Automation & Robotics

Israel – September 14, 2026 -- Elmo Motion Control has completed Functional Safety certification across its entire Titanium servo-drive line, embedding 20 certified Safety Functions directly into the drive architecture and supporting safety levels up to SIL 3 (EN 61508), PL e, CAT4 (EN ISO 13849), and FSoE (IEC 61784-3).

Certification Covers Both Industrial and Harsh-Environment Servo Drives

The certified portfolio spans four product families. The Titanium Castanet and Solo Castanet deliver up to 1.2 kW per axis (2.4 kW total) at 2 x 15A continuous, 30A peak, up to 100V, while the Titanium Harmonica scales to 2.5 kW per axis (5 kW total) at 2 x 25A continuous, 50A peak, up to 100V, or 2 x 15A continuous, 20A peak, up to 200V. For extreme operating conditions, the Titanium Lizard, Solo Lizard, and Titanium Falcon replicate these power specifications in ruggedized designs built for temperature extremes and demanding industrial settings.

Akron, Ohio – September 14, 2026 -- Harmoni, a Factory Orchestration platform for manufacturers, has raised $10 million in Series A funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners, the company announced. Alongside the raise, Harmoni unveiled HAL, an AI system designed to deliver context-aware intelligence directly to the factory floor.

Manufacturers face a projected shortfall of 3.8 million workers by 2033

Nearly half of those U.S. manufacturing positions risk going unfilled as reshoring initiatives and rising costs compound labor pressure, according to Harmoni. Founded in 2023 by David Caputo and Adam Ellis, the company built its platform to address fragmented factory-floor execution that persists despite heavy investment in ERP systems, machine connectivity, and automation.

Mission Viejo, Calif. – – September 13, 2026 -- ERPVAR has signed a lead-generation partnership with Crawford Software aimed at driving a 30% increase in qualified sales pipeline for mid-market companies migrating off QuickBooks and other legacy platforms.

Partnership targets discrete manufacturers and distributors abandoning legacy systems

The agreement gives Crawford Software direct access to ERPVAR's buyer-intent database and HubSpot marketing infrastructure to identify organizations preparing to replace QuickBooks and other outdated software. Crawford Software specializes in ERP consulting and support for manufacturers and distributors across New England and the Tri-State area.

Milton Keynes, England – September 11, 2026 -- Rockwell Automation has launched a new cybersecurity-focused season of its ROKStudios video series, as fresh data shows nearly half of manufacturers reported a cyber incident in the past year.

Rising IT/OT convergence drives operational risk for manufacturers

The new season, drawing on Rockwell's 11th Annual State of Smart Manufacturing Report, documents how increasing connectivity between IT and operational technology environments is expanding the attack surface for industrial operators. The company states that cyber risk has shifted from an episodic concern to an ongoing operational requirement as manufacturers scale AI, automation and connected systems.

Cannes – – September 10, 2026 -- MIRAVA, a smartboat developer, has secured $5 million in angel funding to launch its debut model in Europe after three years of product development. The company will unveil its 7.9-meter smartboat at the Cannes Yachting Festival 2026, marking its first European market entry.

MIRAVA raises $5 million to fund production and small-series delivery

The angel round will support continued product development, manufacturing and delivery of the boat in limited quantities as MIRAVA prepares for its next commercialization phase. The company spent three years developing the platform, focusing on making advanced maritime technology practical rather than simply adding features.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING - May 19, 2026 - Sidel is presenting its latest smart manufacturing technologies, complete line engineering expertise and digital production solutions at ProPak Asia 2026 in Bangkok. The company will exhibit at Booth AG 28 in Hall C2 from June 10-13 at IMPACT Muang Thong Thani, highlighting innovations aimed at improving efficiency, flexibility and sustainability across beverage, food, and home and personal care production environments. The showcase reflects the industry's ongoing shift toward integrated line performance, energy efficiency and data-driven production systems designed to support manufacturers facing increasing operational complexity.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING - May 10, 2026 - SEW-EURODRIVE has officially introduced the OrchestrationSuite, a comprehensive web-based software platform tailored specifically for system integrators, machine builders, and packaging line operators, at the interpack 2026 trade exhibition. This newly developed system establishes a centralized administrative environment designed to manage diverse automation software across components sourced from entirely different hardware manufacturers. By consolidating the operational workflows required for programmable logic controllers, industrial drives, robotics, and human-machine interface systems, the platform directly addresses the heavy administrative burdens historically caused by fragmented engineering tools and cumbersome manual update processes.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING - April 14, 2026 - Scout AI Inc. has publicly introduced FURY, a vision-language-action (VLA) foundation model designed for multi-domain defense robotics, positioning the company as a developer of generalized autonomous AI for military platforms. VLA models process real-time camera data alongside text prompts to generate robot actions, connecting visual and language inputs to physical outputs without relying on platform-specific programming. Scout AI secured a U.S. Army Unmanned Systems (UxS) Autonomy Contract in August 2025, and announced a partnership with Hendrick Motorsports on a program called NOMAD in September 2025. The combination of a government contract award and an applied engineering partnership indicates the company has moved beyond research-stage positioning into active program delivery.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING - April 14, 2026 - Breaker Industries, an Austin, Texas-based robotics AI company, has raised $6 million in seed funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners to accelerate the commercialization of Avalon, its platform-agnostic AI agent for autonomous multi-robot operations. The round follows a $2 million pre-seed investment led by Main Sequence in March 2025. Avalon is designed to run entirely on a platform's existing onboard compute, enabling operators to direct heterogeneous fleets of UAVs, ground vehicles, and surface vessels through natural voice commands over standard push-to-talk radios-with no cloud dependency, no ground control station, and no operator interface hardware required.

SHERIDAN, WYOMING - April 14, 2026 - ACS, the Verona, Wisconsin-based systems integrator serving automotive, aerospace, and manufacturing industries, has entered into a partnership with FANUC to deliver fully integrated facility and robotics solutions to industrial clients. The collaboration extends ACS's existing turnkey scope - which spans building design and construction, process systems, automation, and controls - to encompass robotics at a facility-wide integration level. For capital project buyers and operations executives, the partnership signals a consolidation of previously fragmented vendor relationships into a single integrated delivery model. ACS maintains a regional office in Troy, Michigan, and serves customers across North America and internationally.