FIRST Launches Eighteenth FIRST Robotics Competition

Manchester, NH - FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) launched its eighteenth FIRST Robotics Competition season today with a Kickoff of a new robotics game called “Lunacy” at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, NH, hometown and headquarters of FIRST.

“Forty years ago, NASA fueled a generation’s imagination with the success of Apollo 11. As we celebrate that remarkable feat of technology and engineering with our 2009 game, “Lunacy,” we are sparking more of that kind of inspiration through the FIRST Robotics Competition,” said FIRST founder, Dean Kamen. “Just as NASA scientists landed a man on the moon and returned him safely to earth in 1969, so too will these young people go on to explore new frontiers and develop breakthrough technologies that will change the world.”

The FIRST Robotics Competition is an annual competition that helps students discover the rewards and excitement of science, engineering, and technology. More than 42,000 high-school students on 1,686 teams from the U.S., Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Turkey, and the U.K. are participating in this year’s competition.

“In today’s social environment, FIRST has a chance to re-define the larger economic and moral playing field,” noted Dr. Woodie Flowers, FIRST national advisor and Pappalardo professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Our students can be their own economic stimulus packages by leveraging their skills into self-sustaining careers and help with the issues we face in the 21st century.”

In the “Lunacy” game, robots are designed to pick up 9″ game balls and score them in trailers hitched to their opponents’ robots for points during a 2 minute and 15 second match.  Additional points are awarded for scoring a special game ball, the Super Cell, in the opponents’ trailers during the last 20 seconds of the match. “Lunacy” is played on a low-friction floor, which means teams must contend with the laws of physics.

At today’s Kickoff, teams were shown the game field and received a Kit of Parts made up of motors, batteries, a control system, and a mix of automation components ­ but no instructions. Working with mentors, students have six weeks to design, build, program, and test their robots to meet the season’s engineering challenge. Once these young inventors create a robot, their teams participate in competitions that measure the effectiveness of each robot, the power of
collaboration, and the determination of students.

Sponsored by NASA, PTC, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the exciting Kickoff event gave teams the opportunity to see the new game for the first time. Teams across the nation and in Canada, and Israel watched the proceedings via NASA TV broadcast or webcast from 52 local Kickoff sites, many of which also offered workshops and a chance to meet other teams. The agenda included presentations by FIRST founder Dean Kamen; PTC executive vice president and chief product officer James E. Hepplemann; NASA program executive Dave Lavery;
FIRST chairman John Abele; FIRST national advisor Dr. Woodie Flowers; and FIRST president Paul R. Gudonis. The program also featured the premiere of the 2009 FIRST Safety Video, presented by the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association and Underwriters Laboratories.

In 1992, the FIRST Robotics Competition began with 28 teams and a single 14 x 14 foot playing field in a New Hampshire high school gym. This season, 1,686 teams ­ including 322 rookie teams ­ will participate. Forty regional competitions in the U.S., Canada, and Israel, plus seven district competitions and one state championship in Michigan, will lead up to the 2009 FIRST Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, April 16-18. FIRST programs are operated by over 85,000 dedicated volunteers worldwide, many of them professional engineers and scientists who mentor the next generation of innovators.

usfirst.org

Expert forum on the future of Service Robotics

The Lauffen, Germany based clamping and gripping specialist SCHUNK will be holding a new edition of the Service Robotics Expert Days on February 18th and 19th, 2009. The international expert forum will be attended by leading authorities in the field, bringing together experts from all around the world. A wide range of presentations in English will give participants an overview of the current situation and future possibilities for the Service Robotics industry.
Read more

KUKA Robotics Introduces New Food Series Robots

The new KUKA Food Series Option is available on a variety of robots designed for packaging and palletizing application, including KR 40 PA, KR 50 PA, KR 100-2 PA, KR 180-2, PA & KR 150.  These units offer robotic solutions from 2-axis packaging, 4-axis palletizing, and 6-axis palletizing & handling.

A significant feature of the Food Series option is that taking options already available from KUKA, and re-packages them for the Food Series option incorporated onto a select group of current KUKA products.

The Food Series option includes a robot arm IP-65 protection rating, food grade oil in the robot reducers, USDA certifiable white robot coating selected to withstand common industry sanitizers, and a stainless steel robot control cabinet.

“The new Food Series option allows KUKA robots to meet the requirements of the food industry.   The ability for robots to operate in wet environments, and common industry sanitizers is an important requirement of our food processing customers” said Stuart Shepherd, President of KUKA Robotics Corporation.

“The broad range of products on which the Food Series option is available allows KUKA to be in the unique position to offer a Food Series product from 2-axis packaging up through multiple palletizing products”, said Shepherd.

www.kukarobotics.com

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.

Read more

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

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.

Read more

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.
Read more

NI and LEGO® Develop Low-Cost Robotics Platform

National Instruments and LEGO Education continue their educational robotics collaboration with the new LEGO Education WeDo classroom robotics platform.

Read more

College Paves Way for Firms to Go Robotic

The Institute of Technology Sligo (Ireland) has completed a ground breaking manufacturing support project which promises to have major benefits for manufacturers in the region.

IT Sligo was the lead partner in the ‘Robotics and Integrated Manufacturing for the 21st Century’ (RIM 21) project. RIM 21 liaised with local manufacturing industry, identifying technology gaps which were affecting company competitiveness. Manufacturing ‘cells’ and training laboratories, were set up in IT Sligo and Northern Regional Collage providing an opportunity for industry to access the latest robotic technology and tailor a robotic system to update their own manufacturing needs.

Extensive hands-on training was delivered at both centers and further online training was also provided. Through this, RIM 21 has made a major practical contribution to manufacturing industry in the region.

Source: Sligo Weekender

Next Page »