Manufacturing news briefs — stories you might have missed

Queensland’s ARM Hub turns three years old Queensland’s Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM Hub) is celebrating its third anniversary this week with celebrations including cake and a string quartet. Assistant Minister from Manufacturing Senator Tim Ayres will highlight the government’s $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund, while Linda Dobe, a/Deputy Director in Manufacturing, Queensland state government,…

If you buy it, why can’t you fix it? Here’s why we still don’t have the ‘right to repair’

By Leanne Wiseman, Griffith University and John Gertsakis, University of Technology Sydney When you buy a product, you expect to be able to repair it. The problem is, many modern products are designed so that you can’t fix them. Vital parts are inaccessible. Or you have to go through the manufacturer, which may well just…

Advanced Navigation unveils subsea robotics centre

AI-based inertial navigation technology company Advanced Navigation has unveiled Australia’s largest subsea robotics centre in Balcatta, Western Australia, incorporating high tech manufacturing and R&D facilities on a 5.5 acre site. The new facility (pictured) will accelerate the production of the company’s revolutionary subsea technologies, including autonomous underwater robot Hydrus, and the growth of its underwater…

Renewable energy plans “will simply not be a reality” without industry and skills support: Weld Australia

Professional body Weld Australia says that the results of a member survey conducted last month show delivery of the federal government’s renewable energy plans is “almost impossible” due to skills shortages and other challenges. Weld Australia’s annual survey took responses from more than 130 companies. The organisation’s CEO, Geoff Crittenden, said it indicated that, “Labour shortages,…

Plastic eating fungi get to work

Hard to recycle plastic has successfully been biodegraded by two strains of fungi in a new laboratory experiment led by researchers at the University of Sydney. The researchers reported their success in breaking down the common plastic polypropylene in a study just published in npj: Materials Degradation, using two common strains of fungi. Polypropylene accounts…