Innovation & Job News

Lawrence Tech set to host national Robofest tournament

Metromode Thursday, April 28, 2011

A robotics competition like the upcoming Robofest at Lawrence Technological University is obviously a play to get more young people interested in a career in robotics. But CJ Chung, a computer science professor at Lawrence Tech, says it has a broader goal.

"We are using robots to further math and science learning," Chung says. "That's the purpose of Robofest."

Lawrence Tech is hosting the 12th annual World Robofest Championship on May 7. welcoming 65 teams from around the world. They include 35 teams from outside of Michigan and a few from Canada and South Korea. Chung also likes to point out that this competition also has entrepreneurial aspirations.

"Some of my students who have participated in Robofest have started their own companies," Chung says.

Robofest is a competition of autonomous robots (computer-programmed to act independently) that encourages students to have fun while learning principles of science, technology, engineering, and math. Students design, construct, and program the robots. Adult coaches are not allowed to assist during the events.

Admission and parking are free. For more information, call (248) 204-3566 or send an email to robofest@ltu.edu or click here.

Source: CJ Chung, computer science professor at Lawrence Technological University
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Lawrence Tech students team with auto, robotics companies to develop new tech

Metromode Thursday, February 03, 2011

Lawrence Technological University has formed what might be the first Autonomous Vehicles and Robotic Systems Student Committee in Michigan, and perhaps the entire country, as part of the Great Lakes Chapter of the Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.

The new committee, which was was co-founded by National Instruments, is expected to create more synergies between Lawrence Tech's engineering students and the automotive and robotics companies. The participating students will be able to leverage the experience into more academic research that is more closely tied with what's going on at companies like KUKA Industrial Robots, which already has a relationship with the committee. The committee originated in Lawrence Tech's mechatronics master's degree program, which concentrates on autonomous/conventional ground vehicle and robotic systems engineering.

"It gives students full access to the outside world," says Vladimir Vantsevich, a professor at Lawrence Tech and the committee's faculty advisor. "It lets them interact with companies to get better jobs."

Those jobs will be helping design and develop the world's future autonomously working machines, everything from regular cars to mining equipment to industrial robotics.

Source: Vladimir Vantsevich, professor at Lawrence Technological University
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

U-M Detroit Center matches teens, mentors, robots

metromode Thursday, February 18, 2010

The three key legs to enhancing education at the University of Michigan Detroit Center include teens, mentors and robots.

The university paired more than 100 high school students at Detroit Public Schools with mentors so they could compete in the FIRST Robotics 2010 national competition. The students and mentors built robots for the competition at the Michigan Engineering Zone.

The FIRST Robotics competition is often seen as a stepping stone for students going down the robotics and engineering career path. Think the people who create and manage the robots in assembly lines and other commercial activities. It's also viewed as a team building exercise for students, similar to a sport.

"I am seeing that they are becoming more self confident and that's what this is all about," says Jeanne Murabito, executive director for student affairs at the University of Michigan's College of Engineering. "That's the best part."

This is the first year of the program, which was made possible through the cooperation of the university and Detroit Public Schools. There are plans to continue it next year.

Source: Jeanne Murabito, executive director for student affairs at the University of Michigan's College of Engineering
Writer: Jon Zemke

Plex Systems adds 10 jobs in Auburn Hills

metromode Thursday, February 04, 2010

Mark Symonds thinks manufacturing in Metro Detroit gets a bum rap. To him there is more to it than a dying industry laying off under-educated workers. It's why his firm, Plex Systems, is bucking that trend by hiring and sponsoring some cutting-edge education.

The Auburn Hills-based firm creates the software that helps maximize manufacturing efficiency. It's a business plan that has allowed the firm to grow 14 percent and hire 10 people into its growing staff of 140 employees and a handful of co-op students. The company is aiming for 30 percent growth next year and even more staff expansion.

Plex Systems streamlined its software product so it is delivered through the Internet on a subscription basis. The idea is to make it cost-effective for its customers to adopt to Plex Systems' latest offerings.

"You don't have to lay out a bunch of cash up front to have a world-class system," says Symonds, the CEO of Plex Systems.

Plex Systems also took the step of sponsoring the Rochester Adams/Stoney Creek High School Robotics Team's participation in the 2010 season FIRST Robotics competitions. Symonds says the sponsorship is about supporting the pipeline of talent that supplies Plex Systems with so many of its employees.

"Many of our employees are engineers and geeks," Symonds says. "Now their children are in these programs. We want to encourage that."

Source: Mark Symonds, the CEO of Plex Systems
Writer: Jon Zemke

Robotics Tech Consortium doubles membership

metromode Thursday, October 15, 2009

Membership in the Robotics Technology Consortium is gaining momentum, more than doubling membership numbers in its second year.

The non-profit's membership has gone from 88 organizations last year to 179 this year. Those numbers are expected to grow as firms specializing in robotics increasingly try to break into the defense sector.

"It has really sprung up and is really taking off," says Phil Callihan, executive director of the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences.

The Ann Arbor-based Robotics Technology Consortium spun off from the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences to help guide companies through doing business with the U.S. Dept. of Defense. The idea is to clear a path so technology can make it to the battlefield in an expedited manner.

More and more local manufacturing and robotics firms are breaking into the defense/homeland security sectors as a way to diversify their client portfolio as the domestic automotive industry continues to shrink.

"The area of robotics is growing so exponentially," Callihan says. "We think the sky is the limit."

Source: Phil Callihan, executive director of the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences
Writer: Jon Zemke

JADI becomes iTrack, plans to Auburn Hills

metromode Thursday, June 25, 2009

What was once JADI is turning into iTrack, taking in a nice tax incentive and planning to begin a big growth move next year.

"We are projected to grow to 25-30 people within five years," says Jerry Atkinson, CEO of iTrack.

The robotics firm got its start in Troy as JADI in 2004. It made the jump to Oakland University's SmartZone Business Incubator (OU INCubator) last year with the help of $250,000 from the Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund.

The company is working with a $3.5 million U.S. Department of Defense grant to develop a system that will allow people to track and control an autonomous robotic vehicle, like NASA's Mars Rover. Options are also being explored on the commercial market.

It made the change to iTrack earlier this year when it joined Oakland County's Emerging Sectors Program. It also formed a partnership that brought in a large state tax incentive to finish product development by next year. When that happens, it plans to leave the incubator and set up shop in Auburn Hills.

Source: Jerry Atkinson, CEO of iTrack
Writer: Jon Zemke

Royal Oak students build landmine robot, file for patent

metromode Thursday, May 28, 2009

What started as just another high school robotics project could turn into a career-molding discovery for three Royal Oak High School students.

Freshmen Gordon Stein, Max Schultz, and Julia Stavale built an autonomous robot that detects and locates landmines. It won the top award at the 10th annual World Robofest Championship at Lawrence Technological University this spring, and a $1,000 development grant from the Joint Center for Robotics at the Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center in Warren.

The students are filing for a patent for the robot called "Seeker" and are working in the rent-free office space of one parent's firm, Clawson-based Art/Design Group.

"They will be refining it over the next several months," says Joel Stein, father of Gordon Stein, who helped guide the team.

Stein challenged the Homemade Titanium Expos team to work on a project that not only exhibited their robotic expertise but tackled a humanitarian problem. They chose to focus on defusing landmines, (70 people are injured or killed every day by landmines) and researched patents to see what was out there.

The Homemade Titanium Expos came up with an inexpensive vehicle robot that can be used to find some of the 100 million landmines buried in 70 different countries. Seeker cost $148 to build and weighs five pounds, light enough not to set off most landmines. It uses a metal detector sensor to find the mines and marks the spot with a fluorescent dye.

Source: Joel Stein, parental supervisor of Homemade Titanium Expos and Lawrence Technological University
Writer: Jon Zemke

Student's robots take on urban challenge at Lawrence Tech today

metromode Thursday, December 11, 2008

The next generation of smart-car scientists will put their latest innovations on display at Lawrence Technological University tonight for the school's mini urban challenge.

Autonomous robots created by advanced high school and college students will navigate an obstacle course starting at 7:30 p.m. in the Buell Management Building on the university's Southfield campus.

The robots are built from the L2Bot platform that was developed at Lawrence Tech. It's part of an intelligent robotics project that is similar to the smart-car technology state and auto manufacturers are currently developing.

Each robot uses an onboard camera as a sensor for a vision guidance software system. This allows the robot to navigate a course made to simulate urban roads with a tunnel. A video of last year's competition can be found here.

The teams represent Romeo Engineering & Technology Center, Cranbrook Schools, a home school group from Bloomfield Township, Berean Academy from Rochester Hills and Lawrence Tech computer science students.

The event will also feature a demonstration of H2Bot, the world's first fuel-cell-powered autonomous robot.

For information, click here or send an email to robofest@ltu.edu or call (248) 204-3569.

Source: Lawrence Technological University
Writer: Jon Zemke

RobotParade set to stroll through Lawrence Tech on Saturday

metromode Thursday, November 20, 2008

Robots aren't exactly taking over Lawrence Technological University, but they will be parading through the Southfield-based school's campus like they own the place Saturday.

Lawrence Tech will host the third annual Thanksgiving RoboParade between 9:30 a.m. and noon. The parade will consist of robot floats made by middle and high school students from across Michigan, following a mock Woodward Avenue parade route.

Students operating the robots are coming from the likes of University of Detroit Jesuit, the Roeper School, United Christian School in Garden City, ACE in Livonia, Digital Arts and Sciences Academy and Macomb Christian Schools.

The idea behind the event is to help interest a new generation of students in robotics and computer programming. To see what last year's RoboParade looked like, click here.

The free indoor autonomous robot demonstration will take place in the Buell Management Building cafeteria, 21000 West Ten Mile Road.

Source: Lawrence Technological University
Writer: Jon Zemke

Saline's Pro-face turns industrial into high-tech, plans to add 10-20

Concentrate Thursday, September 25, 2008

An industrial-based company in Saline is making some big expansion moves thanks to its latest contribution to new economy technology.

Excerpt:

Pro-face of America is the type of industrial-based firm Michigan wishes it had more of.

The Saline-based firm creates touch-screen computers for factories. Think ATM technology on factory robots and machines.

"It's basically a PC screen but much more capable," says Gary Labadie, marketing manager with Pro-face of America.

Read the rest of the story here.

Lawrence Tech finishes second in intelligent car competition

metromode Thursday, June 12, 2008

Every commuter wants to ride in the car than can drive itself and students from Lawrence Technological University are working to make that a reality.

A team of engineers from a variety of fields placed second in the autonomous challenge. That's the main event of the 16th annual Intelligent Group Vehicle Competition, which was held at Oakland University.

The challenge is designing and building model vehicles that navigate obstacle courses without human guidance. The students have to put together complex computer programming and robotics to make it happen.

"It was a tremendous accomplishment to do so well with a vehicle that had been developed from scratch," says Lawrence Tech Associate Professor CJ Chung, the team's faculty advisor.

The idea behind the competition is to promote the development of automated and intelligent vehicles that can have both civilian and military applications. A number of big name institutions are interested in this type of technological development ton sponsor it. That list includes Microsoft, General Motors, the Department of Defense, the Air Force Research Laboratory and the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center.

Lawrence Tech's team competed with forty-seven other teams from 39 universities. For its efforts Lawrence Tech's team won $2,500.

Source: Lawrence Technological University
Writer: Jon Zemke

World Robofest Championship comes to Lawrence Tech this weekend

metromode Thursday, April 24, 2008

It's not exactly BattleBots, but the World Robofest 2008 Championship at Lawrence Technological University sounds just about as cool.

Dozens of high school teams from around the world and the robots they have created will converge on Lawrence Tech's campus for mechanized competition. However, the difference between this and other robotic contests is that Robofest's robots are autonomous (they act independently) while others require remote controls to function.

Among the games are:

RoboSumo, where the robots push each other out of the ring Sumo wrestling style.
RoboFashion Show features teams of two robots that show off their costumes and dance moves.
Mini Urban Challenge is where a laptop-based robot maneuvers through a course simulating an urban road environment.
Pentathlon that allows robot teams to participate in five field events using VEX robots.

The robots are designed, programmed and assembled by student teams at middle and high school levels. These crash courses in robotics give the students hands-on experience in the same commercial robot development used in manufacturing and even by NASA (like the lonely robot from the Superbowl commercial).

Winners of the championship rounds receive big trophies and $2,000 annual renewable scholarships at Lawrence Tech. These types of robotic programs and competitions have become so successful that millions of dollars in scholarships have been awarded to participants over the years.

The competition will take place between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. in the Ridler Field House at Lawrence Tech, 21000 West Ten Mile Road in Southfield. Admission and parking are free. For information, email robofest@ltu.edu or call (248) 204-3566.

Source: Eric Pope, spokesman for Lawrence Technological University
Writer: Jon Zemke

Robotics firm JADI looks to add a dozen employees by year's end

metromode Thursday, March 20, 2008

Think your car might have a mind of its own? JADI is working on technology that might make that possible one day.

The Troy-based robotics firm is working on system that will allow people to track and control an autonomous robotic vehicle (think NASA's Mars Rover) for the U.S. Department of Defense. It's also working on variations of that technology for the commercial market.

"We have spent the last four years developing this technology and we hope to bring it to the market soon," says Jerry Atkinson, CEO of JADI.

The Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund has awarded JADI $250,000 to help make that happen. Add that on top of $3.5 million the company has received from the Department of Defense and it's understandable why the firm has grown to seven employees with plans to add as many as a half dozen more by 2009.

JADI was the first business admitted to Oakland University's SmartZone Business Incubator and is a member of Automation Alley.

The Michigan Pre-Seed Capital Fund is part of Michigan's 21st Century Jobs Fund and is administered by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Money awarded from the Pre-Seed Capital Fund must accompany matching private funds or federal grants. Companies receiving investments from this fund must obtain matching equity funds from outside investors or federal grants.

Source: Jerry Atkinson, CEO of JADI
Writer: Jon Zemke

IPG Photonics sets up laser facility in Novi, plans to hire 12

metromode Thursday, March 13, 2008

"You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads!" -- Dr. Evil

Novi will miss out on the sharks (and the ill-tempered, mutated sea bass unfortunately) but the lasers beams are on their way now what IPG Photonics is setting up a facility in Metro Detroit this year.

The developer and manufacturer of high-performance fiber lasers is renovating a 17,000-square-foot building on Magellan Drive in Novi. It plans to set up four new application labs in the space. Those labs will house high-powered lasers and robots that will help develop parts for the automotive and medical device industries.

To help supplement this growth, IPG Photonics plans to hire about a dozen engineers over the next year. They will work in either the Novi location or the building in Wixom the firm already leases.

Source: Bill Shiner, vice president with IPG Photonics
Writer: Jon Zemke

Industrial Control Repair triples in size, adds learning institute

metromode Thursday, March 13, 2008

What kid hasn't tried to build a robot with a cardboard box, miscellaneous wires and an old calculator?

Industrial Control Repair is trying to capitalize on that fascination by opening up a Learning Institute to help students start a career in robotics.

The school will give students a hands-on opportunity to learn about robotics in actual professional situations. Students will get a foot in the door of an industry that has become integrated with everything from manufacturing to medicine and hazardous waster removal.

"We believe in helping people gain the skills necessary to be successful in their career and prepare for future demands on the workforce," says Cindy Lang, the director of the Learning Institute.

It also helps that the Warren-based company, formed in 92, is enjoying quite a bit of success that makes this possible. The robotics company has grown from about $10 million in revenues in 2002 to $32 million last year. It hopes to bump up those revenues a few more million this year, too.

More jobs have come with that growth --to the tune of 145 people. ICP expects to add another dozen positions by the end of the year.

"The company has almost tripled in size," says Larry Obermesik, vice president of IT for Industrial Control Repair. "It�s been crazy."

Source: Larry Obermesik, vice president of IT for Industrial Control Repair
Writer: Jon Zemke

Robotics : Innovation & Job News