JR Automation has partnered with General Motors (GM) to produce face masks to help combat the shortage of protective personal equipment that has been caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The partnership is capable of producing 50,000 masks a day. GM approached Esys Automation, a JR Automation company, on March 21 to build a mask assembly…

Despite a few high-profile failures, robotics investments kept going strong in April 2019, with funding flowing to companies working on self-driving cars, supply chain automation, and robots in healthcare.

Hitachi is buying JR Automation, a Holland, Michigan-based industrial robotics integrator, for $1.425 billion. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of 2019. When the deal closes, Hitachi will acquire all shares in JR Automation held by U.S. private equity fund Crestview Partners. JR Automation, founded in 1980, designs and builds custom automation equipment…