I created a Propeller in Solidworks by following a very excellent Tutorial from Youtube.. by AzimUmahid...

Check this out...the actual sldprt files will be uploaded soon...

Consumer Robotics - NAO Robots

NAO Robots

Excellent personal robots. Looks like it is in the early stages of its development but it is a very handy tool for techies who wants to program their own commands in a robot. Aldebaran is the company investing in these technologies and it is definitely a thing for the next generation. The capabilities of this robots are amazing. You can visit for more details in the link below. I am trying to become one of the developer if i can afford the cost of the robot. From google, i found out that the approximate purchasing cost of NAO robot is 15,000 USD. But again they are very picky in selecting the developers for their robots. It is a very interesting sector to keep an eye on. I would love to have a robot at my home which can do some tedious works for me whenever i need him to do it. Aldebaran is a eight year old company, so looks like in next 10 years the cost of this robots will drive down to something which a lot of people can afford. I would like to have one of these, can't wait to learn more about these robots.


http://www.aldebaran-robotics.com/#

Velocity

This Blog is for Robotics and Custom Automation, but i just finished reading a very interested book called Velocity which combines Lean, Six Sigma and Theory of constraints. I am a green belt in six sigma and never knew about theory of constraints, never heard or read about it. This book changed my views completely. This books explains following concepts very nicely:
- Batch and Queue
- Balanced and Unbalanced Line
- Pull and Push Model
- Drum Buffer Rope
- TI and OE. Correlation between Throughput, Inventory and Operating Expenses.
- Demand Pull Restocking concept
- Fixed time interval inventory system.
A must read book for any manufacturing related individuals who wants to understand what kind of concept needs to be implemented in which department in order to get the maximum throughput.

CATIA - 3D Excellent Simulation Software

I know CATIA a little bit and i can say that it is one of the best entire package software available in the market. Please see the attached video. It is 3D simulation i have created when i was learning CATIA, it shows the excellent manner in which CATIA uses the constraints and runs the simulation to provide very detailed functionality of assembly. Enjoy the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_HaRxb9swk...as it is more than 100 MB please find it on youtube.com

Thanks

LA Auto Show 2011

This weekend, I visited LA Auto Show 2011, very nice show. This was my first Auto Show, i did find out a lot of interesting technologies in cars. I always see automobile industry as a source of inspiration for getting better ideas to make custom automated equipments. I personally spoke to couple of product specialists and find out about following sensors:
1) Oil Level Sensors - This sensors will eliminate the need for oil dip sticks. It is a very cool technology which senses the temperature difference between the temperature controlled sticked dipped in the oil.
2) Engine Management System - This system has sensors across the catalytic converter in exhuast and based on the exhaust air quality they control the engine's performance.
3) Electronic Control Stability - There is a optical sensor on the steering wheel of the car which gives output to the rear wheels. So when you are turning the wheel on a slope and if the car is not aligned properly to follow that trajectory, the electronics would help reduce the rpm of rear wheel to bring the car in the expected trajectory. This changes are so minute that we might not even notice the difference while driving.
4) Ultrasonic Sensors in the windows - This sensors trigger safety alarms when the window is broken.
5) Difference between Turbocharger and supercharger - The only difference between this two technology is the source of power for the turbine to push the air into inlet of the cylinder. Turbocharger uses exhaust air while supercharger is driven by the engine. So Turbocharger is more energy efficient while supercharger has nothing to do with engine efficiency. Supercharger actually provides more power than turbo charger.

I also learned that there is a magazine called Automotive engineering, they discuss all this cool technologies in much more details. I have decided to subscribe for it.

QA Inspection Using Robotics

I came across a thought about electronics industry. I believe the small electronic PCB manufacturers perform a lot of visual QA Inspection for missing components. This components(capacitors, resistors etc.) are so small that they need to be checked under microscope to make sure all the components are in place. This is very time consuming process as the cutting edge technology soldering machines have a very high through put and manual visual inspection is a very inefficient process to catch up with it and end up being an bottleneck of the process. I just made a very basic simulation of a robot picking up the PCB and inspecting it in front of a camera which can inspect all the components in a second using pattern recognition technology. This kind of automatic system takes only couple of seconds to inspect the PCB. The robot can be replaced with a 3 axis pneumatic or electric guides and it can be made pretty cheap. I am sure this is out there, but just wanted to post it on my blog. A very basic cheap application can be developed using cognex cameras and festo/smc actuators to accomplish with probably as little as less than 10,000 USD.

Paper, Film and Foil Converting Equipments

Web Handling Equipments are so amazing. I just starting working in this field and it is awesome. The process is very complicated and it is so sophisticated controls. The most interesting part is the different variety of applications this products have. Anything which can be rolled, can be produced in this web handling equipments.