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The innovative robot “gripper” enables industrial robots to handle delicate objects human hands would
crush.
Technion’s robots are far cry
from sci-fi automatons of film
by Sheila Evan-Tov
Your picture of a robot may be
pure “Star Wars,” but reality is
different. Cosmetically and
functionally, today’s robots
contrast the silver-bodied androids
that are the darlings of science
fiction.
The Unimatic robot arm, for
example, stands unpretentiously in
a corner of the Robotics
Laboratory at the Technion-lsrael
Institute of Technology in Haifa,
resembling an oversized dentist’s
drill. But despite its humble
appearance, Unimatic represents a
breakthrough in the way future
industry will manufacture
products. Able to "handle" fragile
items that are as thin as half the
diameter of a human hair,
Technion’s robot gripper is a
significant milestone in the brave
new world of automatic assembly
line manufacturing
Robotics is an ideal industry for
Israel The country possesses an
abundance of engineers and
scientists to bring Israel the high-
technology enjoyed by other post
industrial nations. What Israel
lacks, however, is the necessary
unskilled labor needed to perform
the routine and toilsome tasks in
factories and fields—the kind of
work robots do so effectively and
efficiently. Not only will industrial
robots boost productivity, but
robot technology can be exported
as a major source ot revenue for
Israel.
The Robotics Laboratory at the
Technion in Haifa is the
source of Israel’s robotic industry.
Technion introduced robots to
Israel four years ago when the
Robotics Laboratory opened its
doors with an $80,000 dollar grant
from the country's Ministry of
Commerce and Industry.
Presently, it is still the only
institute in Israel providing course
work in robotics. Graduates go on
to assist private industry and
kibbutz-owned enterprises on
robotic projects.
All the industrial robots on the
drawing boards for Israeli industry
have their genesis at the Technion.
These include a device that,
assembles 20 components into a
stovetop range, a “robot doctor”
that diagnoses other robots’ ills
and instructs a technician how to
cure them, and a "sighted” robot
that picks fruit.
Technion’s robotic experts have
focused their ingenuity on the
development of robots for small-
scale manufacturing and
production, rather than compete
with the giant robot-makers of
Japan and West Germany which
have had a 10-year jump on Israel.
“Our strengths in the laboratory,”
explains Professor Yoram Koren,
senior lecturer at Techion’s
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
and head of the Robotics
Laboratory. Research at the
Robotics Laboratory emphasizes
computer-like programs which
translate into improved control for
robotic arms, and new designs for
sensors endowing robots with the
ability to see, feel, and even hear. It
is innovation in this area of
sensory, or ’’smart robots, that
enable the Unimatic robot gripper
to manipulate delicate, easily-
crushed parts with greater
sensitivity than ever before
possible.
Eventually, says Professor
Koren, oranges and avocadoes
grown in Israel will be picked and
packaged by mechanical hands.
Completely automatic factories
will design and manufacture
products by computer. “All phases
of production, assembly, and
testing will be robot operated,”
predicts Koren, “with the
minimum of human intervention.”
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PAGE 15 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE August 5, 1983