As we enter the next “roaring 20s,” retailers and CPG organizations will experience technological revolutions involving sophisticated AI tools like prescriptive analytics and innovation in mobile devices and robots that will lead to increased productivity, optimized shopping and employee experiences and greater customer satisfaction.

SCHUNK, Germany, expanded its Plug and Work portfolio to include the new EGH Co-act gripper, which implements automation with a cobot.

Small Robot Co., UK, announced its first commercial service for weed mapping and previewed the next generation of its Tom monitoring robots.

Interact Analysis, UK, released “The Collaborative Robot Market – 2019,” a report that indicates strong and sustained growth for the collaborative robot industry.

Chowbotics, Hayward, Calif., introduced Sally 2.0, the newest iteration of its fresh food robot.

Ohio State University’s Center for Design and Manufacturing Excellence (CDME), Columbus, Ohio, opened the new Artificially Intelligent Manufacturing Systems Lab (AIMS) to tap into the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to transform the future of manufacturing.

The International Federation of Robotics (IFR), Germany, released its annual World Robotics Report, which showed an annual global sales value of $16.5 billion in 2018.

Conveyco Technologies, Bristol, Conn., released Stacker-Bot, a flow rack autonomous mobile robot (AMR) replenisher.

SICK, Inc., Minneapolis, opened what is said to be the first Industry 4.0-ready digital plant in Freiburg, Germany.

New research from Interact Analysis, UK, shows huge potential growth in the importance of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), specifically in order fulfillment applications.