Latest from Product News
Unitree Releases Kung-Fu Robots on the World
Power Pairings in Manufacturing: New Tech Collaborations From SICK, Neural Concept, Zebra Technologies, and More
Technology doesn't advance in isolation. In our 'Power Pairings' round-up series, we spotlight the partnerships that are advancing manufacturing—where companies from different domains, expertise, and technological backgrounds converge to solve industrial challenges or refine industrial solutions.
Highlights:
- Arendai, Elmodis, and Softgent create an industrial platform combining RTLS, digital twins, and energy efficiency technologies to optimize operations.
- Neural Concept and OPmobility integrate AI design tools, dramatically reducing automotive product development time.
- Tiger Analytics teams up with Zebra Technologies to develop Generative AI solutions to improve worker productivity and enhance customer experiences.
- MemryX and Variscite join forces to advance edge AI capabilities, integrating AI accelerators with SoM solutions.
- SICK and Endress+Hauser established a joint venture to develop process automation technologies that support the transition to a CO2-neutral economy
Arendai, Elmodis, and Softgent Partner to Deliver Integrated Industrial Solutions
Arendai, Elmodis, and Softgent are partnering to develop a suite of integrated technologies to advance operational efficiency, precision, and sustainability. Merging Real-Time Location Systems (RTLS), digital twins, 3D simulations, and energy efficiency monitoring, the alliance is creating a transformative platform for manufacturers to optimize and future-proof operations.
The three companies have unified their technologies into a single system:
- RTLS for Precision Tracking: Softgent's Ultra-Wideband (UWB)-powered Real-Time Location Systems for real-time tracking of assets, equipment, and personnel for dynamic, location-aware operations.
- Digital Twins for Predictive Insights: Arendai's and Elmodis' digital twin technology enables predictive modeling, optimization, and real-time scenario testing.
- 3D Simulations for Optimization: Arendai's advanced simulation tools empower businesses to visualize workflow changes, analyze impacts, and implement improvements quickly.
- Energy Efficiency Modeling, Simulation, and Monitoring for Sustainability: Elmodis' AI/IIoT platform provides insights into power grid simulations and machine energy usage to identify inefficiencies, reduce costs, and minimize environmental impact.
Through this, customers receive pre-integrated solutions that minimize deployment time by 50%, easily scalable operations that can integrate new equipment without disrupting workflows, and region-specific expertise through engineering competence centers in Polan, Japan, and the USA.
Neural Concept Partners With OPmobility for AI-Driven Hybrid, Hydrogen, and Vehicle Bodies
Neural Concept, an end-to-end 3D AI platform that transforms product development and design, partnered with OPmobility, a leader in sustainable mobility and a technology partner to OEMs, to easily integrate 3D generative AI into OPmobility's product development process, accelerating automotive design and reducing cost and time to market.
Neural Concept's platform is used across 70+ OEMs and Tier 1s including Bosch, LG Electronics, General Electric, and Subaru, to reduce product development times by up to 75%, accelerate simulations by up to 10x, and enhance efficiency, safety, acoustics, and aerodynamics by up to 30%.
This integration enables OPmoblity to deliver advanced design solutions tailored to complex automotive challenges.
One example of this AI-driven solution, a novel fuel tank design for pressurized hybrid electric vehicles, was showcased at CES 2025.
During vehicle acceleration and deceleration, fuel in conventional fuel tanks moves from side to side, causing noise. Simulating this in PHEV fuel tanks previously required approximately 12 hours per design, making rapid design iteration impossible. Using Neural Concept's platform, OPmobility can now simulate and predict 3D acoustics pressure changes and fluid dynamics in seconds, rather than days. This capability delivers immediate multiphysics insights, speeds up design changes, and optimizes product development.
Tiger Analytics, Zebra Technologies to Develop Next-Gen GenAI Solutions
Tiger Analytics, an AI and analytics company, is collaborating with Zebra Technologies, a manufacturer of digital and automated frontline workflow solutions, to improve worker productivity and enhance customer experience through new generative AI solutions.
The companies will use Tiger Analytics' generative AI (GenAI) expertise with Zebra's expertise in frontline solutions to provide custom, efficient solutions that create operational efficiency, reduce costs, and improve customer experience.
MemryX, Variscite Partner to Improve Edge AI Solutions
MemryX, Inc., a provider of AI accelerators for edge devices, and Variscite, a system on module (SoM) solution provider, have partnered to transform edge AI capabilities. The collaboration will combine MemryX's AI acceleration technology with Variscite's SoMs to deliver better performance and efficiency for industrial and edge computing applications.
The goal is to simplify AI deployment at the edge. By integrating the AI accelerators with SoMs, developers gain access to a platform that creates intelligent edge devices with reduced latency and improved power optimization, while reducing development time and maximizing processing efficiency for complex machine learning tasks.
The collaboration launches with a successful plug-and-play integration with Variscite's i.MX 8M Plus System on Module, leveraging its built-in neural processing unit for enhanced AI performance. It also extends to Variscite's full range of SoMs, including the latest i.MX 95 and i.MX 93-based SoMs, offering developers an enhanced platform for AI/ML applications optimized by MemryX's solutions.
The integrated solution targets various industries, such as automation, healthcare, and video management systems, enabling real-time data processing and decision-making at the edge. Developers will gain access to MemryX's comprehensive suite of tools and technical support, facilitating seamless integration and accelerated time-to-market for AI-enabled products.
SICK, Endress+Hauser Start Joint Venture for Advancing Sustainability in the Process Industry
SICK, a manufacturer of sensor-based automation solutions headquartered in Germany, and the Swiss measurement technology specialist Endress+Hauser have joined forces to create new, advanced technological solutions for decarbonizing the process industry.
Customers of both companies now benefit from a broader product portfolio distributed from a single source via Endress+Hauser's Sales Centers. The joint venture "Endress+Hauser SICK GmbH+Co. KG" strengthens the development and production of analyzers and gas flow meter products. The company's gas flow meters make it possible to switch to low-emission and non-fossil energy sources and the process analyzers allow reliable monitoring of emissions. The product solutions manufactured there will now be marketed by Endress+Hauser. From March 1, 2025, SICK and Endress+Hauser will each hold 50% of the joint venture.
Around 800 SICK employees in the global sales and service units in 42 countries transfer to Endress+Hauser. In the Endress+Hauser Sales Centers, the teams will market product solutions in the field of analyzer and gas flow meter technologies to additional process customers worldwide, reaching new markets and new fields of application.
For customers, this means that the familiar SICK contacts are available at Endress+Hauser for consulting, sales, and service of process automation solutions. The product portfolio for process automation is now available at www.endress.com.
