Bombardier Uses KUKA Robots to Assemble their Newest, Largest Airliners
Bombardier Aerospace today announced that it expects to achieve predictable repeatability and enhanced quality while preventing ergonomic issues on the production line for the CSeries aircraft by using six 12-ton (10.89 metric ton) robots in the assembly of the cockpit and fuselage of the jetliner. In addition, the company also expects to reduce by more than 40 hours the cycle time needed to assemble the aircraft.
MIT Wants Robot Servants to Flexibly Juggle Chores
Rosie the robot maid may not remain a 'Jetsons' fantasy for too much longer. MIT computer scientists have honed a decision-making process that may help robots juggle diverse chores such as preparing dinner or loading laundry into the washing machine. That means getting robots to do advance planning to accomplish their goals, but not planning out each step in such detail as to leave robots without room for flexibility. It's similar to how humans know how to get to the airport early and check in to board a plane, but don't plan their exact walking routes through the airport. "Were introducing a hierarchy and being aggressive about breaking things up into manageable chunks," said Tomas Lozano-P©rez, co-director of MITs Center for Robotics. The MIT approach creates a rough timeline of what robots may need to do, but plans detailed moves for only the first few steps. That may not be as efficient as a robot that follows a set of detailed commands like a choreographed ballet to tackle the household chores, but it allows for the unknowns
Stäubli Robotics Announces Winner of Robot Give-Away
Stäubli Robotics, manufacturers of high speed and precision robots for industrial applications, was a major attraction at this years AUTOMATE show in Chicago. Among the highlights at the Stäubli booth was a raffle for a complete RS40B CS8C 4-axis SCARA robot system, which went to lucky winner Dorothy Williams from Kellogg Company.
Schneider Packaging Appoints Mick Gleason Director of Engineering
Schneider Packaging Equipment Co., Inc., specializing in end-of-line solutions for case packing and palletizing needs, has appointed two new personnel effective immediately.
Moog Acquires Animatics
Moog Inc. (NYSE: MOG.A and MOG.B) announced today that it has acquired Animatics Corporation. The purchase price is approximately $25 million consisting of 467,749 shares of Moog Class A stock (based on a 30 day average price of $42.76) and $5 million in cash. Animatics, founded in 1987, is a leading supplier of SmartMotor™ servo motors and linear actuators used in industrial applications. Animatics had trailing 12 month revenues of $15 million.
MoonBots 2.0 Challenges Teams to Conduct Google Lunar X PRIZE Missions with LEGO Robots
The X PRIZE Foundation and the LEGO Group today announced MoonBots 2.0: A Google Lunar X PRIZE LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Challenge.
Harnessing the Sun's Power
Automated assembly lines from KUKA Systems outfit Canadas largest solar panel plant
Global Machine Vision and Vision Guided Robotics Market worth US$15.3 billion by 2015
According to a new market research report, "Global Machine Vision and Vision Guided Robotics Market (2010 - 2015)", published by MarketsandMarkets (www.marketsandmarkets.com), the total global machine vision system and component market is expected to be worth 15.3 billion USD by 2015, out of which the camera & smart camera will account for nearly 27.3% of the total revenues. The global market is expected to record a CAGR of 9.3% from 2010 to 2015.
Robot Orders Surge 31% in First Quarter of 2011
North American robotics companies enjoyed their best opening quarter since 2007, according to new statistics released by Robotic Industries Association (RIA), the industry's trade group.
FireBird - The New Quad CXP-6 CoaXPress Frame Grabber
Active Silicon announces the first in a new line of high-speed frame grabbers.
Robot to throw first pitch at Phillies game
PhillieBot for Cy Young? It's unlikely. But the one-armed, three-wheeled robot, designed by engineers at the University of Pennsylvania, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch before Wednesday's game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers as part of Science Day festivities at Citizens Bank Park, said Evan Lerner, a spokesman for Penn's engineering school. The pitching robot has been in the makings for a month and a half as Penn engineers Jordan Brindza and Jamie Gewirtz assembled parts and wrote software in their spare time, Lerner said. They started with a Segway, gave it a robotic arm and added a third wheel. They also gave it a pneumatic cylinder, which delivers a burst of compressed carbon dioxide to power the pitch. The robot's computer brain can be tweaked to change pitch velocity and trajectory. On Monday, Brindza and Gewirtz took PhillieBot out to the mound for its final test, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. After the press of a button, the robot's mechanical arm reared back and then moved toward home plate; at the top of its delivery, it flicked its mechanical "wrist" and shot the ball forward.
The ball appeared to be traveling no more than 30 or 40 miles an hour, the Inquirer reported. But that was by design, since the Phillies didn't want the pitch approaching Major League speeds.
Robots Enter Fukushima Reactors, Detect High Radiation
The Associated Press is reporting that two PackBot ground robots from iRobot have entered Unit 1 and Unit 3 of the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant and performed readings of temperature, oxygen levels, and radioactivity. The data from the robots, the first measurements inside the reactors in more than a month since a massive earthquake and tsunami damaged the plant, revealed high levels of radioactivity -- too high for humans to access the facilities. The remote-controlled robots entered the two reactors over the weekend. Details of the mission -- such as what areas of the reactors the robots inspected and from where they were operated -- are still scarce, but Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the plant's operator, said that the robots opened and closed "double doors and conducted surveys of the situation" inside the buildings.
ABB wins $120-million power transmission order in China
Jinping-Sunan UHVDC link to enable integration and transmission of renewable energy
Schilling Robotics sells three remote systems
Deep-ocean robotics manufacturer Schilling Robotics has sold three new remotely operated vehicle systems to contractor Subsea 7.
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Industrial Robotics - Featured Product
The piCOBOT Electric vacuum generator
Fully electric, slim design and absence of air-tubing and cabling. The new piCOBOT® Electric heads towards another success for Piab's piCOBOT® program. A secondary effect of these achievements is the absence of entangling air tubing and cabling. It simplifies the installation, and as the new piCOBOT® Electric only needs a single connection on the cobot arm, the clean set-up allows a completely unrestricted movement. The new piCOBOT® Electric package will contain plug & play software to fit UR e-series cobots, but many other useful adaptations will be introduced in the coming year
