After the wildfires burned thousands of acres, destroying homes, infrastructure, and natural habitats, this initiative will deploy the microfactory in Pacific Palisades, California, to build modular structures onsite, offering a glimpse into the future of affordable housing construction.

Watch the video on youtube.

“Together, Cosmic and ABB Robotics are rewriting the rules of construction and disaster recovery,” said Marc Segura, President of ABB Robotics Division. “By integrating our robots and digital twin technologies into Cosmic’s AI-powered mobile microfactory, we’re enabling real-time, precision automation ideal for remote and disaster-affected sites.”

These microfactories integrate ABB’s IRB 6710 robots and RobotStudio digital twin software with Cosmic’s Robotic Workstation Cell and AI-driven Building Information Model (BIM) – an end-to-end platform that handles design, permitting, procurement, robotic fabrication and assembly.

Housed within an on-site microfactory, these systems fabricate custom structural wall panels with millimeter precision just-in-time for assembly at the construction site.

Cosmic uses ABB’s RobotStudio with its AI BIM allowing the entire build process to be simulated and optimized in a digital environment before deployment. Once on location, Cosmic’s AI and computer vision systems work with the robots, making real-time decisions, detecting issues, and ensuring consistent quality.

These homes are built with non-combustible materials, solar and battery backup systems, and water independence through greywater recycling and renewable water generation. Each home exceeds California’s wildfire and energy efficiency codes. By delivering a turnkey experience from permitting to final construction, Cosmic is redefining what’s possible in emergency recovery.

Cosmic says its mobile microfactory reduces construction time by up to 70% and lowers total building costs by approximately 30% compared to conventional methods. Homes can be delivered in just 12 weeks at $550–$700 per square foot, compared to Los Angeles’ typical $800–$1,000 range.

“Our mobile microfactory is fast enough for disaster recovery, efficient enough to drastically lower costs, and smart enough not to compromise on quality,” said Sasha Jokic, Founder and CEO of Cosmic Buildings. “By integrating robotic automation with AI reasoning and on-site deployment, Cosmic achieves construction speeds three times faster than traditional methods, completing projects in as little as three months.”

The post AI and robotics-powered microfactory rebuilds homes lost to the California wildfires appeared first on Engineering.com.

In 1962, an animated sitcom debuted on television called the Jetsons. It predicted a future with extensive automation of every aspect of life, from cleaning the floors to operating factories. Much of it has come true, with extensive robotic operation now commonplace in manufacturing, supply chain services and increasingly, in medicine. But that humanoid robot as personal servant remains elusive. Why?

The Robot Report’s Editorial Director, Eugene Demaitre, tracks automation industry trends in industrial, commercial and residential applications and he discussed the current state-of-the-art, and future prospects including those of humanoid personal assistants, in conversation with engineering.com’s Jim Anderton. 

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The post Still waiting for that personal humanoid robot? It’s coming.  appeared first on Engineering.com.

UR Studio was showcased at the UR booth at the Automatica trade fair in Munich. The company says it enables integrators to build 1:1 online simulations of their work cell and simulate every key aspect of its setup. Users can test robot movements, simulate reach, speed and workflow, and calculate cycle time.

“Whether you are new to automation or an experienced customer optimizing a complex cell, you want assurance and certainty before making the final decision on your solution,” says Tero Tolonen, Universal Robots’ Chief Product Officer. “With UR Studio, we now provide an intuitive, easy-accessible tool to simulate and visualize the end-user setup and thoroughly test the cell and its capabilities – mapping out details for maximum efficiency and performance.”

UR Studio interacts with UR’s robot portfolio and various components, such as pallets, machines, workpieces and end effectors—including standard grippers often used with UR cobots. Items can be configured to the user’s preferences with the option of importing elements to mimic the workspace. This ensures the final solution fits within the real-world environment and allows for potential issues to be identified early.

Surprisingly, UR Studio is free of charge and runs directly on desktop browsers requiring no installation—simply log into the UR Studio website to get started. Its intuitive interface makes navigation of the simulated environment effortless. It’s preloaded with templates for the most common applications such as machine tending, screwdriving, palletizing and pick-and-place. UR says new application templates will be added continuously.

UR Studio will initially be available in English, but will soon be released in German, Spanish, Chinese (simplified) and Japanese.

The post Universal Robots launches UR Studio appeared first on Engineering.com.

First, the disconnect between innovation and production is exacerbating the problem of inadequate workforce development, where training and skills development initiatives are not aligned with industry needs.

Additionally, U.S. manufacturers aren’t just struggling with a talent shortage; they’re also having problems retaining that much-needed talent to embed and finesse the necessary practices for scalable automation in advanced manufacturing.

Finally, SME manufacturers are still playing catch-up in the automation race. Without technologically empowered SMEs, the wider U.S. manufacturing industry will fail to progress at the same rate as Asian manufacturers.

That being said, there are lessons to be learned from Asian manufacturers in adopting a human-centric approach to automation. However, it’s important to adopt these learnings while keeping cultural and local workforce realities in mind.

Lessons from Asia

Many Asian manufacturers are familiar with the fact that know-how is just as important as the technology itself. The workforce has spent decades persistently refining skills alongside technology adoption.

Countries like Japan are renowned for their extremely loyal workforce and ongoing strong belief in the benefits of lifetime employment. This is why approaches like Kaizen have proven to be effective in Asian manufacturing organizations. The cultural outlook on lifetime employment within an organization has created the foundations for deep skills development and close knowledge transfer between mentors and trainees. There’s a significant emphasis on talent retention and technology integration that is carefully centralized around the human role.

Arguably, because of this, Asian manufacturers are keenly aware that automation isn’t necessarily always the answer. It’s important to know what to automate and where it makes sense to do so.

These systems have helped Asian manufacturers map out where to upskill and have been a key driver in many of them leading the way for innovation and automation in the manufacturing industry. In fact, a 2023 report from financial institution Citigroup estimates Asia tends to adopt technology eight to 12 years faster than their Western counterparts.

Why this doesn’t directly translate to the U.S.

The U.S. workforce behaves very differently. Turnover tends to be much higher, especially as younger workers who make up most of the workforce typically stay in a job for a handful of years. Additionally, career growth is more valued among U.S. workers than loyalty, especially given that long-term loyalty often goes unrecognized—unlike in Japan—making it a prime motivator to change companies.

The disconnect between training and real-world industry needs is slowing technology adoption. Many companies don’t have the skilled talent to effectively implement automation at scale, dealing with poor data use and inconsistent processes. For example, installing computer vision sensors without trained staff to interpret the data often results in wasted investment and limited impact.

This makes it more difficult for organizations to devote the time and energy to in-depth knowledge sharing and skills development alongside technology adoption. 

Propelling training and growth

It’s vital for manufacturers to build a bank of easily accessible knowledge that can be captured and transferred seamlessly. Technology has a powerful role to play in facilitating knowledge transfer and accelerated innovation via on-the-job training.

On-the-fly manuals based on real-time data capture via IoT tools can facilitate direct and smooth sharing of instructions while making sure workers are sticking to a clear procedure. Built-in sensors and other embodied AI features help monitor actions and can be useful in alerting teams to any risks or errors.

Agentic AI has a powerful role to play in multiple areas, whether it’s ensuring the continued transfer of valuable knowledge from prior experience or answering on-the-job questions that can guide less experienced employees. Voice communication with real-time video feed has a dual benefit of increasing both operator and supervisor productivity.

These data-powered solutions also mean that U.S. manufacturers can build knowledge banks that remain within their organizations after people leave. It slashes the burden on already limited human resources while still facilitating in-depth, hands-on training. Organizations can also use AI-powered platforms to design training plans that not only set clear paths of growth for employees but also ensure they align with specific business and wider industry needs.

These training methods should also promote accountability when using technology. Workers can be familiarized with data handling and hygiene and know what to look out for when data isn’t being processed properly. Easily accessible manuals also ensure teams are sticking to security protocols and understand key steps when a breach happens.

Innovating traditional methods with technology

While emerging tools like agentic AI are becoming increasingly more autonomous, the human touch can’t be completely eliminated from the picture, especially for embedding best practices around technology and scaling these. The ultimate responsibility for actioning decisions and strategies sits on people’s shoulders, not AI tools.

Yet that’s not to say that technology doesn’t have a role in empowering manufacturing teams to make better, more informed decisions—and act on these more effectively. For instance, integrating embodied AI like robots and live sensors can help streamline data capture, a fundamental component of informed decision-making and strategizing. These embodied AI tools can be used alongside powerful algorithms and ML solutions to produce accessible insights from a huge swathe of data, which speeds up the decision-making process.

AI can also boost safety on the factory floor. Robots and computer vision can monitor spaces and alert teams to risks or incidents when they occur, while reminding them of safety protocols. They can also notify staff when a failure occurs or there’s an issue with a product. This can be extremely cost- and time-effective for manufacturers. Tools like these, working alongside the human eye, can reduce the number of defective products.

For the U.S. to rival Asian manufacturers in the automation race, it needs to embrace the human role in manufacturing and facilitate faster knowledge-sharing by reinvigorating training and reskilling with technology. Ultimately, it’s not about replacing people across the board with automation, but achieving synergy between the two for accelerated yet responsible innovation at scale.

Shin Nakamura, is a Japanese manufacturing leader, President of one to ONE Holdings and President of Daiwa Steel Tube Industries, which has facilities in Japan, Vietnam, India and the U.S.

The post Lessons from Asia for successfully scaling automation appeared first on Engineering.com.

Robot path planning is a complex, with most workcells using multiple robots requiring tedious work to create interference zones and interlock signals that ensure there are no collisions during manufacturing.

Manually validating the mechanical design, planning robot paths, determining sequencing to hit optimal cycle time targets, and defining those interlocks can take a team well over 100,000 hours for a single project. This complexity often leads to failures in hitting cycle time targets, adding significant rework.

Resolver works by selecting and testing potential solutions tens to thousands of times faster than a human programmer. The goal is to quickly generate optimal, collision-free motion paths and interlock signals. This can accelerate workcell design from months to days.

The company says Resolver is essentially infinitely scalable robotic simulation power that can used to reduce the time required for many tasks, including:

• Generating accurate proposals
• Designing optimal tools and fixtures
• Producing optimal robot programs
• Adjusting for as-built deviations during commissioning
• Assessing and minimizing the impact of product design changes

“It is widely understood that the future of the manufacturing industry lies in robotics and automation. However, that future is slow to materialize because of the outdated, time-consuming, and inefficient processes commonplace in the industry,” said Peter Howard, CEO of Realtime Robotics. “Few manufacturers have the time or resources needed to enact real change. We’ve engineered Resolver to help manufacturers improve their engineering, programming and production processes – and drive greater value from their current and future investments in robots.”

How it works

Realtime Robotics’ Resolver supports path planning with any number of robots, at any phase of the workflow, generating results in minutes. The solution requires minimal onboarding and currently allows users to work directly within Siemens Process Simulate. Support for other leading simulation platforms will be rolled out later in the year, enabling teams to work directly within their preferred simulation tool.

“Resolver has the computational power to generate better motion paths than human programmers in both simple and complex workcells,” added Howard. “This is because Resolver searches the possibilities open to robotic arms, while humans tend to stay within the possibilities of the human arm.”

Users upload the workcell information, configure their sequencing and conditions, and execute a run. In minutes, Resolver will generate motion paths—including interlocks. The longer Resolver runs, the more options it provides, shortening the cycle time until the desired outcome is reached. The paths and interlocks can then be easily imported back into the simulation software for validation and operation.

Beyond determining optimal motion plans and interlocks, Resolver can help with fixture design, reachability validation, target sequencing, and robot task allocation. It can also be used to design the paths and interlocks for an entire manufacturing line from the start.

The post New robot path planning software cuts weeks of programming appeared first on Engineering.com.

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Total installations of industrial robots in the U.S. automotive sector increased by 10.7%, reaching 13,700 units in 2024, according to preliminary results reported by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).

“The United States has one of the most automated car industries in the world. The ratio of robots to factory workers ranks fifth, tied with Japan and Germany and ahead of China,” says Takayuki Ito, President of the International Federation of Robotics. “This is a great achievement of modernization. However, in other key areas of manufacturing automation, the US lags behind its competitors.”

The majority of industrial robots deployed in the U.S. are imports from overseas, as there are few robot manufacturers producing there. Globally, 70% of robots are produced by four countries: Japan, China, Germany and South Korea.

Within this group, Chinese manufacturers are the most dynamic, with production for their huge domestic market more than tripling from 2019 to 2023. This puts them in second place after Japan and is driven by the country’s national robotics strategy. Its manufacturing industry installed about 280,000 units per year between 2021 and 2023, compared to a total of 34,300 installations in the United States in 2024.

In China, robotics and automation are penetrating all levels of production, resulting in a robot density of 470 robots per 10,000 employees in manufacturing—the third highest in the world, surpassing Germany and Japan in 2023.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission in March 2025 established a state-backed venture capital fund focused on robotics, AI and cutting-edge innovation. The long-term fund is expected to attract nearly 1 trillion yuan (US$138 billion) in capital from local governments and the private sector over the next 20 years. This initiative aims to continue China’s technology-driven manufacturing:

The U.S. ranks tenth among the world’s most automated manufacturing countries with a robot density of 295 robots per 10,000 employees. The country’s automation is heavily concentrated in the automotive sector with about 40% of all new industrial robot installations in 2024.

This is followed by the metal and machinery industry with 3,800 units, representing a market share of 11%. Installations in the US electrical and electronics industry has a market share of 9% with 2,900 units sold.

The post Robot deployment rises in automotive while other sectors lag appeared first on Engineering.com.

The partners stated in a press release that the collaboration addresses urgent manufacturing challenges, including a shortage of skilled welders, increasing part variability, and demand for faster lead times. The solution is built for complex, high mix welding environments, enabling manufacturers to automate without the need for traditional programming.

The companies said this partnership expands their long-standing relationship, ensuring that AI-powered robotics and intelligent positioning technology work seamlessly together to improve accuracy and accelerate throughput in industrial automation.

“ALM is the perfect hardware partner for Path as we expand across North America,” said Andy Lonsberry, CEO and Co-Founder of Path Robotics. “ALM’s teams and products are best in class and known across the industries we serve.”

Industries including heavy equipment, trailer manufacturing, energy, aerospace, and agriculture face increasing pressure to deliver high-quality, customized products at scale.

These sectors face common hurdles: shortages of skilled welders, high part variability, and demand for faster lead times. Traditional automation solutions often fall short in these complex, variable environments.

The ALM-Path partnership offers a solution that addresses these pain points with intelligent automation designed for high-mix, multi-pass welding with extreme part variability. The combined system, based on Path Robotics AW3 and ALM Positioners, intelligently adapts to each part and weld path without reprogramming, making automation viable where it previously wasn’t.

“Path’s technology is changing the way manufacturers view automation,” said Pat Pollock, President and CEO of ALM Positioners, Inc. “Their AI-driven solutions allow manufacturers to take advantage of the quality, throughput, and consistency of robotic welding, without all the programming and application challenges associated with traditional robotic automation.”

The post Path and ALM strike up AI welding partnership appeared first on Engineering.com.

“The board believes listing ABB Robotics as a separate company will optimize both companies’ ability to create customer value, grow and attract talent,” said ABB Chairman Peter Voser. He says both companies will benefit from a more focused governance and capital allocation. “ABB will continue to focus on its long-term strategy, building on its leading positions in electrification and automation,” Voser said.

ABB Robotics provides intelligent automation solutions to a global customer base to solve operational challenges including labor shortages and the need to operate more sustainably. It’s robotics platforms include autonomous mobile robots, software and AI combined with proven domain expertise to a broad range of traditional and new industry segments. More than 80 percent of the company’s products are software or AI enabled.

Morten Wierod, CEO of ABB, says there are limited business and technology synergies between the ABB Robotics business and other ABB divisions, with different demand and market characteristics. “We believe this change will support value creation in both the ABB Group and in the separately listed pure play robotics business,” he said.

ABB said in a press release that the new robotics company will be listed with a strong capital structure, is well invested with a solid cash flow profile and operates through its local-for-local set-up with regional manufacturing hubs in Sweden, China and the U.S.

The robotics division has about 7,000 employees, with 2024 revenues of $2.3 billion, which made up about 7% of ABB Group revenues.

If shareholders vote in favor of the proposal, the spin-off is planned to be done through a share distribution. ABB Ltd.’s shareholders will receive shares in the company to be listed (its working name is ABB Robotics) as a dividend in-kind in proportion to their existing shareholding.

In the first quarter of 2026, the Machine Automation division—which is currently combined with ABB Robotics to form the Robotics & Discrete Automation business—will become a part of the Process Automation business, where ABB says its other divisions will benefit from technology synergies for software and control technologies. The Machine Automation business holds a leading position in the high-end segment for solutions based on PLCs, IPCs, servo motion, industrial transport systems and vision and software.

The intention is for the new robotics company to start trading as a separately listed company during the second quarter of 2026.

The post ABB to spin off robotics division appeared first on Engineering.com.

Thirty-one percent of the 434 survey respondents predicted EV output would increase by more than 10%. A further 44% said production would grow in 2025 by up to 10%. Meanwhile, only 21% of respondents believed EV production would either remain static (8%) or decline (13%) through 2025.

“This year’s survey found that overall, automotive manufacturing professionals are optimistic about EV production growth in 2025, but unsure about reaching 100 percent electric vehicle production timetables due to factors now often beyond the factory environment,” said Joerg Reger, managing director of ABB’s automotive business Line. “There’s strong evidence that EV manufacturing capabilities are now considerably improved, and significant change has taken place in terms of introducing new production technology as well as upskilling workforces. ABB Robotics has made wide-scale changes to our own robotic and automation portfolio to support our customers and drive this transformation forward at pace.”

Despite the optimistic EV forecast from manufacturing experts, there was a decline in confidence about meeting proposed EV deadlines. When asked whether 100% EV production was achievable to meet regional deadlines set between 2030-2040, 31% believed this was an impossible target compared to 27% the previous year and just 18% in 2022. Overall, 65% were skeptical about achieving full EV production within the 2030-2040 timeframe.

Further examination of the downturn in confidence found that the main barriers were now deemed to be ‘outside the factory’ with levels of consumer demand and confidence in charging infrastructure. The survey also indicated that manufacturing experts are predicting strong growth in hybrid powertrains during 2025, with 67% of those surveyed believing that plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) production would grow and 20% forecasting that production would increase by over 10%. Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) figures were equally optimistic with 62% of those surveyed expecting output to grow in 2025.

“Hybrid passenger vehicle production remains buoyant with the global manufacturing community expecting to produce more cars in 2025. These results support the survey’s main findings that the overall pace of EV adoption is currently not fast enough to reach some of the upcoming legislative deadlines for a 100% electric future,” said Daniel Harrison, chief analyst for Automotive Manufacturing Solutions.

“Within the manufacturing environment, the production of numerous powertrains across several model lines can create considerable complexity and additional cost, which has been pinpointed in our previous surveys produced in partnership with ABB Robotics.”

Automotive has traditionally been the backbone of the robotics industry. In 2020, however, the Association for Advancing Automation (A3) found that yearly orders of robots for non-automotive sectors surpassed automotive robot orders for the first time in North America. Fast forward to last year, automotive orders declined 15% in 2024 compared to 2023 in North America, according to A3. A3 said it was optimistic automotive orders will bounce back by the end of 2025.

“I think there is room to grow in automotive,” Alex Shikany, executive vice president of A3, recently told The Robot Report. “What we saw over the last two years, with the lower quantities of orders, had a lot more to do with manufacturers pivoting their strategies with regard to not getting the performance they thought they would get out of all their electric ambitions.”

Robotics impact on EVs

When questioned about how well manufacturing companies are embracing robotics, new OEMs, startups, and pop-up manufacturers were the leading adopters with 63% investing “very well” or “quite well.” This was matched by 63% of technology specialists investing “very well” or “quite well” in robotics, leading all other manufacturing groups.

In third place were legacy OEMs with 53% investing “very well” or “quite well” in robotics, the survey found. Referencing the previous survey results, new OEMs, startups, and pop-up manufacturers who were embracing robotics and automation “very well” or “quite well” dropped from 66% in 2023 to 63% in 2024, indicating a slight decline in perceived adoption.

According to the survey, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) exhibited the highest expected increase, with 25% predicting a strong increase and 39% expecting a slight increase. Collaborative robots (cobots) were in second place with 22% predicting a strong increase and 35% expecting a slight increase, followed by articulated robots in third place with 19% predicting a strong increase and 39% expecting a slight increase.

Click the image to enlarge it.

Yes, humanoids also made the list. According to the survey, humanoids were cited to strongly increase by 27% of Asian respondents, compared to only 5% in Europe and just 2% in North America. Several humanoid manufacturers are testing with automakers, including Apptronik, Boston Dynamics, Figure, and UBTech, to name a few. Of course, Tesla is also developing humanoids.

UBTech this week released a video showcasing a swarm of humanoids performing a variety of tasks and working together inside a Zeekr smart factory in China. You can watch the video below.

According to the survey, 54% of respondents see anticipated high initial costs as the greatest obstacle to smart factory implementation.

This story was originally published on The Robot Report.

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