Itron reportedly has announced that it has introduced the latest robotic technology to significantly ramp up the production capacity of its OpenWay CENTRON smart meters at its Oconee Manufacturing Facility in West Union, S.C.

“OpenWay has been specifically designed to offer robust data collection, customer empowerment and smart grid realization—it’s part of our commitment to bringing to market the very best in smart metering technology,” said Malcolm Unsworth, president and chief executive officer of Itron. “Our new automation system and enhanced manufacturing strategies further reflect this commitment.”

Officials at the company claimed that officials were invited from electric, gas and water utilities throughout North America, as well as local elected officials and Itron partners to witness the equipment, which was based on lean manufacturing principles and designed exclusively to meet the demand for its advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system, OpenWay.

Itron claimed it is also expecting increased demand from smart grid initiatives outlined in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. Advanced metering, or smart meters, is one of the key technologies required to enable several of the smart grid characteristics identified by a Department of Energy task force.

A recent report claimed that ARRA has allotted $11 billion, of the total $63 billion towards energy, for smart grid initiatives till end 2010, and the public, private, and consumer factors are all driving this growth.

A recent market research analysis report indicated that eight million smart meters have already been deployed in the U.S. and the associated Residential Energy Management market segment is almost guaranteed to sustain significant growth, and the deployment of so many meters - with more in the pipeline, and the U.S. government extending its full support - is the first step for REM towards deploying Smart Grid technologies and AMI on a broad scale.

A “Smart Grid” has internet connectivity so that signals can be sent and received for each and every connected and authorized device. For example, in this case, smart meters. In a broader sense, the Smart Grid concept creators envisaged that the entire grid would work more efficiently, accommodate wind and solar power, possibly lower electricity bills by optimizing electricity flow, and constantly reduce the carbon footprint.

The Department of Energy has decreed that Smart Grids must facilitate: Self-healing from power disturbance events ; Enabling active participation by consumers in demand response; Operating resiliently against physical and cyber attack; Providing power quality for 21st century needs; Accommodating all generation and storage options; Enabling new products, services, and markets; and, Optimizing assets and operating efficiently.

It is eventually anticipated that “Smart Grids” will migrate towards and become a part of the recently found expression, ‘The Internet of Things,’ which envisages that all devices and objects all over the world will eventually be connected together by an Internet Network. This system even includes books, cans and, well, anything and everything, and allows, for example, a person setting out for home from work to remotely activate water heating to have a warm, low carbon footprint bath on arrival and can even request a home aid robot to prepare a snack of sorts. The Internet of Things sees every individual being surrounded by at least 1,000 to 5,000 ‘connected’ objects, and the Internet itself should be able to encode and track 50 to 100,000 billion objects simultaneously.

Itron claims it was bestowed the Frost & Sullivan 2009 North American AMI Implementation Product Quality Leadership of the Year Award in recognition for its approach to smart metering and the smart grid.

Other examples of reported Robotics are: A space robotic arm that is mounted atop the Space Shuttles to inspect the space craft’s solar panels and replace if required; robotic, microscopic, pin-point accuracy, insertion and navigation of catheters within the human body to rectify differently beating hearts, or arrhythmias; a first generation prototype robot capable of following receiving, interpreting and responding accurately to hand signals, body motion and verbal commands; packaging robots that top load fresh and frozen food at 50 to 240 per minute; and, filling IV bottles and syringes at hospitals.