Robotics Sourcebook

Robotics Sourcebook
Author: V. Daniel Hunt
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2012-12-02
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0444601619

Robotics Sourcebook provides concise, up-to-date definitions of the terms, acronyms, and abbreviations currently used in robotics. It covers industrial robots, smart robots, and military robots, as well as machine vision, laser systems, CAD/CAM/CIM, advanced manufacturing technology, production processes, bar code identification, and factories of the future. It explains how robots work, and it presents key factors in robot implementation, as well as examples of typical applications, from assembly functions and die-casting to foundry, inspection, and forging. It also analyzes the world robotics market and includes forecasts of market trends. Divided into four parts encompassing 12 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the robotics industry and U.S. industrial performance, along with current international competitors and their markets, including Japan, Western Europe, France, Britain, and West Germany. It proceeds with a discussion of technological developments, research and development, standards, international agreements, definitions of terms, and robotics programs such as those of NASA, the National Science Foundation, U.S. Navy Robotics, and the United Kingdom. Also included is extensive reference material that contains points of contact for additional information and a detailed bibliography, plus photographs, charts, and diagrams. This book should be a useful reference source for engineers or professionals working in the field of industrial robotics.

Artificial Intelligence & Expert Systems Sourcebook

Artificial Intelligence & Expert Systems Sourcebook
Author: V. Daniel Hunt
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 1461322618

Artificial Intelligence and expert systems research, development, and demonstration have rapidly expanded over the past several years; as a result, new terminology is appearing at a phenomenal rate. This sourcebook provides an introduction to artificial intelligence and expert systems, it provides brief definitions, it includes brief descriptions of software products, and vendors, and notes leaders in the field. Extensive support material is provided by delineating points of contact for receiving additional information, acronyms, a detailed bibliography, and other reference data. The terminology includes artificial intelligence and expert system elements for: • Artificial Intelligence • Expert Systems • Natural language Processing • Smart Robots • Machine Vision • Speech Synthesis The Artificial Intelligence and Expert System Sourcebook is compiled from informa tion acquired from numerous books, journals, and authorities in the field of artificial intelligence and expert systems. I hope this compilation of information will help clarify the terminology for artificial intelligence and expert systems' activities. Your comments, revisions, or questions are welcome. V. Daniel Hunt Springfield, Virginia May, 1986 ix Acknowledgments The information in Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems Sourcebook has been compiled from a wide variety of authorities who are specialists in their respective fields. The following publications were used as the basic technical resources for this book. Portions of these publications may have been used in the book. Those definitions or artwork used have been reproduced with the permission to reprint of the respective publisher.

Computer-Integrated Manufacturing Handbook

Computer-Integrated Manufacturing Handbook
Author: V.D. Hunt
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1461315778

Manufacturing has entered the early stages of a revolutionary period caused by the convergence of three powerful trends: • The rapid advancement and spread of manufacturing capabilities worldwide has created intense competition on a global scale. • The emergence of advanced manufacturing technologies is dramati cally changing both the products and processes of modern manufac turing. • Changes in traditional management and labor practices, organiza tional structures, and decision-making criteria represent new sources of competitiveness and introduce new strategic opportunities. These trends are interrelated and their effects are already being felt by the u.s. manufacturing community. Future competitiveness for manu facturers worldwide will depend on their response to these trends. Based on the recent performance of u.s. manufacturers, efforts to respond to the challenges posed by new competition, technology, and managerial opportunities have been slow and inadequate. Domestic markets that were once secure have been assailed by a growing number of foreign competitors producing high quality goods at low prices. In a number of areas, such as employment, capacity utilization, research and development expenditures, and capital investment, trends in u.s. manufacturing over the last decade have been unfavorable or have not kept pace with major foreign competitors, such as Japan. There is substantial evidence that many u.s. manufacturers have neglected the manufacturing function, have overemphasized product development at the expense of process improvements, and have not begun to make the adjustments that will be necessary to be competitive.

Standard Handbook of Industrial Automation

Standard Handbook of Industrial Automation
Author: Douglas M. Considine
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 472
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1461319633

The authors and editors of this Handbook have attempted to fill a serious gap in the professional literature on industrial automation. Much past attention has been directed to the general concepts and philosophy of automation as a way to convince owners and managers of manufacturing facilities that automation is indeed one of the few avenues available to increase productivity and improve competitive position. Seventy-three contributors share their knowledge in this Handbook. Less attention has been given to the "What" and "How" of automation. To the extent feasible and practical within the confines of the pages allowed, this Handbook concentrates on the implementation of automation. Once the "Go" signal has been given by management, concrete details-not broad definitions and philosophical discussions-are required. To be found in this distinctly different book in the field are detailed parameters for designing and specifying equipment, the options available with an evaluation of their relative advantages and limitations, and insights for engineers and production managers on the operation and capabilities of present-generation automation system components, subsystems, and total systems. In a number of instances, the logical extension of current technology into the future is given. A total of 445 diagrams and photos and 57 tables augments detailed discussions. In addition to its use as a ready reference for technical and management personnel, the book has wide potential for training and group discussions at the college and university level and for special education programs as may be provided by consultants or by "in-house" training personnel.

Process Mapping

Process Mapping
Author: V. Daniel Hunt
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 302
Release: 1996-02-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780471132813

A business organization, like a human body, is only as effective as its various processes. Pretty obvious, right? Yet, as V. Daniel Hunt demonstrates in this groundbreaking book, the failure to appreciate this obvious fact is the reason most reengineering schemes fail. Managers whose job it is to improve company performance, like physicians who work to improve patient health, must develop a clear picture of how each process fits into the overall organizational structure; how it ought to function; and how well it is performing at any given moment; before they can form a diagnosis or devise a treatment strategy. Fortunately, a powerful new analytical tool that has emerged in recent years helps you to do all of that and much more. Developed at General Electric, process mapping has been implemented in companies around the globe, and the results have been simply astonishing. Now find out how to make this breakthrough reengineering technology work for your organization in Process Mapping. The first and only hands-on guide of its kind, Process Mapping arms you with a full complement of state-of-the-art tools and techniques for assessing existing business processes and developing a detailed road map for ongoing change and improvement. Internationally known management consultant and bestselling author V. Daniel Hunt guides you step-by-step through the entire process. He helps you assess the need for process reengineering in your organization and determine whether or not a process map is what you need. He shows you how to create a process mapping team and helps you select the best-buy process mapping tools for the job. He explains how to gather vital information about your business processes via focused interviews and other interview techniques, and how to use this data in implementing process mapping. He also offers expert advice on how to apply your process map to significantly improve business functions and bottom-line performance. Hunt draws upon the experiences of companies around the world whose process mapping success stories will be a source of inspiration and instruction. You'll find out just how process mapping was put to use--and the results it achieved--at General Electric, IBM, NASA, Tandy Electronics, Shawmut National Bank, Fluor Daniel, Exxon, and other leading product and service firms. Find out all about today's most important new management tool and how to put it to work for continuous improvement in your organization in Process Mapping. The first and only hands-on guide to a powerful new process mapping tool The most important new process improvement tool to come along in more than a decade, process mapping enables managers to easily identify and assess the various business processes that make up their organizations and to develop a road map for continued performance improvement. Now find out how to make this breakthrough management tool work in your organization by applying Process Mapping. V. Daniel Hunt, the bestselling author of Reengineering, Quality in America, and The Survival Factor, guides you step-by-step through the entire process. He gives you all the proven process mapping tools and techniques you need to: * Assess the need for process improvement in your company * Decide if process mapping is right for you * Create a process mapping team * Select the best process mapping software tools for the job * Collect vital information about business processes * Use the data to build your own process map * Use your process map to significantly improve bottom-line business performance Hunt also provides detailed case studies of product and service companies around the globe that have discovered the value of process mapping. You'll find out how General Electric, IBM, NASA, Tandy Electronics, Shawmut National Bank, Fluor Daniel, Exxon, and other leading companies achieved stunning results when they made process mapping part of their business improvement efforts.

The World Yearbook of Robotics Research and Development

The World Yearbook of Robotics Research and Development
Author: Sbornik Statei
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 566
Release: 2013-04-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9401197083

How quickly the technological 'flavour of the month' changes. At the beginning of the 1980's many saw 'robotics' as being something of a pana cea for those problems in the manufacturing industries which had been exacerbated by the world recession. Those working at the time in the field of robotics stressed that robots themselves were only part of the solution. Yet in many quarters the 'hype' for the new technology apparently knew few bounds, resulting, inexorably, in many industries painfully discover ing for themselves a new realism, closely followed by disillusionment. In its wider sense the term 'robotics' covers an extremely broad spec trum of technologies ranging from extremely flexible, highly sensory and integrated systems capable of handling a very diverse product range, through to comparatively inflexible, high volume systems which can merely handle slightly different variations of the same basic product. As a result of the one 'buzzword' referring to such a variety of actual system types, the disillusionment which started to become apparent during the early 1980's acted as something of a double edged sword. A given com pany might consider a particular robotics-based technological solution to its production problems, find that it was unsuitable, and so renounce all robotics approaches as inappropriate. Yet just because one position on that spectrum of technological solutions was unsuitable for the company should not have led them to assume that there was no other robotics solu tion that was appropriate.

Robot Reliability and Safety

Robot Reliability and Safety
Author: B.S. Dhillon
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1461231485

Robots are increasingly being used in industry to perform various types of tasks. Some of the tasks performed by robots in industry are spot welding, materials handling, arc welding, and routing. The population of robots is growing at a significant rate in various parts of the world; for example, in 1984, a report published by the British Robot Association indicated a robot popula tion distribution between Japan (64,600), Western Europe (20,500), and the United States (13,000). This shows a significant number of robots in use. Data available for West Germany and the United Kingdom indicate that in 1977 there were 541 and 80 robots in use, respectively, and in 1984 these numbers went up to 6600 and 2623, respectively. Just as for other engineering products, the reliability and safety of robots are important. A robot has to be safe and reliable. An unreliable robot may become the cause of unsafe conditions, high maintenance costs, inconvenience, etc. Robots make use of electrical, mechanical, pneumatic, electronic, and hydraulic parts. This makes their reliability problem a challenging task because of the many different sources of failures. According to some published literature, the best mean time between failures (MTBF) achieved by robots is only 2500 hours. This means there is definite room for further improvement in robot reliability. With respect to safety, there have been five fatal accidents involving robots since 1978.

Handbook of Industrial Robotics

Handbook of Industrial Robotics
Author: Shimon Y. Nof
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 1388
Release: 1999-03-02
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9780471177838

Industrieroboter gehoren heute zum Alltag. In den letzten zehn Jahren verlagerte sich der Schwerpunkt der Neuentwicklungen weg von den Robotern selbst, hin zu alternativen Formen der kunstlichen Intelligenz, mit denen die Gerate ausgestattet werden. Dem Rechnung tragend, beschaftigt sich die zweite Auflage dieses Handbuchs vor allem mit Anwendungen und Strategien zur Problemlosung in der Industrie. Angesprochen werden Themen wie Graphiksimulatoren, objektorientierte Software, Kommunikationssysteme und Mikro- und Nanoroboter. (04/99)