Sustainable mobility research using cutting-edge quantum computers

Airbus, BMW Group, and Quantinuum have developed a hybrid quantum-classical workflow to speed up future research using quantum computers to simulate quantum systems, focusing on the chemical reactions of catalysts in fuel cells.

A technical paper, “Applicability of Quantum Computing to Oxygen Reduction Reaction Simulations,” shared the partners’ accurately modeling the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on the surface of a platinum-based catalyst. The ORR is the chemical reaction while converting hydrogen and oxygen into water and electricity in a fuel cell, limiting the efficiency of the process. It’s relatively slow and requires a large amount of platinum catalyst, so there’s great interest and value in better understanding the underlying mechanisms involved in the reaction.

Using Quantinuum’s H-Series quantum computer, the team demonstrated the applicability of quantum computing in an industrial workflow to enhance understanding of a critical chemical reaction. The companies plan further collaboration to explore the use of quantum computing to address relevant industrial challenges.

“We can clearly envision the benefits of the study in our quest for sustainable and hydrogen powered alternatives such as the ZEROe aircraft, which may operate on fuel cell engines,” says Isabell Gradert, vice-president, Central Research & Technology at Airbus. “The study confirms quantum computing is maturing at the scale we need for aviation.”

Airbus has identified hydrogen as a promising candidate to power low-carbon aircraft because it emits no CO2 when generated from renewable energy. The company previously announced plans to start testing a hydrogen-powered fuel cell propulsion system onboard its ZEROe demonstrator aircraft in the next few years. The company has the ambition to develop the world’s first hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft for market entry by 2035.

“We’ve been excited to be working for some time now to support the BMW Group and Airbus, leaders in their fields who recognized quantum computing could play a pivotal role in advancing future sustainable mobility,” says Ilyas Khan, chief product officer, Quantinuum. “In this pioneering work, we demonstrate how to integrate quantum computing into the industrial workflows of two of the world’s most technologically advanced companies, tackling material science problems that are a prime target for progress using quantum computing.”

The research team hopes understanding the ORR provides insights that help them identify alternative materials that may improve the performance and reduce the production costs of fuel cells. Modeling chemical reactions such as the ORR accurately is an intractable task for classical computers, due to the quantum properties of the chemical mechanisms involved, making such simulations a good candidate to benefit from a potential quantum advantage in the future.

Airbus
The BMW Group
Quantinuum

North America robot orders drop for second quarter

A slow U.S. economy and high interest rates have taken a toll on robot orders in North America, resulting in a decline for the second quarter in a row after record purchases in 2021 and 2022. According to the latest report from the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), companies ordered 7,697 robots valued at $457 million from April to July 2023, a 37% decline in robot orders and 20% drop in value over the same period in 2022.

When combined with first quarter results, the robotics market in North America is down 29% compared to the first half of last year with a total of 16,865 robots ordered. This drop comes after a record 2022, where North American companies ordered 44,196 robots, up 11% over 2021, the previous record.

The ongoing labor shortage, especially in manufacturing (down another 2,000 jobs in July, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) remains a key driver of automation. An increasing trend toward reshoring tasks in North America is another contributing factor.

Non-automotive customers ordered more robots in Q2 2023 than automotive customers, with 52% of units going to non-automotive industries and 48% going to automotive OEMs and component suppliers. Both categories were down compared to Q2 2022, however, with non-automotive orders down 21% and automotive orders down 49%. The strongest demand in Q2 2023 came from the semiconductor and electronics industries.

Association for Advancing Automation (A3)

Robotics market will be worth $218 billion by 2030, forecasts GlobalData

The robotics market is forecast to reach $218 billion by 2030, according to data and analytics company GlobalData.

Their latest Robotics report highlights numerous sectors impacted by robots, including industrial, medical, logistics, manufacturing, inspection, cleaning, agriculture, defense and security, and consumer.

“Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have enabled the development of robots, allowing them to become highly complex products rather than the stand-alone, fixed-function machines they used to be,” says Isabel Al-Dhahir, senior analyst, Thematic Intelligence team at GlobalData. “This has increased the roles robots can perform. Cloud computing is central to this development to enable sensing, computation, and memory to be managed more rapidly, securely, and at scale.

“Robot technologies such as cobots and logistics robots are coming together to turn factories into advanced engineering labs where assembly line processes and components are constantly analyzed, streamlined, and improved,” Al-Dhahir says. “Unions, policymakers, and social scientists are increasingly concerned that automation will lead to high levels of unemployment, particularly if the economy cannot create higher-value jobs for those workers that robots will replace.”

GlobalData

Robotic auto path generation technology for blade repair

Robotic Auto Path Generation technology streamlines aerospace airfoil polishing and jet engine blade repair manufacturing. This automated solution replaces traditional CNC grinding or manual finishing and proves to be 3x to 4x faster.

Due to unique part-to-part variations, aerospace engine component repair demands meticulous attention to detail. Acme’s Robotic Auto Path Generation technology simplifies the robotic programming process, making it suitable for high-mix/low-volume manufacturing. Calculated algorithms enable rapid part path generation, saving time and optimizing finishing operations.

“We’ve harnessed the power of automated measurement and 3D surface scanning to cater specifically to the aerospace maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) industry’s unique challenges,” says Dany DeChamplain, managing director of Acme Singapore. Robotic Auto Path Generation technology offers aerospace MROs a tool that enhances precision, reduces downtime, and increases overall operational efficiency.