Manufacturing Technology

A small New Zealand firm made a giant contribution to the America’s Cup. ‘YachtBot’ – GPS tracking systems invented by Dunedin firm Igtimi – was on nearly 40 boats operated by America’s Cup Event Authority (ACEA) including official, photo, television, mark-setting and VIP boats. YachtBot lets the race organisers build a “virtual stadium” on the water, and establishes a “seating plan” for nearly 1,000 Superyachts, VIPs, and the public. As weather conditions change, ACEA dynamically adjusts the race course and spectator areas to ensure that everyone is as close to the racing action as possible. Igtimi Co-director, Brent Russell, says “The America’s Cup has never been able to do this before, YachtBot is a critical part of on-water operations”. Using iPads, YachtBot also helps the organisers place the buoys on the course, and displays the AC45 race boats and helicopters to provide “full view” management. It allows skippers and passengers a first-hand account of where they are relative to the imaginary race boundaries. Mr Russell says YachtBot’s goal was to provide cutting-edge training and tracking tools at all levels of sailing from the Olympics to clubs. They customised that technology for the America’s Cup. “Our first tracking devices were on the 33rd America’s Cup boats in Valencia in 2010. Since then, we’ve made them accessible for club yachting. It’s great that America’s Cup picked up on our hardware again at the elite level. The bonus is, we’ll bring this upgraded technology back to club yachting, so it’s a win for everyone,” he says. Co-director, Kylie Robinson, says the YachtBot technology proved to be very popular during the America’s Cup World Series in Japan. “They were impressed to find that the volunteers using our technology to place the race markers did so faster and more accurately than those who were fully […]

Chris Barclay, Business Development Manager, Motovated Design & Analysis. Recently I was the incredibly fortunate recipient of a brand spanking new mountain bike. To be fair, I had earned it. It was my 30th birthday and a new bike was well past due. My wife managed to con my family into contributing towards it and I knew exactly what I wanted. A quick trip to the bike shop in Christchurch and a couple of days later I was in the Port Hills bunny hopping over treacherous terrain. Life was good. However, I did not take into account the fact that a new bike does not dramatically improve your riding ability, nor does it make you impervious to injury or as some call it, Epic Fails. Just like mountain biking, epic fails can spell disaster when it comes to engineering design. Some simple truths and common sense can often alleviate a lot of headaches and provide a process that is efficient and reliable. I am not referring to complicated project management software. This stuff is all free! Talking about collaboration I am quite a thorough researcher. The process of getting a new mountain bike was not taken lightly. I trawled through MTB forums, magazine reviews and various bike shops. The biggest advantage however; was talking to the end user. In my adventures on local bike trails I talked to dozens of people about the pros and cons of their bikes and all their different geometries and specifications. Every step of the way I was talking to mountain biking mates and sending pictures and links to get their input and feedback. When considering any product destined for the local or international market, having a collaborative approach should be top of the list. Imagine if Norco Bikes, the company that produced my brilliant […]

Customisation is the name of the game for Utah Trikes, a producer of trikes, quads and custom wheelchairs. President and CEO, Ashley Guy, said from the very beginning the company was all about personalisation. “We started making our quad using existing frame platforms and built custom two-wheel drive rear ends that we’d add on and effectively turn the trikes into quads. That grew into something where suddenly everybody who wanted something customised came to us.” These custom lugs, made with Stratasys FDM Nylon 12CF, are painted red after emerging from the tumbler with a smooth, polished finish. Customer Needs Drive Innovation But customisation has its obstacles, namely time and cost. “The production run might only be 100 parts and it’s hard to get your cost down with such a small run,” said Guy. Utah Trikes’ next step was trying to solve its manufacturing issues. “We have some CNC machines we ran pretty much nonstop,” Guy said. “But this was always a hassle without committing to jigs and fixtures, which meant a lot of man hours to prototype.” Also, as the parts became more complicated it became harder and harder for Utah Trikes to outsource. What Utah Trikes needed was the ability to make prototype pieces they could actually test, and that would be both cost and time efficient. About this time, 3D printing showed up on Guy’s radar. “I was intrigued but had no idea what I was looking for. When we heard about Stratasys Fortus 3D Printers, we knew we had a true production tool that could make real production parts.” FDM Nylon 12 CF A Game-Changer “The FDM Nylon 12CF is fantastic. It’s changing everything for us,” Guy said. He cites the strength of the material, as well as its soluble support as game changers. Additionally, “We can […]

Creaform, leader in portable 3D measurement solutions and engineering services, has had its flagship metrology-grade portable 3D scanner, the HandySCAN 3D, certified by Airbus and will be added to the company’s next Technical Equipment Manual (TEM) release. This certification comes following the recognition of HandySCAN 3D’s specifications by the French National Laboratory for Metrology & Testing (LNE). Combined with Creaform’s powerful and easy-to-use VXelements software, the scanner can reduce measurement times by up to 80% compared traditional methods. * Metrology-grade measurements for aircraft maintenance: Users can digitise dent damage on metallic parts with the accuracy of up to 0.030 mm (0.0012 in.) and a resolution of up to 0.050 mm (0.002 in.) with high repeatability and traceable certificate. * Intuitive pass/fail testing: With its intuitive design and real-time software visualization, the 3D scanner ensures ultra-short learning curves so operators can get the critical information they need to regardless of their experience levels. All they have to do is point and shoot! * Real-time visualisation and portability: Because it is so light and small, it can be used in any work environment, such as a hangar or outdoors, as it adapts to ambient and tarmac lighting. Users can easily perform 3D surface inspection of any part of an aircraft—including on and under wings. This certification by an industry leader like Airbus symbolises Creaform’s commitment to helping the aerospace as much as the automotive industries address their high-level of GD&T (Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing) requirements. With this certification, more and more industry players are turning to Creaform technologies to facilitate and speed up their 3D measurement processes to carry out accurate assessments of aircraft mechanical damage. The goal is to provide user-friendly and highly advanced solutions to get airplanes back in the skies faster and enable airlines to slash the high costs associated with […]

Version 5.0 of Kineo software components for path planning, collision detection and cable simulation is now available. Major new developments include: Kineo Flexible Cables The first release of this new software component has been developed with a specific focus on applications in robotics. The cables that power articulated robot systems are prone to failure as a result of repeated stress and collisions in the operating environment. These risks are minimised by optimising dynamic cable performance and reducing material stresses in a virtual prototype. Kineo Flexible Cables enable you to model collision-free cable behaviour in motion simulation applications. KineoWorks Interact Building applications that benefit from software components for path-planning, collision detection and cable simulation is easier than ever with the launch of KineoWorks Interact. This user-friendly tool enables you to customise a rich graphical user interface for developing your own sophisticated application based on our technologies. KineoWorks interact is perfect for OEMs and System Integrators with limited software development resources, who recognise the value in developing state-of-the-art software solutions for robot simulation, digital mock-up, accessibility studies and related applications. KineoWorks and Kineo Collision Detector KineoWorks now offers an integrated tool for computing an envelope around static and moving parts. In the case of static parts or assemblies, this “wrapping” capability generates very light-weight data representations. User-defined levels of tessellation enable you to represent space allocation, without exposing confidential product detail. In the case of moving parts, a comprehensive “swept volume” enables you to determine space allocation for moving parts. Kineo Collision Detector now offers direct support for collision and clearance analysis on point clouds, with no need to convert the point cloud data. Both components also benefit from a new C# interface, support Visual Studio 2015 as well as compatibility with the new KineoWorks Interact product for developing rich applications quickly […]

Despite the acknowledged productivity benefits of automation, many companies still handle common business practices manually, missing out on efficiencies and potential competitive advantage. Organisations should consider robotic process automation for back-office operations, and even some front-office processes, which are currently still done manually, according to NICE. Gerry Tucker, managing director, ANZ, NICE, said, “Businesses can gain significant benefits by automating certain business processes through robotic process automation. There are two types of robots: attended robots, which are used on a desktop to help humans optimise their work; and unattended robots, which live on the server and replace human activity. Using attended or unattended robots can help organisations deliver a consistent customer experience and makes workers more efficient. “For example, one of the world’s largest furniture retailers worked with NICE to implement a robotic process automation solution that could streamline order entry and fulfilment for customers. The system eliminated 100 per cent of order entry errors. It automated the processes and tasks associated with the equivalent of 16 full-time employees, letting those workers focus on more value-adding tasks.  In total, the robots reduced the company’s manual workload by 5,000 hours per year, delivering a faster, more accurate automated order and delivery system. This dramatically improved the customer experience.” Robotic process automation has been defined by the Institute for Robotic Process Automation as “the application of technology that allows employees in a company to configure computer software or a ‘robot’ to capture and interpret existing applications for processing a transaction, manipulating data, triggering responses and communicating with other digital systems”.1 NICE has identified five ways robotics can improve an organisation’s business processes, enhance the customer experience and deliver greater employee satisfaction:        Increasing employee satisfaction: By relieving employees of repetitive, menial actions, organisations can improve customer service and employee satisfaction […]