“Nulla si fa senza vuluntá!”
– Italian Proverb meaning “without commitment, nothing gets done!”
1. Antique Vise Reborn with Additive
“Unlike a standard straight vise, which is typically only capable of clamping block-like parts, the 100 year old fractal design is capable of morphing to grip virtually any object, regardless of the complexity of the geometry. Dubbed ‘the coolest tool you didn’t know you needed’, the fractal vise is near impossible to purchase these days – this is where low-cost FFF 3D printing comes in.” Just look at how cool this thing is! If you work in… workholding, and can tell me firsthand why these aren’t produced anymore, I implore you, please email me!
2. Cobot Programed to Help Dress Limited Mobility Individuals
Researchers at MIT CSAIL found a means to program cobots to help dress people safely and quickly. Programming a cobot for such a task means inevitable collisions and impacts are within non-harmful tolerances. Why not prevent contact altogether you ask? Well yes, the bot needs to be gentle like a person but not so gentle that it takes all morning to get dressed. However, you obviously don’t want the arm pulling your shirt over your head as if it’s squaring up with you on the ice!
3. Why Use Custom EOAT When You Have Chopsticks?
Dextrous Robotics, a Memphis, Tennessee-based startup has come up with an automated box manipulation approach without any sort of suction, or really any sort of grippers at all. Instead, they’re using what can best be described as a pair of moving arms, each gripping a robotic “chopstick.”
4. Capable Cobot, Pepper, Can’t Hold a Job!
True story: I had the pleasure of meeting Pepper in person once on Capitol Hill. Softbank, Pepper’s manufacturer, had an event where they were exhibit… introducing Pepper to a bunch of lobbyists or something. The presentation begins, Pepper introduces his/herself, some dude from Softbank introduces himself and starts talking at the podium. About five minutes into this, Pepper rolls his/her eyes and starts gesturing as to mock the presenter. I must’ve been the only one to notice because I nearly got kicked out of the event as I was crying laughing. Unlike Boston Dynamics’ Spot or a conventional robot arm, I have no idea what job Pepper is/was supposed to accomplish, but the kid’s got character! I really hope Pepper gets back on his/her feet soon, it’d be a shame if Pepper got beheaded in Philadelphia like the late HitchBOT.
5. The Current Consumer Additive Champion
I saw this in person at Microcenter the other day! Admittedly I only walked up to it because I thought it was a Formlabs unit. Where Formlabs makes a top tier industrial grade device for industrial grade dollars, Creality makes a consumer grade printer at an attractive and extremely competitive $200-260!
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