At IMTS 2018, like at any industrial trade show, the predominant theme was Industry 4.0. Although Industry 4.0 still has not scaled up to cover a significant percentage of manufacturing setups, its vision of near-total automation—and the promise of resulting cost savings—has clearly captured the industry’s imagination.

The explosive growth of robots shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, especially in manufacturing. We are not quite to the level of a ‘90s action movie, but robots are certainly popping up in a lot more places these days. What may come as a surprise is the many ways companies are now using these robots, especially when it comes to metrology.

Esben Østergaard, co-founder and chief technology officer of Universal Robots was awarded the Engelberger Robotics Award.

Robotic Industries Association offers attendees new sessions on cybersecurity and robot safety; additional user panels on traditional, collaborative robots, and more.

The conference hosted visitors from over 70 countries including China.