Chow Robotics Unveils Salad Making Robot After 6m Unit Success of RotiMatic

Chowbotics is gearing up for a major marketing push to find space for its salad-making robot in every homes and catering companies around the world. A test prototype is currently located at Calafia Cafe & Market in Palo Alto and will soon expand to other restaurants. Sally is a rectangular box that has a touchscreen that displays ingredient options and an image of the salad as items are added. You pick your greens, then toppings and dressing. With 22 ingredient canisters, Sally can make more than 1,000 different combinations of salads and can serve up to 50 of them before she needs refilling. According to the CEO of Chow Deepak Sekar it's an ideal health food option, not only for restaurants but also hospitals, workplaces and cafeterias. Sally is the "smallest and most affordable cafeteria an office can have."

Chinese Robot Carries Out World’s First Fully Automated Dental Implants

China’s chronic shortage of dentists may be answered by an unexpected source. A robot has carried out a dental operation without help from humans for the first time, carrying out implant surgery on a patient in China. Although medical staff were present during the one-hour surgery in Xian, Shaanxi province, they did not play an active role. Two new teeth, created by 3D printing, were successfully implanted into a woman’s mouth, the South China Morning Post reported. The robot was developed by Beihang University in Beijing and the Fourth Military Medical University’s Stomatological Hospital. Dr Zhao Yimin, who works at the hospital, told the newspaper the robot was designed to carry out dental procedures and avoid mistakes made by human error. According to the report, the robot followed a set of pre-programmed commands to install the dental implants but was also able to adjust for the woman’s movement. Experts said that the implants were fitted within a margin of error of 0.2-0.3 mm, matching the human standards required for this type of procedure.

IFR Forecasts That 1.7m New Industrial Robots Will Be in Use by 2020

The International Federation of Robotics released their annual update on market trends in September, their key headline was that they expect the number of industrial robots in factories to increase by 1.7m units by the end of 2020. In the short-term they forecast the number of installations to rise by 21% in Asia, 16% in the US and 8% in Europe. The Federation believes the key drivers behind the rapid growth include faster business cycles, increasing desire for customization and the need to have more flexible manufacturing along with the usual arguments of rising cost of labour and a generally cheaper and more efficient manufacturing footprint. They believe that many of these drivers will lead to the increased usage and production of collaborative robots which are cheaper to buy and run. They can also work in tandem with humans without the need for safety cages. In terms of units, it is estimated that by 2020 the worldwide stock of operational industrial robots will increase from about 1,828,000 units at the end of 2016 to 3,053,000 units. This represents an average annual growth rate of 14 percent between 2018 and 2020. China is still leading the demand for industrial robots and Kuka announced it will double its production capacity there, following Fanuc and ABB plans.

The chart below from the IFR shows the current global industrial robot production capacity by country.