Distribution World

In The Matrix, a lack of robot ethics leads to the destruction of the human race, with robots enslaving humans in a simulated reality. Robot ethics has not been discussed much in industry which makes the introduction of a new UK standard for robot designers all the more important. The British Standards Institution (BSI) has devised a new guideline for the ethical design and application of robots and robotic systems. According to Leroy ...

The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) is working with RS Components to offer its members information and guidance on the advantages of MRO. The topics covered include methods of unravelling MRO complexity, analysing consumption data and tracking savings achieved. MRO, or Maintenance, Repair and Operational Supplies, can be defined as all items and processes needed by a company to maintain its production and ...

The annual Raspberry Pi challenge for school children and college students has been launched by PA.   The aim of this year’s competition, say the organisers, is for young designers to use Raspberry Pi to improve the lives of people who have conditions that limit their ability to do the tasks that some people take for granted. For example, this could include ...

Never has there been a more exciting time for ambitious and talented graduates in this country to start a career in electronics engineering. The need for engineers of all disciplines to drive a digital economy is growing dramatically. But the referendum vote and the UK’s proposed exit from the European Union could impact the potential of UK tech firms to ...

Europe’s consumers are embracing mobile payments but if we are to instil the necessary level of trust in the system’s security must be based on user behavioural patterns, writes Robert Capps Payments made via mobile devices are ever increasing. New market research from Visa has shown that the number of consumers regularly using a mobile device to make payments has tripled ...

It has now been suggested that almost half a million IoT devices have been infected by Mirai IoT malware. This follows news earlier this month that the source code for the IoT botnet had been released. Perhaps inevitably this was seen as an opportunity by criminals to create their own versions of the malware which is now infecting new devices. Commenting on this news ...

Tesla says it is aiming to give all its electric vehicles the hardware needed for “full self-driving capability at a safety level substantially greater than that of a human driver”. The Californian company claims that full autonomy can be “safer than a human driver”. So what’s needed in terms of sensors and electronics to provide “full self-drive capability”? According to ...

Prospects of a significant boost to Europe’s industrial electronics markets comes as the industry prepares to travel to Munich for next month’s Electronica exhibition. Europe’s automotive, health, transport and energy sectors could be in line for a €100bn a year windfall following the introduction of 5G mobile communications services. A study for the European Commission has predicted that investments related ...

The UK’s manufacturing sector is generally reacting positively to the Brexit referendum. New market figures from the electronics supply chain are better than expected, according to Adam Fletcher, chairman of the Electronic Components Supply Network UK manufacturing generally weakens in August each year as a result of organisational summer holidays. According to Fletcher, while overall new sales bookings declined by ...

The technology sector has a problem with recruitment. It needs the creative design skills of women engineers, but it is not dong the right things to attract them. Not only is the tech sector failing to make engineering more appealing as a career to women graduates. It is not offering them the salaries they deserve. The gender pay gap is ...