At the Empa and Eawag NEST building in Dübendorf, eight ETH Zurich professors as part of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Digital Fabrication are collaborating with business partners to build the three-storey DFAB HOUSE. It is the first building in the world to be designed, planned and built using predominantly digital processes. Robots that build walls and 3D printers that print entire formworks for ceiling slabs – digital fabrication in architecture has developed rapidly in recent years. As part of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Digital Fabrication, architects, robotics specialists, material scientists, structural engineers and sustainability experts from ETH Zurich have teamed up with business partners to put several new digital building technologies from the laboratory into practice. Construction is taking place at NEST, the modular research and innovation building that Empa and Eawag built on their campus in Dübendorf to test new building and energy technologies under real conditions.

Data-driven management has risen sharply from a decade ago, when Thomas Davenport wrote Competing on Analytics. Data is now the critical tool for managing many corporate functions, including marketing, pricing, supply chain, operations, and more. This movement is being further fueled by the promise of AI and machine learning, and by the ease of collecting and storing data about every facet of our daily lives. But has the pendulum swung too far? Are managers relying excessively on data to guide their decisions, abdicating their own knowledge and experience?

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Artificial intelligence and additive manufacturing or 3D printing are emerging technologies that have a huge potential in a variety of industries and applications. Despite both technologies being fairly new, particularly 3D printing, procurement market intelligence experts at SpendEdge state that these technologies have several applications in the supply chain for addressing procurement challenges, and will very soon become an integral part due to its improved and sophisticated functionalities. Rapid prototyping is one of the most common uses of additive manufacturing. Since designing a successful product can be very expensive and time-consuming, 3D printed prototyping makes it quite simple at the same time shortens the manufacturing cycle. The impact of AM on supply chain is massive, some of which include increased manufacturing flexibility, reduced material waste, and the ability to employ decentralized manufacturing strategies.

Researchers have developed the first soft robot that can walk on rough surfaces such as sand and pebbles. The four-legged, 3-D printed bot's X shape layout allow it to have different types of walks for different terrains. The researchers say it could be used to record sensor data in dangerous environments or for search and rescue missions. The researcher tested the performance of the bot (pictured) with different leg configurations, gait sequences over various terrains, and it was able to successfully navigate over large rocks, under inclined surfaces and over small pebbles, walking at speeds up to 20 millimeters (0.8 inches) per second The robot, designed by researchers at the University of California in San Diego, was possible thanks to a high-end 3-D printer that allowed the researchers to print soft and rigid materials together within the same components. The robot's soft legs naturally conform to its surroundings during operation, resulting in a robot with the ability to crawl through a variety of terrains with limited computation and no sensing capabilities.

Desperate to overcome Japan's growing shortage of labour, mid-sized firms are planning to buy robots to automate a wide range of tasks. According to a Bank of Japan survey, companies are introducing robots in the hopes of boosting investment by 17.5 percent - the highest level on record. Tasks that will given to the robots include manufacturing, earth-moving and even hotel room service. Desperate to overcome Japan's growing shortage of labour, mid-sized firms are planning to buy robots to automate a wide range of tasks Kawasaki Heavy Industries says its two-armed, 170-centimetre tall robot is selling well because it can be adapted to a range of industrial uses by electronics makers, food processors and drug companies. Hitachi Construction Machinery says it is also getting a lot of enquiries for its computer-programmed digging machines.

Desperate to overcome the nation's growing shortage of labor, midsized companies are planning to buy robots and other equipment to automate a wide range of tasks, including manufacturing, earthmoving and hotel room service. According to a Bank of Japan survey, companies with share capital of ¥100 million to ¥1 billion plan to boost investment in the fiscal year that started in April by 17.5 percent, the highest level on record. It is unclear how much of that is being spent on automation but companies selling such equipment say their order books are growing and the government says it sees a larger proportion of investment being dedicated to increasing efficiency. Revenue at many robot-makers also rose in the January-March period for the first time in several quarters. "The share of capital expenditure devoted to becoming more efficient is increasing because of the shortage of workers," said Seiichiro Inoue, a director at the industrial policy bureau of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

The replicants from Blade Runner were very human-like, and one of the reasons they appeared human was because they had skins that didn't just look real but also had the sensation of touch. In fact, the derogatory term used in that particular story for fictional replicants was "skin-job." If new research by engineers at the University of Minnesota advances further, it could result in a "bionic skin" that lets robots have the sense of touch. Not only that, the technology -- 3D printing stretchable electronic sensory devices -- could, in the future, be applied to printing electronics on human skin. The researchers published a study recently, describing their printing approach, in the journal Advanced Materials.

If you haven't used a 3-D printer yet, you may be surprised to learn that it isn't fully automated the way your office's inkjet is. With paper printers, users queue documents from a computer, and each finished sheet drops neatly into a tray, waiting to be collected. With commercial 3-D printers, however, designs are manually programmed into the printer, and each finished part is manually removed before starting a new print, which is very time-consuming. At schools and businesses, a trained expert usually handles all prints, which can be expensive. Now MIT spinout New Valence Robotics (NVBOTS) has brought to market the only fully automated commercial 3-D printer that's equipped with cloud-based queuing and automatic part removal, making print jobs quicker and easier for multiple users, and dropping the cost per part.

The future has already arrived in a small factory in Worcester, according to the man hired by Theresa May to put Britain at the forefront of the next industrial revolution. Juergen Maier, the chief executive of Siemens UK, believes new technologies including robotics, artificial intelligence and additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, can deliver greater productivity and create more highly paid jobs. But failing to crack the next revolution will come at a high price: falling living standards. The work being done in Worcester, and places like it, will be crucial if Britain is to be successful outside the EU, Maier says. The starting gun has been fired in this global race and Britain needs to get ahead.

Layer by metal layer, a complex component began to take shape with the help of an additive manufacturing machine -- known as a 3-D printer to most people -- and a clutch of USC engineering students at the region's newest center devoted to building better stuff and creating jobs. The part was being made for a Southern California company that was trying out an improved design but didn't have the machinery to produce something involving complicated shapes and angles. "We looked at the geometry and said'we should be able to,' and we printed it for them," said Satyandra K. Gupta, a USC professor and director of the Center for Advanced Manufacturing. The collaboration with the company, which had asked Gupta for complete secrecy to avoid tipping off competitors, was one of the first for the Center for Advanced Manufacturing. The facility opened in February as part of a $253-million Defense Department-sponsored consortium of dozens of corporations, schools, nonprofits and local governments around the country.