Advanced science. Applied technology.
For more than 35 years, SwRI has been developing innovative automation and robotics solutions. World-class experts and experienced engineers comprise the automation engineering staff. Automation engineering facilities include state-of-the-art laboratories and large prototype areas for development.
SwRI’s robotics and automation group is divided into a few “program areas,” or technology focuses, typically centered around a market segment. One of these program areas is titled “Intelligent Machines.” To the casual observer, Intelligent Machines could mean anything from the computer you are reading this article on to the microwave you reheated your leftovers in for lunch, which are machines that have some level of intelligence.
Many industrial processes, such as sanding or mechanical assembly, require a force applied and/or monitored to execute the process. This can be accomplished either through built-in compliance in the interaction between the tool on the robot and the part being worked on or through a rigid interaction and a controlled force being applied by the robot itself.
When you think about industrial robotics or automation you might imagine a large factory filled with robotic arms assembling automobiles or automated machinery building up electronics. What you might not immediately think of is a robot performing a one-off task that changes with every work-piece presented to it – but that is something we do, and do well, with our Scan-N-Plan technology.
