industrial robot
Latest
Visualized: Kinetisphere takes Nexus Q into another dimension at Google I/O 2012 (video)
What you see here is arguably be the coolest thing on display at Google I/O 2012 -- an 8-foot, 300-pound Nexus Q replica (complete with LED ring visualizer) mounted on a robot arm. This interactive installation called Kinetisphere was designed and fabricated by San Francisco-based Bot & Dolly and is controlled by three stations each consisting of -- wait for it -- a Nexus Q device and a Nexus 7 tablet. How meta is that? One station controls the height of the sphere, another its angle, and a third lets you pick the pattern displayed on the LED ring. Of course, it's all carefully synchronized to music for maximum effect. We spent a few minutes talking with Jeff Linnell of Bot & Dolly about what went into the making of Kinetisphere. As it turns out, there's a lot more to the installation than a Kuka industrial robot, fiberglass, plywood and steel railing. In addition to using the Nexus Q and Nexus 7, the company combined its expertise in motion control and automation with Google's Android ADK 2012, Autodesk's Maya and even Linux. Take a look at our gallery below then hit the break for our video interview and a lovely behind-the-scenes clip.%Gallery-159352%
George Devol, creator of the first industrial robot arm dies at 99
He may not be a household name like Henry Ford, but it's arguable that George Devol's (above, right) work was even more influential in shaping the modern manufacturing landscape. In 1961, roughly seven years after first applying for the patent, his Unimate was put into service in a GE automobile plant. The world's first programmable, robotic arm was used to lift hot cast metal components out of a mold and stack them -- the assembly line has never been the same. Other companies soon followed suit, replacing expensive and fragile humans with mechanical labor. Devol died Thursday night in his home at the age of 99. If you're interested in getting a peek at his game-changing invention, you can find one at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. [Image credit: The Estate of George C. Devol]
Adept Quattro shows off terrifying speed, robotic precision (video)
See that blur in the image above? That'll be the Adept Quattro, a machine claiming the title of being the world's fastest industrial pick and place robot. On the evidence of today's video, we're not going to argue. Being demonstrated as part of the first National Robotics Week, the Quattro took on a WiiMote-controlled moving platform and still effortlessly conducted its job at a pace that would make even Usain Bolt feel inadequate. The person controlling the platform tries his best to confuse the machine with rapid changes of direction, but whatever he does, the chips are placed and removed from their repositories with unerring precision. Go past the break to see the Quattro in action.
Industrial robot arm pretends to do chores in Dyson's London pop-up shop
As Mariah Carey's song goes: "all I want for Christmas is a loyal house-cleaning robot." Okay, not quite, but we did become hopeful when we saw this photo taken inside Dyson's first London pop-up shop. Sadly, it turns out that the sole purpose of this prototype-testing robot arm is to constantly twist a DC24 vacuum cleaner -- presumably to show off just how great a dance partner your rug cleaner can be. If you've just had your wildest dreams shattered (trust us, we're right there with ya), feel free to pass on a petition to the Dyson engineers staffing that temporary shop -- you'll get to play with nine of their vacs and the Air Multiplier bladeless fan while you're there. You have until January 25th. Chop-chop! [Image courtesy of Mark Hattersley]
Chef Robot makes its video debut, nightmares forthcoming
Sure, a few still photos of the sushi-making Chef Robot now on display at the International Food Machinery and Technology Exhibition in Tokyo are all well and good, but there's nothing quite like a high def video to really bring all that creepiness home, and one has now surfaced courtesy of the brave folks at DigInfo. In case you missed it, the robot itself is actually just a standard issue FANUC M-430iA robot arm with a way too realistic hand attached to it, which apparently not only helps it prepare sushi, but some tasty desserts as well. Head on past the break for the must-see video, you've nothing to lose but your ability to unsee it.
Chef Robot makes sushi even more dangerous
If you're squeamish about eating sushi then we doubt this is going to help. Chef Robot, on display at the International Food Machinery and Technology Exhibition in Tokyo, is really just FANUC's M-430iA sanitary food and pharmaceutical robot with a fleshy appendage -- guess the rest of the human is right there on the serving tray. Soylent Green is people![Via TokyoMango]
Seegrid shows off autonomous Industrial Mobile Robot system
It looks like relative upstart Seegrid is doing its part to help robots snag a few more jobs normally reserved from us humans, with it now showing off its autonomous Industrial Mobile Robot system (or IMR), which promises to let self-navigating material handling vehicles work in environments that were previously not economically or technically feasible for them to serve. At the heart of the system is a beefed up "tugger" ordinarily used for pushing shopping carts around, which has been outfitted with four pairs of cheap CMOS cameras that are connected via plain old USB to the computer under the hood. That allows the bot to look around and build a 3D map of just about any area, which it can then follow to a tee over and over again. Head on past the break to check it out in action.[Via Engineering TV]
