Robotics and Machine-Vision for the Future – An Industrial View –
Masakazu Ejiri, Hitachi Company Ltd., Japan
Recent trends in industrial technology are to make things small, synergetic, intelligent, and environmentally friendly. Mechatronics is one research area on these trends, and its perspective is first introduced. The status of research in robotics and machine-vision technologies is then described as a typical example of mechatronics research. Expectations for the future of these technologies are also mentioned from the viewpoint of industry, emphasizing the importance of considering the reliability in robotics and of studying real-time color video processing in machine vision. These fields are becoming increasingly important for establishing a productive, efficient, secure, and stress-free society through factory, office, and social automation.
Masakazu Ejiri received the B.E. degree in mechanical engineering and the Dr.Eng. degree in electrical engineering, both from Osaka University, Osaka, Japan, in 1959 and 1967, respectively. Since 1959, he has been with the Central Research Laboratory of Hitachi Ltd., Kokubunji, Tokyo, Japan. He spent 1967-1968 as a Visiting Professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago and 1977-1981 as a Vice President of HISL Inc. (Hitachi's subsidiary company), California, USA. He has worked primarily in the area of control engineering, pattern recognition, robotics, machine vision, and artificial intelligence, and authored more than 50 technical papers and five books. One of his most famous achievements is the development of world-first transistor assembly machines using machine vision technology in 1973. More recent achievements include the development of new mail-sorting machines in 1997. He is presently a Senior Chief Research Scientist, Corporate Technology, both at the Central Research Laboratory and the Mechanical Engineering Research Laboratory of Hitachi Ltd. He is also a Visiting Professor of the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Hokuriku, and Fukui University. Dr. Ejiri is a Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of IAPR (International Association for Pattern Recognition), and a Fellow of the IEICE (Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers of Japan). He served as a Vice President of the IAPR during 1990-1992 period, and is currently a member of the Governing Board of the IAPR. He has been serving as a Vice-President of the Robotics Society of Japan during 1999-2001 period, and will serve as the President of the Robotics Society of Japan, starting from March 2001.
| The Law of Cooperation in Mechatronics
Jan Van Eijk, Philips Centre for Industrial Technology, The Netherlands
The design and development of advanced and intelligent systems requires contributions from different technical disciplines. When the required cooperation is successfully achieved a whole range of competitive business options is created. Unfortunately such cooperation is not easily obtained. During the past 15 years the Philips Centre for Industrial Technology developed a strong Mechatronics community. For this development the Law of Cooperation proved to be very suitable to guide the process. The basic aspects of this "Law" will be presented in combination with some of the technical results obtained during our development.
Dr. van Eijk obtained his Masters Degree from the Delft University of Technology in 1975. He was educated as a Mechanical Engineer in the field of Instrument Design. After four years in the service of UNESCO in Pakistan and Sri Lanka he returned to the University to do research for his doctorate. His thesis, presented in 1985, dealt with the design and implementation of flexure elements in precision mechanisms. From 1984 he started working at the Centre for Industrial Technology of the Philips Electronics Company. There he was involved in the industrialization of the Compact Disc player mechanisms. This involved the mechanical design, dynamic behavior and the interaction with feedback control performance. The second development activity focussed on the motion devices for the ASML wafersteppers and scanners. Here also the layout of the mechanical system proved to require attention. Other equipment he was involved include electron microscopes, placement equipment for PCB assembly and other manufacturing equipment. Critical in most of these projects was the Predictive Modeling of Machine Dynamics and its link with Control Design. As the leader of the Mechatronic Departments in Philips he has worked on the creation of effective cooperation of specialists from different technical backgrounds. The Mechatronics capability has now grown to a group of about 200 people in the Philips CFT in Eindhoven. A multiple of this number is working in the affiliated development groups. Most of them have received training from the central groups on Mechatronics. In the beginning of the year 2000 Dr. van Eijk became a part-time professor in the Faculty for Design, Construction and Manufacturing of the Delft University for Technology. He is setting up a group on Advanced Mechatronics that will work on high precision motion and on the design and assembly of Micro-Mechatronic Systems.
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