OMRON EDGE&LINK Discover the future

The immense potential and challenges of multimodal AI

Unlike most AI systems, humans understand the meaning of text, videos, audio, and images together in context. For example, given text and an image that seem innocuous when considered apart (e.g., "Loo...

Design to Hearten Users Produced by OMRON HEALTHCARE

Would you happen to know OMRON's digital thermometer, Kenon-kun*1? Released in 2004, Kenon-kun MC-670, featured a large LCD and a round shape, in sharp contrast to the conventional design of long and ...

How RPA could help distribute and track COVID-19 vaccines

The first shipments of Pfizer's and Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines arrived at health systems across the U.S. this month, a significant milestone in the fight against a pandemic that has infected and kill...

Class Program Given by Doctors for Enhancing Women's Health Literacy of Adolescents

In line with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goal 5, "Gender equality," the formation of a gender-equal society, in which everyone can fully display their individuality and ability in any field regar...

Light-based chip brings AI to everything? Looking good

RMIT Australia has been leading an international research program involving Australian, American, and Chinese researchers working on nanoscale imaging, machine learning and memory. What's new about th...

Creative Use of CAE in the New Normal Era

Recent years have seen companies across Japan adopting digital technology to transform their services and businesses (digital transformation, or "DX"). Following the announcement in September 2020 of ...

Overcoming the "Big Business Syndrome" and Bringing Back the Ever-lasting Spirit of Venture

In this series of articles with 8 episodes, we trace the thoughts and speculations of OMRON's founder, Kazuma Tateishi, a rare technologically minded executive, and looks at the background to his grow...

Health Management That Supports the Creation of Innovation with Vitality

There is a widespread belief that in order to promote business that is useful to society, it is important to provide an environment in which all employees can enjoy their work and give the physical an...

AliveCor raises $65 million to detect heart problems with AI

AliveCor, a startup developing algorithms that detect atrial fibrillation, bradycardia, tachycardia, and other health issues from heart rate readings, today raised $65 million in funding. The company...

AI Weekly: The state of machine learning in 2020

The AI Index is due out in the coming weeks, as is CB Insights' assessment of global AI startup activity, but two reports -- both called The State of AI -- have already been released. Last week, McKin...

Seeking the Ultimate Gaming Mouse for Professional Gamers

With player numbers topping 100 million globally, eSports seems to know no boundaries. By definition, eSports is a form of sport competition involving video games. As long as you have the requisite de...

What's New in Gartner's Hype Cycle For AI, 2020

AI is starting to deliver on its potential and its benefits for businesses are becoming a reality. 47% of artificial intelligence (AI) investments were unchanged since the start of the pandemic and 30...

"AI suitcase" for a Symbiotic Society, Bringing Together the Technologies of Five Companies

According to the WHO, the number of people with some form of visual impairment is estimated to be as high as 2.2 billion people around the world (*1). With the aim of realizing a society where the vis...

The Challenge of Establishing Health Engineering Based on Automation

In this series of articles with 8 episodes, we trace the thoughts and speculations of OMRON's founder, Kazuma Tateishi, a rare technologically minded executive, and looks at the background to his grow...

OMRON's Technology Used in Vending Machines Across Cities

Vending machines can be found all over cities, towns and station platforms in Japan and it is now a part of Japanese people's daily lives. To operate this vending machine, do you know how many parts a...

How 5G's enhanced reliability and latency can help reboot the factory floor

Factories live and breathe on operational technology (OT), the systems that monitor and control physical devices. For many years, OT has lagged IT in development pace and performance. A big reason: th...

Deci raises $9.1 million to autonomously optimize AI algorithms

Deep learning startup Deci announced that it raised $9.1 million in a seed funding round led by Israel-based Emerge. According to a spokesperson, the company plans to devote the proceeds to customer a...

What I Learned from the Next Generation of Workers

The future of business is being shaped by digital transformation, channel and supply disruption, evolving procurement tools and tactics, and an increased need for business agility. These shifts in the...

Creating New Social Value Through OMRON's Purpose

In recent years, especially in the millennial generation, the concept of "Purpose", meaning the significance and value of the existence of organizations and companies in society is receiving a high at...

Aiming for Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 2050

In order to combat global warming and stabilize energy supply and demand, reduction of our energy consumption is necessary. According to the FY2018 Energy Supply and Demand Results (confirmed data rep...

How Thoughtfull aims to destigmatise mental health through daily chats with professionals

Despite one in seven Singaporeans experiencing mental health challenges at some point in their lives, only a quarter of those seeks treatment for it. The uncomfortable truth is we do not perceive ment...

OMRON's Next-generation Automation for the New Normal Era

In the new normal era caused by COVID-19, automation technology plays a greater role than ever before. There is a growing expectation for automation that allows machines to not only perform tasks to t...

"New Normal" Railway Station Services by realizing "Station Automation"

The outbreak of COVID-19 early this year has left lingering effects in every facet of our society. To prevent the spread of the virus, creating crowds around passenger support desks at train stations ...

A Little Communication Goes a Long Way to Unearth the Hidden Potential of Diverse People

In Japan, the number of persons with disabilities on the payroll of private enterprises has been growing year by year, hitting a record-high 530,000 persons in 2019*1. Yet, out of an estimated 2.06 mi...

"I'm going out for tea with my friends" using meemo, a community-based MaaS

Changes in the environment of Japan's regional cities because of a declining birthrate, aging population, stagnant local economies, and weakened local communities, have led to a movement to make local...

Dataloop raises $16 million for data annotation tools

AI data management and annotation startup Dataloop today announced it has raised $16 million in funding through an $11 million series A round and a previously undisclosed $5 million seed round. A spok...

Siren's smart socks remotely monitor foot health for diabetics

Siren, a startup developing washable smart socks designed to help remotely monitor diabetes patients, today raised $9 million. According to CEO Ran Ma, the extension to Siren's series B round will be ...

Getting smarter with tech: How will smart cities look like 10 years from now?

We all grew up having our imaginations run wild from science fiction movies on what the future would look like. There are myriads to recall but growing up, I remember thinking that flying cars and per...

Developing the World's First Unmanned Train Station System to Solve a Social Issue through New Technology

In this series of articles with 8 episodes, we trace the thoughts and speculations of OMRON's founder, Kazuma Tateishi, a rare technologically minded executive, and looks at the background to his grow...

Protecting the Safety and Security of the Roads

Many sections of the expressways, the nation's main artery and critical infrastructure, are more than 50 years old, and their road surfaces and structures are deteriorating. Its maintenance is importa...

AI researchers devise failure detection method for safety-critical machine learning

Researchers from MIT, Stanford University, and the University of Pennsylvania have devised a method for predicting failure rates of safety-critical machine learning systems and efficiently determining...

Corporate Venture Capital that collects "The World's Most Cutting-edge technologies"

OMRON believes that, to solve social issues that are becoming increasingly serious and diverse, it is important to create new business and strengthen existing businesses through open innovation that i...

Sensing as Five Senses of Machine

Sensors and sensing technology support affluent lives in every possible scene of public facilities, such as offices, factories, stations and at home. In addition, its importance increases more and mor...

The Internet of Things: Being the Best at Developing and Testing IoT Products

By 2022, worldwide spending on IoT related devices and systems is likely to surpass $1.1 trillion USD, making it one of the single biggest drivers of man-made change in the world. But the Internet of ...

One-Stop Service for Diabetic Patients in China

In China, as living standards improve, the number of diabetic patients has risen steeply to reach more than 110 million. Diabetes is a serious disease that can lead to various complications, such as l...

Vector Institute forms team to help commercialize AI research

The Vector Institute, an independent nonprofit dedicated to advancing AI, today established a team to commercialize its industrial and health care research. This group will create tools, frameworks, a...

A Visionary's Perspective - Unraveling the Innovations and Corporate Management Philosophy of OMRON through the Thoughts of OMRON's Founder, Kazuma Tateishi

In this series of articles with 8 episodes, we trace the thoughts and speculations of OMRON's founder, Kazuma Tateishi, a rare technologically minded executive, and looks at the background to his grow...

How robotics and automation could create new jobs in the new normal

Depending on who you ask, AI and automation will either destroy jobs or create new ones. In reality, a greater push toward automation will probably both kill and create jobs -- human workers will beco...

From "tool-type" to "autonomous and general-purpose": Progress of AI towards a good partner for humans

The topic of AI is making headlines in the general media and business journals every day. For example, "AI will take away human jobs," "AI will streamline the diagnosis of diseases," "AI will help chi...

Our Ever-evolving Commitment to Meeting the Needs of Society: The Case of the Hotel Industry's Solution to the Challenges It Faces

The "new normal", an era of "new way of life and common sense," created by the COVID-19 pandemic has brought us a new lifestyle. One of the most familiar examples is the growing interest in "contactle...

Intel VP: AI-aided defect detection is a killer app for industrial IoT

Computer vision has become one of AI's most promising applications, combining ever-improving cameras with faster and smarter automated object recognition. During Transform 2020 digital conference, Int...

Story Behind the Rise of the World's First FDA-Approved Wearable Blood Pressure Monitor

Essential at any medical consultation, blood pressure monitors play an indispensable role in the early detection of abnormal blood pressure. In Japan, it is estimated that 43 million*1 persons are hyp...

Now is the Time to Aim for a Symbiotic Society Where Everyone Can Smile

After an unprecedentedly short summer vacation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a new term has started in Japan's schools. Among the various restrictions on school life, some schools have prohibited c...

A Visionary's Perspective - Unraveling the Innovations and Corporate Management Philosophy of OMRON through the Thoughts of OMRON's Founder, Kazuma Tateishi

In this series of articles with 8 episodes, we trace the thoughts and speculations of OMRON's founder, Kazuma Tateishi, a rare technologically minded executive, and looks at the background to his grow...

The 4th industrial revolution is key to getting the global economy, and our lives, back on track

Preventive measures implemented by countries worldwide to halt the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak are forcing us to make fundamental changes to how we live, from work to play, business to education, ...

Foresight's AI-powered wearable helps low-vision users feel the world

Vision is arguably the most important of the five basic senses, providing most people with the ability to navigate through the world -- but there are 285 million visually impaired people worldwide who...

Protecting Health and Safety by Automating Disinfection Services with UV-Equipped Mobile Robots

In the fight against COVID-19, the demand for sanitization and disinfection services is growing not only in hospitals but also places like airports, hotels, offices, and schools worldwide. However, th...

OMRON China Takes Up the Challenge: Supporting BYD, which has become one of the World's Largest Mask Manufacturers

Series list Members of OMRON in Spain contribute to an open ventilator development project Even Under COVID-19, "Keep Providing Medical Suction Equipment". Efforts by OMRON Employees in Italy OMRON C...

Promoting the Independence of the Elderly through the Spread of Long-term Care Prevention Service that Support the Health of the Elderly in the 100-year Life Era

Healthy life expectancy is an important indicator when considering QoL (Quality of Life) in the 100-year life era. This healthy life expectancy is the period of time during which people are able to li...

Next-gen ultracapacitors revolutionise capability of IoT devices

The issue of effectivity is important given the predicted expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT). For example, the number of IoT devices in the world is predicted to grow from 25 billion to 80 bill...

A Visionary's Perspective - Unraveling the Innovations and Corporate Management Philosophy of OMRON through the Thoughts of OMRON's Founder, Kazuma Tateishi

In this series of articles with 8 episodes, we trace the thoughts and speculations of OMRON's founder, Kazuma Tateishi, a rare technologically minded executive, and look at the background to his growt...

Japan's Largest Carport Photovoltaic System by Murata Manufacturing and OMRON

In recent years, the effects of climate change, such as rising temperature and increasing torrential rains, have been observed in many places. Since the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015, the world ...

A Big Step Towards the Future Where Machines Can Unlock Human Potential

OMRON's vision of the future of man-machine interaction is the "harmony between humans and machines", where machines bring out human abilities and creativity to the fullest extent. The table tennis ro...

Montreal AI Ethics Institute suggests ways to counter bias in AI models

The Montreal AI Ethics Institute, a nonprofit research organization dedicated to defining humanity's place in an algorithm-driven world, today published its inaugural State of AI Ethics report. The 12...

EU robotics project gives maintenance workers a 'second pair of hands'

A five-year European Union (EU) project to develop a collaborative humanoid that helps workers in industrial environments has concluded, with the participants touting breakthroughs in "AI learning, na...

A Visionary's Perspective - Unraveling the Innovations and Corporate Management Philosophy of OMRON through the Thoughts of OMRON's Founder, Kazuma Tateishi

Introduction OMRON, once known as Tateisi Electronics Co. is the company that realized the world's first electronic traffic signal with fully automated sensing system, an unmanned station system with ...

Recycling Food for the Ultimate in Local Production, Local Consumption.

"Food loss" refers to the discarding of food products that are still fit for consumption. In Japan, total food loss amounts to 6.12 million tons*1 annually, or 132 grams (equivalent to one bowl of ric...

Engaging with Diversity, Helping One's Workmates: One "Busybody" Employee Transforms the Workplace

The term "diversity and inclusion" has been garnering attention in a wide variety of contexts in recent times. This term expresses the idea of organizations bringing together people of diverse backgro...

Even Under COVID-19, "Keep Providing Medical Suction Equipment". Efforts by OMRON Employees in Italy

Series list Members of OMRON in Spain contribute to an open ventilator development project Even Under COVID-19, "Keep Providing Medical Suction Equipment". Efforts by OMRON Employees in Italy OMRON C...

Members of OMRON in Spain contribute to an open ventilator development project

As of June 15, 2020, more than 7.8 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed globally, and over 430,000 people have lost their lives to the infection. Many people have asked themselves what they c...

Supporting the Continuity of Hypertension Treatment through Telemedicine

There are reportedly around 43 million hypertension patients in Japan. This means that around one-third of Japan's population suffers from hypertension. If left untreated, hypertension can increase th...

Towards Shaping the Factory of the Future

Germany, a leading manufacturing country in EU Germany, a major European manufacturing power has developed into one of the world's prominent economic powers through fierce development of their industr...

The Importance of Inclusion in the Workplace

According Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer with Procter & Gamble in his Forbes interview, "I think that the 5 billion people in the world who we serve are looking around and saying, 'We need to...

Hope Meets Workforce Needs at Daley College's MTEC

Expansive new facility helps train the next generation of manufacturing professionals in Chicago Machining programs at community colleges can bring to mind images of old, tired equipment, housed in ...

Creating a Sustainable Society by Putting the OMRON Principles into Practice

The Sustainability of Society - An Urgent Issue The attention being paid to sustainability is increasing rapidly. According to a report issued in 2018 by the environmental preservation NGO World Wide ...

Industry 4.0 is Big and Confusing, So Start Small

BACK IN THE EARLY DAYS of the Internet, when new sites were popping up selling everything from office supplies to dog food, I told a friend that I would never shop on the Internet. Too sketchy and uns...

Emerson Launches New VR Simulation

Emerson reported it is introducing Mimic Field 3D, an immersive training experience designed to help new and incoming workers gain an understanding of how changes in the field impact industrial plant ...

United Nations Global Compact Unveils 'SDG Ambition' Impact Initiative

The United Nations Global Compact launched SDG Ambition a global impact initiative aimed at challenging and supporting companies to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals into their core business...

Libelium's IoT Technology Supports Sustainable Development Goals

Following the United Nations call for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Libelium reported it is promoting IoT technology as a tool to achieve prosperity while protecting the planet. According ...

Tractica Offers Report on the Artificial Intelligence Software Market

According to a new report from Tractica, the top industry sectors where artificial intelligence (AI0 is likely to bring major transformation) remain those in which there is a clear business case for i...

Technology in 2050: will it save humanity - or destroy us?

Futurism is a mug's game: if you're right, it seems banal; if you're wrong, you look like the founder of IBM, Thomas Watson, when he declared in 1943 that there is room in the world "for maybe five co...

How tech is catering to the elderly and caregivers

At CES 2020, tech's biggest trade show, it was heartening to see that the tech industry is paying attention to the needs of the elderly and the younger people who provide care for the elderly. I've pa...

Tech trends to expect at this year's Consumer Electronics Show

Like with fashion and Instagram Story features that tell you what Disney character you are, the tech world is full of trends. The annual CES is a chance for tech companies from all around the world to...

Signposts of the VUCA Era, Co-Creating Future Scenarios

We are living in the VUCA era. A time of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. These FACTORS make Predicting the future is extremely difficult. OMRON, however, has used the SINIC theory ...

AI-powered devices are expanding its technology to cover all areas of health and fitness.

FEATURE: As in just about every area of the health and fitness market, technology is increasingly infiltrating yoga, with startups and investors pushing to capitalize on the $80 billion market. Germa...

What is a robot for Millennial Workers?

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- The rise of populist politicians across the rich world has led to a profound rethinking of the way developed economies work. In particular, the impact of automation on the labor...

Tangoe Highlights 2020 Enterprise Technology Trends and Predictions

Tangoe revealed its predictions for the trends that will influence the enterprise in 2020, including more businesses capitalizing on IoT, automation and the next wave of digital transformation thanks ...

Technavio Issues Report on the Global Medical Device Security Solutions Market

In a new report, Technavio revealed that the global medical device security solutions market size is expected to grow by USD 301.04 million during 2020-2024. Technavio provided the following report hi...

Research and Markets Issues Report: Global 3D Pedometer Market

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Global 3D Pedometer Market Size, Market Share, Application Analysis, Regional Outlook, Growth Trends, Key Players, Competitive Strategies and Fo...

Kyoto Considers Entering Japan's Nascent Local Green Bond Market

(Bloomberg) -- Japan's most-popular tourist city is exploring a possible sale of debt to finance environmental, social and governance projects, in what may be the country's only such municipal bond af...

Air bubble barrier traps plastic waste in Amsterdam's canals

The world's first rubbish barrier made entirely from bubbles has been unveiled in Amsterdam in an attempt to catch waste in the city's canals before it reaches the North Sea. A Dutch start-up, the Ams...

What difference can a multinational make? With the right management practices in place, a lot

The potential for multinational companies to tackle global issues such as poverty, climate change and gender inequality is immense. With their reach, they have the ability to transform low-income mark...

Research and Markets Releases Report

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "5G - Extending Human Eyesight, Extending Human Senses: Market Shares, Strategies, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2020 to 2026" report to its offering...

Disability is Part of Individuality

When a diverse base of human resources unites in spirit under the OMRON Principles to take on all challenges, it becomes possible to create innovation driven by social needs through diversity, solving...

AI maps routes to heart disease

A new study in the Journal of Biomedical Informatics uses machine learning on unlabeled electronic health record (EHR) data to shed light on the emergence of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The study hi...

Tough Times for Manufacturers - Go to Market Faster with Sales Enablement

The other day, the S&P and Dow suffered their worst losses in over a month, primarily driven by data that showed manufacturing activity had contracted to its lowest point in over 10 years. And whi...

We Need a New Way to Measure Human Progress

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- At International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington, there will be much debate about slowing global growth, the impact of the U.S.-China trade war, the role of ...

This can be a pivotal moment for global health

As a global action plan to achieve health for all is launched at the United Nations General Assembly, Alex Harris explores what this means for research and innovation. Despite some brilliant progress,...

Circular economies are making zero waste a reality

Humans consume enormous amounts of natural resources. In 2017, worldwide material consumption reached 92.1 billion tons - about 250% more than the amount we consumed in 1970. We know that 91% of plast...

Work in Japan

Globalizing talent, that is, diversifying talent to accelerate innovation, is a critical task facing many of Japan's companies. The call for highly-skilled international personnel in Japan has been p...

New AI technology for advanced heart attack prediction

Human heart. Credit: copyright American Heart Association Technology developed using artificial intelligence (AI) could identify people at high risk of a fatal heart attack at least 5 years before it ...

At Qualcomm, 5G is headed everywhere and into virtually everything

It was easy to call 5G inevitable. Whatever it was, some next-generation cellular technology was certain to follow 2G, 3G, and 4G into the mainstream of global life. It was harder to predict that 5G w...

The Tech Innovations We Need to Happen if We're Going to Survive Climate Change

In the 1970s, the U.S. Department of Energy poured money into making practical a miraculous technology: the ability to convert sunlight into electricity. Solar energy was a pipe dream, far too expensi...

Technavio Releases Report on the Global Electrocardiography Devices (ECG) Market

In a new report, Technavio revealed that the global electrocardiography devices (ECG) market is expected to post a CAGR of over 6 percent during the period 2019-2023. Technavio provided the following ...

Deep learning AI may identify atrial fibrillation from a normal rhythm ECG

An artificial intelligence (AI) model has been found to identify patients with intermittent atrial fibrillation even when performed during normal rhythm using a quick and non-invasive 10 second test, ...

Research and Markets Releases Report: Utility 4.0

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Utility 4.0 - Impact of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) on the Global Power Industry" report to its offerings. In a release, Research and M...

University Of Cambridge Announces Science Based Target For Carbon Reduction

The University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom announced that it is the first university in the world to adopt a 1.5 degrees Science Based Target for carbon reduction, which will see it reduce its ...

How technology could be a solution to caregiver shortage for seniors

Young people may roll their eyes at older people who can't use technology as fast as they do, but it's wrong to say that older Americans can't use technology. Remember, a baby boomer, Tim Berners-Lee,...

"FROM THE FACTORY OF THE WORLD" --Kusatsu and Ayabe-- (Part Ⅱ)

"FROM THE FACTORY OF THE WORLD Kusatsu and Ayabe" introduces OMRON Kusatsu Plant and Ayabe Plant continue to challenge to realize high-quality manufacturing similar to mass production of small varieti...

OMRON Automation Americas Joins Forces with SDL and Dept to Launch New Website Across 4 Languages

SDL reported that OMRON Automation Americas has launched a new website across four markets and languages to support its digital growth strategy. According to a media release, designed, built and launc...

Lead from the top: What it takes to incorporate IoT into a legacy industry

IoT is a rapidly growing area of technology -- but not as rapidly growing as analysts expected it to be back in 2015. Spending on IoT is 70% behind where research firm McKinsey predicted in 2015 it wo...

Chest X-rays contain information that can be harvested with AI

The most frequently performed imaging exam in medicine "the chest X-ray" holds 'hidden' prognostic information that can be harvested with artificial intelligence (AI), according to a study by scientis...

The Forgotten Child Of Environmental Justice

One question to ask on the topic of unsustainability is while we are trying to regulate textile factories in Bangladesh to better social and environmental standards, are we also lowering our need to o...

Technavio Updates on the Logistics Robots Market

According to a Technavio Research Report, the Logistics Robots Market is expected to grow USD 3.48 billion, at a CAGR of 28 percent from 2018 to 2022. According to a release, the growth in the e-comme...

AI and machine learning dominate World Economic Forum's list of 2019 Technology Pioneers

The World Economic Forum today announced its list of 56 companies selected as Technology Pioneers, and this year's class demonstrates the growing embrace of artificial intelligence and machine learnin...

Combating counterfeit products to realize a better society in Russia

Illegal traffic of counterfeit products remains one of the major problems in Russia. According to the Russian Ministry of Health, about 58,000 people died of alcohol poisoning in the country in 2016, ...

5 Under-Recognized Impacts Of Air Pollution

Visible air pollution in Delhi, India. Photo by Sumita Roy Dutta/Wikimedia Commons --> Most of the rising global attention to air pollution focuses on the impacts that ozone, particulate matter, and o...

Not one single country set to achieve gender equality by 2030

No country in the world is on track to achieve gender equality by 2030, according to the first index to measure progress against a set of internationally agreed targets. Melinda Gates, co-chair of the...

Don't Stop New York's Solar Energy Leadership

Governor Cuomo's clean energy policies have accelerated the growth of clean energy across New York State. Solar energy in particular has been a major success story, spurring billions of dollars of inv...

CleanSpark Tunes Up Microgrid Design & Operation

The tricky part of microgrids is an intelligent interaction with the utility so that in the design and operation of the microgrid, factors like time of use rates, energy arbitrage, energy efficiency a...

The Next Big Phones Could Bring a Billion People Online

(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- A few short years ago, the perennial corporate quest for the Next Billion Internet Users seemed like a strong pitch. Tech companies would put the sum of human knowledge in ...

"FROM THE FACTORY OF THE WORLD" --Kusatsu and Ayabe-- (Part I)

In today's increasingly diversified consumer tastes and preferences, in the manufacturing industry, it is important to deliver fine-tuned product tailored to individual tastes. It is necessary to prep...

How technology is transforming mental health treatment

Digital technologies should have much to contribute to tackling mental health conditions. Treatment can take place remotely and some patients may prefer to discuss problems through a screen rather tha...

Visibility In Manufacturing: The Path To Industry 4.0

Everyone is talking about how Industry 4.0, or the use of cyber-physical systems connected in real time across the entire value chain, is the next Industrial Revolution. Integrating data from many kin...

IXI･Innovation Platform designed to create 'innovation driven by social needs' by transcending the boundaries of business divisions

Maizuru is a city in Kyoto Prefecture with a population of about 80,000. This municipality launched a project to revitalize its community by forming a partnership with OMRON. As introduced in Part I, ...

Why A.I. Just Might Save Your Job

Walmart's announcement last month that it's deploying thousands of robot "smart assistants" ignited fresh employment fears about the effect of artificial intelligence and automation on the American wo...

Friendly Robots: The Future of Advanced Manufacturing

When the Czech writer Karel Capek started working on his science fiction play R.U.R., he asked his brother Josef what he should call the human-like machines at the center of the play. Josef, who was a...

Arresting the disaster that is climate change

Our unsustainable lifestyles and commitment to perpetual economic growth have become the major drivers of climate change and loss of biodiversity on Earth (Only rebellion will prevent an ecological ap...

The Robots are Coming Here

Robots have been a fixture of science fiction books and movies for decades. Perhaps our infatuation with them stems from some innate need to reproduce humanity in the form of a machine. Or, perhaps, i...

Automotive Industry Improves Automation, Adopts Advanced Tech

The U.S. auto industry has been automated for decades. Production of cars and trucks is associated with large, hulking robots fenced off from human employees. Inside those fenced off areas, tasks suc...

Can Indoor Farming Solve Our Agriculture Problems?

Agriculture Published on April 15th, 2019 | by Erika Clugston April 15th, 2019 by Erika Clugston --> Food is central to our lives - that's a given - but our relationship with it is problematic: agricu...

Quality Management Excellence Starts with Culture and Attitudes

Tumisu / Pixabay As Digital transformation remakes manufacturing, so too does it recreate quality management. Despite this exciting change, Aberdeen's Quality Management benchmark study findings revea...

How 5G Will Transform the Way We Live and Work

(Bloomberg) -- Self-driving cars, remote robotic surgery, autonomous weapons -- all that and much more is set to be delivered via the 5G wireless network, which promises to transform our lives and add...

Encouraging Woman Leaders!

For a variety of organizations the cultivating of next generation leaders is an extremely important task. It is, of course, preferable to give everyone equal opportunities in their active involvement ...

The US Is Responsible For 26% Of Global Warming Emissions & Is Morally Responsible To Help Solve It

Clean Power Published on March 7th, 2019 | by Michael Barnard When you can get conservatives and libertarians to admit that global warming is real, serious, and caused by humans, almost inevitably the...

Amy Webb highlights over 300 tech trends in annual report

The Future Today Institute today unveiled the latest annual Tech Trends Report, which highlights 315 trends, up from 225 last year. This is the 12th year of the Tech Trends Report. The report highligh...

Origami-inspired robot gripper grasps objects up to 120 times its weight

Robotic hands have a tough time getting a grip on pliable objects, but it's not for lack of trying -- most make do with rigid pincers that aren't designed for precision grasping. Fortunately, if a ne...

Breaking away from a manufacturing culture reliant on craftsmanship

"It was really tough to derive the right answer from something intangible." Yoshinori Inoue, an engineer at OMRON's Automation Center, who oversaw the equipment program standardization project, looks ...

AI predicts precursors to heart attacks

Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) -- an umbrella term for situations where blood flow to the heart is suddenly obstructed -- can lead to a heart attack if left untreated, and that's obviously bad news. Ac...

A future that makes people happy through human-machine collaborations

The fifth generation FORPHEUS has abilities and behaviors that are much closer to those of a human. What kind of future will await us beyond this? Satoshi Yase, leader of the fifth generation FORPHEUS...

How close can a robot approach the behavior of a human?

FORPHEUS, the table tennis playing robot, has evolved every year, showcasing OMRON's flagship core technologies. The newest fifth generation FORPHEUS is packed with advanced technologies to enable add...

Can OMRON change a community!? Regional Revitalization Project toward 2030

OMRON recently concluded a comprehensive partnership agreement with Maizuru City in Kyoto Prefecture, a municipality with a population of about 80,000. The agreement was to initiate a project to revit...

With NordicNinja VC, Japan seeks a piece of European 'deep tech' startups

FEATURE: A growing amount of investment has been flowing from Asia into technology companies in North America and Europe. Chinese tech titans such as Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu have spread their wing...

Designed by A.I.: Your Next Couch, Sweater, and Set of Golf Clubs

At Callaway, the high-end golf-equipment stalwart, the process of making clubs has always been quite labor-intensive--from grinding and polishing clubheads to crafting wood-and-steel-shafted irons and...

Virtual fences, robot workers, stacked crops: farming in 2040

It is 2040 and Britain's green and pleasant countryside is populated by robots. We have vertical farms of leafy salads, fruit and vegetables, and livestock is protected by virtual fencing. Changing di...

CB Insights: Here are the top 100 AI companies in the world

Which products haven't been imbued with artificial intelligence (AI) at this point? In 2018, analysts pegged the global AI market at a whopping $7.35 billion, buoyed by the influx of machine learning-...

How self-driving cars can predict the way pedestrians move

Good drivers anticipate what others will do. Autonomous cars need to do the same. Pedestrians in Vienna, Austria. Photo by Jacek Dylag on Unsplash Self-driving cars are already on our roads, and in or...

From the Crossroads of East and West: Innovating the World's Manufacturing Industry

The Republic of Turkey is unique in that it spans two continents, Asia and Europe. In 2018, its population exceeded 80 million people. The economic growth of this nation, located at the crossroads of...

Q&A: Improving healthcare with the IoT

Healthcare IoT can assist with the collection of analytics and to improve how physicians deliver care as well. Such technologies can also boost patient engagement with the healthcare process. To under...

Ford and VW Discuss Autonomous Car Team-Up at a $4 Billion Valuation

(Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen AG are progressing toward a potential agreement to join forces on self-driving cars and have overcome earlier obstacles, according to people familiar with ...

Co-creating a Smart Factory with AISIN AW

AISIN AW Co., Ltd. (AW hereafter), with its headquarters located in Aichi Prefecture, is one of the world's largest manufacturers of automobile parts. In particular, its share in the AT (automatic tr...

Food In The Anthropocene Can Be Based On Sustainable Systems -- But You Gotta Eat Your Vegetables

A recent New York Times article outlined 7 ways the US could make significant headway in reducing carbon emissions: a carbon tax, utility requirements to produce all electricity from zero-carbon sourc...

Tech companies finally care about helping older people

As I walked 32 miles through tech's biggest trade show, CES 2019, I kept thinking about products my 85-year-old mother could use. That's not an easy task, as the woman -- bless her heart -- could not...

BCtA at 10: inclusivity for all in an ambitious new call to action

A decade ago, Business Call to Action (BCtA) was launched with just 18 companies at the helm. During our inauguration, then-prime minister of the UK Gordon Brown said: "Business Call to Action is a la...

Jobs of the future: Are you ready to join in?

We are in the middle of a fourth industrial revolution. The first saw the world move from rural societies to industrial urban centres; the second introduced mass production; and the third brought the ...

Michigan leans on manufacturing history in bid to become a hub for autonomous vehicles

This week, Waymo announced that it will turn an old factory in the Detroit, Michigan area into a retrofitting facility for level four autonomous vehicles. There's plenty of unused factory space in the...

Experience Factory Harmony with OMRON Robots

A pioneer in factory automation, OMRON has developed many automation solutions for a diverse range of usage situations. These various solutions were on display at CES2019. OMRON's booth was divided i...

Microsoft CTO: Understanding AI is part of being an informed citizen in the 21st century

Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott believes understanding AI in the future will help people become better citizens. "I think to be a well-informed citizen in the 21st century, you need to know a little bit abo...

Hyundai's New Car Has Legs. Literally.

We've all read the studies--or heard our doctors' diatribes--telling us to stop sitting all day, stand up, and start walking around. The movement has been going on for years. But for the first time, i...

Responsible IoT: How to keep your office safe from botnet attacks

GUEST: How many smart devices are connected to your company's network right now? I once tried to figure out the number of Internet of Things devices in my office but lost count somewhere after a hundr...

Robots Aren't Yet Killing Off All Our Jobs, World Bank Says

(Bloomberg) -- The rise of automation has so far had a negligible impact on jobs at a global scale, the World Bank chief economist said, despite common gloomy predictions that humans are set to be rep...

"FROM THE FACTORY OF THE WORLD" --Shanghai--

OMRON Industrial Automation business envisions the creation of future manufacturing sites where humans and machines work together in harmony. Our factories also focus on productivity quality innovati...

Mobileye plans to deploy fully autonomous cars in 4 years

Watch out, Waymo -- Mobileye has its sights set on you. The Tel Aviv developer of autonomous car systems, which Intel paid $15.3 billion to acquire in March 2017, had an eventful few days at CES 2019...

The best new gadgets and tech from CES 2019

All the best gadgets with none of the walking. We've been dropping updates from CES this week, but we know you just want to see the best stuff with the least amount of effort--all that content you've ...

The state of inclusive business: four things we know

Companies recognise they won't succeed in failed societies. At the same time, employees, consumers and other stakeholders are encouraging companies to also deliver societal value, and contribute to so...

SF Motors Starts Test Production At Its New EV Factory In Chongqing, China

SF Motors* has taken the wraps off of its new greenfield electric vehicle manufacturing plant in Chongqing, China, as it works towards the production launch of its SF5 and SF7 electric vehicles. The n...

Q&A: Dell Technologies 2019 predictions

We've all heard of the important 'emerging technologies': Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Internet of Things (IoT) and advances in cloud computing, and may ...

100% Renewable Energy As Catalyst For Achieving Peace & Justice

Clean Power Published on December 10th, 2018 | by The Beam December 10th, 2018 by The Beam This article was published in The Beam #7 -- Subscribe now for more on the topic. The 5th IPCC Assessment Rep...

New international standard for the Internet of Things

The new standard is ISO/IEC 30141, Internet of Things (IoT) - Reference architecture, and it sets out to provide an internationally standardized IoT Reference Architecture using a common vocabulary, r...

[The Industry's First] Placing AI on the machine controller rather than in the cloud

"Achieving zero defects while saving manpower by utilizing maximum equipment functionality."In an attempt to support an "ideal factory" for a future as envisioned by people in the field of manufactur...

Nvidia launches Jetson AGX Xavier module for autonomous machines

Nvidia launched the latest version of its Jetson Xavier chip module, which is essentially a server on a chip that handles all of the AI processing, imaging, and other computing tasks for autonomous dr...

Brainstorm Health: Health Care Predictions, Diabetes Tests, Gilead CEO

Good afternoon, readers. We have a special treat for you today--Bob Kocher and Bryan Roberts, longtime health care venture gurus at Venrock, are back to offer even more of their unique wisdom on what ...

10 tech trends and innovations for 2019

1 Automation and artificial intelligence (Al)A new level of self-training is allowing robots to draw their own conclusions and make deductions that haven't been hard-coded into them, so that when look...

Tata: 46% of organizations surveyed have adopted some form of AI

Almost half of businesses have adopted some form of artificial intelligence (AI) and 43 percent of corporate "decision makers" see it as having a significant impact on their bottom lines. That's accor...

Helping manufacturers provide quality products to customers

Today, shelves in supermarkets around the world are full of FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods). Factories of various FMCG manufacturers are striving to provide quality products accurately and quickly t...

Xprize gives an update on $5 million AI competition

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be a force for good -- or so asserts Xprize, a nonprofit organization that aims to spark projects that "solve societal grand challenges." At the NeurIPS 2018 conferenc...

What is AI's Role in Your Business' Future?

--> Resistance is futile. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here, now. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become the software equivalent of the semiconductor --ubiquitous, unseen, and capable of changing...

The Futuristic Manufacturing That Open Innovation Accelerates

From the manufacturing floor, to the personnel as well as to the method in which things are made across the board, there have been major transformations in factories in recent years that, day after da...

Top 5 challenges for Industrial IoT (IIoT) Implementation

blickpixel / Pixabay The physical world is transformed into being digitized. An explosion of smart devices and technologies has allowed mankind to be in constant communication with one another anytim...

DHL will invest $300 million to quadruple robots in warehouses in 2019

--> DHL Supply Chain, a logistics division of DHL, today announced it will invest $300 million to modernize 60 percent of its warehouses in North America with more IoT sensors and robots. Robotic pro...

Advanced manufacturing trends for 2019

The report comes from CB Insights and it is headed "Advanced Manufacturing Trends In 2019." The report is an analysis of emerging advanced manufacturing trends using the CB Insights NExTT framework. T...

Tech Leaders Look To IoT, AI & Robotics To Fuel Growth Through 2021

30% of tech leaders globally predict blockchain will disrupt their businesses by 2021. IoT, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robotics have the greatest potential to digitally transform businesses, ma...

5th Generation FORPHEUS's First Show @CES 2019

From 8th to 11th January 2019, OMRON Corporation exhibited for the second consecutive year at CES, an annual tech event of the largest scale in the world, with more than 4,500 exhibitors from across t...

How AI Is Changing the Way You Work

Getting Us All To Speak The Same Language EVER SINCE THE GOLDEN age of the original Doctor Who and Star Trek, science fiction has highlighted devices that can automatically translate languages so that...

Deloitte: 'Pervasive' AI promises to transform agriculture, health care, and manufacturing

The era of pervasive intelligence is drawing nigh, asserted Deloitte in new report published today. For proof, it continued, look no further than forecasts predicting more than half a billion smartpho...

Mix of startups and industrial giants makes Munich more than just Germany's 'other' tech hub

When Estonian entrepreneur Ardo Reinsalu began thinking about where in Europe to base his new startup, it didn't take him long to decide on Munich. After spending nine years as the head of a committe...

Hunger, health and energy: can disruptive tech help solve global challenges?

Meeting the sustainable development goals (SDGs) - a global call to action to eradicate poverty, protect the Earth and promote peace and prosperity - will not only require all hands on deck, but all t...

Robotic automation will become bigger in 2019 and beyond

Robots are increasingly being used across industry in order to make the repetitive and high-volume tasks easier. Robots don't tire and they are easier to instruct. Advances in robotic technology and i...

Bright Machines raises $179 million for factory automation with robots

Bright Machines today announced the closure of a $179 million funding round and launched out of stealth. The company aims to automate manufacturing operations in factories and make manufacturing hard...

CES 2019 will have 4,500 exhibitors, 2.75 million square feet of space, and 180,000 attendees

CES 2019 will be as big as ever when in comes around again, according to the Consumer Technology Association, the lobbying group that puts on the show in Las Vegas each January. The biggest tech trade...

Designing a station that is safe for users of all ages

Trains are indispensable for our life. They are used for commute, shopping and travel during holidays, forming an essential part of people's everyday activities. As foreign tourists visiting Japan in...

Ping Pong Playing Robots at Xi's Trade Fair: Shanghai Notebook

(Bloomberg) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping opened the International Import Expo in Shanghai, giving a speech that was long on promises to support globalization and open the economy, but short on deta...

[Technology Infographics] Futuristic Technologies for 2033

Technologies have been advancing rapidly and automation has made our life convenient. Now, the practical application of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and IoT (Internet of Things) have attracted attent...

Gates Foundation Backs Self-Checkup App's Africa Expansion

(Bloomberg) -- A free app that lets patients do quick health checkups on themselves is the centerpiece of a Gates Foundation-backed project to bring better care to poor regions of Africa, Asia and Sou...

Achieving Diversity and Inclusion in Collaboration with the Region

The 38th Oita International Wheelchair Marathon was held on November 18th. This marathon, started as the world's first international marathon exclusively for wheelchair runners, is considered as the w...

Chrysalix Venture Capital raising $120 million fund to back Industry 4.0 startups

Chrysalix Venture Capital has closed the first part of its new Industry 4.0 fund, which will target startups focused on more energy-efficient production. The Chrysalix RoboValley Fund will be on the h...

Digital innovations for transforming healthcare

Healthcare is undergoing a digital transformation that sees a range of new technologies being introduced. These range from big data and machine learning, which are being used to examine medical scans ...

The Robot Takeover Is Coming: Machines Will Do Half Our Work by 2025

Machines and automated software will be handling fully half of all workplace tasks within seven years, a new report from the World Economic Forum forecasts. But the group said technologies such as art...

IoT is driving a home healthcare industry

The types of technologies emerging include artificial intelligence, big data, and sensor technologies. These are driving both smart hospitals and assisting with the home healthcare sector. This is acc...

Limiting warming to 1.5C is possible - if there is political will

The new 1.5C report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a sophisticated intelligence briefing on the fate of our planet. Its message is relevant to every human being on Earth. Based on...

DeepMind expands AI cancer research program to Japan

DeepMind is furthering its cancer research efforts with a newly announced partnership. Today, the London-based Google subsidiary said it has been given access to mammograms from roughly 30,000 women t...

Machines Are Coming for India's Unwanted Factory Jobs

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- A textile-yarn company in western Indian soon will have more machines than workers. A manufacturer in southern India sold almost double the number of its automated goods last ye...

Q&A: Virtual reality can aid medical learning and development

Osso VR is a virtual reality surgical simulation platform with advanced hand tracking. It is designed for surgeons and hospital staff of all skill levels. The product, according to Forbes, offers high...

AI Could Devastate the Developing World

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Most studies of the impact of artificial intelligence on jobs and the economy have focused on developed countries such as the U.S. and Britain. But through my work as a scientis...

10 Ways To Improve Cloud ERP With AI And Machine Learning

Capitalizing on new digital business models and the growth opportunities they provide are forcing companies to re-evaluate ERP's role. Made inflexible by years of customization, legacy ERP systems are...

How Nvidia is using its autonomous car platform to drive into health care

Nvidia is using the underlying architecture of its Drive autonomous vehicle platform to enable product development in other verticals with AI systems that deal with vast amounts of critical data, such...

Revolutionizing the manufacturing scene with the visualization of master craftsmanship

Today, as the population ages and fewer children are born, securing a workforce and technical capabilities is a challenge faced across the entire manufacturing industry. The transfer of experts' skill...

How industrial manufacturing gets smarter with sensors

To realize the promise of industrial IoT, however, companies must combine operational technology with enterprise IT, and collect and analyze data across the entire manufacturing ecosystem to generate ...

Google's DeepMind AI gains on human oncologists in planning radiation cancer treatments

More than half a million people are diagnosed with cancers of the head and neck each year, many of whom choose to undergo radiotherapy. But it's a delicate process: The surrounding tissue can be seve...

Humatics launches spatial intelligence platform for human-robot interactions

Humatics today announced the commercial launch of its spatial intelligence platform designed to help people and machines navigate a connected world with millimeter-scale precision. The technology use...

Top AI and Machine Learning Trends of 2018

We've come a long way since the term artificial intelligence (AI) was coined by AI luminary John McCarthy at Dartmouth in 1955. Sixty-three years later, AI is transforming healthcare, fintech, and oth...

What is Industry 4.0?

Industry 4.0, or the Fourth Industrial Revolution, is a new approach to combining traditional manufacturing processes and technology, such as the Internet of Things (IOT), and Artificial Intelligence ...

IBM's new system automatically selects the optimal AI algorithm

Not all deep learning systems -- that is to say, systems consisting of layered nodes that ingest data, transform it, output it, and pass it on -- are created equal. No algorithm is appropriate for eve...

Tackling the Food Crisis with a Borderless Collaboration

Soaring prices of vegetables has become a problem in today's world at a societal scale. Causes range from extreme weather, decline in labor force in the agricultural sector, the high prices of fuel ne...

Why Power Companies Love Drones

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- There are already 170,000 small, unmanned aerial vehicles licensed in the U.S., and the Federal Aviation Administration predicts another half-million more of them to be airborne...

Saving our oceans - Breweries have answer to plastic can holders

It's always great to hear that a company is taking its impact on the environment and sustainability seriously. Two breweries, one, Danish global brewing giant Carlsberg, and Delray Beach, Florida-bas...

Creating a company where everyone can be themselves

"What is it to be masculine or feminine?" In Japan's workplace, discriminatory expressions against LGBTs* still overflow in everyday conversation. To discuss workplace improvements to change this situ...

I want to broaden the potential of robotics for industrial solutions

From factories to parcel delivery services to the medical field, the opportunities in which robots are active in our lives have increased in recent years. With things like the debate over how much rob...

When IoT meets manufacturing

Our own era promises a different revolution: one in which miners no longer need to descend into the mine shaft, wield a pick, endure suffocating temperatures or constant jarring vibration, or risk the...

A Look Inside The Tesla Fremont Factory With Elon Musk & MKBHD

August 20th, 2018 by Kyle Field Marques Brownlee, aka MKBHD, interviewed Elon Musk at Tesla's Fremont factory on August 15th, 2018, and hinted that a factory tour video would be coming shortly. Today,...

IBM researchers propose 'factsheets' for AI transparency

We're at a pivotal moment in the path to mass adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). Google subsidiary DeepMind is leveraging AI to determine how to refer optometry patients. Haven Life is using AI...

Three Ways Digital Transformation Drives Improved Customer Experience and Service

Digital transformation continues to be a hot topic, perhaps because there's still many questions surrounding it: what it is, what it entails, the challenges and rewards, etc. It requires the right rea...

Google puts AI in charge of datacenter cooling systems

Artificial intelligence (AI) is running one of Google's data centers -- or at least the cooling system in said data center. Today in a blog post, the Mountain View, California company said that it has...

Canvass Analytics raises $5 million for industrial IoT AI, backed by Google's Gradient

Canvass Analytics today announced the closure of a $5 million funding round to explore applications of AI in industrial settings. The round was led by Gradient Ventures, an AI-focused investment fund ...

Artificial intelligence can assess personality

Putting aside the concept of 'personality' and its disputed nature within psychology, the new platform attempts to group subjects into different personality types on the basis of eye-motion. The resea...

R2 uses big data to develop AI solutions for enterprise customers

EXCLUSIVE: Artificial intelligence is the hot new thing in enterprise. A whopping 80 percent of businesses have some form of machine learning in production today, according to a study commissioned by ...

How I discovered the therapeutic power of VR -- by accident

GUEST: Ask anyone that has experienced a true, high-production virtual reality experience and nearly all can remember our "first time." The immersive nature of the technology tends to evoke such a vis...

Algorithms may outperform doctors, but they're no healthcare panacea

It perhaps shouldn't come as a surprise that Matt Hancock, the new health and social care secretary, made technology the theme of his first big speech in the new job. The former culture secretary is a...

Helping Kyoto Pave Its Future with Photovoltaic Power Generation

In recent years, the importance of renewable energy as a countermeasure against global warming as well as transition from conventional forms of energy to alternative options are increasingly attractin...

Startup at odds with doctors over claim about AI diagnoses

The UK-based healthcare startup's announcement that their AI had achieved medical test scores on par with human doctors, including on relevant sections of the MRCGP, was met with concern from doctors...

How digital technology can help secure the food chain

Data is a valuable resource across all sectors and this also stands with food production. While many technologies remain at early stages of development, the potential for newer and 'smart' devices to ...

How AI augmentation will fuel net job growth by 2020

The year 2020 will be a pivotal one in AI-related employment dynamics -- Gartner predicts 2.3 million jobs will be created and 1.8 million jobs will be eliminated. While AI-prompted employee churn is ...

Towards a factory in which anyone with a handicap can show what they are capable of with the help of mechanical ingenuity

OMRON has long been involved in the employment of personnel with disabilities. One of our initiatives has been the OMRON Taiyo. What distinguishes OMRON Kyoto Taiyo is not simply its role in social co...