SANTA ANA, CA—Ascent Aerospace has been awarded a contract to design and build the final assembly station for the Airbus Beluga XL jet. The Beluga is an A330 modified to transport large aerostructure components from Airbus supplier facilities.
BAUNATAL, Germany—A robot accidentally killed a worker at Volkswagen’s automotive assembly plant here. The robot pressed the worker up against a metal plate, crushing his chest.
Back in February, Terry Gou, founder and chairman of contract manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group, said he hopes to automate 70 percent of the company's assembly operations within three years.
PITTSBURGH—Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pennsylvania have developed a vision-guided, dual-armed robot that can assemble a wooden birdhouse autonomously using a nail gun.
AUBURN HILLS, MI—ABB will begin manufacturing robots in the United States, making it the first global industrial robotics company to do so. The company made the announcement at the opening of a new robotics factory here. Approximately 300 new jobs will be added to the facility by 2017.