The job market seems to be the #1 subject on people’s minds. And government has a role to play at many levels. We hope the role is helpful. But it’s not always so. The oil industry has known for many years that oil can be extracted from shale rock by heating it. But in the […]
Motion Control System Includes Solid-State, Embedded PC
Siemens announced that an embedded PC is now available for its Simotion® P320-3 motion control applications. Providing maintenance-free controls, the Simotion P320-3 brings the power and simplicity of a PC to motion control. The embedded PC, which features a DDR3 memory and an Intel Core2 processor, is free of wear from moving parts, such as […]
Adept and RMT Robotics on a golden road to the East
Adept recently acquired MobileRobots which provides mobile robotic platforms to RMT Robotics and their ADAM line of mobile robots. Finnish Cimcorp’s recently acquired RMT Robotics announced that it now provides the ADAM line to a Korean integrator, Hanwha TechM who, in turn, is reselling them to a US battery manufacturer. Adept ships big order of…
Superior Feedback Performance in Telerobotics
WITTENSTEIN has perfected its control loading products to provide realistic force feedback for the telerobotics market. Utilizing compact design and unique electronic linking, sidestick systems from WITTENSTEIN offer revolutionary reliability and realism for operators. WITTENSTEIN Aerospace & Simulation has been the control loading leader in the flight simulation market for more than a decade. The […]
Robots and the Future – Part 2
Robotics researchers have been pushing the envelope for the last 30 years since the inception of “artificial intelligence”. The basics of artificial intelligence programming is the modeling of human expertise and mimicking human behavior in a variety of circumstances. One aspect of artificial intelligence gave rise to expert systems. Complex systems like diesel locomotives are […]
Robotic Machining Cuts Part Lead-Time From Months To Days
Subtractive processes, often referred to as CNC machining, have not stood still in the rapid prototyping arena. Faster tool path generation is just one of the newer developments enabling machining to play a strong role in the rapid prototyping and direct digital manufacturing arena. Now, robotic machining has the potential to significantly affect the rapid […]
Iranian Robot Walks, Stands On One Leg
Researchers at Tehran University, in Iran, unveiled last month an adult-sized humanoid robot called Surena 2. The initial press reports in Iran’s official news media didn’t include many details, saying only it could “walk like a human being but at a slower pace” and perform some other tasks, and there were questions about the robot’s real […]
Sense, think and act: news about artificial intelligence
NY Times interviews Bina48: Q: What’s it like to be a robot? A: Well, I have never been anything else. “Many countries face pressure on their healthcare systems. To alleviate this pressure, ‘self care’ is often prescribed with the use of new, assistive technologies. Social robotics is a research area where psychology, robot technology and…
Notes from robotics research labs:
U of Leeds ROV finds a deep channel that runs along floor of Black Sea. U of Leeds also going Pyramid exploring with remote cameras and robotic drills. Formula 1 simulator uses robotic arm to provide physical affect to the visual experience. Robonaut2 getting packaged for its trip to the Space Lab. Follow it on…
Robots and the Future
In the field of Robotics, where is the line between between remote control, software control and autonomous control? (No, I’m not going after the consciousness thing, it’s way too complicated) Part of the problem may have to do with our use of the word “intelligence”. We talk about the increasing “intelligence” of processors and particularly […]
High-Torque Actuators Are Optimized For Speed & Strength
WITTENSTEIN announced the TPM+/TPM+ High Torque sizes 300/500. These sumo-sized actuators offer maximum rigidity and the highest torque combined with WITTENSTEIN’s signature compact design. The new sizes 300 and 500 meet the highest requirements concerning torque, compactness and dynamics. Features include high rigidity, extreme precision and excellent performance, making the TPM+ 300/500 actuators a fundamental […]
Giant Robotic Arm Simulates Driving a Ferrari
The hot-pink industrial arm whips you around while you sit in the driver’s seat This image shows the robotic arm Ferrari simulator without a steering wheel attached. The simulator includes a force-feedback steering wheel and pedals. Paolo Robuffo Giordano and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany, must really enjoy […]
Universal Robotics Lauches 3D Software Compatible With Webcams
Universal Robotics, Inc., a software engineering company, announced the launch of two simple-to-use 3D vision software products: Spatial Vision and Spatial Vision Robotics. The products can turn any pair of webcams into a highly accurate, cost-efficient 3D vision system that can be employed in virtually any setting without expensive equipment. With Spatial Vision and Spatial […]
Interactive Tools for Mechatronics
DOLPHIN Integration SA and Infolytica Corporation announced that their products for mixed signal simulation and electromagnetic field simulation now work together to perform mechatronic system simulation. SMASH software from DOLPHIN can directly simulate response surface models of electric motors generated in VHDL-AMS by MagNet or MotorSolve, from Infolytica, and can perform a system level simulation […]
Top 5 Electrical Considerations for Mechanical Engineers
Previously, we covered mechanical considerations for electrical engineers. Now, we give the other side a chance to speak. Here are five targeted pieces of advice for mechanical engineers responsible for electromechanical systems, from the perspective of an electrical engineer. Mechatronics systems intelligently integrate mechanical and electrical elements to perform increasingly complex and demanding functions. When […]
Mechatronics and Economics
Recently, I did some industry analysis on jobs and revenue. How many dollars of sales are required to “create or save” a job in a given industry. I only looked at a couple of industries and found that it ranged from $219,000 to $275,000 in sales for certain types of processed materials to employ a […]
Pendulum-Tail Robot Climbs Vertical Walls In Seconds
Wielding two claws, a motor and a tail that swings like a grandfather clock’s pendulum, a small robot named ROCR (“rocker”) scrambles up a carpeted, 8-foot wall in just over 15 seconds – the first such robot designed to climb efficiently and move like human rock climbers or apes swinging through trees. “While this robot […]
CBS News Sunday Morning Feature on Robots
Daniel Siebert reported on how robotic technology is becoming more than just science fiction and is changing our lives on a daily basis. “Enthusiasm for robots on the battlefield, it seems, is only outpaced by the speed with which the military is acquiring them,” says the author of “Wired for War,” P.W. Singer. Read Dwight…
Robotic Surgeries and Teleoperated Surgical Devices
The FDA approved Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci surgical system not as a robotic system but as a tele-manipulated medical device. Nevertheless, the device has been called a surgical robot by the press and also by Catherine Mohr, an Intuitive Surgical director (and professor at Stanford). Mohr recently wrote a Freakonomics NY Times piece explaining why…
Semicon 2010
This year’s semiconductor industry gathering, Semicon 2010 is over. And it was a good show with a lot of technical content targeted at the ongoing effort to achieve ever higher density parts. The forecast for 2010 and 2011 is for the highest growth levels in a decade. Certainly, at $295 Billion in projected sales for […]