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Donald A. Vincent, Executive Vice President of Robotic Industries Association, heads the list of the winners of the 2002 Joseph F. Engleberger Awards, the industry's most presigous honor. Other winners are: 1. William "Red" Wittaker, Fredkin Research Professor of Robotics at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, 2. John Burg, president of Meritage Manufacturing Solutions, 3. Dr. Shimon Y. Nof, professor and director of the Production, Robotics and Integration Software for Manufacturing Management Center at Purdue University.
Keywords Awards, Robotics
Donald A. Vincent, Executive Vice President of Robotic Industries Association (RIA), heads the list of winners of the 2002 Joseph F. Engelberger Awards, the industry's most prestigious honor. Vincent, who has led RIA for two decades and was directly involved in the founding of RIA as North America's only robotics trade group in 1974, becomes the first full-time association staff member ever given this honor. Past Presidents of RIA selected all Engelberger Award winners.
"Don Vincent's leadership of RIA since 1983, during economic downturns as well as during the growth periods for the industry, has established RIA as a well-funded and powerful voice for the robotics industry on a global basis," said Charlie Duncheon, Sr. Vice President, Adept Technology, and a Past President of RIA. "After two decades of tireless service to the industry, it is time that he is recognized with the Engelberger Award for Leadership."
Specific accomplishments under Vincent's leadership at RIA include establishment of the International Robots and Vision Show as North America's leading robotics event, development of Robotics Online as the world's leading resource for robotics information on the Internet, and formation of the Automation Technologies Council, a trade group representing some 500 North American manufacturing companies in the robotics, machine vision, and automated metrology industries. He also has established RIA as the central clearinghouse for robotics safety information, and oversaw the development of RIA's first American National Robot Safety Standard in 1986 and major revisions in 1992 and 1999.
The other 2002 Engelberger Award Winners are:
Technology
Dr William "Red" Whittaker, Fredkin Research Professor of Robotics, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, and Chief Scientist, RedZone Robotics, Inc.
Dr Whittaker is one of the pioneers of developing robots for use outside of the factory. He coined the term "field robotics" to describe his research that centers on robots in environments such as mines, work sites and natural terrain. Among his best-known projects are the Robotic Search for Antarctic Meteorites, an autonomous mobile robot and sensors to locate and recover meteorites in Antarctica; The Atacama Desert Trek, a 200 km-long exploration of the Chilean Atacama Desert by a prototype lunar exploration robot; Dante 1 and 11, unmanned robots for volcano exploration in Alaska; Tessellator, a robot for automated inspection and waterproofing of the Space Shuttle's Thermal Protection System; and Pioneer, a mobile mapping and reconnaissance machine for structural assessment of the damaged Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Application
John Burg, President, Meritage Manufacturing Solutions.
John Burg has been an innovator in the robotics industry for more than 20 years. He has been directly involved in the successful implementation of hundreds of robots used to improve manufacturing processes. He was one of the first people to demonstrate that robots could successfully be used by manufacturers of agricultural and construction equipment. One of his largest applications, at Bobcat, involved one robot for every six workers, about 40 times the US average and six times the Japanese average. He has developed unique methods of using robots for machine loading, welding, material handling, machining and tapewinding.
Education
Dr Shimon Y. Nof, Professor and Director of the Production, Robotics and Integration Software for Manufacturing Management (PRISM) Center, Purdue University.
Professor Nof developed the world-renowned Industrial Robotics Laboratory at Purdue. He pioneered the use of computerized simulators for education and training in robotic manufacturing, which were used in over 400 universities and companies; the robot time and motion (RTM) method for robot ergonomic studies; the interactive robotic device (IRD) to help severely disabled children; the manufacturing operating system (MOS) design languages and simulators for the planning and management of robotic facilities. He is the editor and co-author of one of the world's essential robotics texts, the Handbook of Industrial Robotics (first edition 1985, second edition 1999). He established the PRISM Laboratory/Center in 1991, with government and industry support, as a multidisciplinary research and education program. The Lab has been involved on projects with robotics researchers from Australia, Chile, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.
The Engelberger Awards were presented on October 9 during the International Symposium on Robotics in Stockholm, Sweden. Each award winner received a $4,000 honorarium and commemorative medallion. Since its inception in 1977, awards have been presented to 84 international robotics leaders from 14 countries. The award is named after Joseph F. Engelberger, known throughout the world as "the father of robotics." He personally presented the awards in Stockholm.
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