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PACK EXPO Connects Highlights
David Greenfield:
Hello, and thanks for joining us for this discussion about the use of robotics, remote access, and virtual factory acceptance testing in the food and beverage, and consumer package goods industries, and how those trends affect OEMs supplying these industry segments. I'm David Greenfield, Director of Content at Automation World, a part of the PMMI Media Group. And joining me today are Glen Long, Senior Vice President of PMMI, Tom Egan, Vice President of Industry Services at PMMI, and Bryan Griffen, Director of Industry Services at PMMI.
Let's start this discussion by focusing on robotics. New robot advances were all over the place at the Virtual PACK EXPO Connects event, which launched back in November, and runs through March of 2021. Some of the more interesting robot introductions that I saw at Pack Expo Connects were Omron’s HD-1500 autonomous intelligent mobile robot that handles payloads up to 1,500 kilograms, uses lasers to provide 360 degrees of safety. It's also got an onboard sensor for more precise pickup and drop off of materials. What I find interesting about these automation mobile robots is how quickly they're being adopted by industry.