Robotics World articles from October 2002

Robotics World archives from October 2002

The changing robot industry. (Guest Column).
October 1, 2002... Mark Twain said, "Good judgment comes from experience, but where does experience come from? Experience comes from bad judgment." Buoyed by the strong sales of 2000, most of us in the robot industry felt we had finally gained the confidence...

Yaskawa Motoman Canada. (Quick Takes).
October 1, 2002... Yaskawa Motoman Canada has relocated to a larger facility in Mississauga, Ontario, to accommodate growth in Motoman robotics and Yaskawa mechatronics businesses. The new facility doubles manufacturing space and expands demo labs and training...

Genmark Automation. (Quick Takes).
October 1, 2002... Genmark Automation has opened a branch office in Portland, Ore., and recently added a 53,000-square-foot building for manufacturing "clean products" at its facility in Milpitas, Calif.

Xybernaut Corp. and the Humanold Robotics Institute. (Quick Takes).
October 1, 2002... Xybernaut Corp. and the Humanoid Robotics Institute at Japan's Waseda University have completed an agreement in which both organizations will further the research, development and integration of wearable computing and robotics technologies....

StockerYale Inc. (Quick Takes).
October 1, 2002... StockerYale Inc. has been awarded ISO 9001:2000 registration for its Salem, N.H., facility.

Adept Technology. (Quick Takes).
October 1, 2002... Adept Technology has been chosen as the first wafer-handling automation member of APiA, a global group of semiconductor equipment and process suppliers focused on accelerating the development and implementation of packaging solutions for...

FANUC Robotics North America Inc. (Quick Takes).
October 1, 2002... FANUC Robotics North America Inc. recently celebrated its 20th anniversary at its headquarters in Rochester Hills, Mich. In 1982, GMFanuc Robotics was formed as a 50/50 joint venture between General Motors and FANUC Ltd., with a staff of 70...

Meikle Automation. (Quick Takes).
October 1, 2002... Meikle Automation has created a new Large Systems Division and plans to open a new 15,000-square-foot facility in Kitchener, Ontario, to house it. As in all six of Meikle's facilities, the new division will be vertically integrated with...

GKN Automotive Inc. (Quick Takes).
October 1, 2002... GKN Automotive Inc., a supplier of automotive drive line components, recently recognized Motoman Inc. as its 2001 Capital Equipment Supplier of the Year.

Kaman Industrial Technologies. (Quick Takes).
October 1, 2002... Kaman Industrial Technologies has opened a new branch in Omaha, Neb. The branch is managed by Ray Malhiwski.

Permatex Inc. (Quick Takes).
October 1, 2002... Permatex Inc. has re-entered the industrial maintenance and repair market following the sunset of a restriction from such a move following the sale of Permatex by Loctite Corp.

Adept Technology Inc. (Mergers/Acquisitions).
October 1, 2002... Adept Technology Inc. has signed a letter of intent to acquire a controlling interest in privately held MetaControls Technologies Inc., which manufactures a line of sub-compact motion controllers, motor drivers and machine vision cameras that...

Helpmate Robotics Inc. (Mergers/Acquisitions).
October 1, 2002... Helpmate Robotics Inc. has closed its merger with PainCare Inc.

Kontron Embedded Computers AG. (Mergers/Acquisitions).
October 1, 2002... Kontron Embedded Computers AG's board has approved the merger of its subsidiary Kontron with JUMPtec Industrielle Computertechnik AG. The merged companies will operate under the corporate name of Kontron, a full-service embedded computer...

AC Technology Corp. (Mergers/Acquisitions).
October 1, 2002... AC Technology Corp. has acquired Advanced Digital Inc., a manufacturer of servo drives.

Braintech. (People).
October 1, 2002... Gary Hindall has joined Braintech as a U.S. sales manager. He works in Auburn Hills, Mich., providing sales support to the ABB sales team and selling PathFinderVGR solutions to the automotive market.

Calmont Wire & Cable Inc. (People).
October 1, 2002... David Gorenstein has been promoted to Pacific Northwest regional sales manager for Calmont Wire & Cable Inc.

Comau Pico. (People).
October 1, 2002... Jeffrey Campbell has been promoted to vice president and chief financial officer for Comau Pico.

Nordson Corp. (People).
October 1, 2002... Ruth Smith has joined Nordson Corp. as vice president, operations, for the company's adhesive systems business segment.

ARC Specialties Inc. (People).
October 1, 2002... Mitesh Patel and John Martin have joined ARC Specialties Inc. as project managers. Patel will be responsible for CNC, PLC- and PC-based systems and project R&D in the welding lab. Martin will be responsible for ARC-5 PLC-based systems, GTAW,...

Computer Motion Inc. (People).
October 1, 2002... Joseph DeVivo has been appointed president and chief operating officer of Computer Motion Inc. and has been granted a seat on the company's board.

Asyst Technologies. (People).
October 1, 2002... Stephen Schwartz has been named president, CEO and a member of the board of directors of Asyst Technologies. Mihir Parikh, who founded the company in 1984 and has served as CEO and chairman since 1992, will remain as chairman of the board.

International Symposium on Laboratory Automation and Robotics. (Tradeshows).
October 1, 2002... Keynote speakers for the 20th annual International Symposium on Laboratory Automation and Robotics, Oct. 20-23, at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel are Kenneth Kaitin, director of the Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development, and Joshua Boger,...

Fiberoptic Automation Expo. (Tradeshows).
October 1, 2002... Keynote speaker at Fiberoptic Automation Expo (www.faexpo.com), NEPCON West (www.nepconwest.com) and Assembly West (www.assemblywest.com) is Jeff Montgomery, founder and chairman of ElectroniCast Inc., speaking Dec. 5. The three co-located...

DVT Corp. and Veritec Inc. (Agreements).
October 1, 2002... DVT Corp. and Veritec Inc. have agreed to integrate Veritec's VeriCode symbol-reading capabilities into DVT's Legend family of Ethernet-enabled SmartImage sensors. Under the licensing agreement, the VeriCode-enabled SmartImage Sensors will be...

GCE Technologies. (Agreements).
October 1, 2002... GCE Technologies, a division of The Gem City Engineering Co., has signed a Strategic Partner Agreement with Motoman, making it a recognized third-party integrator for Motoman robots. GCE Technologies designs, builds, integrates and services...

InterLatin. (Agreements).
October 1, 2002... InterLatin has been named exclusive electronics representative for Tecnomatix Unicam, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tecnomatix Technologies, in the Mexican and Costa Rican regions....

Zymark Corp. (Agreements).
October 1, 2002... Zymark Corp. and Genomic Solutions have formed a partnership to offer Zymark's Twister II with the Genomic Solutions' Cartesian Hummingbird....

Renco Encoders Inc. (Agreements).
October 1, 2002... Renco Encoders Inc. is now the exclusive representative for SUMTAK rotary encoder products for the North American market.

Electronic Engineering Technology. (Agreements).
October 1, 2002... Motoman's robotic training courses became a part of the Electronic Engineering Technology associate's degree program at PETS Tech Center in Centerville, Ohio.

Robot orders fall 4 percent in second quarter. (RIA Update).
October 1, 2002... North American robotics companies saw orders from North American customers fall 4 percent in the second quarter of 2002 versus the comparable period last year, according to the Robotic Industries Association, the industry's trade group. ...

AIA launches machine-vision stock market index. (RIA Update).
October 1, 2002... A new index to track the stock market performance of publicly traded machine-vision companies has been established by the Automated Imaging Association, the industry's trade group. Created for AIA by Adams Harkness & Hill, the index is...

Vision Conference West agenda now online. (RIA Update).
October 1, 2002... A complete agenda is now available online for The Vision Conference West, scheduled for Nov. 18-21 in Santa Clara, Calif. The in-depth technical conference accompanies The Vision Show West, the showcase of machine-vision components, systems and...

Higher labor costs, ergonomics driving robotic packaging and palletizing.
October 1, 2002... Although the total number of robot orders fell 4 percent in the second quarter when compared with the second quarter of 2001, the sales of robots for material-handling tasks increased 20 percent. "Material-handling robots are sold into a...

State of the industry round table.
October 1, 2002... Editor's Note: Six robotics industry executives, including the executive vice president of the Robotic industries Association, the industry trade group, offer their views on the state of the industry and general trends, now and in the near...

Can palletizing. (Robotics Case Studies).
October 1, 2002... Automated Motion Inc. of Edgewood, Md., recently developed a can-palletizing system for Independent Can Co., also in Maryland. The system is composed of an X-Z gantry robot (Automated Motion's GP3) that has three working positions: layer pick,...

Packing/palletizing. (Robotics Case Studies).
October 1, 2002... An international company with a manufacturing plant in the United States, and well known for its successful merchandising of a series of theme-oriented toy products for children, recently decided to automate the handling of finished goods. The...

Pretzel box palletizing. (Robotics Case Studies).
October 1, 2002... Pretzels Inc., a pretzel manufacturer and contract packager, was encountering problems with unit load forming errors, and it was not uncommon for their customers to receive the wrong product. The company also was experiencing high labor...

Pressure sensors. (Component Spotlight: Sensors).
October 1, 2002... The SDE5, Festo Corp.'s new generation of intelligent pressure sensors, brings many characteristics common to high-end sensing devices to low-end applications. The modular unit can be used in almost any application where simple pressure sensing...

Force/Torque Sensor. (Component Spotlight: Sensors).
October 1, 2002... The DAQ Force/Torque Sensor System from ATI Industrial Automation is a six-axis force and torque sensor system that measures forces and torques in X, Y and Z axes. The system consists of a data acquisition (DAQ) card, power supply, interface...

Photodetectors. (Component Spotlight: Sensors).
October 1, 2002... Advanced Photonix has introduced a new line of hybridized photodetectors that deliver maximum operational flexibility for developers and system builders. The products consist of a PIN photodiode and transimpedance amplifier integrated within a...

Proximity sensors. (Component Spotlight: Sensors).
October 1, 2002... SICK Inc. has expanded its inductive proximity line the introduction of the advanced short body sensors. These sensors have a shortened shape, but retain high switching distances and frequencies. The new IM 08, IM 12 and IH 06 sensors meet the...

External-mount transducers. (Component Spotlight: Sensors).
October 1, 2002... The new family of external-mount transducers from Transducers Direct taps advanced positioning technology to provide accurate component positioning on industrial machinery and lab equipment. The transducers, designed for travels of half an inch...

Rotary position sensor. (Component Spotlight: Sensors).
October 1, 2002... BEI Duncan Electronics has developed NCAPS (Non-Contacting Angular Position Sensor) to provide a cost-effective, high-resolution rotary position sensor. Initially developed for steering angle applications, NCAPS is suited to a range of...

Gripper sensor. (Component Spotlight: Sensors).
October 1, 2002... Pepperl+Fuchs has introduced the GRIPDICATOR, a new line of inductive sensors. These grip indicators mount externally on industry-standard power clamps and grippers and monitor the full extension and retraction of jaws and arms. GRIPDICATOR is...

Weld-resistant sensors. (Component Spotlight: Sensors).
October 1, 2002... Turck Inc. has introduced a new line of WeldGuard Sensors for extremely harsh conditions. The sensors are available in AC/DC ferrite core with WFI, DC U-prox and extended range ferrite core with two- and three-wire DC. The barrel material is...

Distance-gauging sensor. (Component Spotlight: Sensors).
October 1, 2002... Banner Engineering has introduced the L-GAGE LT3 Time-of-Flight Sensor, a self-contained, Class 2 laser distance-gauging device that provides sensing ranges of 1 foot to 9.8 feet for gray targets and 1 foot to 16.4 feet for white targets. A...

Inductive sensors. (Component Spotlight: Sensors).
October 1, 2002... Double the normal sensing range keeps Balluff's new AC/DC Proximax inductive sensors out of impact danger in welding, machining and foundry applications. The Proximax's Duraplast thermosetresin face resists abrasion, pitting, hot chips and weld...

Palletizing robot. (Products).
October 1, 2002... The Samsung PL2 from American Productivity Group is a four-axis horizontal robotic palletizer/depalletizer. It can place up to 20 cases, bags, bundles, pails or trays per minute onto two different pallets. It can also pick up the pallet and/or...

Flexible loader. (Products).
October 1, 2002... FANUC Robotics North America recently introduced its Flexible Loading Solution, a patent-pending approach to machine-loading operations. The new system applies the company's technology to direct the loading robot to parts any-where within its...

Robot track. (Product).
October 1, 2002... The Trackmotion module offered by Gudel Inc. is a linear traversing axis to extend the working range of robots. Based on the heavy-duty guideway system, the units can carry robot weights from 600 kg to 3,600 kg and an be either floor-or...

Welding system. (Products).
October 1, 2002... Nachi Robotics' new Weld Wizard is a self-contained welding cell that can be used for arc welding, TIG welding, MIG welding, laser welding and cutting and plasma welding and cutting. The Weld Wizard is composed of solid steel panels with...

Furnance Loader. (Products).
October 1, 2002... Automated Cells & Equipment Inc. has introduced the 100A Furnace Loader, a self-contained robotic cell that handles a wide range of part sizes and belt spacing. The 100A is engineered to fit different furnace types and is located off the floor...

Palletizing system. (Products).
October 1, 2002... Among Automated Production Systems Corps palletizing systems is on that palletizes both bags and taped boxes simultaneously from multiple production lines. Built originally for a food ingredient company, the system palletizes the production of...

Coaxial screw rail. (Products).
October 1, 2002... Kerk Motion Products' coaxial screw rail is designed to shield the lead screw from debris and harsh environments and eliminates the need for protective bellows, saving space and cutting costs. The screw co-axial screw is ideal for grippers,...