Robotics : Innovation & Job News

Hear that buzz? It's news about robotics and engineering innovation in Pennsylvania.
 
In recent weeks:
 
A robotic paint-stripping system, being developed for the Air Force by Carnegie Mellon University's National Robotics Engineering Center  and Concurrent Technologies Corporation of Johnstown, was named gold winner in the material science category of the 2013 Edison Awards. The system uses high-powered lasers mounted on mobile robotic platforms to remove paint and coatings from aircraft.
 
NREC is building six autonomous mobile robots, each equipped with a high-power-laser coating remover developed by CTC. As part of a two-year project, the robots will be deployed in teams to remove paint and other coatings from aircraft at Hill Air Force Base in northern Utah. The lasers eliminate the needs for abrasives or chemical paint removers; the robots make it possible to automate and precisely control the stripping process.
 
Carnegie Mellon researchers are also at work on the Lifelong Robotic Object Discovery Process, which helps robots augment their "vision" with other information – an object's location, size, and shape and even whether it can be lifted – to recognize and understand objects. The team enabled a two-armed, mobile robot to use color video, a Kinect depth camera and non-visual information to discover more than 100 objects in a home-like laboratory, such as computer monitors, plants and food items. Eventually the technology could help people accomplish tasks of daily living as part of the Home-Exploring Robot Butler, with the quaint acronym HERB, being developed in conjunction with the University of Pittsburgh.
 
Thirteen Penn State teams took honors in semester-long, industry-sponsored engineering projects. Altogether, 163 projects by engineering undergraduates were judged at the 2013 Student Design Project Showcase. Three teams won first place in the Lockheed Martin Design Awards: "Project Assignment/Algorithm," "Maximum Allowable Gasket Seating Surface Degradation Before Seal Failure" and "Robotic Parallel Bars Walking Device." Six other teams took second and third-place honors. The Boeing Systems Engineering Award went to "Rotor Wake Survey."
 
Sources: Carnegie Mellon; Penn State
Writer: Elise Vider
 
 
 

Mike Duffy of Keystone Automation in Duryea and John Mele of Jam Works Robotics Solutions in Forest City are both Harley-riding Navy veterans. The companies they founded, Keystone in 1999 for automated machinery, and Jam Works in 2007 for robotics, collaborate frequently. "There's nothing that can't be done with these two systems," says Mele.
 
Now the two are joining forces on Bots & BBQ, a fun-sounding, two-day robotics open house  with some ambitious goals in mind. From 9-5 on Thursday, April 18 and Friday, April 19, Duffy and Mele hope to make Pennsylvania manufacturers aware of the huge advancements in robotics and automation and generate orders, sure. But equally important, they want to impress upon students and educators the appeal of a job in modern manufacturing.
 
"There's a major problem with the perception of manufacturing," says Duffy. "We want to showcase that it's not working in a dirty, nasty foundry … You're going to be using your mind, as well as your hands."  Most advanced manufacturing jobs today, he adds, require a two–year degree and they pay far more than most jobs available to those with just a high school diploma.
 
On both days, the agenda includes plant tours for students, seminars on topics ranging from pneumatics to data collection and seven demonstration robotics work- cells, performing typical operations such as measuring, palletizing and high-speed handling. Fanuc, a major robotics maker for whom Jam Works is an exclusive integrator and distributor, will be on hand, along with Rockwell Automation, Penn-Air & Hydraulics,  Norgren  and Bimba.  

The BBQ part? The organizers will be bringing in roast pig each day for lunch.
 
Source: Mike Duffy, Keystone Automation, and John Mele, Jam Works Robotics Solutions
Writer: Elise Vider

Ardmore's Gregory FCA,  which bills itself as the largest public relations firm in Pennsylvania, and Safeguard Scientifics  of Wayne are on the hunt for the best unknown business in America.
 
"Maybe it's that killer technology startup that has yet to make the radar. Or perhaps it's some new wonder drug that will increase life expectancy. Or could it be that new sustainable business that's doing great financially while doing good for the world," said Gregory CEO Greg Matusky in a blog post.
 
The contest purse comprises $10,000 in cash and a $40,000 PR campaign.
 
The judges include Matusky, Safeguard CEO Stephen T. Zarrilli, Daniel Roitman of Stroll, a Philadelphia-based education e-commerce platform company, and Miles Spencer, an angel investor and co-creator of the reality show Money Hunt.
 
Here’s what they say they're looking for:

* The current operating success, recent growth and future viability of the company.
* The story behind the company and its products or services.
* The company’s current visibility and awareness.
* The likely positive impact of the application of a public relations campaign to the company and its products and services.
* The social shares and number of votes received in support of the company’s nomination as outlined in the contest rules. While this contest is not based on votes or Likes, an applicant’s ability to engage and connect with employees and customers will be considered.
* How well the submission explains why the company should be selected as The Best Unknown Business in America and how it can benefit from exposure.  
 
The contest closes at midnight June 18 and the winner will be announced in July. To learn more and submit an entry, visit Gregory FCA's Facebook page. 
 
Source: Alicia Buonanno, Gregory FCA
Writer: Elise Vider

We may not mess with Texas, but Pennsylvania ranks third in new facilities and expansions – and first in the Northeast – according to the prestigious annual rankings published last week in Site Selection magazine. 
 
The 2012 Governor's Cup went to the Lone Star State, which led the nation with 761 projects in 2012. (The publication counts private-sector projects that meet one or more of these criteria: a minimum $1 million investment, creation of 50 or more new jobs or construction of new space of at least 20,000 square feet. Equipment upgrades, additions and construction jobs don't count.)
 
Ohio was second with 491 projects and Pennsylvania was next with 430 in the national rankings. Ranked by region, the Keystone State's 430 easily beat the number-two state, New York, which came in at 119. In new manufacturing, Pennsylvania had 130 projects, compared to New York's 26; in manufacturing expansion, the Commonwealth's 97 beat the Empire State by 49.
 
Site Selection was also upbeat about Pennsylvania in a January profile assessing the impact of the energy sector on the state's economy. 
 
With such fertile ground for new and expanded commercial ventures, new features on Team PA's SiteSearch website are well timed. The site now includes heat maps that provide a visual representation of demographic statistics. The new business search allows for queries of businesses statewide by geography, type, number of employees and annual revenue.
 
"The enhanced functionalities of PA SiteSearch puts more information at the fingertips of site selectors or company officials looking to locate to, or expand their operations, in PA," says Matt Zeigner of Team PA. 
 
The race is on for 2013.
 
Source: Site Selection magazine
Writer: Elise Vider
 

Movie robots – R2D2, Wall-E – are adorably empathetic to humans. Real robots, however, may be whizzes on the assembly line, but not so great around the water cooler.
 
Now a Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute team is investigating how to make robots more socially intuitive. "The way we interact with machines and computers is as tools – the way we interact with a hammer," says Yaser Sheikh, a CMU  professor.
 
Sheikh, Hyun Soo Park, a Ph.D. student  in mechanical engineering and Eakta Jain, a recent robotics doctorate, gathered data from head-mounted video cameras on groups of people and developed algorithms to detect precisely where their gazes converged. What individuals in a group are looking at typically identifies something of interest or helps delineate social groups – insights that could someday allow vision-aided robots designed to interact with humans to evaluate a variety of social cues, such as facial expressions or body language.
 
The team expects that its research could have applications in the study of social behavior, such as group dynamics and gender interactions, and research and diagnosis of behavioral disorders such as autism – "imaging" behaviors in much the way that x-rays and MRIs image the physical body. Other potential applications could include search-and-rescue operations, surgical teams and even sports. (If team members all wore head-mounted cameras, it might be possible to reconstruct a game from their collective point-of-view.)
 
The work, Sheikh says, ties into that of CMU professor Takeo Kanabe and the anticipated release of Google's computerized eyeglasses. Several companies have shown interest in commercializing the research, which has so far been supported by Samsung Global Research Outreach Program, Intel and the National Science Foundation.
 
Sources: Yaser Sheikh and Hyun Soo Park, CMU Robotics Institute
Writer: Elise Vider

Disasters like Japan's cataclysmic earthquake and nuclear crisis last year can be too dangerous and too big for human responders. Yet "with all our robotics, we're really not prepared for that kind of an event," says Jorgen Pedersen, founder of Pittsburgh's RE2. 
 
Now the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), the military's "primary innovation engine," has selected RE2 to participate in its Robotics Challenge. The goal: to develop software to control robots in the most catastrophic disasters.
 
Working with Soar Technology in Ann Arbor, Michigan and the University of Texas in Arlington, the RE2 team is one of 11 groups chosen to develop software that will allow a humanoid, bi-pedal robot to perform complex tasks such as walking across and clearing rubble, opening a door, climbing a ladder, turning a valve and, most challenging according to Pedersen, get into, turn on and drive a utility vehicle.
 
All of the teams will compete in June to determine the top six entries, who will receive additional funding and a walking robot to further develop and test their software.
 
Pedersen founded RE2 (pronounced RE Squared) in 2001 under Carnegie Mellon's National Robotics Engineering Center. Since then, the company has become a leading developer of robotic arms for tasks such as bomb removal. Two hundred fifty of RE2's "intelligent, modular manipulation systems" are currently at work in Afghanistan, Pedersen says.
 
The company has grown from 20 employees in 2010 to almost 60 today. The military and public safety (police, fire, etc.) are the largest markets, Pedersen says, and the company is now looking to diversify into agriculture, healthcare and materials handling.
 
Source: Jorgen Pedersen, RE2
Writer: Elise Vider
 

The way Don Dagen sees it, robotics is about to have its Macintosh moment, with the new affordable and versatile Baxter robot. "There is almost giddiness in the robotics industry," says Dagen, business development manager for ONExia Inc. in West Chester. 
 
ONExia is one of nine exclusive distributors for Baxter, made by Rethink Robotics in Boston and headed by Rodney Brooks, a co-creator of the popular Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner.
 
Baxter is a game changer, says Dagen, because, unlike most robotics that serves heavy industry, it is suitable for discrete part handling, loading/unloading lines, machine tending and light assembly operations. Think small and medium-sized operations such as injection molding, print and silkscreen shops. It sells for only about $30,000 and like the Mac, it can be up and running in an hour.
 
Baxter will enable ONExia to "serve a customer base we don't have right now," says Dagen, who anticipates that the new line could be their top seller within a year. It also offers the potential for ONExia to create custom automation, which could be sold nationally.
 
Dagen anticipates that Baxter will result in four new sales positions at ONExia, which has about 33 in its workforce, including mechanical and electrical engineers, programmers, technicians and salespeople.
 
Besides serving as a manufacturers' representative for robots and robotic components, ONExia also services and programs the products it sells and has a integration group that does contract manufacturing, substituting for full in-house engineering departments, which fewer companies maintain anymore.
 
The company was founded in 1984 and changed its name to ONExia in 2001.
 
Source: Don Dagen, ONExia
Writer: Elise Vider
 
 

In a new race to the moon , a young Pittsburgh firm has completed a prototype robot to prospect for ice at the lunar poles. Astrobotic Technology unveiled its Polaris moon rover last month for delivery to NASA next summer.
 
Propelling Astrobotic's work, says the company's Jason Calaiaro, is the Google Lunar X PRIZE, an international competition offering $30 million to the first privately-funded team to safely land a robot on the moon that can travel 500 meters and send back video, images and data. (There are 26 teams competing worldwide, and Pennsylvania has two: Astrobotic and the Penn State Lunar Lion Team.)
 
Such a robot could cost as much as $100 million to produce, says Calaiaro, so realizing a business model that supports the research and development is essential, and "not just because it's a cool thing to do. Though it's an incredibly cool thing to do."
 
So Astrobotic has won $3.6 million in nine lunar contracts from NASA since 2008, when it spun off from Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute. The young company currently employs six and is adding four new positions, with another two likely in the first quarter of 2013.
 
Equally significant, as of January 1, Astrobotic is moving off the CMU campus to its own 5,000-square-foot space. "We can build a rover to put on the moon in that space," says Calaiaro. "Its really a tremendous step to be able to set up a sustainable enterprise like this with the lofty goal of landing on the moon." 

Source: Jason Calaiaro, Astrobotic
Writer: Elise Vider

As a social roboticist, Heather Knight is helping us see robots in new and entertaining ways.   
 
Robots can tell stories and make us laugh, says Knight who made her debut, accompanied by her endearing sidekick Data, at a 2010 TED Talk. The two have been performing together ever since.
 
Knight, who grew up in Lexington, Mass., is conducting her doctoral research at CMU’s Robotics Institute, attracted by the unique combination of fine arts, robotic and entertainment tech programs.

In keeping with her mission, one of the first things she did when she arrived was to take a census of all the robots on CMU's campus. There are 547 robots in all, not including those at NREC in Lawrenceville, nearly one robot for every student in the department, she says.

In addition to her academic studies, Knight has several ongoing robot projects. She runs a stand up comedy troupe robots, Marilyn Monrobot Labs, in New York City, which produces sensor-based electronic art performances.
 
She also was the founder of the NYC’s first Robot Film Festival, held this summer, and one of several behind Cyborg Cabaret at the New Hazlett Theatre last April, a variety show billed as “avant art-meets-science” theater.
 
She also made the Forbes List for 30 Under 30 in Science. 
 
It's all about breaking the boundaries in our understanding of robots and what they can do and attracting more people to science and technology.  Robots can speak our language and make us laugh in addition to helping humankind, she says.
 
“I want to make machines that will help humanity to flourish,” Knight adds.
 
Knight and Data will make an appearance during the Robot Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at CMU next month, which will be held during the RoboBusiness Leadership Summit. The summit will bring hundreds of robotics industry leaders to Pittsburgh for an Oct. 22-24 conference. 
 
Vote early and often for your favorite robot from the slate of nominees for the Robot Hall of Fame. Created by CMU in 2003, the hall honors both fictional and real robots. Among the nominees are one of Data’s relatives, WALL-E of movie fame and Rosie from the Jetsons. 
 
Source: Heather Knight, CMU
Writer: Deb Smit

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An online survey of robotic start-ups companies finds that Pennsylvania has one of the largest such clusters in the world, right up there with  Silicon Valley, Boston, Tokyo and Stockholm. In fact, PA ranks second, with 11 robotics startups, behind California (17)
 
Writing on the Robot Report, a blog that covers "everything robotic," editor/publisher Frank Tobe reports that most of the concentration is around Pittsburgh which, like the other clusters "correspond with the locations of notable government or university sponsored robotics research facilities. Each of those areas have ongoing entrepreneurial assistance programs for technology projects and provide nurturing and social get-togethers with prospective investors and fellow inventors and roboticists."
 
The Robot Report identified 130 start-up companies, defined as a company "established to develop a concept or product or robotic-related services for sale but doesn't yet have it all together. They have established a business and are in motion towards their goals but haven’t made any sales or aren't fully funded or haven't finished developing the product."
 
Among the companies on the Robot Report list are: Astrobiotic Technology,  Bird Brain Technologies, Blue Belt Technologies,  Bossa Nova Concepts,  Butterfly Haptics,  Carnegie Robotics, Interbots, Origami Robotics, all in Pittsburgh; Neya Systems in Wexford, Humanistic Robots in Bristol and KMel Robotics in Philadelphia.
 
Source: The Robot Report
Writer: Elise Vider