GROB Systems will hold live 5-axis machining of challenging medical, aerospace, and mold parts at IMTS.
GROB Systems Inc., a global leader in the development of manufacturing systems and machine tools, announced its schedule for demonstrating a range of 5-axis machining applications on its compact G350 Generation 2 Universal Machining Center at IMTS (International Manufacturing Technology Show) Booth #431400 (shared booth with YG-1 Tool Co.) at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL from September 12-17 this year. Attendees can see how GROB meets and exceeds the demands of aerospace, medical and die/ mold machining, and GROB personnel will be on-hand to answer specific customer application questions.
Here are the details on the three machining applications:
GROB machining centers are made in the U.S.A. at the GROB Systems 400,000 sq. ft. full production facility in Ohio and can include advanced automation solutions for dramatically increased productivity. The GROB G350 on display at the show will include a dynamic rotary table with a 200 rpm B-axis with infinite rotation, and a maximum rotation of 360° in the A-axis. This G350 Generation 2 machining center is equipped with a Siemens 840D sl control, 16k rpm spindle, 117-tool holding capacity, and a HSK-A63 tool interface.
Learn how to follow a blueprint in order to implement automation.
About the presentation Successful implementation of manufacturing automation projects starts with a clear understanding of desired goals, objectives, requirements, and potential short-term and long-term challenges. As with any significant investment, including automation, conducting discovery is critical to defining the scope of a project and identifying solution(s) that’ll be within budget, produced, and installed on schedule, and have the greatest return on investment (ROI). Automation solutions are best when scalable and manageable and have defined operator functions, part processing requirements, and operating environments. Purchasing an automation system with monitoring and feedback functionality will support long-term goals and continuous improvement efforts.
Dave Walton, director of engineering at Makino, has the expertise to help you make the discovery process easier and less daunting. Join him for a walkthrough of an automation blueprint developed over decades of successful implementations. Learn more about essential elements of automation and available tools and solutions.
Meet your presenter Dave Walton is the director of engineering operations at Makino Inc., Mason, Ohio. He’s been with Makino for 25 years, working in the areas of factory automation and integrating automation with the Makino machine platform, and later managing the engineering group responsible for executing the Makino automation programs. Walton’s total experience in factory automation spans more than 40 years, including stints with General Motors (GM) and GE Aviation prior to his current employment by Makino.
About the company The Makino commitment to customers starts with work in metal-cutting and manufacturing technology with horizontal machining centers, vertical machining centers, wire and ram EDM, and graphite machining centers. Helping customers make what matters also means Makino is both a software company and an engineering services company. A service company and a financing company. A turnkey engineering company and an integration services company. An automation systems company and a machine tool supply company. A training company and a process technology company. Makino is the one company you need to machine parts more accurately, productively, and at a lower cost per part. The partner you need to build and sustain a metal-cutting business that thrives by making the best for the customers that matter most.
Walking feeds pressure to pneumatic robots that could help those with disabilities, extra limb able to grasp objects and go.
Everybody could use a third arm sometimes, but for some it would be particularly helpful.
Mechanical engineers at Rice University’s George R. Brown School of Engineering have built a handy extra limb able to grasp objects and go, powered only by compressed air. It’s one of several ideas they’ve implemented with a textile-based energy harvesting system.
The proof-of-principle robotic devices designed and built by Daniel Preston, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, lead authors Rachel Shveda and Anoop Rajappan and their team are geared toward those living with disabilities and are tough enough for everyday use, they said.
How the project described in Science Advances utilizes air differs from the Preston lab’s now-famous manipulation of dead spiders as grabbers. These pneumatic devices derive their power from walking.
The prototype “arm” is a piece of fabric that hugs the body when not in use, but extends outward when activated and incorporates an elastomer lining on the surface to maintain its grip on slippery objects. For demonstrations, Rice alumna Shveda, now an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard, would operate the arm with a switch. Preston said future versions could have sensors that anticipate the wearer’s intent and complete the movement.
In addition to the curling arm that can grip a cup or other small objects while one’s hands are full, the Rice lab built a shirt with a bellows-like actuator attached at the armpit that expands, enabling the wearer to pick up a 10-pound object. Testing the apparel on a mannequin showed it could do so without an assist from human muscles.
“Census statistics say there are about 25 million adults in the United States who find it difficult to lift 10 pounds with their arms,” says Rajappan, a postdoc supported by the Rice Academy of Fellows. “That’s something we commonly do in our daily lives, picking up household objects or even a baby.”
The system requires two components: textile pumps embedded in the soles of walking shoes that harvest air pressure and pneumatic actuators that make use of that pressure where needed. The pumps are filled with open-cell polyurethane foam that allows them to recover their shape after every footfall.
Preston said the pump is small enough to be comfortable. “The stiffness of the foam is about on par with a typical shoe insert,” he says. “We wanted to make sure this felt like something you'd actually want to have inside of your shoe.”
Tests by the Rice lab showed the devices produce the equivalent of 3 watts of power with a conversion efficiency of more than 20%, easily outperforming electromagnetic, piezoelectric and triboelectric strategies for foot-strike energy harvesting, including one designed by students at Rice’s Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen.
Preston said all the components for a single device cost the lab about $20. The products were simple to assemble and robust enough to be cleaned in a washing machine with no degradation in performance.
“The fabrication approach uses techniques that are already employed in the garment industry, things like cutting textile sheets and bonding them with heat and pressure,” he says. ‘We're ready to think about translating our work towards products.”
Rajappan said that along with test units, the lab also developed mathematical models to predict how well an assistive device would perform based on a user’s weight and walking speed, among other parameters. “One way to take this forward will be to use the model to optimize performance for specific user groups,” he says.
“We’re also thinking about devices like pneumatic actuators that apply therapeutic compression for things like deep vein thrombosis, blood clots in the legs,” Rajappan says. “Anything that requires air pressure can be powered by our system.”
“Now that we’re providing the power, we can tap into all the existing work on actuation,” Preston adds. “This would include things like gloves that help people close their hands, assistance at both the elbow and shoulder joints and other devices that still rely on typically rigid and bulky power supplies that are either uncomfortable or require being tethered to external infrastructure.”
He noted conversations with fashion consultants could be in his future, to keep wearers from resembling the Michelin Man.
“We’ve managed to keep it quite low profile, but yes, that’s definitely something to think about, especially with the actuators,” Preston says.
Co-authors are graduate students Te Faye Yap, Zhen Liu, Marquise Bell and Barclay Jumet of Rice and Vanessa Sanchez of Harvard University.
The National Science Foundation (2144809, 1842494) supported the research.
Discover the potential of 5G.
About the presentation 5G is much more than a network – it’s a platform for innovation with the ability to provide global scale and enable manufacturing use cases we haven’t even dreamed of. And through the adoption of 5G a new tool is introduced into the lean manufacturing toolbox – taking lean production into the age of digitalization.
The limitless connectivity of 5G enables lean manufacturing processes through smart factories and the ability to take advantage of technologies such as automation, digital twins, artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), and the Internet of Things (IoT). The low latency, high reliability, and increased speed of 5G are essential to support emerging technologies such as process automation, remote monitoring, and collaborative robots.
5G also allows for higher flexibility, lower cost, and shorter lead times for factory floor production reconfiguration, layout changes, and alterations, which will result in significant production improvements. And the great thing is, 5G isn’t only a promise of the future, it’s already an enabler for existing ways of working when it comes to lean production.
In this session, you’ll learn how 5G’s capacity to handle massive amounts of data with low latency supports lean methodologies in a powerful way, unlocking new value, and taking lean concepts beyond the factory.
Meet your presenter Sebastian Elmgren has a master’s degree in automation and mechatronics. He’s worked for Ericsson for the last 15 years, the first 10 years within the supply organization in different positions driving improvement and smart manufacturing initiatives. Now Elmgren helps Ericsson’s customers adopt 5G technology with initial responsibilities focused on manufacturing as the head of business development and product marketing, dedicated networks.
About the company Ericsson is a provider of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to service providers. We enable the full value of connectivity by creating game-changing technology and services that are easy to use, adopt, and scale, making our customers successful in a fully connected world.
Learn how automated washing solutions can increase production.
About the presentation Automated washing solutions have increased production and improved product quality while reducing operating costs. In this presentation, we explore cleaning processes and the benefits of robot washing for numerous applications ranging from low and high-pressure cleaning, very high-pressure deburring, degreasing, rinsing, and drying applications.
Meet your presenter Gilles Le Quilleuc serves as head of business general industry & food at Stäubli Robotics and is responsible for the strategic development and growth of the robotics activity in these industries for North America. He started his career at Stäubli in 2001. He held several engineering and technical management positions including Italy robotics division manager and executive committee member. In 2017, Le Quilleuc became the director of sales and business development of Stäubli Robotics North America. He has a Bachelor of Applied Science in BASc, electrical and electronics engineering from the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers.
John Burke serves as regional sales manager of Stäubli Robotics. He joined Stäubli in 2015 and is responsible for robotic project management and sales in the food, semiconductor, metal, and automotive industries. Burke has more than 20 years of experience in the automation industry, and seven years of experience in robotics. He has a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the NC State University.
About the company Stäubli is a global mechatronics solution provider with four dedicated divisions: electrical connectors, fluid connectors, robotics and textile, serving customers who want to increase their productivity in many industrial sectors. We’re an international group operating in 29 countries, with agents in 50 countries on four continents. Our workforce of 5,500 shares a commitment to partnering with customers in nearly every industry to provide comprehensive solutions with long-term support. Originally founded in 1892 as a small workshop in Horgen/Zurich, today Stäubli is an international group headquartered in Pfäffikon, Switzerland.