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Be that as it may, Shinbara says, can result in, say, fast, precise as-
“The concept of ‘one-and-done’ is sembly operations.
becoming more of a reality.” Robots, he says, are “moving from
the mechanical engineering to
Robotic advances the computer science world.”
One of the technology areas Another important development
where Shinbara sees plenty of is that robots are becoming more
advances is in robots—again plug-and-play. That is, you may
largely driven by information. have a robot from Company A
He says that the deployment of but use it with a robot control
improved vision systems and la- from Company B. “A robot is
ser trackers are providing robots looking more like a printer to a
with ‘a better picture of reality in general network than it did in
the workcell’. Source: MMS the past. This is being driven by
A factor that is important in this standards harmonization, which
space is the discernment of ‘a “Smarter, more economical robots is primarily occurring in the In-
could help industry augment the
good data point from a bad one’. talent shortage problem by dustrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
So, while training machines to leveraging the capabilities of the world with standards developers
be able to make those decisions fewer people that are available for like MTConnect, ROS-Industrial,
the manufacturing operations;
is still a laborious task, Shinba- ultimately, he sees far more new job and OPC UA,” he says.
ra says that the learning curve creation from robotics than not.”
is being shortened thanks to Tim Shinbara The additive arena
work that’s even being done in Vice President and Shinbara segues from robots to
Chief Technology Officer
other fields away from the fac- AMT—The Association For advances in additive—and notes The de-
ployment of
tory floors, such as autonomous Manufacturing Technology that one of the things that is improved
driving. (In that case the systems happening in additive manu- vision
must learn what’s a real vehicle facturing is the use of robot-like systems
or pedestrian and what’s not, rate-yet-economical vision sys- structures to build products, and laser
something not always accom- tems can be used to create robot given the ability of a robot arm trackers are
providing
plished, and which can have systems that have the ability— to be manipulated through robots with
fatal consequences.) both from the standpoints of space. In other words, the robot ‘a better
Shinbara says that robot con- timing and accuracy—to make isn’t something that just paints picture of
trols employing AI and accu- ‘intelligent movements’, which and welds, but can become a reality in the
parts-building device. workcell’.
Overall, he says that there are
plenty of advances being made
in materials, both in types and
particle sizes. He says that this is
leading to more attention in how
materials are being handled be-
fore, during and after builds.
Two other things he points out
about the additive space: “Tech-
nology is outpacing adoption,”
which may be a result, in part,
of the second thing, which is the
variety of companies that have
entered the capital equipment
space, such as HP and Xerox.
And just as you’d only imagine
hearing the names of companies
like HP and Xerox as they might
be used in office settings of man-
Source: MMS ufacturing equipment vendors,
a talk with Shinbara can lead to
This is a seat bracket design that GM developed with software provider Autodesk. unexpected places.

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