Misumi Sponsors Student Robot Competitions

Schaumburg, IL- Misumi has been a major force in the mechanical and factory automation markets for over 45 years.  Through its product innovations, combined with its unmatched CAD Configurator and online ordering system technologies, Misumi has changed the landscape for machine and assembly system design engineers worldwide.  You’ll find Misumi products onboard a growing number of machines and systems in myriad industries, owing to the upsides of this unique company’s business model.  Not surprisingly, the company’s annual sales topped the $1 billion dollar mark, several years ago.

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Applied Robotics Announces New Senior Appointments

Glenville, New York —  Applied Robotics Inc. announced its latest senior appointments. The company has promoted long time Senior Sales Manager Steve Listing to Automotive Account Manager and long time Senior Regional Sales Manager Bill Nizolek to Business Development Manager.

“Steve’s main responsibility will be the growth and management of the North American Transplant business along with the responsibility of the BMW, Nissan, Freightliner, Ford, GM and Chrysler plants outside the state of Michigan, where we have a channel partner in place. Bill’s main responsibility will be the discovery, cultivation and management of any new tooling development opportunities. In keeping with our brand direction we see this area as key to substantial growth opportunities for our future,” said Jim Fitzgerald, vice president of Applied Robotics Inc.

Mr. Listing has been employed by Applied Robotics Inc. for six years and brings to his new position extensive experience working within the automotive industry as well as exemplary sales experience and great dedication to his customers.In addition to Mr. Listing’s North American management responsibilities he will also be responsible for the company’s plasma and torch protection business.

Mr. Nizolek has been employed by Applied Robotics Inc. for ten years and in his new position will cultivate new partnerships and enhance existing customer relations. Mr. Nizolek will also continue to be the main sales representative for Applied Robotics, Inc. distributor Braas, and will continue to foster relationships with the robot industry in North America.

www.arobotics.com

Winners of Robotics Development Innovator Awards Announced

Santa Clara, CA – The winners of the 2008 Robotics Development Innovator Awards were announced at the RoboDevelopment Conference & Exposition. The Robotics Development Innovator Awards recognize design and development tools, as well as component technology, used in the development of commercial robots and robotics technology.

Two Categories, One Goal
The development of robots and robotic technology requires the mastery of multiple disciplines – primarily software development, mechanical and electrical engineering. Robotics development is made even more difficult as it is limited by embedded and real-time constraints. But real-time concerns are only the beginning, especially as robots and robotic technology become more prevalent in the home, the workplace, in public places and on the battlefield. The next generation of robots and robotic devices must also be integrated with other systems in their environment. Solution providers have responded to these difficulties by providing a whole host of robotics design and development tools, as well as innovative enabling technology, which dramatically simplify the job of designing, developing, testing and manufacturing robots and robotic products. The goal of the Robotics Development Innovator Awards is to recognize and publicize those products and the companies that produce them, successfully reducing the time, effort and complexity of building the next generation of innovative robotics products, and in doing so, furthering the robotics industry as a whole.

The following two companies are the Winners of the 2008 Robotics Development Innovator Awards:

Best Design or Development Tool
National Instruments, NI CompactRIO

Best Component Technology
Evolution Robotics Inc., NorthStar 2.0

Microsoft RDS 2008 Released

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — At the RoboDevelopment Conference and Expo in Santa Clara, Calif., Microsoft Corp. announced the general availability of Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 (Microsoft RDS), the newest version of its robotics programming platform. Microsoft RDS includes a simple programming model to support building asynchronous applications, a set of visual authoring and simulation tools to aid in application development, and tutorials and sample code to help developers get started.

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OKI and Okamura Develop World’s First Seating Using Muscular Mechanism

TOKYO, JAPAN — Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. announced it has applied its advanced robotic technologies to a seating application. Together with Okamura Corp., a leading manufacturer of office furniture, the two companies became first in the world to develop a concept model for seating using muscular mechanism. The concept model fits the body, in which the back and seat of the chair follow the movement of the user’s body from seating and reclining through to standing.

OKI and Okamura’s converged technologies: LEOPARD

“OKI’s robotic technology is based on studies of human movement and leverages new mechanisms for applications in the future technology of mechatronics. By applying this technology for human interfaces, we believe we can offer new values to products,” said Yutaka Asai, Chief Technology Officer at OKI. “After thorough discussion, OKI focused on a situation where a child is held by the parent on the lap - that is, to develop a seat that can embrace the sitter through robotic technology based on an understanding of the human skeletal structure and muscular mechanisms. Adopting the very human concept of ‘embrace and wrap,’ OKI and Okamura decided to develop the concept jointly.”

As the creation of intellectual value becomes important, office space also requires creativity and diversity. In such a creative environment, seating is becoming an important tool and new and unconventional values are desired,” said Hiroki Iwashita, Managing Director and General Manager of Marketing Division at Okamura. “We are pleased to debut this new concept combining OKI’s advanced mechatronics technology with our seating technology, in which we have years of experience.”

OKI’s Robot Leg

Applying OKI’s robotic technology to seating
OKI has been researching bone structure and muscular mechanisms and has now applied its “Robot Leg(*1)” technology that can jump and land with human-like balance to seating. Understanding of the structure and features of the thigh to hip joint muscles was applied to the seat and back of the chair. As a result, the seat of the chair operates as musculature above the human knee and the back operates as the human body. In addition, by converging various technologies of Okamura’s seating technology, including a newly developed carbon frame and seating cushion shape into the concept model, the two companies succeeded in achieving a new idea.

Applying the structure and features of the thigh to hip joint muscles to the back and seat

Continuing fit from seating and reclining through to standing up
This seating has a unique forward leaning style in its idle mode, as if a person were waiting in a half-sitting position. When a person sits into the seat, it feels as if the seat is wrapped around from the back, and fits perfectly to the back. Whether in a reclining or in a forward leaning position, the seat fits perfectly. In addition, when the person scoots his or her body forward to stand up, the seat rises up slightly to assist the user to a natural standing position. This is not a mechanism that pursues only the comfort when reclining as in conventional products, but it continues to fit from seated, reclining, and leaning positions through to standing up-in other words, a completely new mechanism.

Based on OKI’s robotic technology, the concept model assists the user from seating and reclining through to standing up

OKI and Okamura will begin to commercialize this product by May 2009 by evolving each technology further in application to this concept model. In addition, taking this project as a start, OKI will challenge new mechatronics technologies.

www.oki.com

AMT’s Mike Jacobs to Moderate 16th Annual Robotics Industry Forum

Orlando, FL – The annual Robots Industry Forum, sponsored by the Robotic Industries Association (RIA), will convene November 5-7 in Orlando to discuss leading issues and their impact on the robotics industry. The event includes three days of industry networking, technical presentations, forum discussion and trade exhibits. Mike Jacobs, President and CEO of Applied Manufacturing Technologies (AMT), and RIA board of directors member will serve as host and conference moderator. Jacobs notes “The Robotics Industry Forum has been on my calendar every year for 16 years. It is the premier networking event for the robotics industry, and AMT has found this forum to be a valuable resource for new business opportunities. It’s a time when suppliers, system integrators, and users come together in a place where old friend are reunited and new business connections are developed. In fact, featured this year is ‘Connectioneering’, an organized networking event that is designed to bring key executives together with the supplier and user communities.”

Mike Jacobs founded AMT in 1989, after a successful career with GMF, now Fanuc Robotics, where he was responsible for product marketing, planning and development of offline robot programming and simulation software. Mike’s professional & community affiliations are with the World President’s Organization, Robotic Industries Association, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and the Detroit Economics Club.

Robotic Industries Association (RIA) was founded in 1974, and is the only trade group in North America organized specifically to serve the robotics industry. Member companies include leading robot manufacturers, users, system integrators, component suppliers, research groups, and consulting firms. RIA is part of the Automation Technologies Council, an umbrella group serving automation companies involved in robotics, machine vision, motion control and related technologies.

www.appliedmfg.com

The Cutting Edge of Haptic Research

Using tools such as graphical system design, reserachers are developing new, safer ways of interacting with machines that also permit more efficient operation

By Gerardo Garcia, Product Manager
Ben Black, Systems Engineer
National Instruments

Have you ever played a car racing video game that shakes when you go off-road? If so, you have interacted with a haptic interface. The word haptic comes from the Greek haptikos, which means to touch, grasp, or perceive.

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Robotic Kits for “Do-It-Yourself” Packaging System Design

Modular programming and articulating arm kits let you design your own robotic-based packaging system.

By Tom Jensen
Engineering Manager
ELAU Inc., a Company of Schneider Electric

For many years two factors gave robot designers and manufacturers a lock on developing equipment for the packaging market: patents and the specialized kinematic knowledge required to program robotic motion. While the robotic arms were under patent, the controls held the unique motion algorithms needed to handle the complex path planning, blending, and resolution of multiple trajectories to the same point. Thus, robot articulating arms and specific controls were exclusive to robot developers.
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The Automatic Book Scanner ScanRobot

The book scanner ScanRobot® has been developed for the digitization of huge book inventories. The book scanner has the ability to turn the pages automatically and to to scan a whole book at once.

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Single Incision Robotic Kidney Removal

For the first time in Michigan, a diseased kidney has been surgically removed at Henry Ford Hospital using highly sophisticated 3D robotics through a single incision.
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