Robotics World articles from November 2003

Robotics World archives from November 2003

UNECE predicts recovery of robot investment in U.S.(News)
November 1, 2003... A newly released survey, "World Robotics 2003, produced by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), in cooperation with the International Federation of Robotics, predicts that 2003 will end up as a year of recovery for the...

Mech Visual Inc.(People)
November 1, 2003... Bruce Hammond has been appointed to the board of Mech Visual Inc., a 3-D robotic vision guidance software developer. Hammond formerly was ABB Inc.'s president of robotics, automotive and manufacturing industries, North America. Currently, he is...

DVT Corp.(People)
November 1, 2003... James "Jay" Williams has joined DVT Corp. as director of business development for the Northeast region, which includes New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine and parts of Canada.

Lincoln Electric.(People)
November 1, 2003... Vinod Kapoor has been appointed vice president, Cleveland operations, for Lincoln Electric; Leo Landers has been named the company's distributor account manager.

Universal Instruments.(People)
November 1, 2003... Brad Bennett has been named director of European operations for Universal Instruments. Taking over Bennett's former role as director of GSM Platform products is Peter Bollinger.

UltraStrip Systems Inc.(People)
November 1, 2003... Stephen Johnson has been named CEO and a member of the board of UltraStrip Systems Inc., the developer of robotic ship hull cleaning equipment.

Great Lakes Air Systems.(People)
November 1, 2003... Patrick Gilmour has joined Great Lakes Air Systems as customer relations manager.

Nordson Corp.(People)
November 1, 2003... Peter Lambert has been named vice president, packaging and product assembly operations, for Nordson Corp.

Color Kinetics.(Quick Takes)
November 1, 2003... Color Kinetics has been awarded a U.S. patent covering the application of LED illumination for machine-vision systems. The patent will form the basis for potential business relationships with machine-vision system manufacturers.

ETEL.(Quick Takes)
November 1, 2003... ETEL's standard digital motion controllers and multi-axis boards recently received UL-approved certification from Underwriter's Laboratories for both the U.S. and Canadian markets.

KUKA Robotics Corp.(Quick Takes)
November 1, 2003... KUKA Robotics Corp.'s RoboCoaster, the world's first passenger carrying robot, is now in operation in two amusement parks in the United States: one at American World in Wisconsin Dells and one at C.J. Barrymore's in Detroit. RoboCoaster riders...

Sumitomo Machinery Corp. of America and SM-Cyclo Canada have launched their new "Sumitomo Drive Technologies" brand, which unites 30 Sumitomo companies under one global brand.(Quick Takes)
November 1, 2003... Sumitomo Machinery Corp. of America and SM-Cyclo Canada have launched their new "Sumitomo Drive Technologies" brand, which unites 30 Sumitomo companies under one global brand. All 30 companies fall under the parent company of Sumitomo Heavy...

The new $226,332 Articulation and Integration of Manufacturing Education (AIME) program, funded by a grant from the Education Foundation of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, will help Grand Rapids (Mich.) Public School students from middle school through graduate school.(Quick Takes)
November 1, 2003... The new $226,332 Articulation and Integration of Manufacturing Education (AIME) program, funded by a grant from the Education Foundation of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, will help Grand Rapids (Mich.) Public School students from...

Aries Electronics.(Quick Takes)
November 1, 2003... Aries Electronics has received its ISO9001:2000 upgrade certification.

RBC Bearings.(Quick Takes)
November 1, 2003... RBC Bearings' facility in West Trenton, N.J., is now certified to the ISO 9001-2000 standard.

Machine Systems Ltd.(Quick Takes)
November 1, 2003... Machine Systems Ltd.'s new sales and marketing strategy is to partner with selected motion control-oriented distributors, or Automation Solution Centers.

Teijin Seiki Advanced Technologies, a subsidiary of Teijin Seiki Co. Ltd., has changed its name to Nabtesco Precision USA.(Mergers/Acquisitions/Agreements)
November 1, 2003... Teijin Seiki Advanced Technologies, a subsidiary of Teijin Seiki Co. Ltd., has changed its name to Nabtesco Precision USA. The change reflects the formation of the new holding company, Nabtesco Corp., formed through the merger of Teijin Seiki...

Kaman Corp. has agreed to purchase the assets and business of Industrial Supplies Inc.(Mergers/Aquisitions/Agreements)
November 1, 2003... Kaman Corp. has agreed to purchase the assets and business of Industrial Supplies Inc., which will become part of Kaman's industrial distribution subsidiary, Kaman Industrial Technologies.

The Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society and the Instrumentation and Measurement Society of IEEE announce the third Sensors for Industry Conference and Exhibition, SIcon/04.(Shows/Conferences)
November 1, 2003... The Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society and the Instrumentation and Measurement Society of IEEE announce the third Sensors for Industry Conference and Exhibition, SIcon/04. The event takes place January 26-29, at the...

35th International Symposium of Robotics.(Shows/Conferences)
November 1, 2003... The 35th International Symposium of Robotics will take place in Paris in March 2004. The symposium will be held with INDUSTRIE 2004, a major industrial exhibition, which will create interest and opportunities in the area of robotics. For...

Join RIA and improve your business.(RIA update)
November 1, 2003... As the industry's voice, the Robotic Industries Association has many ways to help suppliers, integrators, consultants and agents achieve sales and marketing goals. And every year RIA helps users find answers and ideas on how to implement a...

Award nominations deadline approaching.(RIA update)
November 1, 2003... Nominations for the Joseph F. Engelberger Robotics Award are due by Jan. 15. Winners will be honored at the 35th International Symposium in Paris, March 23-26. To submit a nomination, contact Kathleen Cusick at kcusick@robotics.org or...

Joseph F. Engelberger Robotics Awards FAQ.(RIA update)
November 1, 2003... What do you receive as the recipient of the Engelberger Robotics Award? Each winner receives a $4,000 honorarium and commemorative medallion with the inscription, "Contributing to the advancement of the science of robotics in the service...

Robotics Online grows content, users.(RIA update)
November 1, 2003... This has been a good year for Robotics Online, which regularly draws more than 40,000 user sessions each month. To keep it flesh, RIA constantly works on improving the site and adding new material. Now you can find back issues of the...

Painting robots offer flexibility, higher quality and better paint transfer.(Feature Story)
November 1, 2003... Flexibility has been a hallmark of robotics since the first Unimate robot tended its first press in the early 1960s. The automotive industry has capitalized on that inherent flexibility since the beginning, using robots extensively for welding,...

Sensorless control for brushless DC motors.(Motion control)
November 1, 2003... In recent years, two trends have become increasingly important to the appliance market. These are the ongoing replacement of induction motors by permanent magnet motors due to the increased efficiency of the latter, and the introduction of...

Robotic palletizing.(Robotics Case Studies)
November 1, 2003... The Baldwin Filters plant in Kearney, Neb., produces a variety of filters for heavy-duty equipment, OTR trucks and construction and agricultural equipment, both as an aftermarket supplier and as an OEM. Since 1998, the company has employed two...

Cable shielding in auto plant.(Robotics Case Studies)
November 1, 2003... Over the past four decades, there has been a quantum leap in the performance, reliability and demands of industrial robots, but the cabling technology supporting them has lagged. Until recently, the 40,000 or so spot-welding and...

Frame grabbers.(Component spotlight: machine vision components)
November 1, 2003... Cognex Corp.'s MVS-8500 Series frame grabbers are designed to support high-speed analog cameras that use progressive scan CCD sensor technology. The MVS-8504, the first model in the series, offers four independent channels to support up to four...

Vision sensors.(Component spotlight: machine vision components)
November 1, 2003... DVT Corp's Legend 550 series of smart cameras operate at speeds up to eight times faster than DVT's high-speed Legend 540. The 550 series incorporates a Texas Instruments DSP processor, features increased RAM and flash memory and uses DVT's...

Vision application software.(Component spotlight: machine vision components)
November 1, 2003... Coreco Imaging's ipd division has released Sherlock 6.3, the newest version of its Windows-based software environment for machine-vision application development and deployment. New and improved features include support for composite variants of...

Circular illuminator.(Component spotlight: machine vision components)
November 1, 2003... StockerYale's Model 10XI circular illuminator is constructed of a rugged, black-anodized aluminum extrusion and powered by a high frequency (25 kHz) driver. The Model 10XI provides 360 degrees of bright, flicker-free illumination, with lamp...

Smart cameras.(Component spotlight: machine vision components)
November 1, 2003... Robotic Vision Systems' new HawkEye 1600 series of vision smart cameras provide an easily deployed solution for manufacturers to monitor quality or control processes, or identify and trace individual parts and products on their production line....

Frame grabber.(Component spotlight: machine vision components)
November 1, 2003... The Morphis board from Matrox Imaging provides a solution for applications with extensive archiving requirements. The Morphis is the first frame grabber to include a hardware accelerator for JPEG2000 compression/decompression, which offers a...

Vision sensors.(Component spotlight: machine vision components)
November 1, 2003... The new F210 vision sensor from Omron combines image acquisition as fast as 1.4ms with advanced measurement algorithms for faster measurement and inspection. The F210 can perform measurement cycles as fast as 3ms when used with the Omron...

Single-board cameras.(Component spotlight: machine vision components)
November 1, 2003... Vision Components' new single-board industrial smart camera, the miniature SBC50, can be used in equipment or environments where space is at a premium. When coupled with development software from Analog Devices and the VCLIB image-processing...

High-resolution camera.(Component spotlight: machine vision components)
November 1, 2003... Redlake's new Mega Plus ES 1020 high-resolution digital camera can capture mega-pixel images at 48 full frames per second. The ES 1020 comes in a more compact frame than its predecessors and is available in both monochrome and Bayer color...

Line-scan camera.(Component spotlight: machine vision components)
November 1, 2003... DALSA's new HS-41 High Sensitivity line-scan camera combines TDI technology, increased programmability and industry standard Camera Link in a low-cost, small-body format. The HS-41 is a 2048 resolution camera that includes programmable stage...

Machine-tending cells.(Products)
November 1, 2003... Automated Concepts Inc. has developed a line of pre-engineered robotic machine load and unload systems designed around the Fanuc line of robots. The systems feature product inbound and outbound equipment, safeguarding and safety circuit in...

Linear-motion systems.(Products)
November 1, 2003... SCHUNK Inc. has introduced a new linear-motion device, LIRAX SSP, designed to minimize space requirements by combining a precision guide rail, a pneumatic cylinder with integrated air and electrical feed-through. The combination results in a...

Assembly cell.(Products)
November 1, 2003... Universal Instruments has unveiled the latest addition to its Polaris Assembly Cell family. Polaris Jr. is focused on the lower end of robotic and non-robotic assembly processes. Building on the success of Polaris Servo Gripper for odd-form...

Development software.(Products)
November 1, 2003... KUKA Controls has released KUKA CeWin 3.0, which uses the KUKA real-time extension technology to combine Windows CE.NET and Windows XP on the same computer to bring hard real-time performance to the Windows XP operating system. KUKA CeWin...

Multi-mount SCARA robot.(Products)
November 1, 2003... With increasing real estate prices and escalating construction costs, automated machine designers continue to look for ways to reduce the size of their robotic workcells. Epson Robots' answer is the multi-mount E2 SCARA robots, which can be...

Robotic metal treatment system.(Products)
November 1, 2003... After recently launching the MetalJacket metal treatment and coating system for corrosion control of metal parts, Lord Corp. has developed several key process improvements that reduce the costs and space required to apply the technology....

Automatic tool changer.(Products)
November 1, 2003... Robohand has introduced the newest addition to its end-of-arm tooling solutions, the QC1200 automatic tool changer. Accurate positional repeatability, high rigidity and load-carrying capacity in all directions make the QC1200 an excellent...

Two-finger grippers.(Products)
November 1, 2003... A new series of grippers from Techno-Sommer Inc., the GG-Series, features a fully sealed design and adjustable stroke. The GG-Series also features up to a 35-degree stroke per jaw to allow wide clearance for tooling fingers. The opening angle...

High-precision gantry.(Products)
November 1, 2003... HPG high-precision gantries from Anorad, a division of Rockwell Automation, use the company's new LC-80 iron-core linear motors to deliver outstanding point-to-point positioning performance. The HPG models are high-performance, low-cost...

StockerYale Inc.(Robotics Showcase)
November 1, 2003... Imagelite[TM] Model 21 DC Fiber Optic Illuminator. StockerYale's Model 21 DC, 150 watt halogen illuminator, has been designed specifically as a cost-effective, high-quality DC regulated light source for use in various machine vision...

Robotic rotary joint.(Robotics Showcase)
November 1, 2003... ATI Industrial Automation has just released a new product that allows unlimited rotation of end-of-arm tooling without tangling or twisting robot lines. By utilizing advanced slip-ring technology the Rotary Joint passes electrical and pneumatic...