First Trainers Run Off Adidas ‘SpeedFactory’s’ Production Line in Germany

Adidas’s new highly automated and very flexible manufacturing plant called the SpeedFactory has begun to produce trainers. The machines carrying out this work are highly automated and use processes such as computerised knitting, robotic cutting and additive manufacturing, which involves building up shapes layer by layer. These new techniques reduce the time and number of trainers required to manufacture a design, which may allow Adidas to sell more sneakers at full price. Typically, retailers must begin the design process about a year before production, and make the sneakers in batches of about 50,000 to 100,000 pairs. However, the SpeedFactory enables Adidas to shorten its manufacturing time from months to perhaps as little as one day, and reduce its batches to as little as 500 pairs. This helps ensure that Adidas can accurately meet demand, limiting excess stock that would end up being marked down. Currently the factory is set to manufacture a series of city specific running shoes designed for running in cities such as London, Paris and Los Angeles. Adidas is utilizing data from local customers to see how they use their shoes. For example, it rains more frequently in London, and customers often use their sneakers to run to or from work, so Adidas created shoes that are reflective and more waterproof than its typical designs.

Wal-Mart is Now Using Robots to Scan Shelves for Stock Gaps in Stores

Wal-Mart is rolling out shelf-scanning robots in more than 50 U.S. stores to replenish inventory faster and save employees time when products run out. The 2-foot (60 cm) robots come with a tower that is fitted with cameras that scan aisles to check stock and identify missing and misplaced items, incorrect prices and mislabelling. The robots pass that data to store employees, who then stock the shelves and fix errors. Out-of-stock items are a big problem for retailers since they miss out on sales every time a shopper cannot find a product on store shelves. Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, has been testing shelf-scanning robots in a handful of stores in Arkansas, Pennsylvania and California. Walmart stresses that the robots are there to supplement humans, not replace them -- to eliminate drudgery and the expenses that go with it. This helps workers get to the task of filling empty shelves, and that is a job that the company does not see ending any time soon.

Columbia’s Developing a Soft Actuator That’s 3x Stronger Than Human Muscle

Columbia University says it has developed a self-contained soft actuator that is three times stronger than natural muscle, without the need of external equipment. The research group in the Creative Machines lab led by Hod Lipson, professor of mechanical engineering, says its actuator is a 3D-printable synthetic soft muscle, a “one-of-a-kind artificial active tissue” with intrinsic expansion ability that does not require an external compressor or high voltage equipment as previous muscles required. The new material has a strain density (expansion per gram) that is 15 times larger than natural muscle, and can lift 1000 times its own weight. Previously, no material has been capable of functioning as a soft muscle due to an inability to exhibit the desired properties of high actuation stress and high strain. Existing soft actuator technologies are typically based on pneumatic or hydraulic inflation of elastomer skins that expand when air or liquid is supplied to them. The external compressors and pressure-regulating equipment required for such technologies prevent miniaturization and the creation of robots that can move and work independently. Professor Lipson says: “We’ve been making great strides toward making robots minds, but robot bodies are still primitive. “This is a big piece of the puzzle and, like biology, the new actuator can be shaped and reshaped a thousand ways. Unlike rigid robots, soft robots can replicate natural motion such as grasping and manipulation to provide medical and other types of assistance, perform delicate tasks, or pick up soft objects.