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Machine Loading Robots – http://www.fanucrobotics.com/Products/Robots/machine-tending-robots.aspx

This video features a pair of FANUC LR Mate 200iC robots, as they are utilized as an integral part of the flexMate 150SX2 Machine Tending System. Designed by FANUC Robotics Authorized Integrator Matrix Design, Inc., the flexMate series of robotic loading systems is the latest generation turnkey machine tending system, designed to accommodate a broad range of machine tools and machine tending applications. It is available in single or dual arm configurations, and can be equipped with different FANUC robots depending on application requirements.

In this flexmate system, one FANUC LR Mate 200iC robot is used to pick unground gears from a tray and load a pre-gage. The pre-gage takes four measurements per gear tooth to ensure that the part is acceptable for grinding. FANUC iRVision is used to ensure that the gear is in the correct orientation for the grinding operation. Once the part is gaged, a second LR Mate 200iC robot picks the unground part and moves to the machine tool. The robot picks a finish ground part from the machine, and then loads the unground part. In this cell, both robots are invert mounted to decrease the space required for the cell.

Once the gear is finish ground, the second robot picks the gear and places it on a transfer station. The first robot then picks the finish ground part from the transfer station, and places it back into the tray, in the same position from where it was originally picked. Full part traceability is provided in this cell, with an RFID system to record part information on a data bolt on the tray. The RFID system is also used to ensure that incoming parts were completely processed at previous operations. Additionally, this flexMate system communicates with the customer’s information technology management system and reports such information as part data, system status and tool life.

Many part infeed and discharge options are available. This system is equipped with manual access drawers for SPC and NOK parts. SPC can be on demand or at pre-programmed intervals. A conveyor system is used to transfer trays of gears through the cell, providing many hours of unmanned operation.

To learn more about FANUC Robotics Authorized Integrator Matrix Design, and their state-of-the-art turnkey systems, please visit their website at http://www.getmatrixed.com.

Duration : 0:2:49

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Technorati Tags: cnc robot, FANUC, fanuc machine, Fanuc Robot, gear grinder, gear grinding, grinding automation, Grinding Machine, grinding robot, Industrial Robot, load robot, loader robot, loading robot, lr mate, lr mate 200ic, lr mate robot, machine tending robot, machining, machining robot, manufacturing robot, Matrix Design, robot machine, robot machine tool

This video shows three of the first devices to be prototyped at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) using a new technology that could make it possible for the average person to design, customize and print a specialized robot in a matter of hours. MIT is leading an ambitious new project to reinvent how robots are produced and designed, funded by a $10 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). For more on the project: http://www.csail.mit.edu/node/1717.

Duration : 0:1:3

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Technorati Tags: computer science, csail, mit, printable, robot, robotics

A Yale-led research team will spend the next five years developing a new breed of sophisticated “socially assistive” robots for helping young children learn to read, appreciate physical fitness, overcome cognitive disabilities and perform physical exercises.

Duration : 0:3:12

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Technorati Tags: Brian Scassellati, NSF Expeditions in Computing, robotics, socially assistive robots, Yale Computer Science, Yale University

Camshaft machining – http://www.fanucrobotics.com/Products/Robots/machine-tending-robots.aspx

FANUC Robotics Authorized Integrator TranTek Automation Corporation designed this new automation concept for a series of camshaft machining centers that traditionally used separate linear motion gantry-style pick and place mechanisms and floor conveyors. This new 7th Axis Robotic design, which utilizes FANUC R-2000iB rail-mounted robots, reduces the amount of fixed automation equipment required, cuts four individual automation systems down to one, uses less energy, and frees up floor space while providing capital equipment flexibility.

By integrating these top loader FANUC R-2000iB Material Handling “flying robots” on a overhead rail, separate fixed automation can be removed at each of the CNC machining centers. In the traditional configuration, each machining center had a linear gantry deliver camshafts to and from a conveyor on the shop floor. In this new design, overhead robots pick up and deliver parts from cell to cell. Each movement to the machining center includes removal of a finished part and delivery of a raw part.

The traditional design also required hundreds of feet of fixed floor conveyors to feed the machining cells. The new configuration by TranTek eliminates the entire conveyor system, freeing up valuable floor space. With the conveyors removed, operators and quality control personnel can move freely around the machine centers.

But one of the biggest benefits is capital equipment flexibility. The CNC machining cells can be upgraded or replaced without changing the automation system. Because the FANUC R-2000iB robots can be programmed for variable part positioning, exact machine location and alignment is no longer critical. The manufacturer also has the flexibility to re-use the automation and install a completely different line in the future.

The FANUC robot programming by TranTek engineers also includes the ability to “park” one robot and use a single robot to feed all machining centers. This feature virtually insures there will be no downtime in the system.

All of the engineering, design, and functionality of the system was provided by TranTek Automation. By integrating standard automation products, and by simulating reach studies and cycle times in advance, a faster design/build cycle was accomplished. To learn more about TranTek’s full line of robotically integrated automation systems, please visit their website at http://www.trantekautomation.com.

Duration : 0:2:59

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Technorati Tags: automation, Camshaft, camshaft machine, camshaft robot, FANUC, fanuc machine, fanuc r-2000, Fanuc Robot, Flying Robot, Industrial Robot, machine automation, machine tending, machining robot, manufacturing, r-2000, r-2000 robot, robotic machining, Robotics (Field Of Study), trantek

Flying robot quadrotors perform the James Bond Theme by playing various instruments including the keyboard, drums and maracas, a cymbal, and the debut of an adapted guitar built from a couch frame. The quadrotors play this “couch guitar” by flying over guitar strings stretched across a couch frame; plucking the strings with a stiff wire attached to the base of the quadrotor. A special microphone attached to the frame records the notes made by the “couch guitar”.

These flying quadrotors are completely autonomous, meaning humans are not controlling them; rather they are controlled by a computer programed with instructions to play the instruments.

Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science is home to some of the most innovative robotics research on the planet, much of it coming out of the General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Lab.

This video premiered at the TED2012 Conference in Long Beach, California on February 29, 2012. Deputy Dean for Education and GRASP lab member Vijay Kumar presented some of this groundbreaking work at the TED2012 conference, an international gathering of people and ideas from technology, entertainment, and design.

The engineers from Penn, Daniel Mellinger and Alex Kushleyev, have formed a company called KMel Robotics that will design and market these quadrotors.

More information: http://www.upenn.edu/spotlights/penn-quadrotors-ted

Video Produced and Directed by Kurtis Sensenig
Quadrotors and Instruments by Daniel Mellinger, Alex Kushleyev and Vijay Kumar

Duration : 0:1:40

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Technorati Tags: bond, Flying, james, Penn, Pennsylvania, quadrotors, robot, TED, university, Upenn