The biggest factory automation trade show in South Korea was held from 27 to 29 March 2024, having over 60,000 visitors, the highest number on its record. Smart Factory + Automation World 2024 (AW 2024) is the first of its kind convention in the country, held every year in COEX, Gangnam, Seoul. 

Hosted by COEX, the Korean Industry Intelligentization Association, the Korea Smart Manufacturing Office, and the Korea Machine Vision Industrial Association, the convention attracted 17 per cent more visitors and buyers than the previous year. About 500 companies attended, and 2,000 booths were operated at the event.

The theme of this year’s convention was “Make your factory more sustainable”, with participating automation companies demonstrating their latest smart solutions and products powered by artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and industrial robots.

Here, 4i Magazine introduces some notable demonstrations with unique and outstanding ideas to improve the efficiency of factories from this year’s event.

Machine vision 

Machine vision, a type of technology that can replace human eyes for smart automation of factory operations, was one of the most notable keywords at the event. The utilisation of this technology may vary depending on the users, but the main objective of machine vision for factory uses is inspection. Many machine vision solutions offer services that can check the quality of products during the manufacturing process as well as entire processes.

Hikrobot, a corporation that provides machine vision and mobile robot solutions backed by sensing applications and relevant hardware technologies, brought out some of its products for this year’s event. This included a series of scan cameras, from devices that offer high resolutions covering millions of pixels for detailed manufacturing work like displays and semiconductors to line scanners that can be run on various applications with interface systems, such as GigE, Camera Link, and XoF. Other machine vision appliances, like frame grabbers and lenses, were also included in their product brochure.

Sensor intelligence service developer SICK was another company that brought machine vision products to the AW 2024. Its robot guiding system, PLB, was a sensor that could calculate the location of apparatuses on boxes or pallets. The company explains that the system can be used for a range of purposes, including inspection of nano-sized parts to large apparatus. SICK also showcased a code reader called Lector 8512 for faster categorisation of items.

Self-Driving Robot

Booths that present self-driving or automatic robots for factories gained some attention at the event, too. Rainbow Robotics, a robot builder best known for their barista robot and serving robot models, prepared a large booth for this year. Besides the mini café run by its products, there was a demonstration of its four-legged robot from the RBQ series. The robot, which almost looks like a dog, can be used for item categorisation for manufacturers and military or public security projects, the company said in its product brochure.

ZEUS, the Hwaseong-based company specialising in robotics, came to the event with its flagship customisable robot line, the ZERO Series. The robot arm series with multiple joints can serve different objectives based on their custom options. For example, the DELTA model of the series is a horizontal robot that can hold and release target objects on a conveyor belt, up to a 3-kilogram payload. Every product from the series comes with a controller allowing users to administer robots’ operations remotely. Aside from ZEUS, Universal Robots also introduced robot arms and other types of cooperative robots that can be useful for self-operating factories. MiR showcased mobile robots that can move heavy loads at storage and factories.

Smart Locks

As keeping their factories and products safe is a major concern for many buyers at the event, several companies came up with smart lock solutions at the event. The Korean department of Pizzato, an electronics manufacturer headquartered in Italy, presented some of its smart locks that can be easily opened using LEDs for immediate diagnosis.