For the first time, a robot has been used to sound the closing bell at the finance capital of the world – the New York Stock Exchange.
Universal Robots’ UR5e robot arm did the honours, marking a new chapter in the history of intelligent machines.
The NYSE bell ringing last Wednesday celebrates the five-year anniversary of ROBO Global, the first-ever robotics, automation and AI index.
Launched in October 2013, ROBO invests in more than 80 of the most innovative companies across the globe, spanning 12 subsectors from manufacturing to healthcare to sensing.
The bell ringer, Universal Robots’ UR5e with a two-fingered gripper from Robotiq, is a collaborative robot (cobot) able to work alongside people with no safety guarding, giving watchers worldwide the opportunity to see just how easily cobots interact with humans.
Cobots are now the fastest growing segment of industrial automation.
According to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), cobot sales are expected to jump ten-fold to 34% of all industrial robot sales by 2025.
Universal Robots (UR) pioneered the market by selling the first commercially viable cobot in 2008 and has kept its early frontrunner position with a 60% global share of the cobot market, selling more cobots than all competitors combined.
Earlier this year, UR announced the sale of its 25,000th cobot.
