Cybersecurity professionals are in exceptional demand

Research by Gartner has predicted that by 2025, nearly half of all cybersecurity leaders will look to change jobs, with a quarter of them leaving the industry due to work-related stressors. The responsibility cybersec leaders have is rising thanks to the evolving landscape of cyber threats, which constantly demand innovative solutions and proactive defences. Another study from (ISC)² found that nearly 70 percent of cyber professionals claim their organization doesn’t currently have enough cybersecurity staff. Gartner said the resulting talent shortage will ultimately be responsible for over half of significant cyber incidents. Such events are costly, both in the direct financial sense through operational downtime and data recovery, and in the form of reputational damage.

Source: DartPoints

The manufacturing industry is the most vulnerable to cyber attacks

The problem is particularly relevant in manufacturing, which was the top industry affected by ransomware in 2023. The sector is becoming increasingly connected through the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), incorporating sensors, actuators, and other devices networked together with computers’ industrial applications. This expands the attack surface available for cyber criminals to exploit to gain unauthorized access, disrupt operations, or steal sensitive data.

Manufacturers are also often targeted because a successful attack can impact all equipment and IIoT devices, leading to complete operational stoppage, with ripple effects on the supply chain. For example, in 2022, a ransomware attack on Kojima Industries Corporation, a vehicle parts manufacturer, forced Toyota to shut down 14 factories for 24 hours.

Additional common challenges the industry faces include intellectual property theft, user error, phishing, and espionage. It is therefore essential that manufacturers have robust business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) plans in place.

The security benefits of cloud or co-location services

The cyber security measures available to manufacturing businesses largely depend on where they store their critical data, whether on-premises, with a cloud service provider, or at a colocation data center.

On-premises infrastructure involves hosting servers locally, while colocation provides secure data center space for servers and equipment. Cloud services offer virtualized resources accessible over the internet, enabling on-demand access to computing power and storage. Many organizations have been moving away from on-premises infrastructure for several years due to its high upfront costs and maintenance requirements. Colocation and cloud services eliminate these expenses and offer greater scalability and flexibility, catering to the fluctuating demands of the manufacturing industry. Organizations that utilize colo and cloud can easily scale up resources in response to growth or a need for increased computing power for data analysis and other applications.

On top of this, colocation and cloud service providers tend to offer advanced security features that are not available when hosting on-premises. These might include physical measures like biometric access and 24/7 surveillance, or network features like advanced firewalls, intrusion detection systems, EDR/MDR, SIEM, and DDoS protection. They can encrypt customer or financial data in transit and at rest, providing an additional layer of security for the most sensitive information.

The provider should conduct regular security audits to ensure compliance with the industry standards relevant to manufacturing and data protection, like the SOC, HIPAA, and NIST frameworks. These can significantly ease a manufacturing company’s burden of achieving and maintaining compliance independently. Outsourcing IT infrastructure to colocation or cloud service providers also supplies businesses with additional third-party expertise. The third-party team can provide deeper insights into existing and emerging threats while offering invaluable guidance about how the company might best detect and defend against them. This allows manufacturers to allocate resources more efficiently, focusing on their core competencies while leaving cybersecurity management to the experts.

Source: DartPoints

Colocation and cloud services can form essential components of BCDR plans for organizations. They offer geo-redundancy, ensuring data and applications are replicated across multiple locations to minimize downtime during disasters or cyberattacks. These services also provide reliable data backup solutions, enabling the swift restoration of operations from secure offsite backups to reduce losses. Transitioning to cloud or colocation solutions with a trusted third party can help ensure long-term cybersecurity and operational resilience, providing peace of mind to a highly targeted industry.

Consider DartPoints

DartPoints, a leading provider of colocation, cloud, and cybersecurity, stands out as an invaluable partner for organizations grappling with the escalating threat of cyber attacks.

With a comprehensive suite of tailored cybersecurity solutions, DartPoints provides a unique, multi-layered defense strategy to safeguard manufacturing operations. Its approach encompasses round-the-clock monitoring, robust security protocols, and advanced technologies such as firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, and sophisticated DDoS mitigation tools, ensuring that sensitive manufacturing data and intellectual property remain secure. Moreover, DartPoints offers regular data backup and fast recovery solutions, guaranteeing swift restoration in the event of data loss, while high levels of redundancy and failover capability minimize downtime during disasters.

The company’s customizable security postures cater to manufacturing companies’ unique risk profiles and business requirements, ensuring that security measures are aligned with specific operational needs, reporting requirements, or compliance standards. With 24/7 support and security monitoring services, manufacturing organizations can rely on DartPoints to provide unparalleled protection against cyber threats.

It responds to incidents much faster than a limited in-house team could, and boasts an uptime SLA of 99.999 percent. Its bases across the eastern US ensure low-latency connectivity and easy access.

Discover how cloud and co-location services from DartPoints can protect your manufacturing business from cyber attacks by visiting its website or speaking to one of the team today.

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One of the biggest misconceptions about 3D printing – the notion that it doesn’t suit the production of goods in high volume – has been put to bed by brands such as Adidas, which has turned heads in the footwear industry with its striking midsole designs. Virtual reality (VR) is similarly misunderstood and sometimes dismissed as a gimmick. But put VR and 3D printing together, and you have a rapid prototyping dream team that’ll be the envy of your competitors.

And don’t think that you need to spend north of US $3000 on an Apple Vision Pro to reap the rewards. The benefits of combining VR and 3D printing can be realized with an affordable headset such as the Quest 3 – released in 2023 – or even a Quest 2, which is now available at a lower price point and with a software speed up.

Iterate faster

A big fan of having designers use VR to iterate designs in 3D is Jared Goldman – VP of Design at New Balance (another footwear company at the bleeding edge of manufacturing). And there are some compelling reasons to back up his thinking.

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3D printed shoes – footwear signals future manufacturing trend

By Goldman’s estimation, physical samples have a turnaround time of around 45 days – once you’ve added up sending the tech package, production of the prototypes in Asia, and shipping of the shoes back to the US. However, it’s possible to produce photoreal samples of the same designs in seven days, or maybe less, in a virtual environment.

Decision makers can see the shoes from all angles in a virtual environment and have confidence in their feedback that compares with handling physical samples. Plus, headset-wearing team members can collaborate easily and in real-time, no matter where they are across the globe – provided that they have an internet connection.

“The better you can express your idea, so that somebody who is a non-designer can understand it, the more successful you’re going to be,” Goldman comments in a case study shared by Gravity Sketch – a developer of VR design software that is increasingly becoming part of 3D printing product workflows.

Example of a VR and 3D printing toolchain

• Gravity Sketch – for virtual product creation
• Blender – to add materials appearance for final design validation
• Ultimaker Cura – for slicing and 3D printing production preview
• 3D printers – to produce the finished goods

Today, there are numerous online tutorials showing how to combine VR and 3D printing to go from first idea to finished product. Beginning with a rough sketch created using handheld VR controllers, the next step is to add virtual form to the digital design, with lighting effects making the output appear all the more realistic.

Slicing software will prepare the model for 3D printing, where it’s possible to adjust support material and preview the build to double-check that all’s well before committing fabrication time and materials to the job.

And it’s not just about keeping sneakerheads happy with a stream of new and exclusive trainers, VR and 3D printing can be combined to deliver progress in areas such as medical visualization too.

Materialise – a pioneer in the field of 3D printing – points out that the number of hospital-based 3D printing facilities has increased exponentially to help with tasks such as patient-specific surgical planning.

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Fungi, coffee, and pineapples – rethinking device materials

On TechHQ, we’ve written about how beneficial VR can be to medical training and upskilling hospital staff. And 3D-printed anatomical models take that tactile experience to the next level.

Construction is another area that’s taking a keen interest in additive manufacturing – this time using giant 3D printers to build homes layer by layer. Here, VR can be used by designers and home buyers to experience what it’s like to move around a digital render of the building prior before nozzles start squirting out cement.

“We see this tool as an exciting way the get clients, designers, and contractors up to speed on the inner workings of how a 3D construction printing project actually works,” commented Marchant Van Den Heever, CTO of HTL.tech – a distributor of 3D construction printing technology in the UK and Ireland.

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3D printed shoes are a great example of where additive manufacturing absolutely lives up to the hype. And following the progress made by sneaker designers such as Adidas, which has built up considerable experience in using 3D printers to make trainers, reveals much about how future products could be manufactured.

In the early days, 3D printing was badged as a rapid prototyping tool. Use cases were one-off parts or mock-ups to double-check that all was well before pulling the trigger on expensive injection molding tooling. But, as Adidas and other leading lights have discovered, the appeal of 3D printing for making shoes and other mass-produced goods goes much further.

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One of the biggest misconceptions about 3D printing is that it cannot be used to make products at scale. However, the progress made by Adidas and its additive manufacturing partner Carbon in developing 3D printing shoes for the mass market challenges that.

The rise of printer farms – sometimes referred to by operators as ‘warehouses where the shelves make the product’ – makes it possible for 3D printing to compete with injection molding at high volume. And customers will be surprised by just how many parts that modern 3D printing facilities can deliver.

Naturally, the design should play to the strength of the additive manufacturing process and suit speed-ups – such as having the 3D printer automatically eject the part after completing each build – to hit big numbers.

Today, manufacturing experts will recommend 3D printing to customers wanting up to a million parts a year, and the reasons are more than just cost-parity with injection molding. And this is where it’s useful to pick up a pair of 3D printed Adidas 4DFWD shoes to see the manufacturing appeal up close.

Forward thinking: the 3D printed midsole used in the Adidas 4DFWD features a variable stiffness bow tie lattice that compresses forward to improve running efficiency. Image credit: Adidas.

Trainers often push the design envelope in terms of the combination of shapes and materials. Sneakerheads view trainers as a work of art, and the lattice-based midsole of the 4DFWD is a thing of beauty. It has attractive mechanical properties too.

Designers of high-performance trainers want to be able to vary the stiffness of the midsole along the length of the shoe – providing comfort upon first strike, but without slowing down the athlete. And having lattice geometries greatly widens the range of mechanical properties that are available from a given material.

What’s more, 3D printed shoes open the door to massive customization – for example, lattices could be tailored to individual runners, factoring in differences in weight and stride length – making products more attractive to customers.

Updatable, updatable, updatable

The customization that goes hand-in-hand with 3D printing helps brands too, as they can update their range whenever they choose. Having to make changes to injection molding tools limits the frequency of product updates to maybe just a couple of times a year. But with 3D printing, it’s done in software – once the new file is loaded, you’re good to go.

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GoPro-equipped robot gloves teach robots new tricks

Manufacturing updates can be applied rapidly too. For example, as Carbon’s research and development team discovered ways to produce the 3D printed Adidas shoes more rapidly and efficiently, those process improvements could be sent seamlessly to the manufacturing facility without the need for any personnel to travel or change parts.

And it’s telling that other brands have joined Addidas in 3D printing shoes. Footwear designs have been walked down the catwalk and some firms – such as Vivobarefoot – are exploring how the innovative shoe manufacturing technology can support a circular economy for trainers.

Being able to print locally and on-demand can shorten supply chains and reduce the amount of unsold product that goes to waste. If circular economy ambitions can be realized on top of that, the future of mass-produced footwear and other 3D printed products could become even more attractive.

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• The US wants to regain its leadership within the chip industry, and Commerce Sec. Raimondo targets 20% domestic production of leading-edge chips by 2030.
• The US currently produces none; hence, the ambitious goal is set for the end of this decade.
• Biden admin aims to bring memory chip production to the US “at scale.”

As the global demand for semiconductors surges, the US has embarked on a bold mission to revitalize its chip manufacturing industry. Last February, the Commerce Department launched the CHIPS for America program, echoing the ambitious spirit of the space race era. While US companies lead in AI development, the absence of domestic chip production poses a critical challenge. However, with a strategic focus on talent development, R&D, and manufacturing, the US aims to fill this gap and produce 20% of the world’s leading-edge chips by 2030. 

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Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo remains optimistic about the program’s potential to transform America’s industrial landscape. The US aims to fortify its supply chains and reduce reliance on geopolitical rivals by investing in leading-edge logic chip manufacturing and onshoring memory production. “Our investments in leading-edge logic chip manufacturing will put this country on track to produce roughly 20% of the world’s leading-edge logic chips by the end of the decade,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said during a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on February 26, 2024.

“That’s a big deal,” Raimondo added. “Why is that a big deal? Because folks, today we’re at zero.” Her speech came a year after the initiation of funding applications under the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act by the US Department of Commerce. With a staggering US$39 billion earmarked for manufacturing incentives, the stage has been set for a transformative journey in the semiconductor landscape. 

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo speaks during the UK Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety Summit at Bletchley Park. (Photo by TOBY MELVILLE/POOL/AFP).

Raimondo’s ambitious vision, unveiled concurrently, delineates the path ahead. By 2030, the US aims to spearhead the design and manufacture of cutting-edge chips, establishing dedicated fabrication plant clusters to realize this audacious objective. She claims that, besides everything else, there has been a significant shift in the need for advanced semiconductor chips due to AI. 

“When we started this, generative AI wasn’t even part of our vocabulary. Now, it’s everywhere. Training a single large language model takes tens of thousands of leading-edge semiconductor chips. The truth is that AI will be the defining technology of our generation. You can’t lead in AI if you don’t lead in making leading-edge chips. And so our work in implementing the CHIPS Act became much more important,” Raimondo emphasized.

If the US achieves its goals, it will result in “hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs,” Raimondo said Monday. “The truth of it is the US does lead, right? We do lead. We lead in the design of chips and the development of large AI language models. But we don’t manufacture or package any leading-edge chips that we need to fuel AI and our innovation ecosystem, including chips necessary for national defense. We don’t make it in America, and the brutal fact is the US cannot lead the world as a technology and innovation leader on such a shaky foundation,” she iterated.

Why is there a gap between US and chip manufacturing?

The US grappled with a significant gap in chip manufacturing for several reasons. Firstly, many semiconductor companies outsourced their manufacturing operations overseas to cut costs, leading to a decline in domestic chip production capacity. Secondly, as semiconductor technology advanced, the complexity and cost of building cutting-edge fabrication facilities increased, discouraging investment in new fabs. 

Meanwhile, global competitors like Taiwan, South Korea, and China expanded their semiconductor industries rapidly, intensifying competition. While other countries provided substantial government support to their semiconductor industries, the US fell behind. Then, there were regulatory hurdles, and environmental regulations make building and operating semiconductor fabs in the US challenging and costly. 

A combination of outsourcing, technological challenges, global competition, lack of government support, and regulatory issues contributed to the US’s gap in chip manufacturing, with none of the world’s leading-edge chips being produced domestically.

And then the world woke up one morning in dire need of leading-edge chips to underscore the technology behind the next industrial revolution, and America realized its mistake.

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“We need to make these chips in America. We need more talent development in America. We need more research and development in America and just a lot more manufacturing at scale,” Raimondo said in her speech at CSIS.

2030 vision: prioritizing future-ready projects

US President Joe Biden greets attendees at a TSMC chip manufacturing facility. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI/AFP).

In Raimondo’s speech, she declared that the US will first prioritize projects that will be operational by the end of this decade. “I want to be clear: there are many worthy proposals that we’ve received with plans to come online after 2030, and we’re saying no, for now, to those projects because we want to maximize our impact in this decade,” she clarified.

In short, the US will give way to “excellent projects that could come online this year” instead of granting incentives to projects that will come online in 10 or 12 years from now. She also referred back to the goal mentioned last year – when the US is all said and done with this CHIPS initiative – is to have at least two new large-scale clusters of leading-edge logic fabs, each of those clusters employing thousands of workers. 

“I’m pleased to tell you today we expect to exceed that target,” she claimed. So far, the Commerce Department has awarded grants to three companies in the chip industry as part of the CHIPS Act: BAE Systems, Microchip Technology, and, most recently, a significant US$1.5 billion grant to GlobalFoundries. Additional funding is anticipated for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Samsung Electronics as they establish new facilities within the US.

Raimondo also highlighted her nation’s commitment to supporting the production of older-generation chips, referred to as mature-node or legacy chips. “We’re not losing sight of the importance of current generation and mature node chips, which you all know are essential for cars, medical devices, defense systems, and critical infrastructure.”

Yet, the lion’s share of investments, totaling US$28 billion out of US$39 billion, is earmarked for leading-edge chips. Raimondo emphasized that this program aims for targeted investments rather than scattering funds wisely. She disclosed that the department has received over US$70 billion in requests from leading-edge companies alone.

For now, anticipation is high for the Commerce Department’s new round of grant announcements, scheduled to coincide with President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on March 7. Among the expected recipients is TSMC, which is establishing new Arizona facilities.

The post US aims for chip supremacy: From zero to 20% by 2030 appeared first on TechHQ.

With Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2024 getting underway in Barcelona this week, it’s worth reflecting on one advantage of 5G that often goes under the radar – its positioning prowess. Mobile networks have long had the ability to triangulate user equipment based on signals received from neighboring base stations, but 5G positioning takes this to the next level.

What’s more, while ramping up the accuracy of radio-based positioning typically incurs a cost for users – who may need to install additional hardware – 5G breaks this trend by using existing communications technology to deliver high-resolution location information at a lower price point.

MWC Barcelona 2024 is officially OPEN!!

Don't forget to join the conversation using #MWC24 and #4YFN24 and enjoy the event! pic.twitter.com/uD1vHenuTA

— #MWC24 (@MWCHub) February 26, 2024

Want to know more about 5G positioning? Then MWC 2024 is the place to be.

Thanks to features added to the global wireless standard, 5G networks offer positioning capabilities that can pinpoint connected devices within a 1 m area, and that’s just the beginning. “5G Advanced represents a further development of 5G technology and promises faster data transmission of 20 GBit/s and localization accuracies of 20-30 cm to meet the growing demands of the connected world,” writes the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (Fraunhofer-Institut für Integrierte Schaltungen).

Applications are numerous and will appeal to industrial users in particular. As Ericsson – a provider of indoor 5G positioning systems – points out, smart manufacturing operators can use real-time location information to specify tool settings. “Tightening wheels and putting on car doors requires different torque curves,” explain Magnus Kristersson and Partha Sarathy – product specialists at the global communications technology firm – in a related blog post. “With indoor 5G positioning, we can automate getting the right torque curve to the right tool while disabling tools that are not in a work cell.”

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Defining 5G in terms of business and enterprise use cases

Qualcomm – a developer of chips for mobile devices – has put together a test bed highlighting its industrial precise positioning capabilities using 5G and complementary technologies. In the demonstration, engineers used 5G positioning augmented with machine learning RF fingerprinting to locate machinery under non-line-of-sight conditions.

The setup has six 5G transmission reception points distributed within the facility, which can follow objects of interest with high precision thanks to the data fusion approach.

On TechHQ, we’ve written about how private 5G networks can be a game-changer for businesses. Firms can use private 5G networks to bring connectivity to locations not readily served by public mobile networks – for example, operations in remote areas. But the benefits don’t have to stop there.

If companies are looking for accurate real-time location services on top of data transmission capabilities then it’s possible that 5G networks could perform both duties, saving on the amount of upfront investment required.

Modern wireless standards such as 5G feature positioning reference signals, which can be received passively by user equipment to help pinpoint devices. It’s also possible to measure round trip time using multiple cells to deliver positioning information. And one of the big breakthroughs is the use of angular based methods that report on the arrival of signals across 5G antenna arrays.

Researchers in Sweden have shown how developments have made it possible to perform vehicular positioning with only a single base station, which shows how car-makers could automate navigation when GPS signals are unavailable.

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Edge computing keeps 5G in the fast lane and on the pulse

Satellite navigation can become unpredictable when relatively weak GPS signals are blocked in dense urban areas. Mass transit systems such as trains can also be disrupted when satellite positioning fails, as their automatic door-opening systems depend on GPS functionality.

The list of potential use cases for 5G positioning is long and includes use cases indoors and outdoors, from asset tracking to emergency rescue. Plus, solutions can be portable – such as the Fraunhofer IIS Nomadic 5G positioning testbed, which the institute has on display at MWC 2024.

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Visualizing the future as one where humans do less manual and repetitive work and robots do more, depends on finding an efficient way of teaching machines to perform such tasks. Ideally, the skills transfer process would generate rich data and be fast and cheap to carry out, but coming up with a method that ticks all of those boxes has proven to be difficult – until now. Hitting that sweet spot appears to be a pair of GoPro-equipped robot gloves developed by researchers in the US, which – according to video footage – could provide an easy way of training robots to do all kinds of things.

What’s more, all of the universal manipulation interface know-how has been open-sourced, including the 3D printing instructions for making the handheld robot gloves. As photos reveal, the soft finger design is capable of gripping a raw egg securely without breaking the shell.

To begin the skills transfer process between human and machine, users put on a pair of robot gloves and carry out the target task multiple times to build a training dataset. Don’t be discouraged by the need for repetition, as the results can be generalized to similar scenarios – using a so-called diffusion policy that has been shown to outperform existing state-of-the-art robot learning methods – which saves time later on.

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Adding to the appeal, those same results can be used by different models of robot – provided that the unit can be fitted with duplicates of the robot gloves. In the demonstrations given by the team, whose members are based at Stanford University, Columbia University, and Toyota Research Institute, robots are taught how to place an espresso cup on a saucer and even wash up dirty plates.

Key to the success of the approach is the use of GoPro cameras – one on each of the robot training gloves and one on each of the grippers in the robot-mounted setup. The cameras feature fish eye lenses to capture a wide field of view, gathering large amounts of detail from the scene, and include inertial measurement units (IMUs) – to enable pose tracking.

The team makes sure that all of the data feeds are latency-matched, which means that robots can carry out two-handed tasks correctly and perform actions such as throwing objects with high precision. Also, there’s a one-off mapping step that uses a visual code to help with simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM).

If sufficient numbers of people join in, robots could quickly be taught to do many common industrial tasks using the open-sourced robot gloves – and that knowledge shared. Currently, robots are often taught through teleoperation, which can be a slow process. The wearable teaching grippers, on the other hand, provide a much speedier option and are more instinctive to use.

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Helping robots learn: GPT-3 tool descriptions add value

“By recording all information in a single, standardized MP4 file, UMI’s data can be easily shared over the Internet, allowing geographically distributed data collection from a large pool of nonexpert demonstrators,” writes the group in its paper – ‘Universal Manipulation Interface: In-The-Wild Robot Teaching Without In-The-Wild Robots’ – which is free-to-read on arXiv.

Timing the robot training process, the researchers found that using their universal manipulation interface was around three times faster to use than teleoperation. Also, the learning framework was shown to be tolerant to big changes in lighting conditions, and other interference.

For example, robots trained using the gloves can continue performing their tasks even if their base is moved or humans perturb the scene in other ways – such as adding more sauce to the dirty plates.

The dishwashing task is noteworthy as it’s what’s termed an ultra-long horizon task from an automation perspective, with the success of each step dependent on the previous one. Here, the robot needs to perform seven actions in sequence – turn on the faucet, grasp the plate, pick up the sponge, wash and wipe the plate until the ketchups are removed, place the plate, place the sponge, and turn off the faucet.

Can we collect robot data without any robots?

Introducing Universal Manipulation Interface (UMI)

An open-source $400 system from @Stanford designed to democratize robot data collection

0 teleop -> autonomously wash dishes (precise), toss (dynamic), and fold clothes (bimanual) pic.twitter.com/BBG4S97B1Q

— Cheng Chi (@chichengcc) February 16, 2024

Given the apparent success of the approach, regular dishwashing appliances may face some competition from two-armed robots in the future – and it get’s you thinking about other jobs that robots could do around the home.

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RFID tags and other product identifiers such as barcode labels are useful in keeping track of goods across supply chains, but they have their limitations. You can put an RFID tag or barcode label on the outside of a product or box of supplies, but what about the smaller items inside? Paving the way for many more components to be securely labeled is an anti-counterfeit tag that measures just 2 x 2 mm (about the size of a sesame seed) devised by researchers in the US.

The approach, which was first unveiled in 2020, uses terahertz radiation to read cryptographic codes stored on the tiny chips. Similar to RFID designs, the data transfer process can be powered by energy emitted from the scanner, which means that the anti-counterfeit tag needs no battery and should last for years.

What is terahertz radiation?

Terahertz radiation has been described as light that is almost heat. And the terahertz range of frequencies sits at the far end of the infrared band, adjacent to the microwave band, within the electromagnetic spectrum.

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Not only can these submillimetre waves pass through clothing and plastics to image hidden objects, terahertz radiation can also be used to identify materials in its path based on spectroscopic fingerprints.

Given these properties, it’s no surprise to learn that the terahertz portion of the electromagnetic spectrum is ripe with security scanning applications. What’s more, unlike X-rays, terahertz radiation is non-ionizing – meaning that it won’t damage living cells.

So far, so good, but – as observers have highlighted – the original design of the MIT group’s anti-counterfeit tag shared a security vulnerability common to mainstream technology such as conventional RFID labels. By simply removing the security ID from a genuine product and attaching it to a fake item, counterfeiters would be able to easily defeat the authentication system.

Embark on a journey into the realm of invisible signatures, a game changer in brand protection.

Uncover the impact of our covert technology in redefining the battle against counterfeits: https://t.co/nwoTQXZLj0#Ennoventure #BrandProtection #AntiCounterfeiting #Technology pic.twitter.com/ZMrRmQ3kzu

— Ennoventure Inc. (@ennoventure) January 23, 2024

To combat this, the team has come up with an ingenious solution, which centers on the glue used to attach the anti-counterfeit tag to the host product. Small metallic particles are added to the adhesive during formulation and their final pattern when the tag is deployed is used as a security property.

“These metal particles are essentially like mirrors for terahertz waves. If I spread a bunch of mirror pieces onto a surface and then shine light on that, depending on the orientation, size, and location of those mirrors, I would get a different reflected pattern. But if you peel the chip off and reattach it, you destroy that pattern,” explains Ruonan Han – leader of the Terahertz Integrated Electronics Group.

The team is presenting its latest design at the 2024 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), which is taking place this week in San Francisco, CA. To incorporate the new security feature, users would take a reading of the anti-counterfeit tag when it was first attached to an item and then use that pattern data for verification.

Collaborating with colleagues at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), the researchers have shown how a machine learning model can be trained to match glue patterns with more than 99 percent accuracy.

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The MIT project is by no means the only effort to secure supply chains. Quantum Base – a spin-out from Lancaster University in the UK – uses nanoscale quantum physical unclonable functions to assert that labeled goods are authentic. The anti-counterfeit solution is said to be impossible to copy, clone or fake and authenticates in seconds using a regular smartphone.

As Quantum Base points out, there are multiple reasons why firms would want to invest in anti-counterfeit tag technology. Companies that are unable to validate critical elements of their supply chain put their reputation at risk and expose themselves to substandard products.

The firm’s solution is based on carbon nanomaterials that – when applied to surfaces – can be used to generate security fingerprints, which are reported to be more unique than DNA.

The post Sesame seed-sized, anti-counterfeit tag gets smart glue upgrade appeared first on TechHQ.

• The inaugural deal for 2nm chips marks a significant milestone for Samsung, signaling a challenge to TSMC and its dominance.
• The deal could significantly change the power balance in the industry.
• Samsung has a strategy to offer lower prices for its 2nm process, reflecting its aggressive approach to attracting customers, particularly eyeing Qualcomm’s flagship chip orders.

In the race for technological supremacy and market dominance, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Samsung Electronics lead the charge in semiconductor manufacturing. As demand for advanced chips surges in the 5G, AI, and IoT era, competition intensifies, driving innovation. Both companies vie to achieve smaller nanometer nodes, which are pivotal for technological advancement. 

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Intel ups its ante in chip packaging technology to challenge TSMC

When it comes to semiconductor innovation, TSMC spearheads the charge, with ambitious plans for 3nm and 2nm chips, promising a leap in performance and efficiency. Meanwhile, Samsung, renowned for its memory chip prowess, is mounting a determined challenge to TSMC’s supremacy. Recent reports suggest that Samsung is on the brink of unveiling its 2nm chip technology, marking a significant milestone in its bid to rival TSMC.

In a notable turn of events disclosed during Samsung’s Q4 2023 financial report, the tech world buzzed with news of Samsung’s foundry division securing a prized contract for 2nm AI chips. Amid speculation, Samsung maintained secrecy about the identity of this crucial partner.

But earlier this week, a revelation from Business Korea unveiled that the patron happens to be Japanese AI startup Preferred Networks Inc. (PFN). Since its launch in 2014, PFN has emerged as a powerhouse in AI deep learning, drawing substantial investments from industry giants like Toyota, NTT, and FANUC, a leading Japanese robotics firm.

Samsung vs TSMC

Samsung, headquartered in Suwon, South Korea, is set to unleash its cutting-edge 2nm chip processing technology to craft AI accelerators and other advanced AI chips for PFN, as confirmed by industry insiders on February 16, 2024. 

Should news of this landmark deal be legitimate, it would prove mutually advantageous. It would empower PFN with access to state-of-the-art chip innovations for a competitive edge while propelling Samsung forward in its fierce foundry market rivalry with TSMC, according to insider reports.

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Ironically, PFN has had a longstanding partnership with TSMC dating back to 2016, but is opting to shift gears from here on out, going with Samsung’s 2nm node for its upcoming AI chip lineup, according to a knowledgeable insider. PFN also chose Samsung over TSMC due to Samsung’s full-service chip manufacturing capabilities, covering everything from chip design to production and advanced packaging, sources revealed.

Experts also speculate that although TSMC boasts a more extensive clientele for 2nm chips, PFN’s strategic move to Samsung hints at a potential shift in the Korean giant’s favor. This pivotal decision may pave the way for other significant clients to align with Samsung, altering the competitive landscape in the chipmaking realm.

No doubt, in the cutthroat world of contract chipmaking, TSMC reigns supreme, clinching major deals with industry giants like Apple Inc. and Qualcomm Inc. But, as the demand for top-tier chips escalates, the race for technological superiority heats up, with TSMC and Samsung at the forefront of the battle. While TSMC currently leads the pack, boasting 2nm chips for clients like Apple and Nvidia, Samsung is hot on its heels. 

“Apple is set to become TSMC’s inaugural customer for the 2nm process, positioning TSMC at the forefront of competition in the advanced process technology,” TrendForce said in its report. Meanwhile, according to Samsung’s previous roadmap, its 2nm SF2 process is set to debut in 2025. 

Samsung’s Foundry Forum (SFF) plan.

“As stated in Samsung’s Foundry Forum (SFF) plan, Samsung will begin mass production of the 2nm process (SF2) in 2025 for mobile applications, expand to high-performance computing (HPC) applications in 2026, and further extend to the automotive sector and the expected 1.4nm process by 2027,” TrendForce noted.

Compared to the second-generation 3GAP process at 3nm, it offers a 25% improvement in power efficiency at the same frequency and complexity and a 12% performance boost at the same power consumption and complexity while reducing chip area by 5%. In short, with TSMC eyeing mass production of 2nm chips by 2025, the competition between these tech titans is set to reach new heights.

Yet, in a strategic maneuver reported by the Financial Times, Samsung is gearing up to entice customers with discounted rates for its 2nm process, a move poised to shake up the semiconductor landscape. With its sights set on Qualcomm’s flagship chip production, Samsung aims to lure clients away from TSMC by offering competitive pricing. 

This bold initiative signals Samsung’s determination to carve out a larger market share and challenge TSMC’s dominance in the semiconductor industry.

The post Samsung seizes 2nm AI chip deal, challenging TSMC’s reign appeared first on TechHQ.

We’ve all got to eat, and so food production should be a lucrative business to be in. But as an industry, some argue that food costs more than it earns when you take into consideration the medical costs associated with bad diets. Plus, there’s the impact that food production has on the planet and its resources. However, there’s a glimmer of hope, and that operational lifeline could be food digitization.

“Digitization is a way that we can drive the efficiencies to do it,” Rini Greenfield – a Founding General Partner at Rethink Food, a VC firm supporting the digitization and decarbonization of the food system – points out. “If you want to solve climate change, you cannot ignore what is a third of the problem.”

The fact that VC firms have become interested in food is encouraging for those who believe in market forces. When it becomes profitable to save the planet, there’ll be no shortage of investment. However, things are far from perfect currently.

“This food system that we have today is excellent at distributing calories, but it is terrible at distributing nutrition,” Greenfield cautions.

Rethink Food is investing its multimillion-dollar fund in early-stage food and agtech companies, which are digital-first with a computational front end. Examples include Gro Intelligence, which Greenfield dubs ‘the Bloomberg of agriculture and climate’.

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Brick-and-mortar stores stock up on retail operations software

The thinking is that access to better information gives producers more opportunities to plan ahead – software platforms will be increasingly important to help businesses build climate resilience into their operations. But food digitization helps in other ways as well, and this gets to Greenfield’s first comment about driving efficiency.

One of the reasons that manufacturing has seen mass automation is because repetitive, step-by-step processes are tailor-made for it. Knowledge work, in comparison, is a much messier mix of tasks. And it’s why raising the productivity of a law firm is harder than trying to get a factory to make more widgets. That being said, generative AI promises to do for knowledge work what robots have done for factories (and for more on this, Hamish McRae’s ‘The World in 2050’ is a useful read).

Similarly, food digitization sets the scene for deploying computing power and software to produce more with less, faster, and at a scale that traditional methods can’t match.

Industrialization of the grocery store

On TechHQ, we’ve written about how grocery stores are integrating compact warehouse automation technology into their operations to reduce the cost of order picking. It’s a trend that analysts believe will continue with traditional supermarkets looking more like fulfillment centers to grow profits from customers ordering online.

Bristol, UK, is one of many cities with so-called ‘dark supermarkets’ where only staff walk up and down aisles stocked with fast-selling essentials and popular comfort food. Outside, wait delivery drivers with no walk-in customers in sight. Digital food shoppers prefer to let their groceries come to them, and the proportion of in-store customers could decline substantially as supermarket digitization ramps up.

Absolute primer on digitization of food industry from @zbfuss via @patrick_oshag @InvestLikeBest #DigitalTransformation #tech #Grocery https://t.co/IrmaS1yUZ5

— Curtis Kopf (@ckopf1) January 12, 2021

Supporting the growth in online orders is an ecosystem of food delivery apps, which pay great attention to user-experience and leverage other digital smarts such as gamification that encourages drivers to accept more pick-ups. Delivery apps provide lead generation for grocery stores and give supermarkets and restaurants the opportunity to micro-target their online audience.

Technology can provide a huge revenue boost to independent food businesses, which would otherwise have struggled to compete with bigger chains. But food digitization isn’t purely about chasing profits. There’s scope to reduce the environmental impact of food production and grow produce with bespoke nutritional profiles.

Growing microgreens to order

For example, researchers in Italy – in collaboration with agtech firm Ortogourmet – have demonstrated that it’s possible to grow microgreens to order, customizing nutrition profiles on a large scale. The team grew crops of radish, pea, rocket, and chard, focusing on two nutrients in particular – iodine and potassium.

Rather than fortify table salt with iodine – a common strategy used to combat iodine deficiency – the group showed how it was possible to elevate iodine levels in microgreens, which is beneficial to those who have to watch their sodium intake.

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Agtech: molecular farming uses nature’s factories to make future foods

As well as raise nutrient levels, it was also possible to reduce the amount of unwanted elements – by 45%, in the case of potassium. “Since vegetables contain high concentrations of potassium, patients with impaired kidney function are sometimes advised not to eat vegetables, or that they should be soaked in water and boiled to reduce the potassium content through leaching,” explain the scientists involved in the work.

All of the microgreens were grown using a liquid medium in place of soil, which paved the way for better control over food production with more predictable yields thanks to the climate-controlled environment.

And, just like how dark supermarkets and ghost kitchens benefit from being sited in lower rent city locations, metro adjacent greenhouses and highly-efficient plant growing facilities could also turn out to be profitable in these spaces.

Food digitization could end up bringing the farm closer to the city, maximizing land use, and reducing food miles, which is an appetizing thought for urbanites.

The post Food tech – digitization unlocks efficiency gains in production appeared first on TechHQ.

It was a busy 2023 for manufacturers, with rising fuel and energy costs, high inflation, and supply chain issues stemming from geopolitical events. This all accumulated in the J.P. Morgan Global Manufacturing PMI  that remained below the 50.0 contractionary mark for the sixteenth consecutive month in December 2023. However, the new year is in full swing, and looking at industry priorities is crucial when making strategic, future-proof decisions. TechHQ teamed up with experts at DartPoints, a leading provider of colocation, cloud, and cybersecurity, to take a deep dive into the top three issues for manufacturers in the next year.

1. Rising cyber security threats

Manufacturing was the top industry affected by ransomware in 2023, and attacks of this kind have cost $46 billion in losses in the last five years. Unfortunately, manufacturers have targets painted on their backs because of the critical role they play in global supply chains and infrastructure.

Source: DartPoints

But bad actors are not the only threat to industry safety; significant natural disasters are becoming increasingly frequent as climate change worsens. Power outages cause 35 percent of unexpected downtime globally, often brought about by rain, flooding, fires, tornados, and earthquakes. These cost an average of $1,467 per minute, or $88,000 per hour. Data security will, therefore, be a huge area of focus for the coming year, including implementing robust business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) plans.

2. Navigating regulatory compliance

Manufacturing businesses are also concerned about complying with increasingly stringent industry regulations. Depending on the sector and scale of a company, regulations could include HIPAA, PCI, FISMA, and other geographically specific data privacy acts.

Last October, President Biden signed an executive order on safer AI, which will likely influence further regulation in the space. Manufacturers looking to incorporate AI technology in operations must be aware of any regulatory developments.

Furthermore, reporting on IT operations to comply with environmental standards, like the Energy Policy Act, is becoming more significant with ensuing extra data demands. This will affect decisions around green IT practices and energy-efficient data centers.

3. Ongoing staffing challenges and the talent gap

Many manufacturing businesses are keen to continue their digital transformation journey in 2024. This could include projects around cloud migration and management, AI and machine learning implementation, and the integration of 5G-enabled computing. These technologies are pivotal in achieving operational efficiency, scalability, and innovation. However, the IT talent gap is a major roadblock in managing an IT overhaul that could significantly disrupt business operations.

The number of suitably skilled employees cannot keep up with rapid technological developments. According to the International Monetary Fund, the shortage of qualified tech professionals will lead to 85 million vacancies in 2030, potentially causing over $8 trillion in lost revenue. Without the necessary specialist staff, manufacturers may struggle to reach their digital goals smoothly and within budget.

Leveraging cloud services: How a solutions provider drives innovation

Cloud service providers (CSPs) and data centers are pivotal in fortifying manufacturers against cyber attacks and data loss. They can help companies with disaster recovery, backup, business continuity planning, and cloud migration, which  mitigate the effects of cybersecurity threats. Leveraging AI-powered threat detection, CSPs and data centers have the capability and experience to identify and respond to potential risks in real time, offering manufacturers a proactive defense strategy. Thorough security assessment during onboarding helps optimize the use of security tools and addresses vulnerabilities in a business’s IT stack.

Source: DartPoints

Offering manufacturers a comprehensive range of security solutions, including immutable backup copies, data storage, and continuous monitoring, contributes to safeguarding against external threats and maintaining data integrity. Such measures also aid manufacturers in achieving compliance and evading penalties. CSPs and data centers can offer data backup and disaster recovery services to ensure data availability, thus fulfilling regulatory requirements. Furthermore, CSPs and data centers can undergo routine compliance audits and acquire pertinent certifications, such as SOC 2 or ISO 27001, to showcase adherence to stringent standards.

Having comprehensive incident response processes in place ensure any security incident is identified promptly and reported to the appropriate authorities; a requirement for data protection regulations like PCI  and HIPAA.

Outsourcing services to CSPs or data centers  enables manufacturers to alleviate frustrations around staffing issues. These technical experts These technical experts handle digital transformation tasks daily, offering specialized support and enabling the business to concentrate on core operations. This  approach relieves the burden of recruiting, training, and retaining in-house IT personnel,  providing a solution that shifts expenditure from CAPEX to OPEX. Additionally, it ensures reliable, expert management of critical infrastructure and services.

DartPoints – A manufacturing solution partner

In the manufacturing sector, where cybersecurity, regulation compliance, and staffing issues pose significant challenges, DartPoints emerges as a trusted ally, offering tailored solutions to address these pressing concerns.

Cybersecurity: Strengthening digital defenses

Recognizing the critical importance of safeguarding manufacturing operations against cyber threats, DartPoints employs a multi-layered approach to cybersecurity. Through continuous monitoring and robust security protocols, it provides a comprehensive shield to protect sensitive data. With an impressive uptime SLA of 99.999 percent and low-latency connectivity, DartPoints ensures unparalleled performance, instilling confidence amid evolving cyber risks.

Regulation and compliance: Navigating regulatory terrain

Adhering to industry regulations is crucial for manufacturing success. DartPoints’ commitment to regulatory compliance is evident through its adherence to relevant governance standards and rigorous annual audits. By partnering with DartPoints, manufacturers can ensure their operations meet regulatory requirements, mitigating the risk of penalties and disruptions.

Source: DartPoints

Addressing staffing challenges: Your extended team

The shortage of skilled IT professionals presents a significant obstacle for manufacturers. DartPoints serves as an extension of your team, offering expertise, experience, and a customer-centric approach to fill staffing gaps. With DartPoints as your partner, you gain access to a dedicated team of seasoned professionals, alleviating the burden on internal resources and ensuring seamless IT operations.

DartPoints transcends being a mere service provider; it is your strategic partner, committed to empowering manufacturers to navigate the complexities of cybersecurity, compliance, and staffing with confidence and ease.

Discover how DartPoints can help smoothly navigate your manufacturing business through 2024 by visiting its website or speaking to one of the team today.

The post Top three manufacturing challenges for 2024: Confronting data security, regulation, and talent shortages head-on appeared first on TechHQ.