Articles and News

Adept has been selected by a major Prescription Benefit Management (PBM) Provider as the robotics supplier for its automated distribution center. Cobra i800 robots will be employed as intelligent handlers used in sorting and filling orders for prescription drugs destined for the expanding home delivery market.

Rimrock Corporation, New Berlin, WI, will use the KUKA KR 60 robot in its RoboRouter 200 automated routing, cutting, and trimming system. It uses the KUKA robot inverted and mounted to a Güdel TrackMotion system providing a reliable and cost effective alternative to manual or CNC router operations.

Adept has signed an agreement with Fundacion Fatronik for exclusive supply, distribution and service of a high speed packaging robot mechanism based on the four parallel arm concept. Fatronik will provide Adept with exclusive use of the technology. and both will fund commercialization of the mechanism.

FANUC won the award for the development of a truck bedliner spray system. The bedliner spray system uses robots to spray special buffer material onto truck beds, which helps prevent cargo from slipping or damaging the beds.

During the quarter just ended, Adept delivered $300,000 in vision-guided robotics to the Solar industry, bringing the installed base, in this sector, to over 75 systems.

Zepnick, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, has incorporated the KUKA KR 15 SL stainless steel robot into its food handling and packaging system. The use of stainless steel on all the robot's surfaces, together with the high IP rating, makes the KUKA KR 15 SL robot suitable for all fields of application with stringent requirements as to hygiene, sterility and absence of particles.

Teams at the FIRST® (For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics competition will be using compnoents donated by Igus.

Nercon Engineering and Manufacturing,Oshkosh, Wisconsin, will use the KUKA KR 180 PA palletizing robot in its new system to load and unload mixed product from a tri-level accumulating conveyor system. The KUKA KR 40 robot will be used in the company's new order picking cell.

KMT has acquired Robotic Production Technology, a robotic trimming solutions provider, as well as H2O Jet, a manufacturer and distributor of pumps, spare parts and components for waterjet equipment including diamond nozzles. The combined annual revenue of the acquired companies amounts to approximately SEK 300 million. Both companies will be consolidated in the KMT Group as of 1 December 2006 as part of the Waterjet Product Area.

When it comes to robots, reality still lags science fiction. But, just because robots have not lived up to their promise in past decades does not mean that they will not arrive sooner or later. Indeed, the confluence of several advanced technologies is bringing the age of robotics ever nearer – smaller, cheaper, more practical and cost-effective.

This paper suggests several mechanical, electrical, and software ideas that will enable conveyor designers to optimize conveyor reliability and "maintainability" without the need for large investments in equipment and design time. It introduces the concept of internally powered conveyor belt drives and offers generally applicable belt drive design software.