Show Notes
Robotics needs people who can bridge engineering and everyday operations. Can workforce training keep pace? In Episode 9 of The Business of Automation, Aaron Prather, Director of Market Intelligence at A3, examines three responses to that challenge: the U.S. Army’s new robotics specialty, Emory and Georgia Tech’s combined medical and robotics degree, and the skilled trades discussion at Ford’s Detroit gathering. The Army graduated 10 warrant officers from a 19-week program for its new 390...
More from Business of Automation
Buying a robot is only one part of making automation work. The bigger challenge is understanding the manufacturing process, choosing the right integration partner, and defining what success needs to look like on the factory floor. In Episode 8 of The Business of Automation, Aaron Prather, Director of Market Intelligence at A3, speaks with Robert “Bob” Little, cofounder of ATI Industrial Automation and an Engelberger Robotics Award winner with more than 40 years of experience in robotics. ...
A humanoid can walk, jump, and backflip. Its business value depends on what it can do with its hands. In Episode 7 of The Business of Automation, Aaron Prather, Director of Market Intelligence at A3, examines how Unitree, Tesla, Tangent Robotics and Boston Dynamics are confronting the gap between humanoid capability and useful industrial work. Unitree’s stock market swings raise a basic commercial question: how much of its humanoid business comes from productive industrial applications an...
Five million industrial robots are working in factories worldwide. Amazon is expanding the manufacturing infrastructure behind its robotics network. Vogue is putting humanoids on a runway. Three different stories raise the same business question: when should you buy, build, or borrow a robot? In Episode 6 of The Business of Automation, Aaron Prather, Director of Market Intelligence at A3, examines what the latest robotics headlines reveal about deployment, scale and business value. The IF...
Every robot needs permission before it can scale. This week, Aaron Prather examines three gatekeepers shaping the automation market. The FCC has begun granting conditional approval to specific foreign-made robots, including four Husqvarna robotic lawnmowers and three ANSCER Robotics mobile robots. These decisions show that the U.S. market is not completely closed, but approval is model-specific, conditional and tied to national security and supply-chain commitments. Neptune Medical’s Trit...
Three robotics stories point to the same business lesson: successful deployment depends on far more than the robot. Hai Robotics has been selected to deploy more than 1,500 HaiPick Climb robots for an unnamed European fashion retailer. The planned goods-to-person system includes 1.2 million double-deep storage locations and is designed for a throughput above 24,000 totes per hour. But the strongest signal is not the robot count. The retailer already operates HaiPick systems and is expanding...