Internet page

Citation

(2002), "Internet page", Industrial Robot, Vol. 29 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2002.04929eag.001

Internet page

Keywords: Robotics, Painting, Actuators, Internet

http://www.immersion.com/Immersion Corporation

Established in 1993, Immersion Corporation has obtained over 140 patents in tactile feedback technology. Immersion's leadership in tactile feedback development is bringing haptics out of the research laboratory and into the mainstream market allowing medical simulators to become valuable training tools and computer aided design to becomes more interactive. Their products include a computer mouse that lets you feel onscreen textures, advanced automotive controls, and medical simulators that mimic the feel of living anatomy.

This is a good site which contains corporate and product information, along with a number of video clips illustrating their TouchSense® technology at work.

http://www.ai.mit.edu/Artificial Intelligence Laboratory – MIT

The Artificial Intelligence Laboratory aims to understand the nature of intelligence and to engineer systems that exhibit intelligence. They believe that vision, robotics, and language are the keys to understanding intelligence and how the human mind works. Their research focuses on bio-machines, computer architecture, genomics, humanoid robotics, information access, intelligent working spaces, machine learning, medical vision, mobile robotics, reliable software, speech, vision, and vision applied to people. It is an interdisciplinary laboratory of over 200 people and has been active at MIT in one form or another since 1959.

This is a good academic Web site that contains lots of information about the projects and research being carried out at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

http://www.staubli.comStaubli

Staubli is a Swiss company employing over 2,400 people and comprises three divisions: textile, connectors and robotics. Their Robotics Division supplies automotive, electronics, food, and medical industries with high speed, precision robots for industrial, painting, cleanroom and other automation needs. The new Staubli RXPaint robot range is designed for painting and spraying applications in hostile environments. The RXPaint system consists of a six-axes RX EX robot (arm, pressurisation unit, interconnect cables and electrical unit) and a compact high-performance controller. The RXPaint range offers payloads ranging from 2.5 to 25kg and reaches from 665 to 1,660mm with repeatability from +/- 0.02mm.

http://www.aqautomation.com/Autoquip, Inc.

Autoquip was established in 1948 and is a developer of VOC (volatile organic compound) recording and reporting software systems for liquid paint finishing. They manufacturer sub-systems for robotic spray finishing cells, supply computer controlled flow technology for liquid coatings, and offers a unique product line of tip cleaners for both single head and dual headed guns in conventional or electrostatic configurations.

http://touchlab.mit.edu/index.htmlLaboratory for Human and Machine Haptics

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Laboratory for Human and Machine Haptics was founded by Dr Srinivasan in 1990. Less formally known as the Touch Lab, they comprise an interdisciplinary group of researchers interested in haptics – the study of sensing and manipulation through touch. Their research aims to understand human haptics, develop machine haptics, and enhance human-machine interactions in virtual reality and teleoperator systems. Current research addresses skin biomechanics, neurophysiology, psychophysics, motor control, and computational models. The results of this research will benefit hand therapy, intelligent prosthesis design, and the development of autonomous robots that need to perform human-like functions in unstructured environments.

An academic site that contains lots of information about the research projects available as PDF files.

http://www.wagner-systems.com/index.htmWagner Systems

Wagner Systems division delivers, develops and manufactures a complete range of products for powder coating. Powder coating allows for a high degree of automation, does not contains solvents or produce paint sludge, and can obtain material efficiencies as high as 99.9 percent in a closed loop cycle.

Another good site which is worth visiting.

http://www.callisto.si.usherb.ca/~fluo2000/PDF/Fl_058.pdfPaper

This Web page contains a research paper from Okayama University, Japan, discussing the "Development of pneumatic rotary soft actuator made of silicone rubber". In the paper, the structure and operational principle of the actuator are described, and the fundamental properties of the actuator are experimentally investigated. It describes a rotary type soft actuator made of silicone rubber which is driven with compressed air. The experimental results show that the actuator has the sufficiently large operational angle and the dynamic characteristics of a damping and elasticity component. The actuator's application to a soft robot finger and a robot hand are also discussed.

HOT SITES

http://www.sensable.com/index.htmlSensAble Technologies Inc.

Established in 1993, SensAble Technologies 3D Touch technology allows users to fully interact with their computers and touch 3D data. It allows users to directly interact with digital objects exactly as they do in the real world. Modellers sculpt as naturally in digital form as they do in clay and surgeons perfect their crafts with virtual patients instead of actual people. Three elements together deliver 3D Touch technology. PHANTOM hardware provides precision positioning input and high-fidelity force-feedback output. GHOST® middleware is the physics engine which handles complex computations and allows developers to deal with simple, high-level objects and physical properties including location, mass, friction and stiffness. The application software allows the user to work more efficiently and intuitively.

Visually, this is a very impressive Web site with Flash animations and a functional menu. It is definitely worth visiting.

http://www.nordson.comNordson Corporation

With nearly 4,000 employees worldwide and an international manufacturing base, Nordson Corporation is the world's leading producer of precision dispensing equipment. Their systems apply adhesives, sealants and coatings to a broad range of consumer and industrial products during manufacturing operations around the world in automotive, bookbinding, construction, defence, electronics, food, medical, packaging, pharmaceutical, telecommunications and other industries.

This is a huge Web site which contains many links and lots of product information.

Jon Rigelsford