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“You really need to develop a whole product solution—hardware, software, UI, interfaces, and process redesign—with a consideration for what problem you are really trying to solve.” —Aldo Zini
Getting large teams of robots to collaborate is the work of Dr Regis Vincent, who envisions applications that include mapping nuclear contamination.
What obstacles remain for robots to work alongside humans in industrial settings, and how far have we come in eliminating those challenges? Dr. Roland Menassa answers these and other questions in his presentation at the RoboBusiness summit November 2-3 in Boston.
John Reid, director of Product Technology and Innovation at Moline Technology Innovation Center, a part of John Deere’s Global Technology Innovation Network, discusses how his company’s technologies will help feed the world’s billions.
Mark Ingebretsen
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The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) on behalf of the Robotic Systems Joint Program Office (RSJPO), has also ordered an additional $20 million worth of TALON® robots and replacement parts for immediate use by ‘robot hospitals’ in Iraq and Afghanistan. The funds for this order have been released from a $63.4 million IDIQ contract with the Navy.
“IDIQ contracts allow the government to make rapid additions in funding levels to meet urgent military requirements instead of going through a long procurement process many times a year,” explained Dr William Ribich, Foster-Miller’s president and CEO. “The Government has requested deliveries of these additional TALON® MTRS (man-transportable robotic system) robots to get this lifesaving equipment into the hands of our troops as rapidly as possible. Countless lives have been saved through the use of these robots, and they are now viewed as essential equipment in the ongoing struggle to defeat IEDs and save lives in theatres of conflict.”
He continued: “Insurgents have been intensifying their attacks on the robots because they know if they can disable them, soldiers will have to go out and defuse the IEDs. The robot hospitals do whatever it takes to meet a four-hour turnaround time and get damaged TALONs fully operational and back into service, ready to meet the next challenge.”
‘Robot hospitals’ in Iraq and Afghanistan fix TALON® robots damaged by defusing or destroying IEDs and put them back into service within four hours. They are staffed by Army, Marine and Navy maintenance and repair technicians whose mission is to get TALONs back into the hands of troops by rebuilding them with a combination of replacement parts and usable parts scavenged from other damaged TALON® robots.
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