If Your 2011 was Good, 2012 will be Better

By Mark T. Hoske, Control Engineering

Outlook for automation growth in the U.S. is strong for 2012, and if you’re in a technology business that did well in 2011, you’re likely to do well in 2012 also, suggested Alan Beaulieu, president, Institute for Trend Research (ITR), in a Jan. 19 keynote presentation at the Robotics Industry Forum, AIA Business Conference, and MCA Business Conference, in Orlando, Fla. Beaulieu (and others at the meeting) emphasized that automation helps companies become more efficient. “It will be a good decade for automation,” which helps companies be more productive and efficient even during tough economic times, Beaulieu explained.

Among U.S. concerns, Beaulieu said, debt payments continue to grow within federal budgets, as overspending continues. Now debt is 120% of GDP, the highest since WWII, with no remedy (and none of the large post-war growth potential) in sight, he said. Businesses need to invest now, adding talent and efficiencies to prepare for a possible mild recession in 2014, a larger one in 2019, and a possible depression by 2030.

Read the original article in its entirety at Control Engineering. What are your thoughts about the future of automation? From the business level, are you seeing the same patterns for growth that Alan Beaulieu sees? What are your suggestions for continuing stability in uncertain economic times?

You can explore more research from the Institute for Trend Research at the ITR webpage. The Robotics Industry Forum is an annual members-only conference co-located with the AIA Business Conference and MCA Business Conference. If you don’t want to miss another exciting year, you can learn more about membership on the RIA website. We hope you’ll join us next year for another record-breaking event!

Originally posted 01/07/2012 on Robotics Online.

Manufacturers and processors of anything from snack foods to automobiles are being driven to offer higher levels of variety in what they offer their customers. Invariably, supply chain power is shifting to buyers and consumers. This shift has been driven by numerous factors including the proliferation of information available to shoppers on all forms of digital devises effectively creating larger consideration sets. As the choices have increased, sellers and ultimately suppliers are forced to increasingly adhere to fads and rapidly changing consumer sentiment to retain market share. If we were to define the optimal supply chain to meet this trend it would be one where any item, no matter its level of complexity, would be produced on demand. Further, even the most commoditized and low costs items such as confectionary would be produced in a batch size of one to permit mass customization. This would enable a buyer to select a picture of the family dog from their iPad, upload it to a manufacturer’s website and a few days later a delivery van would arrive at your door with a box of chocolates each in the shape of Scruffy.

Markets are best served by catering to the individual tastes and preferences of the consumer. Therefore, we are beholden to understand how manufacturing must adapt to move past today’s batch processes to achieve a batch size of one. The innovation required to enable manufacturers to offer this, the ultimate level of production flexibility, will be drawn from fast-paced/cutting edge/advanced industries such as gaming and information technology.

Enter cloud manufacturing as technologies exist in all facets of packaging, labeling and decorating product to permit rapid change of color patterns and form. The pacing item is process control and ultimately the information from the consumer. And with the unprecidented speed of digital connections between people and the commercial world through social networks and alike, this valuable information can now be made more quickly/easily available to manufacturers through the cloud. Cloud manufacturing represents the convergence of information, learned processes, and intelligent motion or activity.

Definition
Cloud Manufacturing is a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable manufacturing resources (e.g., robotics, control systems, networks, applications, and services) permitting the comparison of digital process control with physical operation. The networking of sensory input, databases, and computing resources facilitates the management of sufficient data to recognize complex patterns and execute algorithms to evolve behaviors. Reconciliation of environmental conditions and information available in the cloud permits mechatronics to serve as the conduit between the digital and physical world.

Dynamic Process Control
To illustrate the concept, consider a robot tasked with dispensing icing on a cake. Today a robot is programmed to process certain patterns and graphics taught by its user. The robot would be outfitted with the ability to dispense various colors with different nozzles and the system would produce cakes with various images. In a highly controlled environment, a cell with set programmed paths will produce the images without incident. However, what happens if the environment and/or process changes. Consider the impact of the following:

• Viscosity of the icing
• Temperature within the facility
• Humidity

Viscosity of the icing is critical and most closely controlled. To keep the viscosity the same, the cake decorator is most likely locked into a single supplier to ensure consistency. In the event that the decorator produces his or her own icing, the level of process control to maintain the consistency is costly.

Temperatures in facilities affect a large number of parameters in the process. If the cake is cooled in ambient conditions it is subject to the changes in the plant’s temperature, which may impact the dimensions of the cake when it comes to the automated decorating station. If the icing sits in the delivery system for a period of time and the facility’s temperature varies day to day, the viscosity and properties of the icing are altered in kind.

Like temperature, humidity can impact numerous steps in the process. A higher level of moisture in the batter during one shift changes how the cake rises or its dimensions as it cools from the cakes produced the previous shift.

In some cases simple localized sensory input can adjust for environmental changes. If the cake height changes due to temperature, humidity, or upstream process changes, a variety of sensors could provide an input to the robot to offset the dispense height to accommodate the change. This signifies a defined rule-based solution and is far from complex.

Viscosity can be measured though numerous sensing devises located in the delivery equipment or lines. With the appropriate delivery mechanisms, the manner in which the icing is pumped through the lines and ultimately though each nozzle can be profiled and managed to adjust for the changes in viscosity.

Therefore, it would appear through a rule-based system and the implementation of sensors that the cake-decorating system can accommodate environmental changes, correct? Not so fast. As humidity changes and temperature goes up or down the icing exhibits different properties of adhesion and set-up. So, while the robot is dispensing at the right height and the right volume, the desired flower image changes from a carnation to a dandelion. The interaction of the various environmental factors and effects now represent complex patterns.

When the inputs or variables become sufficiently large, this model exceeds what manageable rule-based solutions are capable of solving. In our cake-decorating example we are now going to add 3D vision which will record the decorated cake. The image will be analyzed with set parameters to determine if the critical features are within spec. The image will be correlated to environmental data to catalog plant temperature, humidity, icing, viscosity, cake height, and any other inputs we care to monitor. As the process compares predicted outcomes to actual outcomes, the system has the ability to dynamically adjust the process. Over time as patterns develop with the information, the process will evolve to where for all combinations of environmental conditions the system will learn how to modify the path of the robot to reliable draw a carnation.

Cloud manufacturing enables machine learning given the networking of expected results or those stored in a database, input from what is observed in the environment, and comparison of the predicted outcome with the actual. In this model, the robotic system is the networking device that provides sensory input and ultimately uses the information processed in the cloud to intelligently process the part. Hence the robots act as the connection between the digital and physical.

Batch Size of One
Let’s continue with our example of decorating cakes and return to the desire to personalize products for each individual consumer. The concept of cloud manufacturing allows access to a network where the consumer resides. In a basic model our baker has a website where a customer can upload a photo of their child playing lacrosse with the expectation that this photo will be reproduced on a birthday cake. This is a simple printing process for our baker, and there are web services that provide this service. But our baker wants to reproduce this image with depth to it as opposed to having it solely in one dimension like a photo.

When the system was set-up to make a carnation the decorator had programmed the robot to dispense the icing at a specified rate, in the right place, at a precise angle, and for the appropriate amount of time so that it created a layer of the image. It would continue to make layers of the icing on the cake’s surface until it produced the desired pattern and image. It is unlikely that this was a one pass programming effort, most likely it took time and refinement, (and many cakes) to get an image that would finally meet the decorator’s artistic standards.
The challenge with the baker’s business model is that the decorator won’t have the luxury of processing the lacrosse picture numerous times due to the material loss and decorating machine availability required to tune the system for set-up.

Once again, we find a scenario where the patterns and data set are so large that it moves beyond where rule-based programming is feasible. Over time and through iterations, a database will eventually be built and the behavior of the decorating machine will evolve to where the interaction with the icing already deposited and that coming from the nozzle will be understood and the robot can process accordingly.

Reduction in Programming
To realize greater flexibility, manufacturing has come to depend on robotic automation to deliver incrementally better levels of customization for production and packaging. One of the greatest barriers to deployment and the largest complaint from users of industrial robots is the programming. Many have asked why they must become proficient in dedicated languages to accomplish moderately straight forward tasks using robots or mechatronics as a whole. The cloud offers solutions to these challenges today and offers even greater promise for the future.

Manufacturers have used networks in the manner defined by cloud computing where programs are stored remotely and shared across networks. If a cell installed in California is to be replicated in Beijing, a back-up located on a server is transferred to the machine, a calibration routine is implemented, and the program is shared. This effectively enables an operator in China to leverage the development or work done by a programmer in California. As languages become increasingly open, algorithms and canned routines will be available in the cloud so that programmers can pull blocks as opposed to always having to program from scratch.

Machines are just beginning to gain the ability to search for these blocks and with certain conditions implement them to affect their activities dynamically. In another example, a recycling plant uses robots to pick glass from a paper line. Today the robot is programmed to identify and remove hundreds of unique types of glass and sort them for optimal recycling. The robot determines all the known products using an onboard processor, which would have been programmed by identifying each product with a local camera. Not only is training the system to recognize hundreds of unique glass types cumbersome and prone to error, it leaves the system unable to adapt to unknown parameters and foreign materials.

If, however, the recycling system were to harness computational capabilities and information from the cloud, it might search terabytes of information to identify an object previously unseen at this system’s location. This would function very similar to how web crawlers search the web today for any other type of information when keyed into a computer or smart device. In this scenario once the item is matched to an image in the cloud, a resulting action would be performed as the image is crowded or grouped into a product class or family which would instruct the robot how to manipulate and place the item.

This now reduces the programming requirements for a system while simultaneously expanding  its flexibility almost infinitely. The result is a system which costs significantly less to deploy and provides much greater economic value to the manufacturers or recycler in this example.

Ecosystem Drivers
The concept of cloud manufacturing is not solely driven by the demand for ever-increasing levels of flexibility and efficiency in deploying automated systems. As noted earlier, there is a supply side effect where technology and networks are now enabling higher levels of speed and low-cost processing previously unavailable. Factory automation and robotics must begin to view themselves not as industrial islands, but as devices within an information ecosystem. Historically, manufacturing equipment’s only connection to its environment included a power source, input of raw materials and output of processed goods. As such it was not adaptable to any form of change. During the industrial revolution while goods were finally being made cost-effective to where consumers could afford items previously considered a luxury, buyers were offered any color car they wanted from Ford as long as it was black. The industry focused on employing technology to enable mechanical processes to produce faster and more consistent products but flexibility was not an essential requirement.

As manufacturing begins participating in the information revolution, machinery and automation will generate and consume greater amounts of data to where they can offer higher levels of quality through dynamic process control, provide the flexibility to satisfy and insatiable consumer appetite for mass customization, and ultimately decrease costs of implementation through learned heuristics. Unlike the productivity gains of the Henry Ford era, today’s gains will be driven though better utilizing processing information technologies.

It can be expected that over the coming years that manufacturing will more fully capitalize on the information ecosystem surrounding it. This ecosystem spans the networking and data storage industries to the human machine interfaces currently being deployed by consumer electronics manufacturers and gaming technologies. As the automation industry begins its reach into the cloud, manufacturing communities will not only improve productivity, they will begin to reclaim the prominence the industry once claimed in the economy.

Laser scanners, GPS sensors, and sonar compasses help navigate the robot in diverse water scenarios and prevent collisions above and below the water. Information about the water’s properties is sent instantaneously to supervisors via a wireless computer network. HydroNet’s creators, from the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, say it could provide real time analysis of oil slicks and contamination for environmental authorities.

With an area as vast as the ocean, aquatic robots like the HydroNet could help with pollutant detection and clean up. In what other areas do you see robots helping us take care of the environment?

Watch the video interview and read the transcript at Reuters website.

Robotics Industry Forum 2012: 10 interesting things that I’ve learned

3. Robots DO create jobs

Who said that: Mike Wilson, British Automation and Robotic Association
This did not surprise the robotic folks listening to the talk, but everybody was glad to finally see serious numbers that prove this important statement. In fact, a recent study from the International Federation of Robotics indicates that every industrial robot that is installed will create 1 or 2 jobs.

To read the other nine valuable points gleaned from the conference, visit our LinkedIn RIA group page. Did you attend the Forum? What did you find of interest?

The Robotics Industry Forum is an annual members-only conference co-located with the AIA Business Conference and MCA Business Conference. If you don’t want to miss another exciting year, you can learn more about membership on the RIA website. We hope you’ll join us next year for another record-breaking event!

Construction robots and ones that fly aren’t all that unusual, but it took a group of roboticists and architects to put those two skills together. The result is a team of “robotic quadrocopters” that cooperated to construct a 20-foot tower from lightweight foam packaging blocks.

The robots were built by Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich roboticists and Swiss architects Gramazio & Kohler. They used a platform they called the “Flying Machine Arena” which allowed them to test fast-paced motions on the ground and in the air.

Working in tandem from a blueprint along trajectories that avoided collisions with each other and the building structure, the quadrocopters gripped the foam bricks and quickly flew each one into place.

“It’s a first,” Howard said. “It makes sense.” The Flying Machine project is one of those things, she added, that makes us go, “Why didn’t we think about this before?”

Which of those ten traits do you find most impressive? What new applications can you see for these robotic skills?

From high-volume, low-variety manufacturing facilities to low-volume, high-variety fabrication shops, robotic GMAW (Gas Metal Arc Welding) arc welding has become increasingly popular due to the potential weld quality and productivity improvements it can provide. Not only do those benefits make it an attractive investment for growth and profitability, but they can also provide companies with a competitive edge.

Selecting the right equipment for a robotic GMAW arc-welding operation, however, is not a task to be taken lightly. From determining the correct style of robot to suit an application’s particular requirements to deciding which welding peripherals to purchase, companies must always choose wisely. Selecting the appropriate robotic GMAW gun that suits the requirements of the application is also essential for optimizing the return on investment. For example, using a robotic GMAW gun that has a higher amperage capacity than required can unnecessarily increase the total cost of ownership. Conversely, selecting an inadequate GMAW gun can lead to performance issues, costly downtime and premature failures.

Instead, companies are encouraged to select a robotic GMAW gun that is suitable for the amperage, duty cycle and cooling capacity needed for the application. Doing so helps ensure good weld quality, and reduces equipment and maintenance costs. The right robotic GMAW gun also helps companies improve productivity.
The following information helps to outline key considerations towards making the right selection.

Staying Cool with Air-Cooled Technology
Typically, air-cooled robotic GMAW guns (rated at 500 amps) operate comfortably in the range of 200 to 300 amps at approximately 60 percent duty cycle with mixed gases (i.e. welding continuously for 6 of 10 available minutes). Further, these guns are ideal for welding thinner materials—typically upwards of 4 mm thick —and work best for shorter welds on high volume applications, including (but not limited to) those in the automotive or recreation equipment industry.

Air-cooled robotic GMAW guns, like their semi-automatic counterparts, rely on the ambient air to cool them during the welding process. These guns feature a unicable through which the welding wire, gas and power are all delivered. Air-cooled unicables use the appropriate amount of copper to create a conductor that is capable of managing welding current without any additional cooling. When compared to water-cooled unicables of similar rating, air-cooled unicables generally have up to four times the circular-mils (i.e. cross section) of copper.

There are several advantages to using air-cooled robotic GMAW guns, the most significant of which is their durability. An air-cooled gooseneck (or neck) has a much stronger and durable construction when compared to the gooseneck on a water-cooled robotic GMAW gun, making it more resistant to bending in the event of a collision or through general wear. Replacement parts for air-cooled robotic GMAW guns also cost less and are easier to maintain. These guns tend to have a more streamlined design and smaller working envelope, allowing greater access into smaller joint configurations than a water-cooled robotic GMAW gun. Too, air-cooled robotic GMAW guns maintain their accuracy very well, which makes them an excellent option for applications requiring consistent, repeatable welds.

One limitation to air-cooled robotic GMAW guns is the lower duty cycle when compared to water-cooled guns; they are not capable of welding continuously for as long as a water-cooled robotic GMAW gun.

Just Add Water
Water-cooled robotic GMAW guns offer excellent advantages for applications that require welding at higher amperages for prolonged periods of time. These guns provide high amperage capacity—generally 300 to 600-plus amps—and are capable of managing a duty cycle within the 60 to 100 percent range. They are designed for welding on thicker materials (typically 1/4 inch and greater), making them a good choice for applications in heavy equipment manufacturing or similar such industries. As a rule, the larger the overall size of the weldment, the greater the chances the application will require a water-cooled GMAW gun.

To prevent overheating, water-cooled robotic GMAW guns rely on a supply of water or coolant from an external source. These sources include circulators or chillers, which tend to add to the overall cost and maintenance requirements of the system. The coolant travels through a water hose in the gun’s cable bundle (also containing the power cable, wire, and gas and water return hoses) and circulates up through the gooseneck to the consumables. For very high-amperage applications, there are also water-cooled nozzles that are capable of circulating the coolant around the nozzle, but these are more expensive than standard ones.

As mentioned previously, water-cooled power cables (found in the cable bundle) have approximately ¼ of the copper found in an air-cooled unicable; thus, water-cooled unicables quickly fail if the water supply is interrupted. This factor is a disadvantage of water-cooled robotic GMAW guns, as the parts can be expensive and time consuming to replace should they become damaged.

Routine maintenance of the cables within the cable bundle can also be difficult, since they are all in close proximity to one another. And because these guns have internal water chambers in the gooseneck, that part is inherently weaker than the gooseneck on an air-cooled robotic GMAW gun and much more likely to bend in the event of a collision.

Still, for high-amperage applications that require high capacity cooling to protect the gun during long periods of welding, dealing with these disadvantages still make having a water-cooled robotic GMAW gun worthwhile.

An Option In Between
For companies that weld multiple thicknesses of base materials and require both high and low amperage capabilities from a robotic GMAW gun, a hybrid air-cooled/water-cooled robotic GMAW gun is a good option. These GMAW guns have a durable gooseneck like an air-cooled model, but offer the higher cooling capacity of a water-cooled GMAW gun. They feature exterior water lines that run along the outside of the gooseneck to the nozzle, as opposed to through the gooseneck like water-cooled GMAW guns have. Hybrid air-cooled/water-cooled robotic GMAW guns typically offer 300 to 550 amperage welding capacity at 60 percent duty cycle (using mixed gases).

Hybrid air-cooled/water-cooled robotic GMAW guns also have features that provide easier maintenance compared to a true water-cooled product. For example, the water lines run independently of the power cable and are more accessible than with a standard water-cooled GMAW gun, so these guns do not need to be taken off of the robot for maintenance. Plus, if there are issues with water circulation, these guns can rely on the underlying air-cooled unicable to provide enough current-carrying capacity to avoid a catastrophic failure such as destroying a power cable or other components. Overall, the features of the hybrid air-cooled/water-cooled GMAW gun help provide a lower total cost of ownership for the gun.

One limitation of these GMAW guns, like a standard air-cooled model, is the limit to duty cycle. For applications that require continuous duty cycles, these GMAW guns would not be the best choice and a water-cooled product may have to be deployed.

Protecting the Assets
Regardless of which robotic GMAW gun is right for a given application, good preventive maintenance is critical to ensuring product longevity and reducing unscheduled downtime. In particular, most robotic GMAW gun manufacturers recommend using a nozzle cleaning station to prevent spatter build-up that can lead to quality issues or downtime (and costs) related to consumable changeover. Checking for loose connections along the length of the robotic GMAW gun—from the power pin to the nozzle—is also key to preventing quality issues or damage that could cause the gun to fail prematurely.

Remember, choosing the appropriate robotic GMAW gun to suit the requirements of the application is essential for optimizing the return on investment. Using the right robotic GMAW gun also provides for a more reliable system and can help manage the total cost of ownership, particularly by minimizing performance issues, costly repairs, unscheduled downtime and premature failures. In the end, it takes less time and money to protect a robotic GMAW gun with preventive maintenance procedures than it does to take the gun offline for repair or to replace it.

Contact Information
Tregaskiss is an RIA Supplier Member. For additional information, please contact Tregaskiss at 877-737-3111 or 519-737-3000, or click Tregaskiss.

“2012 will be a great year for the robotics industry. All industries are up and new market areas are growing. Food, assembly, and automotive took off during 2010 and continued into 2011. Expect to see the momentum of 2011 to carry over into 2012.” This optimistic view of the robotics industry’s 2012 outlook by Mick Estes, General Manager of Distribution, Sales, and System Integration with FANUC Robotics America Corporation (Rochester Hills, Michigan) is the consensus perspective of many industry leaders.

In most applications and regions around the globe, the robotics industry can look forward to a prosperous 2012.

Continued Growth
Led by the automotive sector, robot orders in 2012 have the potential to surpass the mark set in 2011 which marked the beginning of a major rebound in the industry. “I see continued growth in the robotics industry. With the freeing up of pent-up demand, and more automotive programs being retooled, the automotive sector continues to lead the charge in general industry recovery,” says Dean Elkins, a Senior General Manager at Yaskawa America Inc.’s Motoman Robotics Division (Miamisburg, Ohio). “I see continued growth in food and beverage, pharmaceutical, and laboratory applications.”

Elkins does not see any sectors declining in 2012. “I am watching solar with great interest because of the political ensnarements. I see steady growth in most applications.”

Echoing Elkins, Estes says, “The automotive industry will continue to be the hub that will thrive in 2012. Offshoots of the automotive industry such as battery assembly applications for electric cars and hybrids will help grow the robotics industry. With the new fuel efficiency standards, expect to see more carbon fiber lay-up processes to help reduce vehicle weight.”

Estes goes on to add, “We have seen tremendous growth in the automotive market and expanding into new segments such as battery assembly and carbon fiber. Those areas continue to be where all robot companies will see growth.”

Elkins and Estes’ sentiments are shared by Joseph Campbell, Vice President of ABB’s Robots and Applications Group (Auburn Hills, Michigan), who says, “2012 will be a good year for the robotics industry, better than 2011. We see growth in many automotive programs, from new domestics in the Big Three to tier-one suppliers. New models are coming on-line and car makers need to invest in the robotics needed to build them.” Campbell also anticipates growth in the general industry sector as well as seeing increases in aerospace applications.

Likewise, John Burg, President of Ellison Technologies Automation (Council Bluffs, Iowa) says, “I think the robotics industry will have a good year in 2012. The aerospace sector is very good and getting better and I hear picking, packaging, and palletizing end-users are busy as is our customer base.” Ellison’s customer base includes makers of agricultural implements. “Agriculture equipment manufacturers are on fire right now and cannot build fast enough. Prices to their customers are going through the roof but farmers are still buying their equipment.”

Continuing, Burg says, “Construction equipment is extremely positive, but could be affected by another slow-down in construction. The Bobcat Company (Bismarck, North Dakota) is very busy and cannot fulfill customer orders fast enough. Bobcat is one of Ellison’s biggest customers, making skid-steer loaders.” The construction sector is driven by housing starts, which is not very active, adds Burg.

Through the grapevine, Ellison’s John Burg hears that robotics in food applications are on the rise globally. “An agricultural implement maker told me that people in the Third World recently had their first taste of really good food and want more of it. World-wide demand for good food is growing very briskly and farm equipment manufacturers are getting orders from all over the world so that people in Third World countries can grow their own good food.” Burg sees continued proliferation of food-related robotic applications in 2012 and beyond.

Burg agrees that the automotive sector will shine in 2012. “Automotive is extremely brisk, with new models of cars and other vehicles planned, with new engines and transmissions.”

Palletizing applications within warehouses promises healthy growth in 2012, says Nino LaDuca. “We will see more business focusing on end-of-line palletizing. We go after that application because we see huge growth in those processes. Tech-Con recently provided integrated palletizing systems for food and beverage companies in Ontario. Two were first-time buyers of robots.” LaDuca is Tech-Con’s General Manager, located in Burlington, Ontario, Canada. “Based on what I saw from our robotic suppliers and our customers in 2011, 2012 will be a strong year,” LaDuca concludes.

Meeting the robotic needs of warehouses and similar applications in 2012 was on the mind of John Dulchinos, President and Chief Executive Officer of Adept Technology Inc. (Pleasanton, California). “We see exciting programs for mobile robotics to intelligently move goods to and from production lines. In warehouses, robots are moving product from docks to shelves. In hospitals, robotics move goods from and around laboratories, such as medicines from pharmacies to nursing stations.”

Dulchinos says possibilities for mobile robotics in warehouse logistics will increase in 2012. “Logistics within warehouses have not been largely automated yet. Opportunities for robots in warehouses, clean-rooms, hospitals and laboratories, where goods must be moved dynamically, with traceability and predictability, will increase in 2012. Robots are a very good solution to applications in warehouses and laboratories.”

Elkins shares Dulchinos’ excitement of robotics potential in warehouses and distribution centers in 2012. “I am excited about robots in warehouse and distribution applications, where three-dimensional vision can find randomly arrayed boxes and cases on pallets. The countless number of distribution centers in the world can benefit by implementing robotics.” Elkins says tactile feedback, force-sensing technology and vision enables the placement of robots into applications not successfully done until now.

Related to warehouse distribution are food and beverage applications. “The food market for robotics has taken off in recent years. Robots are handling raw food, doing high-speed picking of product and doing secondary packaging as well as palletizing,” says Estes. Similarly, Campbell says, “In 2012, we see continued growth in food applications which have solid market motivators. The food market has labor availability issues and food processors continually drive to remove the human touch from food processing.”

Robots.edu
The push to increase the awareness of robotics in education will continue into 2012 say several leaders in the robot industry. “Robotics are growing in education. The Robotic Industries Association (RIA, Ann Arbor, Michigan) pushes to get robots into university classrooms,” says Estes. “We see educating young people as an area with growth potential. As we look to grow the robot industry, educating engineering students about new and emerging robot sectors is important.”

LaDuca has a similar take on the importance of education to the robotics industry. “Education is a big thing and robot companies donate robots to technical schools, universities, and local colleges as part of their training curriculum. Our customers go with what they know and if students are taught with a particular make of robot, they will stick to that brand when moving onto the shop floor.”

ABB’s Campbell concurs. “At Vincennes University (Vincennes, Indiana), I see students programing welding robots, learning how to make parts. Vincennes’ robot laboratory has students lined up learning how to program the two dozen robots.” According to Campbell, “Vincennes has a fantastic robot education program.” In fact, ABB, FANUC Robotics America Corporation and several other RIA member companies have stepped forward to further robotics education by sponsoring educational institutions through membership in the association (program details: www.robotics.org/EduSponsor).

Robots Going Global
The robotics market in Japan, Western Europe, and North America has been mature for several years. Markets in less developed countries will see significant growth over the course of 2012, says Robert Little, Chief Operating Officer of ATI Industrial Automation (Apex, North Carolina). “The automotive sector is very big in the United States and internationally. Growth of robotics in Brazil, China and India, are heavily tied to automotive growth and these countries see exponential growth in their automotive markets.”

Little focuses on China. “2012 will be a good year for Brazil but I am a little worried that China’s automotive market might be a bit of a bubble that could burst.”

Little does see interest in non-automotive applications picking up in China. “Non-automotive applications will become more popular in China, which is interesting because labor is so inexpensive there. I did not expect growth in non-automotive applications in countries with low-cost labor, but interestingly the trend is towards more non-automotive robotic applications in China.” 2012 could be a record year for non-automotive robots in China, added Little.

Dulchinos also sees opportunities continuing for the robotics market in China during 2012. “China is the fastest growing robotics market and I am confident China will emerge as the largest robot market in the next year or two. The robot market in China will become larger than the robotics market in Brazil, India, and Eastern Europe combined.”

The robotics market in China, Eastern Europe and Latin America, largely driven by Brazil, will flourish in 2012 for similar reasons robots spread through Japan, Western Europe and North America, says Dulchinos. “Robotic applications will increase in China, Eastern Europe and Latin America as wages go up. Labor shortages and quality issues drive the mechanization of China.”

Campbell agrees with Dulchinos’ analysis. “The robotics market in China is explosive. Five years ago, I would not have said China will be a big robot market because of its huge labor pool. That paradigm is starting to change because China’s labor pool is stressed, has a very high job turnover rate and sees high wage growth.” Campbell cited a recent article that predicts wage parity between the United States and China in a matter of years. (http://www.bcg.com/media/PressReleaseDetails.aspx?id=tcm:12-75973)

“The robotics market in Latin America is on fire,” says John Burg. “The growth in those markets as a percentage will outstrip the very sophisticated North American market. I see huge growth for the robotics industry in Latin America over the next five years.”

Re-Shoring
Despite expansion of manufacturing into Eastern Europe, India, Latin America and China, businesses see robotics as a means to keep production at home or even bring industry back in 2012. “I see more on-shoring, production processes coming back to the United States from offshore. On-shoring only works through robotics,” says Campbell.

Like Campbell, Burg thinks robotics enable bringing production back home. “Many manufacturers found the answer was not to send production offshore. Off-shoring production has pitfalls such as quality and consistency.”

Motoman’s Dean Elkins brings numbers to justify investing in robotics rather than moving production offshore. “Operating a medium or small robot cost about 15 cents an hour, compared to the labor rate in China of $3 per hour.”

Notes of Caution
The rapid expansion of the robotics industry could have its own pitfalls, says Little. “The robotics industry has doubled its output of units since 2009. I cannot expect that level of growth to continue into 2012 but a growth rate of 15 percent in 2012 is likely. A high growth rate makes some nervous because a bubble might be created. I have concluded that the large run the robotics industry is going through now is not completed.”

Dulchinos also expresses a hint of wariness. “My only caveat is that robots are a capital asset. 2012 could be negatively affected by the economic environment due to factors outside the control of the robotics industry. Aside from that, 2012 will be a very strong year for the robotics industry.”

Prognosis: Good
2012 looks like another banner year for the robotics industry across all sectors. Joe Campbell sums up the opinions of his peers in the industry. “I do not see any place where robotics fails to gain a foothold. Robotics will have traction in all markets in 2012.”

Read the article here on the RIA’s website, www.robotics.org.

Wearable Robots Help Paralyzed Warriors Walk Again By Allison Barrie

At 10 leading rehab facilities from Honolulu to Atlanta, Ekso Bionics’ Iron Man-style exoskeletons have been quietly tested over the past year, to resounding success.

Simply put, the exoskeleton is a wearable robot that allows a wheelchair user to stand up and walk. It could be a game-changer not only for wounded warriors with spinal cord injuries, but for people with multiple sclerosis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, lower extremity weakness or paralysis due to neurological disease or spinal injury.

Wheelchairs have been the go-to solution for more than 1,500 years – the 2002 census estimated 2.8 million U.S. citizens rely on them — but now Ekso Bionics is literally revolutionizing this space. Its ultimate goal: a robot that is as easy to wear as a pair of jeans, one that requires not only innovative engineering but biomechanics advancements and cyborg-type research.

Read more at Wearable Robots Help Paralyzed Warriors Walk Again By Allison Barrie on FoxNews.com.

A research group at Osaka University, led by Professor Arai, is developing a six-legged robot, with features of the design borrowed from insects. This robot walks on six legs, and it can use two legs as arms when needed, so it can pick things up and carry them.

The research team envisioned the robot as a tool for rescue operations and building maintenance. What other applications do you think could benefit from this robot?

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