A whole new world of robots

摘要

Last month, the world of collaborative robots came alive in Chicago, IL when the six-day long international technology marathon, better known as IMTS 2014, took over McCormick Place from September 8th to the 13th. The show offered a smorgasbord of new technology looking to break the mold in the industrial space. Unlike other, more frequent industry events, IMTS is held every two years and many of the 2,000 exhibitors play their cards close to the chest for most of the year to make a splash in front of a crowd that easily surpasses 100,000 for each event. This year, the show seemed more robust than ever, which I took as a sign that while the industrial side of the business may have been a little slow out of the recession, confidence is higher than it has been in recent history. With more than one million square feet of new tech on the floor, it was hard to stand out in the crowd, particularly with exhibits featuring 3D-printed cars driving off of the show floor (Local Motors/Oak Ridge Labs/Cincinnati Incorporated), consumer electronic inspired, multi-touch interfaces creeping into industrial automation HMIs (Siemens), and more balanced and ergonomic scanning arms with haptic feedback (Hexagon Metrology).