KUKA's industrial robots are usually all business. They do things like weld cars and assemble electronics. They don't play tennis or engage in sword play. At least, they didn't until recently. Aaron Rasmussen and his fellow engineers at USMechatronics have transformed a KUKA KR16 into a tennis-playing, sword-wielding robot that features a wireless control system based on a "WiiMote," the motion-sensing controller for Nintendo's Wii game console. "The idea was to take one industrial robot, add a laptop talking to a WiiMote, strap on a tennis racket, have it follow the swings that the user makes, and do it all in a few hours on a Saturday so we could get back to our busy schedules," Rasmussen writes on a web page describing the WiiBot robot's software development and hardware. After a bit of tennis, the WiiBot took up fencing. This video shows the robot in action. But don't think the WiiBot is all fun and games. KUKA plans to demonstrate this new wireless control concept at next week's ATX West Expo in Anaheim, CA. This concept cell was designed to show how robotic technology might trickle down from industrial robots to consumers, according to Kevin Kozuszek, KUKA's director of marketing. Read the full story here.
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From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
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I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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