News
SICK (Minneapolis, MN), a provider of factory automation solutions, has announced that its laser measurement system sensors (LMS) were used by several teams during the DARPA Grand Challenge. The sensor is one of the key components of the navigation system, helping to sense the terrain and obstacles in front of the unmanned vehicles.
Sponsored by the Department of Defense, the competition is designed to test state of the art autonomous vehicle technology. The race, which took place March 13, covered a rugged course between Barstow, CA, and Primm, NV. The team that completed the course the fastest within a specified time won $1 million.
"The LMS units play a key role in our terrain sensing capablities," said Chris Pederson, team leader for the A.I. Motorvators team. "The relialbility and quality are impressive and demonstrate the company's committment to producing components that have the performance and durability needed for autonomous ground vehicles."
"The SICK sensors are considered key to our ability to generate a simplified 3-D image of the immediate terrain in front of the vehicle," said Ivar Schoenmeyr, leader of the CyberRyder team.
SICK non-contact LMS sensors offer distance measurement and collision control throughout a scanning field up to 180 degrees. The sensors can also be used for monitoring open spaces for building security, object classification, determining the volume of objects and collision prevention for vehicles and cranes.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Orbotech Inc. (Billerica, MA), the North American subsidiary of Orbotech Ltd. (Yavne, Israel), has announced the successful installation of two Trion-2340HD automated optical inspection (AOI) systems and integrated ADVISOR process control software tools at Nu Visions Manufacturing LLC (Springfield, MA), a provider of electronics manufacturing services.
Barry Cohen, president and chief executive officer of Orbotech Inc., said, "Nu Visions has a progressive strategy of continual investment in upgrading and expanding its existing capabilities to better serve its customers needs for technology complexity and manufacturing flexibility. We are proud to be chosen by Nu Visions as their AOI supplier and are sure that our field-proven post-reflow inspection solution will provide them with outstanding results to meet their process improvement and total customer satisfaction goals."
Nu Visions Manufacturing provides original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with customized total manufacturing solutions, including circuit design, board design from schematics, mechanical and product design, sourcing and procurement, prototype and volume board assembly, system assembly, design and implementation of product testing, warranty and repair services. Since 1991, Nu Visions has been servicing OEMs in the defense, industrial and medical industries, presenting competitive outsourcing advantages, access to advanced manufacturing technologies, shortened product time-to-market, and effective asset utilization.
Orbotech provides yield-enhancing production support solutions for specialized applications in the supply chain of the electronics industry, principally for printed circuit boards (PCBs) and flat panel displays (FPDs). The company designs, develops, manufactures, markets and services automated optical inspection (AOI) systems for bare and assembled PCBs and for FPDs, and imaging solutions for PCB production.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
AIM has announce an international series of seminars entitled "Finally! Practical Guidelines for Achieving Successful Lead-Free Assembly." The series will kick off in the Pacific Northwest later this month and continue throughout 2004. The seminars will be led by AIM and guest speakers from multinational original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers such as Intel and RadiSys.
With the WEEE/RoHS Directives outlawing lead from electronics in the EU by July 2006 and foreign competition driving the implementation of lead-free electronics assembly around the world, manufacturers need to fully understand the steps to take to successfully transition to lead-free assembly.
To successfully achieve lead-free electronics assembly, each participant in the manufacturing process, from purchasing to engineering to maintenance to quality, must have a solid understanding of the changes required of them.
While there are many theoretical workshops on lead-free assembly, this seminar focuses on the practical considerations for achieving successful lead-free assembly at your factory. Each step of the manufacturing cycle is addressed, from purchasing parts to inspecting assembled boards. Solid advice, real world examples and helpful images of the means to overcome the many challenges of lead-free assembly are presented.
Upcoming seminar dates are: March 30 in Spokane, WA; March 31 in Seattle, WA; April 1 in Portland, OR; April 7 in St. Louis, MO.
To participate, contact David Suraski of AIM: (401) 463-5605; email: info@aimsolder.com.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
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