Robots are coming fast
- Thread starter usclassic
- Start date
fritz katzenjammer
Der grosserfahrradmechaniker
- Region
- Canada
this has been going on for a long while
I used to share an office with a robotic measuring system.
it talked its way through its tasks as required and learned as you used it, writing its own software on the fly so it could do the work on its own next time around. It could measure down to a millionths of an inch reliably and checked its own calibration using hard gauge standards each morning while I had my coffee.
do to its ability to reverse engineer parts by creating highly accurate CAD models off of real components its movements had to be submitted to the UN during its importation so it didn’t end up in the wrong country ( or hands )
and that was over 15 years ago.
I used to share an office with a robotic measuring system.
it talked its way through its tasks as required and learned as you used it, writing its own software on the fly so it could do the work on its own next time around. It could measure down to a millionths of an inch reliably and checked its own calibration using hard gauge standards each morning while I had my coffee.
do to its ability to reverse engineer parts by creating highly accurate CAD models off of real components its movements had to be submitted to the UN during its importation so it didn’t end up in the wrong country ( or hands )
and that was over 15 years ago.
usclassic
Member
- Region
- USA
Who made that system?
fritz katzenjammer
Der grosserfahrradmechaniker
- Region
- Canada
I don’t remember who was the bright little lizard behind that system, but it was nickname “the dragon” because of it’s prodigious appetite for really expensive drive motors and its ability to tick me off.
we figured I could digitize a simple object, a coffee cup was our usual suggestion, and download a complete CAD file to the machining Center in the other end of the building and have that unit starting to cut an exact replica in your choice of metal in about an hour. The machining Center could set up its own machining programs and choose its own cutting tools from an array of 36 it had stored internally based on the type of metal it was going to cut and the quality of finish you required.
when the system was new the machinist asked me to check the ID of a valve housing so he could correct its roundness. I asked how many points he wanted and he asked for 10 per degree of rotation or 3600 points around a roughly 2” diameter. ( the machine would happily do 10,000 points per feature. ) That took about 30 minutes for me to land in his inbox at his machine. He thought he was jerking me around asking for so much, not realizing the power I now had as in the past that was a couple of days work. His system wasn’t fully ready yet so he would have had to manually input it.
he came crawling back asking for a simpler file.
later the two systems talked directly, my CAD model output directly into his machining Center
Chargeride
Well-Known Member
The Sony dancing robot was 20 years ago, I dont think they are that much better now
gromike
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- City of Dreams
Yeah, automation has been around in some form for centuries. AI is quantum leap in information technology, but is a continuation of what has been happening for 75 years. I remember the dream was to replace manual labor with robots, knowledge workers were believed to be safe from robotization. But surprise, surprise! They are now much easier to automate than an autonomous manual laborer.
Chargeride
Well-Known Member
I aporeciate that bot is just performing a movement script and if you pushed, it would just fall over, but it seems in twenty years thats all weve added, we are still a long, long way from a robot that can close to even a very low IQ human, maybe another ten years at least
fritz katzenjammer
Der grosserfahrradmechaniker
- Region
- Canada
I’ve worked with a few qualifies engineers who I would have happily replaced with a robot. They don’t teach practical engineering any more, just theoretical stuff, so I had one just out of university spend half a day assembling an IKEA Billy bookcase for his office and screw it up. I’ve seen that twice now, it’s a great way to spend your coffee break… watching someone get humbled my a hex key.
When I made fun of him he told me to give him a break because he’d never used one before!
I once spent a day wandering what was at the time GM’s most advanced assembly plant. Watching a robot place a complete dashboard, instruments, steering column, wheel and all, into a vehicle through the door opening in about 5 seconds without hitting anything was quite amazing. Same for the one that picked up and then put 60 pound windshield in from a dozen feet in the air like it weighted nothing. Robots like this are good.
stompandgo
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
There's a reason that just about every production machine shop in existence has at least one vertical mill and at least one lathe. CNC is awesome, especially for complex pieces that have to be consistent in a run. However, tweaking things on a CNC machine often takes more time than doing it manually. Prototyping is done quite often on manual machines. There is a place for both, and I don't see the need going away anytime soon.
Chargeride
Well-Known Member
Handicap of 32gb
