Computer Integrated Manufacturing

European researchers develop energy-efficient machine vision inspired by human eyesight and the brain

Drawing inspiration from human eyesight, a European research project led by VTT has developed machine vision mimicking the cooperation of the eye and nervous system, implemented as edge-computing circuits. Edge computing means processing data where it is generated and where the results of computing are needed. This enables, for instance, intelligent robots and drones that can operate independently in a rescue mission after an earthquake without constant network connections or bulky batteries. Launched in 2021, the MISEL project (Multispectral Intelligent Vision System with Embedded Low-Power Neural Computing) is now nearing completion. Coordinated by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the project has combined neuromorphic computing—which mimics the way the brain processes information—with semiconductor technologies. “Our goal is to build truly smart devices that can make observations and decisions on their own, without sending data to supercomputers or the cloud. Neuromorphic computing can be hundreds or even thousands of times more energy-efficient than conventional digital processing,” explains Jacek Flak, Research Team Leader at VTT, who coordinates the project. The MISEL project received nearly EUR 5 million in funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme. Alongside VTT, partners include the universities of Łódź, Lund, Santiago de Compostela, and Wuppertal, the Fraunhofer Institute, France’s LNE national research institute, and the companies Kovilta Oy (Finland) and AMO GmbH (Germany). The consortium unites expertise across disciplines, including materials science, electronics, and algorithm design. Smarter mobile devices without constant connectivity Artificial intelligence typically requires either good network connectivity to cloud services or substantial local computing power. However, the MISEL project brings intelligence to the edge—directly into the devices themselves. This approach allows battery-powered systems to process and interpret sensory data quickly and with low power consumption, while also reducing cybersecurity privacy risks. “Imagine a drone searching for survivors after an earthquake through smoke, dust, and debris. It needs to interpret […]

Research shows CPG leaders are investing in AI and talent to stay competitive

Rockwell Automation Report finds CPG Industry prioritising innovation over cost cutting Rockwell Automation has announced the results of the 10th annual State of Smart Manufacturing Report: Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Edition. The findings highlight how manufacturers are placing greater importance on innovation, workforce development, and long-term growth strategies. The CPG industry is facing pressure on multiple fronts, from the growth of store brands to the demand for faster innovation and more sustainable products. At the same time, consumer loyalty is harder to earn, and expectations for customisation and transparency are rising. In response to this, CPG companies are moving away from small-scale technology pilots and investing in solutions that deliver measurable results across the organisation. The combination of workforce training, better use of data, and more adaptable systems is helping these manufacturers stay competitive while managing complexity. And as private-label brands expand and consumer expectations evolve, CPG leaders are prioritising investments that help them compete more effectively in a crowded and fast-changing market. Notable Key Trends from 2024 to 2025: Rising Competition Leads Industry Concerns: In 2024, economic uncertainty and inflation were main challenges noted in our annual survey. In 2025, competition has taken the lead, driven by increased market pressure from private-label products and changing consumer buying habits. Technology Needs to Work for People: Companies are focusing less on simply adopting new tools and more on making sure new technology fits their teams and operations. Usability and scalability are now critical factors in technological decisions. Capabilities CPG leaders are looking for in their workforce include communications/teamwork (86%), adaptability/flexibility (85%), while analytical thinking and cybersecurity practices are tied (84%). AI and Robotics Lead Investment Priorities: At the heart of technology investment decisions is a shift in thinking. 70% of CPG manufacturers say they are investing in AI, robotics, and simulation […]

Jobs and the future of work

How to build the skills needed for the age of AI AI is changing how we work and what skills workers need to thrive in a world of intelligent machines and cognitive computing. Only a sliver of education initiatives are devoted to AI and these are not yet integrated into most education systems. Collaborative initiatives between education and industry can accelerate the transition to a greener, more efficient and inclusive world where jobs and skills development pathways are readily available. New technologies can be exciting and disruptive at the same time. Over the past few years, no innovation has been more contentious than artificial intelligence (AI). It is changing the way we think about when, where and how we work and what skills workers need to thrive in a world of intelligent machines and cognitive computing. But it comes with a colossal caveat How will it affect jobs and livelihoods? And, what steps can we take now to futureproof our workforces and equip them with the skills and know-how they’ll need to succeed in a more digital, automated and fast-paced jobs market? Job displacement – or job reconfiguration – is a primary concern. Labour-intensive work, such as assembling electronics or automobiles, handling materials and overseeing supply chains – careers that employ tens of millions of workers, which are critical to the economies of many developing countries – will certainly be impacted as AI-powered activities, such as quality control and robotics, replace some jobs. Knowledge-based workers in industries such as banking, marketing, and human resources may already need to skill-up to coexist with sophisticated technologies for financial analysis, algorithmic trading, predictive analytics and software development. AI will massively impact the workforce The IMF recently estimated that almost 40% of jobs will be impacted by AI. This effect varies by a country’s income level, […]

Using AI to enable scalable, autonomous operations

By Troy Mahr, director – Kalypso. Kalypso – acquired by Rockwell Automation in 2020 – is a diverse team of consultants, innovators, strategists, data scientists and technologists. What we consistently hear from industry leaders is the need for real-time visibility across their global operations, which is key to ensuring their operations stay agile and scalable. However, achieving this isn’t possible without removing laggy manual data collection through the deployment of connected assets and contextualised data. By eliminating data silos and unlocking industrial data and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, companies can enable autonomous decision-making that optimises costs, efficiency, and production resilience. This moves their organisation closer to achieving autonomous operations. Autonomous operations are the manifestation of “self-governing” systems at every step of the manufacturing process. These systems derive their autonomy from data-led decision-making models that enable them to reliably adapt their behaviour in response to dynamic environments during operation without any manual intervention. Achieving autonomy across an enterprise requires capabilities that span the full intelligence spectrum, from observation and inference to decision-making and action. These capabilities are relevant across all operational areas, including product design, manufacturing, supply chain, distribution, direct-to-customer channels, and demand forecasting. Manufacturing operations, in particular, have seen progress through Model Predictive Control (MPC), which continuously analyses real-time and forecasted data to optimise process control within defined constraints. While MPC is a strong example within manufacturing, broader autonomy demands extending similar intelligent systems across the enterprise. This journey is captured in the industrial AI maturity pyramid, which outlines a progression from basic data integration and visualisation to predictive analytics, prescriptive decision-making, and ultimately, autonomous operations. As organisations climb this pyramid, they adopt machine learning, real-time automation, and self-learning systems. Each stage requires not just technological upgrades but also cultural and structural transformation. Asset Monitoring: Find Downtime Root Causes Looking at […]

Emerson’s next-generation of industrial PCs for AI-enabled automation

New PACSystems IPCs combine latest generation of industrial-rated processors with optimised cooling and pre-loaded software to simplify advanced computing and integration. Emerson has the PACSystems IPC 6010, IPC 7010, and IPC 8010 industrial computing platforms. This new line expands Emerson’s family of high-performance industrial personal computer (IPC) models for demanding applications, including artificial intelligence, machine learning and advanced analytics. PACSystems IPCs feature the first CPU in the latest generation of processors designed specifically to support AI enabled capabilities such as predictive maintenance, process optimization, quality inspection, decision support, supply chain management and more. Critical digital transformation applications require reliable and ruggedised computing platforms, with the high level of performance needed to support data collection, protocol conversion, historisation, and analytics for real-time optimisation and visualszation capabilities. The new PACSystems line features significant performance updates and more options to develop solutions for challenging industrial applications, with a range of functionality and price points to support scalable operations and lower cost-of-ownership. The new line of IPCs use the latest generation of soldered industrial-rated 13th Generation Intel Core Processors with up to 64 GB soldered ECC memory, for maximum resistance against shock and vibration. Their compact form factor employs fan-less cooling for an extended operating temperature range up to 70 degrees Celsius, with thermal monitoring and an optional fan available for high-temperature environments. PACSystems IPCs benefit from Emerson’s patented vibration and thermal technologies to boost reliability and extend deployment life.With solid-state drive (SSD) storage options ranging up to 4 terabytes, multiple gigabit Ethernet interfaces, up to four PCIe® slots, and other interfaces, PACSystems IPCs can be tailored to deliver high-performance computing required for vision systems, advanced analytics, data processing, historization/visualization, and other similarly rigorous functions for process optimisation and improved operational insight. Available pre-installed, pre-licensed operating systems with edge and visualisation software help to […]

AI meets rugged reliability

Getac Technology Corporation (Getac), a leading provider of rugged computing and mobile video solutions and a manufacturer with advanced in-house capabilities, has announced the launch of two highly versatile new field devices: the F120, the world’s first fully rugged Copilot+ PC in a tablet form factor; and the V120, an AI-ready fully rugged laptop designed to deliver a premium computing experience in challenging work environments. Both new devices are the result of extensive real-world research and customer dialogue, building on Getac’s best-selling F110 and V110 models to deliver two brand new devices that harness the power of AI to unlock new levels of productivity in the field. Shared upgrades include larger 12.2-inch displays with a new narrow-bezel design, slimmer and lighter builds, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, two Thunderbolt™ 4 ports, hot-swappable batteries, TPM 2.0, and robust MIL-STD-810H/IP66 certifications, a generational leap in performance and reliability for field professionals. F120 fully rugged tablet: the world’s first fully rugged tablet as a Copilot+ PC Copilot+ PCs are the fastest, most intelligent Windows devices currently available, with powerful processors and access to highly advanced AI models that can fundamentally transform workflows and operations in the field. To qualify as a Copilot+ PC, a device must include a neural processor unit (NPU) capable of 40+ trillion operations per second (TOPS), have a minimum of 16GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage, and support at least one form of biometric security authentication. Getac’s new F120 meets all these criteria. By bringing powerful edge AI into a fully rugged form factor, it transforms how field professionals work in challenging environments. Powered by the latest Intel® Core™ Ultra 200V Series Processor and groundbreaking Intel® AI Boost NPU with up to 48 TOPS, it accelerates AI-driven tasks like diagnostics, image processing, and real-time analytics, enabling users to tackle challenges faster and more effectively. […]

What is multimodal AI?

Multimodal AI is a type of artificial intelligence that can understand and process different types of information, such as text, images, audio, and video, all at the same time. Multimodal gen AI models produce outputs based on these various inputs. When you wake up in the morning, you reorient yourself into the world in a variety of ways. Before you open your eyes, you might hear the ambient sounds in your room (unless a not-so-ambient sound was what woke you up in the first place). You might feel cosey under the covers, or cold because you kicked them off while you were sleeping. And once you open your eyes, you get a visual sense of what is going on in your room. These sense recognitions, along with the moods they evoke, create a nuanced perception of the morning and set you up for the rest of your day. How multimodal gen AI models work Multimodal gen AI models work in a similar way. They mirror the brain’s ability to combine sensory inputs for a nuanced, holistic understanding of the world, much like how humans use their variety of senses to perceive reality. These gen AI models’ ability to seamlessly perceive multiple inputs—and simultaneously generate output—allows them to interact with the world in innovative, transformative ways and represents a significant advancement in AI. By combining the strengths of different types of content (including text, images, audio, and video) from different sources, multimodal gen AI models can understand data in a more comprehensive way, which enables them to process more complex inquiries that result in fewer hallucinations (inaccurate or misleading outputs). Today, enterprises that have deployed gen AI primarily use text-based large language models (LLMs). But a shift toward multimodal AI is underway, with the potential for a larger range of applications […]

Your Life Is Manufactured: How We Make Things, Why It Matters and How We Can Do It Better

By Tim Minshall We live in a manufactured world. Unless you are floating naked through space, you are right now in direct contact with multiple manufactured products. How often do we stop to think: where do the things we buy actually come from? There exists a nearly invisible, awe-inspiring global system of manufacturing that enables virtually every aspect of our existence. The things we surround ourselves with take surprising and often byzantine journeys to reach us – be it the thousands of litres of water needed to make a single pair of jeans or the components of our smartphones travelling over six times around the world to reach us. From mega-factory floors, engineering laboratories and seaports to distribution hubs, supermarkets and our own homes, Tim Minshall traces these journeys to reveal the hidden world of manufacturing. Charting how this world came to be, Your Life is Manufactured reveals the seismic impact manufacturing has had on our lives and the natural world, exploring how it could offer us a path to a truly sustainable, more equitable future. In doing so, Minshall grants us the ability to make better choices for ourselves, our communities and the planet.

R.PACK Software Suite: The next step in efficiency and control

RECIF Technologies has launched R.PACK, the next-generation software suite designed for RECIF sorters. With an emphasis on usability, efficiency, and innovation, R.PACK introduces a suite of advanced features aimed at simplifying the management of wafer sorting equipment. Built for Speed, Designed for Precision R.PACK enhances operational efficiency for users of RECIF’s COMPACT and SMART sorters, featuring advanced capabilities and a modern interface designed to streamline wafer sorting processes Key features: Refined User Interface: The design of R.PACK makes it easier than ever to create recipes and monitor jobs, ensuring smoother operations and increased productivity. Seamless Transition: Current users will experience minimal disruption when transitioning to R.PACK, thanks to its intuitive interface that simplifies adoption. Ongoing Software Enhancements: R.PACK is built on a forward-compatible framework, with updates released annually to deliver new features and performance improvements. The first major update was rolled out in January 2025, with the next release scheduled for Q1 2026 — part of an ongoing roadmap to enhance user experience and expand system capabilities. Commitment to Innovation and User Experience The release of R.PACK reinforces RECIF Technologies’ ongoing commitment to providing high-performance solutions for the semiconductor industry. By focusing on a more intuitive and efficient wafer sorting process, R.PACK marks the first in a series of improvements designed to elevate both the user experience and operational efficiency. “We believe R.PACK will significantly enhance our customers’ workflows and performance,” said Thomas Brillouet, the R&D Manager at RECIF Technologies. “By providing enhanced features and a modernised interface, we empower our customers with tools that maximize safety, enhance efficiency, and optimize equipment performance with minimal effort.” Availability and Future Updates The first major update for R.PACK is available now, with additional updates scheduled annually every Q1. R.PACK is compatible with RECIF sorters (COMPACT & SMART) and will fully replace the […]

Rugged devices drive innovation in harsh industrial environments

Manufacturing environments expose both equipment and processes to constant stress. Heat, vibration, airborne particulates, moisture, and noise all affect how people work and how well operations run. Even in these tough conditions, manufacturers push to improve speed, accuracy and system responsiveness. Rugged devices support these efforts by reducing delays, improving visibility and connecting decision-making directly to the point of action, according to Getac. Frank Baldrighi, business development manager – Australia and New Zealand, Getac, said, “Work no longer depends on desktop access or end-of-shift reporting to progress. Rugged devices provide mobile, durable access to the tools and data that workers require in real time. Teams can track workflow progress, review equipment histories, update maintenance logs, and verify task details onsite, all without leaving the immediate work area. This removes unnecessary downtime, compresses feedback cycles, and improves responsiveness across teams.” Access to live data at the point of use eliminates ambiguity so workers can verify specifications, update quality data, and escalate emerging issues without interrupting production. Many of these tasks would have involved manual paperwork or communication through supervisory layers in traditional environments. However, rugged devices reduce those handovers and bring execution and oversight closer together, letting operators make better, faster decisions based on current conditions and clear instructions. Training also improves when workers interact with real systems while guided by context-specific instructions. Augmented and mixed reality applications help new employees follow correct procedures while completing actual tasks. This approach accelerates learning and reduces reliance on legacy knowledge held by a small group of experienced staff. Sustainability efforts similarly benefit from this shift in visibility. Workers can identify avoidable waste, inefficiencies, and asset fatigue during the task, not after production has ended. Energy usage, cycle timing, material flow, and process deviations become measurable and actionable in real time. Maintenance teams can […]

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Computer Integrated Manufacturing