MIG Welding, Good Friends, Robots & Mike’s Hard Lemonade

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

My buddy, my friend, my good neighbor helped me MIG weld my car’s muffler back into place right after I got home from work on a quiet little Thursday. I don’t have the kind of expertise he does – in fact that was my first time ever welding. But I loved it. We got the bracket back on and then the muffler (he he-manned it back into place).

All this cost me was a few bottles of Mike’s Hard Lemonade and a pack of smokes. Considering the price of gas these days, that’s awfully good.

Speaking of good, I am fortunate to know some other welding experts. In fact some are kind of famous. One is Rich Litt, the president of Robotic Industries Association and a man who built the very successful and highly regarded business: Genesis Systems Group. He and many of his friends who know about robotics are among the most qualified experts in the business. Lucky for us, they decided to speak at Robots 2008.

Another good thing is that many people have already signed up for Robots 2008 and I know they won’t be disappointed; especially if they go to the conference presentations. Even if they don’t, they will see some of the most elite robotics companies at the small trade fair that goes with Robots 2008, and we’ll make sure everyone gets a chance to network and talk about possible solutions.

In many cases, people are signing up just for the tabletop trade fair and that’s great! They will be joined by scores of attendees that stroll over from The Vision Show. But, unlike those with a Vision Show only pass, these folks that pre-register for Robots 2008 can stay for a catered networking reception with exhibitors and speakers from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, June 11.

Our speakers will talk about important business issues that one must consider when looking at an upgrade from regular automation to robotics. In today’s economy robots should be a welcome addition to any enterprise thanks to how they help stabilize and improve a business so it can attract more work and keep people employed. The upshot is a better bottom line for everyone and that’s what we are going to hear about at Robots 2008.

There is much to talk about in Boston where the theme for Robots 2008 is “What’s Next.” We’ll touch on machine vision and even ways industrial and service robots are converging.

I hope you get your hotel room and airfare now. Register, too (Show only is $30; sessions start for under $300 for tutorials). Hurry — Boston is totally filling up with our show, The Vision Show and a medical related show. Hey students: call me if you want to give a poster session. See all you good people at Robots 2008!

(Call me at 734/994-608

Price War Favors Travelers to Robots 2008 in Boston

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

There is a price war right now for flights to Boston and Northwest started it.

I can’t thank them enough. This is just in time to book travel for Robots 2008 in Boston, June 10-12. Hotels are filling up fast, but the executive team at Robotic Industries Association is working tirelessly to open up new blocks as others fill. (Thank you, Jeff!)

Price drops on non-stop flights hit suddenly. My ticket to Robots 2008 in Boston was almost $300 cheaper on April 25 compared to what it was on April 23. Registration is growing fast, so I hope a lot of people see this blog in time to get their savings!

How fortunate – but odd – that just when it seemed like the economy might work against us the opposite is happening. Didn’t we all just hear that air fares are going up and airlines are cutting back?

Is this a move to bolster newly announced plans to merge Northwest and Delta? I don’t know. Maybe it’s a sign that now is the time to check out robots for your business.

Hurry – airline price wars never last long and are pretty rare these days. Now we’ve got one, and my ticket to Boston went down hard and fast. Lucky for me, RIA’s senior administrator of membership, Melissa Alderton (who is helping produce Robots 2008), found out how to redeem an airline voucher so we could pass the savings along to our company, Robotic Industries Association.

Don’t wait to get your flight to Boston for Robots 2008. Get a ticket while the airlines are smiling on travelers. I’ll be at Robots 2008 with a big smile of my own as some of the most influential people in the robotics industry assemble for high level meetings. (Welcome to Boston RIA Board!)

If ever there was the time or a place, June in Boston is it for “What’s Next” in robotics. It’s the theme of Robots 2008 which looks at new developments in Next Generation Robots, industrial robots and robot technology for the non-industrial world.

How Far Has Service Robotics Come in 25 Years?

By Jeff Burnstein, Executive Vice President, Robotic Industries Association

I attended the 5th annual RoboBusiness Conference in Pittsburgh to find out where service robotics is right now and what opportunities exist for RIA members. What I found is both encouraging and disappointing.

The encouraging news is that there clearly are some strong markets for robots in service industries (a broad term that I’m using to mean anything outside of the factory).  Military robotics, fueled by huge investments by the US Department of Defense, is one very hot market.  But, in his keynote address, Kevin Fahey of the Army noted that while funding is high now that could change when the war ends.  Still, given the successes of robots on the battlefield in operations such as clearing mines and detonating IEDs, it’s clear that robots have a growing role to play in the military.

On the other hand, it seems to me that the emerging service robot industry is for the most part just that:  emerging.  Many have forgotten, but RIA launched an International Personal Robot Association (later changed to International Service Robot Association) 25 years ago.  Joe Engelberger, the “father of robotics” and one of RIA’s founders, was a primary force in the creation of IPRA.  We held events in Albuquerque and San Francisco that were eerily similar in size to RoboBusiness (about 250 or so conference attendees, 900 or so total attendees when exhibits only audience is counted).  And, speakers talked about all the wonderful things robots would soon be doing in our homes and to help the elderly. 

All these years later, we do see robots in our home, but in very limited single function roles (vacuum cleaning, lawn mowing, floor cleaning and gutter cleaning and toys so far).  The goal of a multi-functional home robot still seems to be quite a distance away, although companies such as RoboSoft from France believe they can have something commercially available at an affordable price within a few years.  Others remain skeptical, believing a truly useful home servant would be very expensive and key technical challenges remain unsolved.

The aging global population is a key driver for developments in robots to assist the elderly and infirm.  The governments of South Korea and Japan, as well as companies in those countries, are spending a great deal of resources in this field.  And, I was grateful to see that former RIA Board Member Takeo Kanade of Carnegie Mellon has a new Quality of Life Technology Center at CMU, funded by the National Science Foundation. (www.qolt.org).  

But, I imagine Joe Engelberger, the earliest and most passionate proponent of service robots, is disappointed that his dreams for an elder care robot and a multi-functional home servant remain largely unrealized.  I hope that we’ll see both developments before another 25 years go by!

I’m convinced that the industrial robotics and service robotics communities have a great deal to learn from each other.  The industrial robotics companies have proven technology solutions and access to factory environments that would be invaluable to service robot companies.  The service robot companies have innovative technologies and access to markets outside the factory that represent new opportunities for industrial robotics companies.  In the months ahead, I will continue my discussions with key industry leaders from both communities to find more opportunities to work together with the goal of expanding the use of robotics to benefit everyone.

It’s a Great Time to be in Robotics

By Jeffrey A. Burnstein, Executive Vice President, Robotic Industries Association

I attended the 2008 Adept Global Conference in Livermore, CA last week.  John Dulchinos, Adept’s President, said this at the opening of the conference and I couldn’t agree more.  Despite concerns about the U.S. economy, the mood among the 250 or so attendees was very upbeat.  Great presentations highlighted the opportunities for robotics in areas such as medical equipment manufacturing, solar power, and food.  Many system integrators in the audience reported to me that customer demand for robotics was increasing.  With robot prices falling and capabilities increasing, the future for robotics looks very bright.  Adept is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.  Coincidentally, I’m celebrating my 25th year at RIA.  During this quarter-century, RIA and Adept have both seen their share of ups and downs.   Even in the worst of times, when RIA and the robotics industry (and possibly Adept) were left for dead, we’ve managed to recover and grow again.  So, while I have no doubt that there will be future bumps along the road, I’m very optimistic about the future of the industrial robotics industry (and RIA) and quite energized by all of the new market opportunities that are emerging, especially in non-automotive sectors.  Happy anniversary to Adept, and continued success to everyone involved in trying to drive the robotics industry forward!

Robotics Online 2.0 in the Making

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

Two weeks ago a contract was signed to re-do the Robotic Industries Association Web site. The agreement was the culmination of more than two years of study, committee input, database investigation, specifications writing, a few bidding rounds, and high powered consultation. Meanwhile at RIA, event management continued unwaveringly and membership grew both those years, especially in the user and integrator categories.

In the last two weeks, RIA and its Web developer (AIMG out of New Jersey) opened up the secret lab where ingredients were mixed to grow the DNA of the new Robotics Online site. The new site’s life will have its inspiration drawn from basic building blocks developed about four years ago by RIA’s MARCOM Committee. Also contributing to the magic is bits and pieces from the Statistics Committee, the Membership Committee, the New Markets Committee, the Education Committee, Board members and others with a stake in the robotics industry.

Even people who visited the old site (i.e. the one that’s up while I write this blog) contributed through survey input. The tradition of comprehensive inclusion continues.

Along with a rich heritage, big changes are at hand with the new site. For one thing, database interaction will be enhanced exponentially. Flood gates will open and more data than ever will transfer to site visitors and members. Members will have dashboard access to their corner of a site that is alive with thousands of visitors per day.

Visitors who always have been drawn to the site will have far more to be attracted to when it comes to robotics. Search aids will speed their navigation and increase their productive time on the site. Information will flow from far more sources as the Association enhances its database with more functionality. Results will be easier to get, ever more relevant and increasingly meaningful.

Stage one of the Web site is scheduled to role out in time for Robots 2008: What’s Next. More than 3,000 documents will be touched when it is done. Member’s Only access will be more than rewarding; it will be useful in running a business.

In the last two weeks, we here at the RIA lab have been working on deployment of a new Robotics Online Web site. It started with intense data mining, and will commence with a fury, building at the same time a marketing wave launches for Robots 2008 this June. Look out, cyber world and robot buffs everywhere; Robotics Online “two-point-oh” is in the making.

Tuning into Robotics: What’s Next?

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

According to lore, the U.S. Navy’s Aegis Missile Defense System owes much of its current status to guitarist Jeff Baxter of the rock band the Doobie Brothers. The band released songs in the 1980’s that continue to get airtime at contemporary and oldies rock stations today. Now, in a way, Jeff Baxter is helping us shoot down broken satellites before they fall into a China grove or California vineyard.

This was on my mind not long ago when the United States prepared to shoot down a newly launched and totally broken spy satellite. I sat in a Wendy’s restaurant at lunchtime reading about the first-ever mission to destroy a falling satellite with Aegis technology while “What a Fool Believes” by the Doobie Brothers played above me on the restaurant’s speakers.

You might remember that day. There was a full lunar eclipse in the evening. Also, NASA had just delivered a new, 30,000-pound addition to the International Space Station (the European Space Agency’s science lab module, “Columbus.”)

I find it fascinating that the satellite we shot down that day weighed about 10,000 pounds, and meanwhile the space station calls for nearly a million pounds of total mass by the time it is completed, but I digress.

Anyway, why blog about such a strange day in space exploration on a site devoted to robotics? Call it homage to my everlasting taste for funky music, space exploration and cool science, and how all these topics can sometimes come together in such spectacular ways.

For instance, did you know a Canadian-built robot called Dextre is on the roster of tenants for the space station? It is designed to work on the outside of the station and help minimize the need for manned space walks to perform dangerous and/or routine maintenance. (If all goes as planned, Dextre will be “onboard” the space station within days of this blog’s posting.)

With two arms, a torso of sorts and onboard vision, the robot is said to be very sophisticated and yet very basic. It is not some automaton with artificial intelligence, but rather a multi-axis, reprogrammable device that can use different tools and work remotely under the command of people who stay safe inside the orbiting vessel.

People right here on earth already use two-armed robots, and robots with machine vision, and specialized robots for handling hazardous or routine jobs. Thanks to decades of work on human-machine interfaces and tremendous advancements in cheap computing power, these machines are essential and commonplace at many businesses.

But robots will never take the place of artists and musicians; much less make inspirational jumps from the music studio to military think tanks.

Thanks in a way to the Doobie Brothers, we have some great old music and unmatched defense technology.

And thanks to some very smart and creative people in our industry, new and interesting robot applications are coming out all the time.

Speaking of interesting, some of the most successful people in the robotics industry belong to Robotic Industries Association, and as you might imagine, I hope one day you will join us. In fact, please come to Boston in the summer when we hold Robots 2008 “What’s Next” (click here for more details.)

Just for kicks and grins, how many song references can you find in this blog?

Learning from a Leader: Problem Solving with RIA President Rich Litt

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

Problem solving is one of your duties when you are president. I recently learned that Robotic Industries Association’s new President, Richard Litt of Genesis Systems, is a very tenacious problem solver and a man who pays great attention to detail.

Rich was at our headquarters this February in advance of a board meeting for RIA and its two sister associations. From a new Robotics Online Web site to industry seminars like Robots 2008 the next year will be full of big initiatives, and Rich and other top industry executives on the board provide leadership and guidance for our staff.

As it turns out, one little issue was really bugging Rich and he brought it up during our time together. Why, he wondered, did he get RIA newsletters in ugly, old, plain text? In the next few days he and the rest of the board would be addressing much bigger business issues, but I came to see he considered even this little detail to be very important. It wasn’t just an irritation to him; he knew it might be affecting others and inhibiting our ability to communicate.

So, this little detail became the focus of quite a bit of scrutiny while he was here. In the process, he pushed me and the rest of the staff to look beyond our assumptions.
 
You see, I was certain it had something to do with his computer settings. Robotics Online newsletters are sent by an e-mail client that offers plain text or html. This is a common setup for blast e-mail clients, because experience shows that some recipients can’t accept (or don’t want) html. The solution is to provide an option for plain text.

“It must be a function of settings on your computer,” I told Rich. “We don’t manually determine which way it gets delivered.”

I was as sure of myself as I could be. We checked with his IT staff and sent some experimental e-mails. For no obvious reason, this went fine for them – they got html no problem. Then he asked questions that led to curiosity about the form that is used to register for the newsletter, so we looked to see if a different answer could be found there. Sure enough, there is a setting on the form that allows you to pick html or plain text.

Here’s where it gets murky. It turns out this setting on that form is the equivalent to a broken link. Thanks to a glitch we didn’t know about: that part of the form does not talk directly to our e-mail client and therefore has no bearing on whether you get plain text or html. This line of investigation yielded a bit of a red herring, but on the other hand it helped us see the form was not doing what we thought it was and we can now fix it.

Tech support is on the case, and whatever else, this little detail raised a bigger issue: do other subscribers suffer from the same annoyance? I know I had some faulty assumptions. The implication is we should (probably) change the setting for others who get only plain text e-mails from RIA.

I’ve had just a few chances to spend quality time with Rich, but as I hear his stories and see how he works, I suspect one reason he has been so successful for so long is thanks to great attention to detail. Another thing I’ve learned is that he is a wealth of information on how to negotiate. (Ask him some day to explain how to drive a “Hard Bargain.” Don’t be surprised if the answer involves a Boston Whaler.)

You can find out for yourself how little details and a big perspective can lead to greater success for your company when RIA President, Rich Litt, speaks at Robots 2008 in June in Boston, Massachusetts. He and a very powerful lineup of RIA executives will be there to help robot users and integrators ask the right questions and make the best decisions for success with robotics in any business and any application.

Robots Keep Party Going for Many Companies

By Brian Huse, Director, Marketing & PR (RIA)

Potato chips and beer get very popular around Super Bowl Sunday, and in Modesto, California, there is a company that knows what it takes to keep the production lines running so the party never ends. Their customers bottle beer, package munchies and generate the power that pumps into your home so you won’t miss a single play while you watch your favorite game on TV.

Much of northern California can thank Industrial Electric Company for doing the repair work and field service that keeps the lines running at a slew of food and beverage companies. Founded in 1935 to repair electric motors, the company has grown and prospered through good times and bad, and along the way moved into technology such as PLCs (programmable logic controllers) and HMIs (human machine interfaces).

This busy company does warranty repair work on welders from RIA members Lincoln Electric and Miller Electric, rewinds AC and DC motors, fixes gearboxes and generators, and supports robotic work cells. Many of its customers are in the food industry, many of which need help not only with traditional automation but also the robots they are installing to handle tasks such as packing and palletizing.

Food and the agriculture business are the economic engines of this part of California. Like many places in the U.S., the economy is a big topic here, where just today (February 2, 200 an Oakdale Hershey plant closed its doors now that it has a new facility up and running in Mexico, but Industrial Electric is one of the bright spots of the region as it adapts to new customer needs and has expanded its workforce accordingly.

What I keep learning when I visit companies like Industrial Electric is that plants and factories all over the country are building new business on the advancements in automation within their customer base.

As the economy figures itself out for 2008, robots will be there to help companies control costs and improve productivity. Business will be good for those companies that can integrate robotics into their strategy, and a good network is one of the benefits offered by Robotic Industries Association.

In the spirit of full disclosure, if you are reading this you should know that my cousin works for Industrial Electric, and I’ve met others at his company when they came to the RIA seminar Robots 2006 in Las Vegas. It was my honor to have a grand tour of their Modesto headquarters while I was visiting my California friends and family – a little trip I tacked on to an RIA Membership Committee meeting earlier in the week.

It takes a good game plan, the ability to adapt, and lots of teamwork for any company in this industry to succeed. Any time Robotic Industries Association can be on your team, I’ll be there to help you make the most of your corporate membership benefits and networking opportunities. Feel free to contact me at 734/994-6088.

And if you think Industrial Electric can help you, contact Ron Forthun or Kevin Huse (209/527-2800) – and let them know where you heard about them.

Terminator Outrage: Fox TV Renews Old Prejudices Against Robots..?

By Brian Huse, Director, Marketing & PR (RIA)

With the reincarnation of Terminator as a 2008 Fox TV series, it crossed my mind that Robotic Industries Association might want to grab some publicity by attacking the series.

“We deplore the unrealistic depiction of robots as time traveling, violent machines that will doom humankind! Robots are nothing like the science fiction creatures on this show, and it does a disservice to the public by fomenting ill will against a class of machine that has improved quality of life for today’s society.” (Insert righteous indignation here.)

The Association would go on and on making the case for robots, and all the while its real intention would be to capitalize on the public interest and free publicity that comes from having a fit about a well-promoted but silly TV program.

CNN would pick up RIA’s press releases. Talk show hosts, desperate for guests during the writers’ strike, would invite RIA executives to appear and have an honest discussion of the nature of robots. The Association would gain unprecedented exposure which would allow it to serve the industry better and raise awareness about the Association and its members.

Genius!

But really – can anyone take this show that seriously?

In my youth, I liked the Terminator movies which were among Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most famous box office smashes. These movies may have poisoned public opinion against robots in some ways, but that was more than 20 years ago. Since then, industrial robots have shown just how practical they are, and in the process have gotten a lot of good press. They’ve even starred in Super Bowl commercials.

Most robots are the kind found in factories and other industrial settings, and they have more than proven their value. Robots are used to handle everything from bricks to food to nuclear waste. They work on orthodontic braces, prostates and knee joints. Most times, they remove people from dirty, dangerous and dull jobs where risk is high for personal injury.

Today, most people recognize that without advanced automation, entire factories will relocate offshore. And even there, some products can’t compete without the quality only robots can guarantee with consistency and cost savings, so it is not uncommon to see robots in China, India, South Africa and other places with emerging economies.
 
Of course military and first responders use robots today in ways not possible back when Arnold was strutting around Hollywood sets as a cyborg. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have generated stories about unmanned vehicles, and robots have been used for search and recovery efforts at disaster sites that range from the Twin Towers to Pennsylvania coal mines.

How easy it would be to twist a few examples of wheeled or winged “robots” into an argument for what the Terminator movie franchise stands for – although in my opinion the real story of the Terminator trilogy is not about blaming robots for man’s ultimate demise. They are just action flicks that rely on an old crutch about man’s fear of technology. More importantly, they gave us the well-worn catch phrase: “I’ll be back.”

In the real world, robots are not time traveling cyborgs. They are useful machines on factory floors, or remote tools that help with maintenance at power plants, or even an aid to surgeons and medical technicians. They are special machines that help improve a product and how it is made, but not more special than people and never will be.

For instance, writers will never be replaced by robots. Nor will the establishment be overtaken by robots. Ironically, as 2008 begins, professional writers for the entertainment industry are in a struggle with the establishment as demonstrated by the strike begun in November 2007 by the Writers Guild of America. But, they did bring us this show and if you’re still interested, here’s a link to a critic’s view of it on Entertainment Weekly: “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”: Robot Reboot. Enjoy!

Holiday Style: Robot & Automation Partners of RIA

By Brian Huse, Director, Marketing & PR (RIA)

One way to celebrate a holiday is with a brand new company. DE-STA-CO, a member of Robotic Industries Association for six years, is doing just that – giving themselves the gift of CAMCO-Ferguson – two well-known brands in the automation business.

DE-STA-CO works lean and fills orders the old fashioned way: people helping people. This is made possible by offering everything from clamps and work holding devices of all kinds, to index machines, conveyors and modular automation which of course includes high-tech robots.

Quietly filling more and more holes in the design and build end of the robotics industry, DE-STA-CO now has new “toys” to incorporate into their whole.

With this latest acquisition, the management is blessed with the chance to combine mutual advantages and utilize unique expertise from each part of its new and current business.

For its customers, DE-STA-CO plans to incorporate CAMCO and Ferguson products so they can quickly go from concept to build. These services and products are linked by a company that spans contienents and unites international production technology.

It had been relatively quiet in the automation industry lately. There was a time not long ago when companies were on buying sprees. Then the landscape changed and most companies were looking at ways to capitalize on current assets. Now, it only makes sense to perk up and take notice of the developments at DE-STA-CO.

It was four days before Christmas when I had the opportunity to learn more about this news. I met with John Bubnickovich, Director of Marketing, to see about developments at a newly jumping DE-STA-CO where a good situation is poised to send happy ripples throughout the area.

Speaking of areas, I had a pretty standard Detroit Metro commute on this day to see this special member of RIA. I arrived after fighting through heavy traffic on a cold winter day. The end of the commute was punctuated with the ever impressive sight of the Pontiac Silverdome (once proud home of the Detroit Lions, Monster Jams and even a Led Zeppelin concert), which is just down the road from DE-STA-CO’s headquarters.

The ride and the visit gave me much to think about. I was happy my ultimate destination was a company in a happy position for the new year. It is an honor to spend time with leaders in automation, so I am grateful I had the chance to visit with John. It reminds me that all our members have important business and a competitive landscape that can’t help but produce world-class players.

My best wishes go to all our prestigious members this holiday season, and my hope is that for each and every one the business in 2008 is as strong or stronger than ever. It is always good to hear of someone’s success, so here’s to DE-STA-CO, and here’s to every member of Robotic Industries Association with wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year.