codesanitize

Fictiv mentioned its CNC components allow producers to scale with out the everyday boundaries of value, complexity, and threat. | Supply: Fictiv

MISUMI Group Inc., a provider of mechanical elements for the manufacturing trade, yesterday introduced that it’s buying Fictiv for $350 million. As soon as the all-cash transaction closes, the worldwide provide chain firm will be part of MISUMI.

With the transaction, MISUMI mentioned it is going to speed up improvement of methods that use synthetic intelligence via digitally native instruments constructed on prime of strong bodily infrastructure. The Tokyo-based firm mentioned it will permit it to construct real-world merchandise in an environment friendly, scalable means.

“Fictiv and MISUMI share a joint imaginative and prescient to make world-class manufacturing and provide chain capabilities simpler, extra accessible, extra clever, and democratized,” mentioned Dave Evans, the co-founder and CEO of Fictiv. “Giving extra groups the instruments to take their concepts from idea to actuality will unlock innovation to gasoline the developments we need to see on the planet.”

Shifts in commerce coverage and world tariffs, geopolitical uncertainty, logistics disruptions, and know-how developments are driving volatility and evolution within the manufacturing and provide chain industries, famous the businesses. MISUMI mentioned these challenges are exposing conventional manufacturing strategies which might be costly, inefficient, and opaque, creating inordinate threat in constructing and scaling merchandise.

Fictiv builds on AI-driven workflows

San Francisco-based Fictiv mentioned its world manufacturing provide chain brings collectively AI-driven know-how workflows, a world manufacturing community, and groups of native specialists. The firm‘s said objective is to simplify the method of sourcing customized mechanical elements.

Thus far, Fictiv mentioned it has produced greater than 35 million business and prototype elements for among the world’s most progressive merchandise throughout early-stage and enormous enterprises within the aerospace, robotics, clear power, shopper, and automotive sectors. It claimed that buyer adoption has grown quickly, accelerated additional by the current launch of manufacturing manufacturing options.

Producers can use Fictiv’s 4 world manufacturing facilities in India, Mexico, China, and the U.S., to entry high-quality manufacturing, optimize provide chain logistics, and mitigate provide chain threat, mentioned the corporate.

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MISUMI to provide elements at scale

MISUMI provides mechanical elements, instruments, consumables, and different merchandise to greater than 318,000 firms worldwide. Clients acknowledge its model for strict high quality conformance, world logistics excellence, and scalability provided by digital instruments and distinctive customization capabilities, the corporate asserted.

“From its earliest days, MISUMI’s tradition of ingenuity and innovation has made us a pacesetter and pioneer in making it simpler for purchasers to obtain manufacturing elements that match their wants,” mentioned Ryusei Ono, the consultant director and president of MISUMI Group. “Fictiv brings distinctive expertise, confirmed know-how, and a shared dedication to innovation. Collectively, MISUMI and Fictiv will amplify our clients’ ‘time worth.’”

MISUMI mentioned the addition of Fictiv will assist make its methods even higher and extra scalable, providing clients a single world platform able to constructing a complete invoice of supplies (BOM) “with world-class velocity, value, and high quality.”

In Episode 192 of The Robotic Report Podcast, co-host Eugene Demaitre interviews Rob Marshick, nationwide gross sales supervisor at ITT Enidine Inc.

Rob Marshick, Enidine Nationwide Gross sales Supervisor

The Orchard Park, N.Y.-based firm is a provider of engineered mechanical shock absorbers, vibration-isolation merchandise, and noise-attenuation merchandise. Enidine additionally offers deceleration gadgets and merchandise for hydraulic/pneumatic actuation, plus movement management and robotics purposes.

Enidine’s merchandise might be present in use all through the worldwide Industrial, rotorcraft, aviation, protection, rail, automation, and infrastructure markets.

Marchick has been with ITT Enidine for greater than 16 years in quite a lot of customer-facing and gross sales roles. On this episode, he explains the worth of those parts for robotics designers.

Present timeline

• 5:00 – Steve Crowe and Mike Oitzman recap the week’s information
• 27:00 – Gene interviews Rob Marshick, Enidine nationwide gross sales supervisor.

Information of the week

ABB plans to spin off robotics division

ABB Group yesterday introduced throughout its earnings name that it plans to spin off its robotics division right into a individually listed firm by the second quarter of 2026.

The Zurich-based firm reported that after a steep drop in 2023, international industrial robotics orders improved in Q1 of 2025. ABB cited rising demand for robots in portray, shopper electronics, meals and beverage, attire, and industrial equipment.

The unit, which is among the high robotics suppliers on the earth, presents industrial automation, collaborative robotic arms, and autonomous cellular robots (AMRs). ABB has additionally elevated its give attention to software program and synthetic intelligence, saying that greater than 80% of its choices are software program/AI-enabled.

ABB Robotics reportedly earned $2.3 billion in revenues in 2024. ABB Group’s Machine Automation division, presently a part of Robotics & Discrete Automation, will be part of the Course of Automation enterprise space in Q1 of 2026.

Hugging Face bridges hole between AI, bodily world with Pollen Robotics acquisition

Demonstrating its ambition to make robots the subsequent AI frontier, Hugging Face mentioned its buy of Pollen Robotics helps an open and customizable future, exemplified by Reachy 2. The $70,000 modular humanoid robotic, options VR teleoperation and stereo imaginative and prescient, and presently utilized in analysis and schooling at establishments like Cornell and Carnegie Mellon.

Autonomous trucking developer Kodiak Robotics to go public through SPAC

Kodiak Robotics Inc. this week mentioned it plans to go public by a special-purpose acquisition firm (SPAC). Its Kodiak Driver automated driving system integrates AI software program and modular {hardware} to sort out important transportation business challenges like driver shortages and supply calls for.

Gatik will get security validation from TUV SUD for autonomous logistics

Gatik introduced that TÜV SÜD has independently validated the Security Case Analysis and Practical Security phases of its Security Evaluation Framework. The framework recognized greater than 700 portfolios addressing key autonomous automobile (AV) security pillars, exceeding the self-certification commonplace within the business.

Cosmic Robotics will get funding to automate, speed up photo voltaic set up

Cosmic Robotics has secured $4 million in funding to develop AI-driven robots, beginning with the Cosmic-1A, to expedite the development of important infrastructure. The startup is initially specializing in large-scale photo voltaic vitality installations to deal with labor shortages and streamline U.S. vitality growth.

Overland AI launches ULTRA autonomous floor techniques for protection

Overland AI introduced the launch of its ULTRA uncrewed tactical platform, a totally autonomous and configurable floor system that includes a 454-kg (1,000-lb.) payload capability, a high velocity of 56 kph (35 mph), and a 161-km (100-mi.) cruising vary. It’s powered by a 85-kW (114 HP) gasoline engine with 1KW {of electrical} energy.

Register now so you do not miss out!

Podcast sponsored by Enidine

Established in 1966, Enidine is a premier provider of extremely engineered merchandise to increase tools life, enhance consolation, and improve security and reliability all through international industrial finish markets.

Enidine’s engineering crew has designed customized vitality absorption, vibration isolation, and noise attenuation options for all kinds of difficult purposes, together with automated storage and retrieval techniques (ASRS) and manufacturing facility automation.
Its big range of modern parts has confirmed to be important to clients’ success.

Study extra by going to www.enidine.com/en-us.

Fungi are grasp engineers able to constructing huge networks underground. Now, researchers have harnessed their capabilities to create a residing constructing materials that could possibly be a sustainable various to cement and at some point even restore itself.

Nature has developed some spectacular constructing supplies that may typically go toe-to-toe with the very best human-made ones. Wooden, coral, and bone have glorious strength-to-weight ratios, they usually kind at room temperature from available provides.

It’s no marvel engineers have lengthy dreamed of harnessing these powers in human-made buildings. Now, scientists have mixed fungus and micro organism to create a residing materials that stays alive for as much as a month and might kind bone-like buildings. The researchers say this method might at some point be used to create structural elements that restore themselves.

“We’re enthusiastic about our outcomes and stay up for engineering extra complicated and bigger buildings,” Chelsea Heveran at Montana State College, who led the examine, instructed New Scientist. “When viability is sufficiently excessive, we might begin actually imparting lasting organic traits to the fabric that we care about, equivalent to self-healing, sensing, or environmental remediation.”

The brand new materials depends on a course of referred to as biomineralization. On this course of, cells flip calcium of their atmosphere into calcium carbonate deposits that harden underlying tissues or buildings, as within the formation of bone or coral. However sure microbes may produce calcium carbonate. Engineers have used the method to create “biocement” to seal cracks in oil-and-gas wells or produce masonry.

Nonetheless, the microbes usually solely dwell for just a few days, leaving the ultimate supplies inert. More and more, scientists are working to create “engineered residing supplies” the place the cells stay viable. These supplies might restore themselves, photosynthesize, or sense their atmosphere.

The Montana State researchers created their new materials by combining the structural engineering capabilities of fungus (Neurospora crassa) with the biomineralization capabilities of micro organism (Sporosarcina pasteurii). They described the work in a latest paper in Cell Reviews Bodily Science.

First, they coaxed the fungus’s mycelium—the community of root-like filaments that make up the majority of most fungi—to develop right into a mesh-like scaffold. They then added the micro organism to those scaffolds and positioned them in a calcium-rich development formulation, which the microbes transformed into calcium carbonate in simply 24 hours.

They discovered the fabric’s microbes remained viable for as much as 4 weeks after elimination from the formulation, when stored at 86 levels Fahrenheit. The researchers didn’t check whether or not the fabric might restore itself, however they are saying maintaining cells alive longer is a vital first step towards this aim.

The staff additionally created beam-like scaffolds that mimic the construction of cortical bone—the strongest sort of bone that gives its structural integrity—after which successfully mineralized them. Controlling the interior form of the scaffolds like this might considerably broaden the kinds of buildings and makes use of these supplies may goal.

One limitation is that the researchers couldn’t tradition the 2 species collectively. They needed to kill the fungus after it had grown the scaffold earlier than including the micro organism. This implies the fabric is simply partially residing, which might restrict what it may do down the road.

However the work opens new potentialities for the expansion of high-performance constructing supplies which can be each extra sustainable and embody sensible options like self-repair or energy technology.