Robots Save Lives on July 4 and Year Round

By Brian Huse, Director, Marketing & PR, Robotic Industries Association

New bomb disposal robot bought for the DuPage County Sheriff's Hazardous Devices Unit. Source: Daily Herald.

When America celebrates Independence Day on July 4, the country can take great pride that an American (and ex-Navy man) developed and installed the first industrial robot which paved the way for the freedom of workers from dangerous places. In July, as revelers spark off fireworks to celebrate freedom, they can take comfort in the knowledge that bomb disposal robots are working in the background to keep the public safe from bad endings with explosive devices.

Robots have one primary job: keep people safe. It started in 1962 when General Motors installed its first robot. At the time, people were expected to work in notoriously hot and dangerous environments where all too often the air was thick with contaminants. Lives and limbs were sacrificed in the name of manufacturing progress. The “Father of Robotics,” Joseph Engelberger wanted to change that.

His first commercially installed robot worked in the hot, miserable environment of a die casting operation at GM. Eventually, robots made it over to welding work cells and into paint booths and many other places not kind to worker health. This is what robots are built for: to serve as mechanical substitutes where the job is dirty, dangerous and just plain drudgery with no relief.

Some four decades after hitting the factory floor, robots are in cities across the nation working side-by-side with first responders. Like mules, they are beasts of burden, but unlike their equestrian counterparts, they have no feelings to hurt; no pain to feel; no mind at all. They are quite versatile and useful, but if one gets blown apart in the course of its duties . . . well, that’s no skin off its operator.

You’ll see robots in hospitals, labs, schools and many other non-industrial places. In every instance, human safety will be enhanced. And in DuPage, Illinois (near Chicago), a robot is on call for the next time the sheriff’s department responds to a suspicious package (maybe even illegal fireworks). Americans (and people all over the world) can celebrate the fact robots can free first responders from life threatening situations.

What Will Robots be Like in the Future?

By Brian Huse, Director, Marketing & PR, Robotic Industries Association

What do you think robots will be doing in the future? Often, people wonder how robots will be a part of our everyday lives. Sometimes, a glimpse of the answer comes in the healthcare sector or even the movies.

Robots have long been a part of the hospital landscape, but encounters with hospital robots still make for good news. One example comes from Michigan, where a stroke victim received faster, better medical care thanks to a robot that connected specialists to the patient even though they were physically miles apart. (See “Robots help save lives, care for stroke patients.”)

The “Father of Robotics” would be proud to know of this story. Joseph Engelberger installed the first industrial robot at GM in 1962. After accomplishing great success in the factory setting, he went on to pioneer robots that served as transporters in hospitals. Service robots became his passion, and he proved the economic feasibility of using this technology by leasing it, which is now common practice.

Perhaps one day you will lease a robot like you do a car. In fact, automobiles may be robots one day. Hello, Transformers! In an inside out sort of way, this Hollywood movie franchise might be a harbinger of things to come. We already have cars that can park themselves, provide cruise control and offer GPS tracking. Would you be surprised if adaptive cruise control with GPS tracking might lead to autopilot for cars and trucks?

Imagine an infrastructure that routes vehicles more efficiently and eases traffic congestion based on technology from robotics. It could help with everything from city planning to improvements in safety.

Do you have ideas on what might be next for robotics? Leave your thoughts here. We’d love to hear from you.

New (2009) Robotics Industry Directory Examines Green Manufacturing

By Brian Huse, Director, Marketing & PR, Robotic Industries Association

Green manufacturing is still a young trend that requires new thinking, and robots are coming into their prime just in time to solve issues related to environmental responsibility – a topic explored in the new, 2009 Robotics Industry Directory. Copies are shipped free to qualified subscribers who request it from Robotics Online.

Published with environmentally friendly ink on recycled paper, this members-only Directory from Robotic Industries Association has 214 listings. It is filled with unique information about top makers of robots and accessories. Included is a one-of-a-kind “User’s Guide to Robot Systems Integrators.”

This book might be a real collector’s edition, too. Future versions may be quite different or published as flash files. One thing that makes this one so valuable is who’s listed. There are companies with 10, 20 and 30 years or more of membership in the Association. Some of the people listed are legends who pioneered what is now the current state-of-the-industry, and every page leads you to a member that can deal with today’s business concerns.

Why focus on green manufacturing? Robots play a pivotal role in the manufacturing process of everything from solar cells to the blades on wind turbines. On top of that, they help companies improve quality and efficiency which reduces environmental impact from things like waste, re-work and energy expenditure.

Economic development departments and governments around the world can use robots to gain an edge in their efforts to achieve leadership in renewable and alternative energy. Part of the economic growth in this new green era will entail high-technology jobs including robotics.

Robotic Industries Association publishes many resources to help today’s business leaders innovate and automate. From the printed Directory to Robotics Online to a twice monthly newsletter, options are many and convenient. Go to www.robotics.org for more on green manufacturing articles, RIA member listings and news about industry events and new products.

Robot Kitchen – People are the Most Important Ingredient

Guest blog courtesy of Joanne Pransky, who for more than 20 years has worked in the robotics industry to help bridge the gap between the make-believe and the real, focusing on the evolving societal changes brought about by robots.

The long-term success of the U.S. robot industry is in part due to the public’s perception of robots depicted by the media. Even when engineering managers at a manufacturing plant can economically justify the benefits of robotic automation to their higher-ups, if the company’s financial decision makers have a preconceived, negative view of robots (e.g., based on what they see or hear on television or in the movies, or read in mainstream publications), it is certainly much more challenging to change these erroneous views and to re-educate executives as to what is robot fiction and what is robo-fact.

Even one-minute television commercials in which robotics are misrepresented can leave a long lasting false impression, though unbeknownst to the public. 

Take the famous (I consider “infamous” to be a more accurate description) “Suicide Robot” commercial that premiered for an automaker during Super Bowl 2007. This $5.2 million spot, created by the ad agency Deutsch L.A., in collaboration with their client’s marketing executives at a cost of many more additional millions of dollars, featured a robot who dreamt he committed suicide as a result of getting fired from dropping a screw which caused a production line to shut down.

There are many reasons a robot can “drop” a bolt, with none of them being the robot’s fault. Perhaps it was a programming error or end-effector mechanical issue, but regardless, it most certainly was a problem due to human error. 

Another ad, that just recently aired, also shows a major U.S. public company’s lack of knowledge of the use and benefits of robotic automation. Denny’s, in an effort to show-off its new hand-made Grand Slamwich instead “slams” robots and automation with the invalid myth of “Fight the machines. The humans will win.” Two commercial spots, one 30 seconds and the other 15, show a large robot arm making the sandwich in an industrial processed manner in which each ingredient (eggs, meat, bread) is stamped out the same. The monotone robotic voice says, “There’s meat substitute, there’s cheese substitute, ever think there might one day be a human substitute?….Breakfast has been taken over by the machines…Fight back with the real breakfast sandwich made with real cooks.”

“Real cooks,” the ad shows, as in human cooks who aren’t wearing real (or any) gloves. Isn’t that how we all like our food? With strange, unprotected human hands touching our bacon and cutting our sandwich? Denny’s, is food “aesthetics” more important to you than safe food handling?

Apparently Denny’s doesn’t know that food-handling companies already use robot automation to achieve the same results as the human touch. Pepperidge Farm, with its award winning innovative use of robots and machine vision, purposefully puts their two halves of Milano sandwich cookies imperfectly together to make them look naturally homemade.

McDonald’s uses robotics for its fries to also look like the human touch – a heaping bunch of French fries with the proper weight and no overage is inserted into a box or bag in the same random fashion as if a human had put them in.

How ‘bout a human that can earn more than $40 per hour running the robots instead of minimum wage in food preparation? 

Denny’s marketing execs, I invite you to attend the upcoming International Robots, Vision, and Motion Control Show this June to learn the reality about robots and how robotic automation can help you to increase your product quality and reduce your costs.

At the very least, learn from other’s mistake – before spending millions on television commercials, you should consider having your ad agencies communicate with your engineers in order to get the proper message out to the public.

Editor’s Note:

Ms. Pransky is Moderator for Session 8: The Latest Advances in Service Robotics, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, June 10, at the International Robots, Vision & Motion Control Conference (full agenda).

As a Robotics Industry Ambassador, Joanne’s mission is to facilitate the integration of robots into everyday life – helping people understand the emotional and psychological aspects of a technology that will have more of an impact on their lives than the automobile, PC, and the internet. Joanne has researched and lectured nationally and internationally on issues concerning the human/robot relationship since 1986, and has appeared on television and radio. She will be among the many attendees this year at the International Robots, Vision & Motion Control Show, June 9-11, in Rosemont (Chicago), Illinois. 

A Wave of Good News: What is the Impact?

By Jeff Burnstein, President, RIA

Until very recently we’ve been inundated with bad news on many fronts. Instability in Pakistan and Afghanistan. High unemployment in the U.S. Chrysler declaring bankruptcy. GM still on life support. Swine Flu raging. Robotics sales down dramatically.

Yet, in the past few days, we’ve seen a wave of good news. U.S. stock market rallying. Demand for India’s Tata Motors’ new $2000 Nano car very high. Ford re-tooling and re-opening a shutered factory. Apparently no major U.S. banks in danger of insolvency. U.S. housing market stabilizing. New jobless claims in U.S. falling.

What does it all mean? How do our members factor in these conflicting developments to a rationale plan to forecast the future of their business?

Will the wave of good news clean up all the damage from the bad news? Or, will the bad news continue to spoil the business landscape like an oil spill that won’t easily wash away?

Most pundits now say that the long awaited economic recovery is in sight. If not in the latter half of 2009, then very likely in 2010. Yet, they predict it will be a weak recovery, no sharp acceleration of business.

And yet, I wonder if the conventional wisdom is right since it changes so quickly these days. Two days ago swine flu was on the verge of becoming a worldwide pandemic. You couldn’t turn on any news outlet without this being one of the top two stories. Today, it’s barely mentioned.

A few days ago I read financial stories on how “cash is king” in the investing world. Today, holding cash appears riskier than being invested in equities.

The world changes more quickly than the so-called experts can react. While the conventional wisdom may indeed be correct this time and the reovery, when it comes, will be weak, it’s also possible they are wrong and that the recovery will be stronger than expected. The downturn certainly was — I don’t remember any conventional wisdom warning us that business was going to fall off a cliff in late 2008 early 2009 (though some individual forecasters may have had it right).

As we make our own plans and assumptions for the remainder of 2009 and 2010, we will factor in the conventional wisdom of a weak recovery. But, we also will make sure we’re prepared for a stronger recovery fueled by the waves of good news that could be forming behind the current wave.

What plans are you making for the recovery?

“FQF” (Favorite Quote Friday) . . . We Will Recover

“Hang in there – Americans are starting to get this whole thing and we will recover,” Dale Trudell, Vice President, New London Engineering.

. . . nicely said, Dale! Thanks (Brian Huse, Director, Marketing & PR, Robotic Industries Association).

Strategic Planning Without Pre-Conceived Notions

By Jeff Burnstein, RIA President

During the current economic crisis, I imagine just about every company is going through the process of strategic planning.  I know that our associations are (RIA, AIA, and MCA) in order to make sure that our activities line-up with the current and future needs of the membership and the industries we serve.

One of the most difficult problems right now is that we’re in uncharted waters.  As one of our members pointed out, we have no forecasting tools to model the present situation.  How long will the downturn last?  What will the situation be “on the other side” of the crisis?  How much manufacturing will disappear?  What new opportunities will be created?

Is the past truly prologue in the current situation?  Can we look back at previous downturns and make accurate guesses about the future?  Are the solutions we came up with in the past to survive and ultimately thrive relevant this time around?

As we begin our strategic planning process, we have no pre-conceived notions.  We won’t say that “we tried that in the past and it didn’t work” or conversely, “we did this in the past and know that it will work.”    Everything is on the table – every activity, every event, everything!

One of the benefits of this approach is that every new idea is being looked at very closely.  So, I urge each one of you reading this blog to send me your thoughts:  what would you like to see from RIA in the future?  What activities would most benefit your organization?

Now is the time to offer your ideas.  I can assure you they will be fully considered by our strategic planning committee.

Uptick in Robotics and Job News from Robotic Industries Association

By Brian Huse, Director, Marketing & Public Relations, Robotic Industries Association

 

Some good news in the global economy is spreading from Japan to the U.S. and it involves robot company FANUC. According to a Reuters report dated March 23, 2009, FANUC, which is an elite Platinum member of Robotic Industries Association, is one of two top “positive contributors to the Nikkei 225.” (The other company cited as a top contributor for this period is Kyocera.)

 

A weaker yen that helps exports is part of the equation for Japanese companies, but markets also got a boost this week from new details by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner about how the Obama administration will remove troubled assets from the banking system.

 

Certainly the auto industry, which needs a healthy lending market, perked up when Geithner spoke about details to bolster the troubled banking market. The robotics industry is as international as it gets, and no doubt the stories from Tokyo and Washington D.C. are connected.

 

Anything that pushes the needle to the positive side is good for a quick post on Robots in America, the blog site of Robotic Industries Association. RIA also publishes Robotics Online, the most concentrated source of news in the robotics industry. News and information is posted by members of Robotic Industries Association and that gives the site and its members an inside track on important developments in the industry.

 

Ford Workers Get Reprieve in Cleveland

Sometimes, RIA staff gets unique bits and pieces of news to share online as well. It has been said that Ford (a longtime member of RIA but not the source of this tip) is preparing to reopen its Cleveland Engine Plant where it will begin production of its new EcoBoost engines. (Postings from AOL give this report credence.) This is great news for the Buckeye state where jobs are so closely tied to the automotive industry.

 

RIA Career Center Welcomes Résumés

Any time people go back to work it merits a spot in a good news column. For those looking for work, RIA provides a Career Center in Robotics Online where resumes can be posted free. RIA’s Career Center is especially good for connecting workers with specialized skills in the robotics industry.

 

RIA has a special place for companies with a stake in the North American robotics industry. Membership comes with sales and marketing benefits, great public relations opportunities and unmatched networking advantages. Add Robotics Online to your favorites and leave comments on Robots in America when you have something to share.

 

Spring is here – a time for renewed hope for a stronger economy and we want to help you spread your good news. Give us a try and thanks for reading..!

 

Brian Huse can be reached at 734/994-6088.

Notes from Barcelona

By Jeff Burnstein, RIA President

I recently returned from the 40th ISR in Barcelona where RIA presented its annual Engelberger Robotics Awards.

Shoppers crowd Barcelona's beautiful pedestrian-friendly streets.

 It was a very interesting few days.  Here is some of what I learned:

*The International Symposium on Robotics continues to attract devoted followers, a good sign for all of us in robotics.  More than 250 people attended this year’s event, a remarkable accomplishment considering the present global financial situation.  Professor Luis Basanez of the Technical University of Catalonia and everyone else involved with the event should be congratulated.

*Trade shows in Europe, like those in the U.S, are likely to be smaller this year than in the past.  The MAQUITEC 2009 show that accompanied the ISR conference was reportedly down by more than half this year over previous years.  It was mostly a machine tool show, though some major robot vendors participated.  

*Everyone I spoke to is worried about 2009.  Yet, there was widespread optimism about the future of the robotics industry once we emerge from this crisis.  Enormous opportunities still exist!

*Tourism, shopping, eating out – these things are not dead!  Barcelona looked very busy to me as I walked around the tourist areas near my hotel.  Consumer spending is a key element in turning the global economy around, so this was a hopeful sign.

*For those of you who haven’t been to Barcelona, it’s one of the most beautiful and vibrant cities I’ve ever had the privilege to visit.  I definitely hope to return when I have more free time to explore the city and other areas in Spain.

*Sometimes it’s better if you don’t speak the local language.  I speak no Spanish, so always had to find someone who spoke English to help me out.  I would often just ask these people to pick something for me from the menu – each time I did this, the results were superb!

*Sometimes not speaking the local language can be a real problem.  Our cab driver, despite having the address of the location for the Engelberger Award Ceremony, tried to drop us off blocks away.  Fortunately, Don Vincent and I had been to the site earlier and knew this was the wrong place.  We finally convinced the driver, who ultimately took us to the right location, saving us many blocks of walking and anxious moments!

*The importance of the Engelberger Awards to the recipients cannot be overstated.  Dr. Robin Felder, this year’s winner for Leadership, shared with me at dinner how long he has hoped to win this award and what it means to him.  I know Professor Hirose, this year’s other recipient, also shares that view.  It’s great to see the high regard in which this award is held throughout the world.

A special thanks to Rich Litt, RIA Chairman, and Don Vincent, RIA’s Executive Vice President Emeritus, for the outstanding job they did in presenting this year’s awards.

Harley-Davidson Rides Robots for Growing Demand on New Tri Glide

Harley-Davidson leads the way at President Barack Obama's inauguration parade with new Tri Glide Ultra Classic

By Brian Huse, Director, Marketing & PR, Robotic Industries Association

RIA member Harley-Davidson has a good news story with their new Tri Glide Ultra Classic, a three-wheel motorcycle just launched in June of 2008 and enjoying growing demand today. If you watched President Barack Obama’s inauguration you would have seen a formation of Harley-Davidson police motorcycles with side-cars (on robotically welded frames) led by the new Tri Glide Ultra Classic police version of its new trike.

 

Demand for the Tri Glide is up and Harley-Davidson is increasing capacity. Their company took steps last year to control costs and appear to be coping with the economic downturn far better than their automotive counterparts. Robots help Harley-Davidson meet quality goals and help them control costs.

 

Mike Kunkle, a Senior Manufacturing Engineer with Harley-Davidson, has contributed his time and talent to Robotic Industries Association on the R15.06 Standards Committee and as a member of its Board of Directors for more than seven years. RIA is proud to have Harley-Davidson as a member and Mike as a guiding influence for Association activities.

 

RIA salutes this great American company and its commitment to robots and robot safety. It is truly good news to hear their company is experiencing a smoother ride than most in today’s bumpy economy.