High Flying Robot Companies in Michigan

Three integrators of robots and automation were gracious enough to see me for a quick road trip today through Michigan. While on the road I had a chance to catch up on the news and I heard an amazing story about an eagle in Juneau, Alaska that killed the power there when it got tangled in the electric grid as it went airborne with a deer head. 

Let that sink in for a moment. An eagle carrying a deer head? 

This was on my mind as I drove on I-94 eastbound from the southwest corner by Lake Michigan to Detroit. Lake effect snow was everywhere, piled high and getting deeper. Major stretches of roads were icing up, and I had just gained new insights into slick new robot technology for baking buns; for grinding masonry tools; and for automotive assembly.

The companies I saw (LeMatic in Jackson, Michigan, Hammond Roto-Finish in Kalamazoo, Michgian, and Dane Systems in Stevensville, Michigan), stoked me up with new stories to share, and I shall in the next few days. This is just a quick salute on a day that was marked by such a fantastic story about nature that it gave me some perspective for our own technological ambitions. One thing I’m learning first hand: RIA members sure know their stuff! Hope you’ll come back for more as I compile my notes.

Pre-Blog: Cool People in the Robot Biz

See the “blog” that started it all…

STATELINE, Ohio, January 16, 2006 – On the day marked by the Wii contest tragedy, which was preceded by four straight days of deluge and flooding in the Ohio Valley – and on the day an ice storm tracks cross country right past my head, the first and longest sentence that will ever appear herein is the beginnings of what will evolve into RIA’s first blog.