Robotics World articles from April 2002

Robotics World archives from April 2002

Ravisent Technologies Inc. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... RAVISENT Technologies Inc. and its subsidiary, eMation Inc., have changed their names to Axeda Systems Inc.

Braintech Inc. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... In accordance with a previously announced relationship, Braintech Inc. has received an order for two eVF developer systems from Marubeni Corp. of Tokyo, which will allow Marubeni application engineers to develop vision-guided robotic...

Motoman Inc. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... Motoman Inc. celebrated another milestone recently: the 10,000th student to attend the company's IACET-accredited training classes: Don Stock, system manager of maintenance for TOA USA LLC of Mooresville, Ind.

Advocate Lutheran General Hospital. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, in Park Ridge, Ill., will be the first hospital in the United States to install For Health Technologies Inc.'s PARxD IV, a robotic technology that can prepare a high number of syringe-based dosages (500 in...

Comau Pico. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... Comau Pico's plant in Tepotzotlan, Mexico, has received ISO 9001 certification.

Schunk. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... Schunk has expanded its North Carolina manufacturing and warehousing facility, which now totals 35,000 square feet.

Anorad Corp. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... Anorad Corp.'s Hauppauge, N.Y., headquarters facility has received ISO 9001 certification.

Millipore Corp. and CRS Robotics Corp. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... Millipore Corp. and CRS Robotics Corp. have signed a non-exclusive agreement to co-market automated, ultra-high throughput sample-prep applications for genomics, proteomics and drug discovery.

ABB has accelerated the certification of its offerings under the Industrial IT label. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... ABB has accelerated the certification of its offerings under the Industrial IT label. Some 3,000 products have been certified as part of ABB's program to simplify the integration and operation of its entire range of products for its utility and...

Intuitive Surgical Inc. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... Intuitive Surgical Inc. has completed a collaborative agreement with Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc., which will include training, marketing and product development for Intuitive's da Vinci Surgical System.

Worker Automation. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... A design patent has been awarded to Worker Automation, a system integrator of robotics welding and material-handling systems, for its ARCworker Ferris Wheel robotic positioner. The patented design features a compact, low profile that is...

Evolution Robotics. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... Formed in March 2001, Evolution Robotics has raised $3 million from Idealab and Ben Rosen, founding investor of Compaq, and has developed a proprietary software platform for the development of personal robots.

Yushin America Inc. is now a member of Motoman Inc. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... Yushin America Inc. is now a member of Motoman Inc.'s network of strategic integration partners. YAI manufactures the three major types of robots used by injection molders, and will now use Motoman articulated robotic solutions and software...

ABB has reached a milestone of 100,000 robots. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... ABB has reached a milestone of 100,000 robots sold since it started selling robots in 1974. That first year, the company sold 20 robots, mainly used for machine tending and material handling.

Comau Pico has formed Comau Pico Robotics. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... Comau Pico has formed Comau Pico Robotics to provide sales, technical support, project management and after-sales service of the Comau standard robot product line. Donald Satterlee has joined the company as director of robotics. In addition,...

Meikle Automation Inc. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... Meikle Automation Inc. has been named a channel partner by Agilent Technologies, which will enable both companies to jointly market solutions globally, initially in the photonics marketplace. The agreement calls for cooperation based on...

ABB has opened a research and development center in Bangalore. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... ABB has opened a research and development center in Bangalore, India, to focus on software development and industrial information technology. ABB plans to open another center in China later this year.

Genesis Systems Group. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... Genesis Systems Group has been awarded U.S. patents for a robot alignment apparatus and for a light-tight seal for use with robotics YAG laser equipment.

Wes-Tech Inc. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... Wes-Tech Inc. has received QS-9000 Tooling and Equipment Supplement certification.

Balluff Inc. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... Balluff Inc. has completed construction of an 18,000-square-foot addition to its U.S. headquarters in Florence, Ky.

Honeywell. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... Honeywell's aerospace division has been awarded AS9100 aerospace quality management systems registration by NSF International Strategic Registrations Ltd.

GeneProt Inc. and Zymark Corp. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... GeneProt Inc. and Zymark Corp. have entered into an agreement in which Zymark is named as an exclusive automation provider to GeneProt in the United States and Europe. In addition, Zymark will make an equity investment in GeneProt.

Cavro Scientific Instruments Inc., a Tecan Group company. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... Cavro Scientific Instruments Inc., a Tecan Group company that designs and manufactures specialized laboratory robotic systems, has changed its name to Tecan Systems.

Transbotics Corp. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... Transbotics Corp. has opened a service and support center in Detroit, and Joseph Stokell has been named regional operations manager.

Cimetrix Inc. (News: Quick Takes).
April 1, 2002... Cimetrix Inc. is making management changes aimed at meeting the growing demand for the company's 300 mm products. Company president and CEO Bob Reback will oversee the operational streamlining and management of the worldwide semiconductor...

ACS Group. (News: Mergers and Aquisitions).
April 1, 2002... The ACS Group is broadening its automation product lines through a sales agreement with Yushin America Inc. Under the agreement, the full range of Yushin servo products is now available under the various ACS Group brands throughout the United...

Meikle Automation Inc. (News: Mergers and Aquisitions).
April 1, 2002... Meikle Automation Inc. has formalized the acquisition of Electro-Mechanical Specialties Inc. of Sanford, N.C. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The company will operate as a division of Meikle Automation and be called...

Automated Concepts Inc. (People).
April 1, 2002... Automated Concepts Inc. has announced the following promotions: Rick Cox to process development manager and Six Sigma D.C.; Troy Sather to manufacturing manager; Mike Allmon to customer service manager; Nate Peterson to assistant customer...

Carl Traynor. (People).
April 1, 2002... Carl Traynor has been promoted to senior director of marketing for Motoman Inc. He will serve on the Executive Team and assume additional responsibilities for strategic relationships sales support operations and the Technology Advancement Team....

Janine Krasicky. (People).
April 1, 2002... Janine Krasicky has been named marketing manager for Robotic Production Technology, and Dave DiBiase has been appointed sales manager.

Eugene Teal. (People).
April 1, 2002... Eugene Teal has been named executive vice president, finance and administration, for Computer Motion Inc.

Lennart Johansson. (People).
April 1, 2002... Lennart Johansson has been promoted to vice president of software engineering for' Transbotics Corp., a developer of Automatic Guided Vehicle Systems.

Asyst Technologies Inc. (People).
April 1, 2002... Asyst Technologies Inc. has appointed four senior managers: Jon Sabol, vice president, Equipment Solutions Group; Wayne Nobles, vice president and general manager of the Wafer and Reticle Carrier Group and SMART Traveler Group; Peter Sullivan,...

Zymark Corp. (People).
April 1, 2002... Zymark Corp. has appointed several key executives to its executive management team: Mark Roskey, executive vice president, worldwide marketing; Auro Nai, vice president, North American sales; and Jean Louis Rufener, vice president international...

Kaman Industrial Technologies. (People).
April 1, 2002... Michael Polo has been named marketing manager, motion control products, for Kaman Industrial Technologies.

Genesis Systems Group. (People).
April 1, 2002... Terry O'Connell, formerly vice president of sales for Genesis Systems Group, has been appointed vice president and general manager of the company's newly formed Product Business Group.

Wes-Tech Inc. (People).
April 1, 2002... Four sale and applications engineers at Wes-Tech Inc. have achieved Certified Machine Tool Sales Engineer status. They are Don Spaethe, John Remiasz, Eric Nordstrom and Steve Holzhausen.

Dan O'Donnell. (People).
April 1, 2002... Dan O'Donnell has been named systems sales manager for AEC Inc., which sells equipment to the injection molding industry.

General Motors. (News: Honors).
April 1, 2002... General Motors won the Process/Enabling Technologies Award, from the International Society of Plastics Engineers Automotive Division's 31st Annual Innovation Awards Program, for the Hybrid ThermoPlastic Composite Rear Bumper Beam on the 2001...

Ethan Allen. (News: Honors).
April 1, 2002... Ethan Allen's Cherry Hill Manufacturing Division, in Union City, Pa., has received the 2001 Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence in recognition of a finishing system developed at the furniture manufacturing plant to reduce waste and...

Applied Robotics Inc. (News: Honors).
April 1, 2002... Applied Robotics Inc. was honored at the Capital Region World Trade Center and Global Business Network's Fourth Annual Excellence in Export Awards function as the area's leading medium manufacturer in exporting.

Standard robotic arc-welding workcells offer benefits, savings.
April 1, 2002... Robots have been performing welding tasks for long enough to be considered a mature application, and robot manufacturers and systems integrators have developed extensive experience and knowledge about robotic welding. The next logical step,...

Visual weld inspection enters the new millennium.
April 1, 2002... Non-destructive examination includes a variety of inspection methods. For many types of welds, integrity is verified by visual inspection. In fact, visual inspection is the NDE method used for over 95 percent of welds made each day. Some of the...

Considerations in robotic welding workcell integration.
April 1, 2002... The decision to automate a welding process has been made. Now it's time to select the equipment that performs the robotic welding. It is critical to take care in choosing the appropriate equipment and an integration partner. Every component in...

Got a Dirty, Dangerous, Dull job?: Let a robot do it and keep your workers safe.
April 1, 2002... Ever since Joe Engelberger's first Unimate robot was powered up to tend a die-cast machine in a General Motors Plant, robots have been put to work in Three D jobs (dirty, dull or dangerous, or a combination of the three), allowing workers a...

Welding. (Robotics Case Studies).
April 1, 2002... Technical Engineered Products in Fairport, Ohio, produces more than 1,000 styles of safety guards for various manufacturers' lines of power tools. They previously used a dedicated circular, or "spud," welder to produce the small, mostly...

Material handling in a test cell. (Robotics Case Studies).
April 1, 2002... Reichhold, Inc. is the world's largest supplier of unsaturated polyester resins and the leading synthetic materials supplier for the thermoset composites industry. One of the ways Reichhold achieved this position is by providing "Total...

Weld gun changer. (Component Spotlight: Welding Components).
April 1, 2002... ATI Industrial Automation's SW-150A changes spot-welding guns on robots, ergonomic arms and balancers, using the same patented ball-locking mechanism of ATI's Quick-Change tool-changer line. The SW-150 also features long life in power and fluid...

MIG guns. (Component Spotlight: Welding Components).
April 1, 2002... Abicor Binzel Corp.'s heavy-duty, air-cooled MIG guns can handle even the toughest abuse. The guns are available in 16 swannecks in various degrees of bend and length, and they rotate 360 degrees into different locking positions. All are...

Torch cleaner. (Component Spotlight: Welding Components).
April 1, 2002... IPR Automation's welding torch cleaning unit, the WTC 2000, comes with an integrated spraying device to slow down the buildup of welding splatter at the welding gun nozzle and a calibration unit to communicate to the new nozzle geometry after...

Weld guns. (Component Spotlight: Welding Components).
April 1, 2002... PAC-MIG and Applied Robotics have teamed up to offer an end-of-arm package for robotic arc welding. The package features PAC-MIG's line of robotic GMAW welding guns and Applied Robotics' QuickSTOP collision sensor that also operates on an...

Weld inspection. (Component Spotlight: Welding Components).
April 1, 2002... Servo-Robot Inc.'s PILOT-LW is designed to control a high-speed laser camera and motion system for 3-D data acquisition and adaptive process control. The system can be used for laser welding applications with cartesian or articulated robots. An...

Weld power source. (Component Spotlight: Welding Components).
April 1, 2002... The Lincoln Electric Co.'s Power Wave F355i is a multi-process, digitally controlled, 350-amp inverter power source designed for integrated use with the Fanuc RJ3iB and later Fanuc robot controllers. The F355i, which includes the latest Lincoln...

Power source. (Component Spotlight: Welding Components).
April 1, 2002... Miller Electric's Auto Invision-II is an inverter power source with CV and pulse capability. The Auto Invision-II is suited for medium-gage sheet to thin plate-welding applications. The Auto Invision-II allows eight pulse schedules to be...

Water-cooled guns. (Component Spotlight: Welding Components).
April 1, 2002... Tregaskiss Ltd. offers a line of 600-amp, water-cooled Tough Guns for use in semiautomatic and automatic applications. The gun features a new thread-on nozzle design for longer nozzle life, higher amperage rating and less spatter buildup. The...

Photonics assembly platform. (Products).
April 1, 2002... Meikle Automation Inc. has developed a platform for the high-precision assembly of photonics components. The technology marries precision with flexibility for maximum capability. Innovative use of robotics enables accuracy and precision to be...

Cartesian robots. (Products).
April 1, 2002... Intelligent Actuator's new high-precision cartesian robots, the ISP and ISPD, feature improved performance at the same competitive prices as the standard IS and ISD series. A high-precision C5 ballscrew improves repeatability and speed, while a...

CMOS camera. (Products).
April 1, 2002... Cognex Corp. has introduced the CDC-l00, a high-resolution digital CMOS camera for machine-vision applications. Roughly half the size and weight of conventional machine-vision cameras, the CDC-100 enables the cost-effective use of high...

Spring plungers. (Products).
April 1, 2002... Schmalz has introduced a line of heavy-duty spring plungers for manual and automated vacuum-handling operations. The new FSTE-HD and FSTA-HD spring plungers are made of high-strength steel tubing (which carries the vacuum), a brass sleeve as a...

Multi-function platform. (Products).
April 1, 2002... PIA Group has developed Xcel, a multi-function platform that is reconfigurable, reusable and can be adapted to a wide array of applications, including assembly, component placement, screwdriving, dispensing, testing and laser welding. The Xcel...

Servo actuator. (Products).
April 1, 2002... Harmonic Drive Technologies offers its hollow-shaft servo actuator, the PowerHub, a compact servo actuator with a center throughhole. The unit delivers positional accuracy less than 1 arc minute and repeatability of +/- 5 arc seconds. Center...

North American robotics market falls 30% in 2001. (RIA Update).
April 1, 2002... The North American robotics market fell 30 percent in 2001, suffering the same fate as other capital-equipment markets affected by the lingering recession in the United States. New year-end statistics from the Robotic Industries...

RIA accepting Engelberger Robotics Awards nominations. (RIA Update).
April 1, 2002... RIA is accepting nominations for the prestigious Engelberger Robotics Award until Aug. 1. Named after Joseph F. Engelberger, known throughout the world as the founding force behind industrial robotics, the award is the world's most prestigious...

Robot Safety training additions. (RIA Update).
April 1, 2002... Recently added to the team of speakers at the Louisville (Ky.) Robot Safety Workshop, April 23-25, is Lincoln Electric with a case study, and other case studies coming from John Deere and Underwriters Laboratories. And for the first time...

SAS Automation Ltd. (People).
April 1, 2002... Paul Rettig has jointed > SAS