Robotics and Automation
Formic | January 23, 2024
Formic Technologies, a provider of Robotics-as-a-Service automation for US manufacturers, announced the release of a suite of software tools to accelerate and simplify the deployment of robotic automation systems for businesses with no internal expertise, while also empowering their existing workforce to thrive and grow with the new technology. The Formic software is based on data and experience gathered from hundreds of thousands of hours of real production time across the Formic robot fleet - from state-of the-art Fortune 500 production facilities to small 30 person local manufacturing plants. Formic’s software enables operations teams and delivers results for every business size.
The Formic Core operating system makes working with robotic automation solutions as easy as using your smartphone, Apple CarPlay, or Netflix. The intuitive multilanguage touchscreen UI allows all existing employees to operate Formic robots and program the equipment to meet production needs - all without any advanced training. At the same time, the software transforms the robot into a “smart system” capable of automatically adjusting to new obstacles in the vicinity of the robot, connecting to any new peripherals, and monitoring all sensor data, production rates, uptime, cycle times and more.
“As the labor shortage continues to impact US manufacturing to the tune of more than one million jobs going unfilled in 2023, business leaders need to figure out how to get more out of what they have,” said Formic CEO, Saman Farid. “Formic Core makes it simple for business leaders to adopt automation by leveraging the existing capabilities of their workforce to streamline production while improving safety, quality, and throughput - all without any required capital expense.”
All of the process information captured by Formic Core feeds into the powerful Formic Colony 2.0 performance dashboard. This command center software monitors total system performance across a wide range of deployments and uses AI to analyze the data coming from all robots, enabling predictive analysis of anomalies and preventative operations to minimize downtime and even prevent it. This data is accessible to facility owners and operators in real-time through the Formic App available for download on the Apple App and Google Play stores. Formic's technicians can use this data and the remote system access provided by the new software to resolve issues from a distance, enabling a swift return to production should any stoppages occur. While the Formic Colony toolkit is primarily leveraged by the Formic operations team to service customer deployments, it is also available for larger businesses to use internally with more advanced teams responsible for automation systems in multiple locations.
The Formic FAST software suite enables the Solutions Engineering team to provide robotic system specification, quoting, and augmented reality (AR) demonstrations faster than ever before, reducing design and deployment times from months to weeks. This accelerated service delivers a best-in-class customer experience by expediting the path to greater productivity on the production floor.
“Advanced automation has historically been elusive for all but the largest manufacturers,” said Shahin Farshchi, General Partner at Lux Capital. “Formic is changing that. By leveraging advanced AI and proprietary algorithms, Formic has automated the labor-intensive and expensive process of automating a work cell, and makes automating as easy as hiring workers for all logistics and manufacturing companies - large and small alike.”
With the addition of these new software products, Formic now boasts a full complement of $0 CapEx robotic automation solutions, powerful workforce enabling software, a complete system monitoring platform, and solution identification, augmented reality, and simulation software to deliver US manufacturing businesses scale and growth. Formic is building a robotic workforce that can be used in every American manufacturing facility, with the aim to bring prosperity and abundance by making everyday items easy to produce and deliver.
About Formic
Founded in 2020, Formic makes robotics and automation accessible for all US manufacturing businesses. The Chicago-based “Robotics-as-a-Service” company delivers robotic automation for a low hourly rate, including 24/7 monitoring, 100% maintenance coverage, and guaranteed performance without the need for large, risky capital investments. Driving continuous improvement in safety, quality, and throughput is now possible for every business. With 7x growth in production hours YoY, Formic is currently entertaining Series B funding.
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Additive Manufacturing
Teledyne Relays, Inc. | January 29, 2024
Teledyne Relays, a leading provider of cutting-edge relay solutions, introduces its new Multi-Function Timer product series, showcasing the company's commitment to delivering advanced, reliable, and versatile solutions for the industrial automation sector.
Teledyne Relays Multi-Function Timer MFT series is a state-of-the-art solution designed for a wide variety of applications that demand precise timing control. The user-friendly design features three potentiometers for easy selection of timing functions and ranges, while the LEDs provide at-a-glance feedback of timing and relay status. The MFT series also features
7 selectable timing functions for a wide variety of applications
Timing ranges from 0.1 seconds up to 100 hours
Compact 17.5mm housing preserves valuable panel space
Supply Voltages: 24VDC & 24-240VAC OR 12-240VAC/DC
5A SPDT output relay
Engineered with the needs of electrical engineers, panel builders, and automation engineers in mind, these timers find application in various industries, including but not limited to
Industrial Automation
Manufacturing
Process Control Systems
HVAC and Refrigeration
Agriculture and Irrigation
Power Distribution
“With the new Multi-Function Timer series, Teledyne Relays continues to lead in providing reliable and versatile solutions for industrial automation, ensuring precise timing control,” said Michael Palakian, Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing at Teledyne Relays.
The Multi-Function Timer series from Teledyne Relays ensures precise timing control, offering unparalleled reliability across diverse applications and is available for ordering from Teledyne Relays or an authorized distributor.
About Teledyne Relays
Teledyne Relays is a world leader in high-performance coaxial switches, electromechanical, and solid-state relays, offering a wide range of solutions for various applications in the aerospace and defense, telecommunications, test and measurement, and industrial markets. With over 60 years of experience, Teledyne Relay has established a reputation for quality, reliability, and customer service excellence.
About Teledyne Defense Electronics
Serving Defense, Space and Commercial sectors worldwide, Teledyne Defense Electronics offers a comprehensive portfolio of highly engineered solutions that meet your most demanding requirements in the harshest environments. Manufacturing both custom and off-the-shelf product offerings, our diverse product lines meet emerging needs for key applications for avionics, energetics, electronic warfare, missiles, radar, satcom, space and test and measurement.
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Smart Factory
PsiQuantum | January 30, 2024
PsiQuantum and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group announced that they are beginning work with Mitsubishi Chemical Group on a joint project to simulate excited states of photochromic molecules which have widespread industrial and residential potential applications such as the development of smart windows, energy-efficient data storage, solar energy storage and solar cells, and other photoswitching use cases.
Qlimate, a PsiQuantum-led initiative that includes MUFG as a partner, focuses on using fault-tolerant quantum computing to crack the most challenging computational problems and accelerate the development of scalable breakthroughs across climate technologies, including more energy-efficient materials.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) is committed to supporting the world’s transition to a sustainable future, and to encourage industry access to the most promising breakthrough technologies. By pioneering PsiQuantum’s Qlimate solutions with industry leader Mitsubishi Chemical, MUFG is at the forefront of quantum computing for sustainability.
This joint project will determine whether high-accuracy estimates of excited state properties are feasible on early-generation fault-tolerant quantum computers, specifically focusing on diarylethenes used for energy-efficient photoswitching applications. The project will allow Mitsubishi Chemical to gain early insights into how and when fault-tolerant quantum computing can be deployed in support of critical, scalable, sustainable materials.
Because predicting the optical properties of materials requires complex analysis of excited states, standard algorithmic techniques for simulating these molecules (such as the Density Functional Theory, or DFT) often produce qualitatively incorrect results. The project will bring together Mitsubishi Chemical’s deep experience of computational chemistry and PsiQuantum’s leading expertise in fault-tolerant quantum computing to push the boundaries of approaching the complex physics in these systems and pave the way to developing new, more powerful energy-efficient photonic materials.
Philipp Ernst, Head of Solutions at PsiQuantum, said: “PsiQuantum has dedicated teams who identify, describe and solve complex problem sets with best-in-class quantum algorithms. These are designed specifically to run on fault-tolerant quantum computers and will tackle previously-impossible computational challenges. This partnership will leverage our team’s unique know-how and Mitsubishi Chemical’s expertise in photochromic materials. We are grateful for MUFG’s visionary support in our mission to deploy high-impact quantum computing solutions to fight climate change.”
Suguru Azegami, Managing Director, Sustainable Business Division, MUFG said: “We are excited to partner with PsiQuantum and Mitsubishi Chemical on our journey to explore possibilities of quantum computing technologies to solve the imminent global challenge. PsiQuantum’s vision to develop the first utility scale quantum computer before the end of the decade has inspired us, which led our initiative to participate in the Qlimate partnership as the first and sole member from Japan. Mitsubishi Chemical is leading efforts to use the cutting-edge technology to develop next generation materials and we are honored to support the company as its long term financial partner.”
Qi Gao, Senior Chief Scientist, Mitsubishi Chemical said: “We are pleased to be part of the partnership and are grateful for MUFG’s support. Mitsubishi Chemical’s over 40 years background in computational chemistry and PsiQuantum’s domain specific knowledge for quantum control is a great fit with the collaboration effort of improving calculation accuracy on quantum device. We hope the partnership will accelerate the innovation of revolutionizing computational studies in chemistry and materials science.”
About PsiQuantum
PsiQuantum is a private company, founded in 2015 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California. The company’s only mission is to build and deploy the world’s first useful, large-scale quantum computer. Many teams around the world today have demonstrated prototype quantum computing systems, but it is widely accepted that much larger systems are necessary in order to unlock transformational applications across drug discovery, climate technologies, finance, transportation, security & defense and beyond. PsiQuantum’s photonic approach enables rapid scaling via direct leverage of high-volume semiconductor manufacturing and cryogenic infrastructure. The company is partnered with the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University and Sci-Tech Daresbury in the United Kingdom.
About Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG)
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG) is one of the world’s leading financial groups. Headquartered in Tokyo and with over 360 years of history, MUFG has a global network with approximately 2,000 locations in more than 50 countries. The Group has about 160,000 employees and offers services including commercial banking, trust banking, securities, credit cards, consumer finance, asset management, and leasing. The Group aims to “be the world’s most trusted financial group” through close collaboration among our operating companies and flexibly respond to all of the financial needs of our customers, serving society, and fostering shared and sustainable growth for a better world. MUFG’s shares trade on the Tokyo, Nagoya, and New York stock exchanges.
About the Mitsubishi Chemical Group Corporation
Mitsubishi Chemical Group Corporation (TSE: 4188) is a specialty materials group with an unwavering commitment to lead with innovative solutions to achieve KAITEKI, the well-being of people and the planet. We bring deep expertise and material science leadership in core market segments such as mobility, digital, medical and food. In this way, we enable industry transformation, technology breakthroughs, and longer, more fruitful lives for us all. Together, around 70,000 employees worldwide provide advanced chemistry-based solutions to deliver the core elements of our slogan — “Science. Value. Life.”
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