Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Patrick Simon White on March 2, 2011 at 9:12am

Have a look at these two websites, www.seegrid.com and www.Shadowrobot.com they should inspire you :) 

Permalink Reply by Mustafa elmoslhey on June 2, 2011 at 7:58pm

Hello Luke, 

 

There are many robots working in manufacturing. Its a very robust market segment. In addition, Robotic inspectors are used in pipelines, power, nuclear and bomb disposal.  Robotics for exploration in Space are very robust.  robotics for data collection in underwater and aerial surveying is a great industry.

 

specific companies is taking that field exclusively (e.g., ABB,SCARA,... etc) 

Japanese companies lead the world in both stock and sales of multi-purpose industrial robots. About 60 per cent of the installations were articulated robots, 22 per cent were gantry robots, and 13 per cent were SCARA robots and 4 per cent were cylindrical robots. The majority of installations are in the automobile sector. There are increasing sales into non automotive sectors such as metals and plastics.

Permalink Reply by Ward Holloway PE on June 3, 2011 at 10:07am

Back when I was in college, years ago, the big theme was in collision avoidance of two robots working close side by side. This was accomplished mathematically without sensors. Along this same theme was two robots working on the same part in an assembly line. An example would be one robot picks up a part and the other drills a hole or mills a slot in the part. I'm not sure if there has been any advancements in this area.

Permalink Reply by Carlos Sanchez Lopez on June 9, 2011 at 9:49am

Hi Luke!

 

What about flexibe robotics???

Permalink Reply by Andrew Werby on June 9, 2011 at 11:29am

One of the big challenges for robotics is in responding to emergency situations where human workers can't go. The ongoing nuclear meltdown scenario in Japan is an example. Those in charge there seem to have considered the use of robots only as a second thought, and haven't really figured out how to use them effectively, even though this seems like a situation where robots should have been the "first responders". Here's an article about the tentative steps taken to introduce them:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=robots-arrive-fuku...

 

Andrew Werby

www.computersculpture.com

 

Permalink Reply by Thomas M. McGhan on June 9, 2011 at 9:24pm

Advances in safe human-machine interaction have been slow to develop.

Ultimately, this is a field of study that deserves serious investment in rigorous research.

There are a lot of hard, but solvable, problems to be addressed.

 

Permalink Reply by Thomas M. McGhan on June 28, 2011 at 9:41pm

Apparently, someone is paying attention:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/industrial-robots/obama...

"This theme recognizes the emerging mechanical, electrical and software technologies that will make the next generation of robotic systems able to safely co-exist in close proximity to humans in the pursuit of mundane, dangerous, precise or expensive tasks. Co-robots will need to establish a symbiotic relationship with their human partners, each leveraging their relative strengths in the planning and performance of a task."

 

Permalink Reply by luke on July 1, 2011 at 2:01pm

Thanks guys. The information you have pointed out has given me splendid ideas.

 

Feel free to add more

 

LUKE

Permalink Reply by Alyssa Sittig on November 1, 2011 at 5:17pm

Wow! That sounds pretty exciting. I feel like a big problem (this isn't a super technical discussion) is the issue of acceptance in the larger community. There are a lot of people who worry that robotics will replace people, and then what will people do for jobs, what will be the larger societal impact. That could be an interesting topic.