Fornovo di Taro, in the province of Parma, Forlì and by October Rimini.

“Only two girls per class.” Its Maker’s mission is to train skilled labour, offering professional courses to new graduates to become experts in mechanics, mechatronics, motor engineering and packaging.

Vacchi points out that most of the students enrolled in the courses mentioned above are men. The average is less than two female students per class, 4% of the total.
“We need a cultural revolution from the top: it is time for the sector to welcome more women, who are very well prepared but who, too often, even with the same or superior potential, are relegated to traditional or subordinate roles. An income and career opportunity injustice that must be overcome “.

Vacchi then appeals to newly graduated girls: «Subscribe to our courses. Convince your families and, after two years, you won’t even have to look for a job because it will be the job to find you “.
«The industry has changed, working in mechanics is no longer a labour of fatigue: forget the old factory where you get dirty with grease, the mechanics got married with electronics and became mechatronics, a job of care and team that evolves continuously “.

Thanks to its Makers courses, 82% of students have a job since graduation. Frontal lessons held by professors from the world of industry, 800 hours of training in the company in two years: in short, as Vacchi says, “you dive into a truly stimulating environment”.
«Emilia Romagna has the highest concentration in the world of mechatronic companies. We are trained to train 250 professionals every year, but the region’s supply chain would require over 2000. That’s why we would need other training courses like ours. ”
Moreover, raise with a joke: “This is also why we need girls: the males are almost finisherd!”

read more at source

All set for the second edition of the “Visione Industria” initiative

4 October 2019

by paris News

The “Visione Industria” initiative, now in its second year, is aimed at operators who deal with the organization, management and analysis of production processes, machine manufacturers, quality managers, logistics and maintenance managers, but also at researchers, students and enthusiasts of the subject.

The 2019 edition is dedicated to industrial vision systems and aims to reconstruct its history, provide documentation material and offer training support.

The initiative, started with the support of prestigious companies in the sector and with the help of a qualified Scientific Committee, has a website – https://www.visioneindustria.it/ -, periodically updated with technological and market developments and goes on with a series of meetings in Italian universities.

Seven meetings have already been activated in the Universities of Pavia, Parma, Brescia, Modena, Ancona, Bologna and Bari, with an average attendance of 60/80 students, to spread the technology of industrial vision by connecting University and industry. The activity takes place under the patronage of ANIE Automazione, AIS, ISA Italy Section, Italian Machine Vision Group, Italian Association of Automation and Mechatronics.

The next meeting will take place Tuesday, October 22nd at the University of Pavia, where students of the Computer Vision course will meet computer scientists, mathematics and other engineers; while Tuesday, November 12th at the La Sapienza University of Rome the themes of the industrial vision will be of interest to students of the two master’s degrees in Artificial Intelligence & Robotics and Control Engineering.

read more at source

China invests in mechatronic training of Angola

26 September 2019

by paris News

“The construction of the Integrated Technology Training Center (Cinfotec) of the province of Huambo (Angola) will start in January 2020”. These are the words of the technical support unit for the implementation of the project in the city of Huambo, released on September 19th.

Manuel Pimentel, who was speaking at the end of a meeting between the provincial governor, Joana Lina, with the Secretary of State for Labor and Social Security, Manuel de Jesus Moreira, wanted to emphasize that behind the realization of this work there is a donation from the Chinese government of 28 million dollars.

Three Chinese technical teams have recently carried out several inspections to verify the necessary conditions for the project to be carried out and completed within the established times. A project spokesman stated that construction work on the integrated technology training centre (the third in the country after the two built in Luanda), will last two years and the approved budget includes training for teachers who will work there.

The structure will host 28 laboratories and many study rooms where students will be able to follow the six seminars planned in Mechanics and production, Information technology, Meteorology, Electromedicine, Electricity and Mechatronics.

read more at MACAUHUB

A smart artificial hand for amputees merges user and robotic control

23 September 2019

by paris News

EPFL scientists are developing new approaches for improved control of robotic hands — in particular for amputees — that combines individual finger control and automation for improved grasping and manipulation. This interdisciplinary proof-of-concept between neuroengineering and robotics was successfully tested on three amputees and seven healthy subjects. The results are published in today’s issue of Nature Machine Intelligence.

The technology merges two concepts from two different fields. Implementing them both together had never been done before for robotic hand control, and contributes to the emerging field of shared control in neuroprosthetics.

One concept, from neuroengineering, involves deciphering intended finger movement from muscular activity on the amputee’s stump for individual finger control of the prosthetic hand which has never before been done. The other, from robotics, allows the robotic hand to help take hold of objects and maintain contact with them for robust grasping.

“When you hold an object in your hand, and it starts to slip, you only have a couple of milliseconds to react,” explains Aude Billard who leads EPFL’s Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory. “The robotic hand has the ability to react within 400 milliseconds. Equipped with pressure sensors all along the fingers, it can react and stabilize the object before the brain can actually perceive that the object is slipping. “

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Posts in category: News

Mechatronics at the XVIII Italian Business Culture Week

Self-Assembling Modular Robots Show Promise in Inspection and Rescue Operations

Μechatronics at the center of the third edition of the E_mob event.

Mechatronics leads the employment trend in Italy.

Mechatronics as the key to the future