- Amazon Powerhouse
- Posts
- Industrial Automation and Robots Don't Suck Anymore
Industrial Automation and Robots Don't Suck Anymore
irreverant take on robotics and automation
Battle of Man vs Machine
Be yourself, unless you're a psychopath, in which case pretend to be a robot so at least it'll be fun for others!
📣 Topics of the Day 📣
Armed Robocop
LiDAR: The Money Pit
Rice Sorting Race
Tech of the Day: Stack Light
⭐ Job Posting of the Day! ⭐
A Deere Driving Itself
Send me your videos, topic requests, or news/press releases at [email protected]
Armed Robocop
San Francisco, the home of the Golden Gate Bridge, rampant homelessness, and now robots that can use deadly force. For such a liberal city in a liberal state it's pretty incredible to hear that the city has approved the ability for their police department to utilize a robot to deploy deadly force. Now they're not looking to put a machine gun on a robot, yet. But they do foresee the need to put a detonable device on a robot and have it approach a bad guy and well...boom goes the dynamite.
Most of you probably don't know this but this exact scenario played out in Dallas back in 2016. A man suspected of killing 5 Dallas police officers gets into a wild west style gunfight with more officers and instead of risking any more officers, they drove their bomb robot to the suspect and set off a grenade.
Whichever side of this issue you fall on one thing is inevitable. Robots will be weaponized. The scary part of this is the reality that if the good guys have these robots, the bad guys will also have them. So be ready to order your own personal sentry gun like the ones we used to have in Team Fortress!
LiDAR: The Money Pit
There are too many LiDAR companies. Almost all of the players in the space are losing money, even the top players! You want to see your investment dollars vanish then go ahead and send them your money. They need it to survive. These are companies that are bringing in sales of $5M-$40M per year but their books are ending up in the red by HUNDREDS of millions! Freaking crazy! So what gives? LiDAR is pretty cool tech with applications throughout robotics and automation. Well, there are too many of them, bloated with VC dollars, working on the same mission. There needs to be a consolidation and cutting of the fat at these companies. AND more importantly they need to get the job done. Stop doinking around playing table tennis or taking breaks to play video games. Go build a system people can use and build it to scale.
Don't believe me? Check out Luminar Technologies and AEye. You'll see what I'm talking about.
Tech of the Day: Stack Light
This may show my age but screw it, I gotta get to the basics of automation!
So if you don't know what this thing is in the picture and you studied automation or robotics..call up your college and ask for a refund. You got taken. Pictured here is a stack light. Why the hell is it called a "stack" light you ask. Simple. Basically these are made by "stacking" lights on top of each other. You can order them with just 1 light or many. You can also add audible alarms too.
In the wonderful world of automation these handy dandy little lights are used to show the status of a machine, assembly line, or basically anything. You could put one of these at your desk, wire up a button, and whenever you are annoyed with your boss press the button to set off a flashing red beacon and audible alarm. Go ahead give that one a try! I kid but really you can do a lot with these but all they really are for is to visually indicate status.
How about wiring you ask? There are so many configurations but it's common to order a 3 stack setup and wire into a PLC output module. Then just include in your logic some triggers that latch the lights on when you want them to turn on. Want to buy one? Just do an online search for stack light...you'll see pricing in the $20 to $1,000 range. The ones I've bought in the past are about $300.
Unsolicited Plug of the Day
ATI Industrial Automation: Damn these guys must be good at something!
You haver to check out this video the guys at ATI put together. They have one of the major players in the robotic space (KUKA) and a client vouching for them. Maybe they just bribed these guys but I doubt it. Legitimacy of this video aside they make tool changers for robotic arms/assemblies. If you're working on a project and need your cobot or other bot to have more than one end-effector give them a shout.
Want your company to be featured? Sign up HERE
Rice Sorting Race
Going down the automation rabbit hole takes me on some incredible journeys. I see rabbits, of course, tree roots, and today I stumbled upon one of my favorite, most satisfying tech to see in action..Optical Sorters. I've seen one of these in person and it's just freaking fantastic. What I find interesting is how fast these machines not only detect, but also react to say a flawed grain of rice, tomato, etc. In just a split of a split second these machines will puff a little air and kick a defective product into a reject chute or in the case of tomatoes an arm swings down and knocks it away. This tech is one of the wonders of the automation world!
If you want to help us pay the bills check out our directory of robotics and automation companies.
⭐JOB POSTING OF THE DAY⭐
Dextrous Robotics is hiring for a handful of positions but today I'm promoting this one.. Controls Engineer. But not just any controls engineer will do for Dextrous. These folks are looking for the top shelf individual. Like a perfectly aged whiskey they seek a refined flavor of a person. You have a PHD or MS? Sweet! Know how to code? Damn! You better apply!
Have feedback or want to contribute a video, article or tacos? Maybe I'm interested maybe I'm not. If you have something constructive you can catch me on Twitter. @robotsrcoming or email us at [email protected]
Spread The Word
Click to Share Or copy and paste this link for sharing https://www.automationjunkie.com/#subscribe