The annual robotics conference, the International Symposium on Robotics (ISR), will be held this year as part of Automate 2011 in Chicago, 21-24 March.
Among the topics the ISR will address are new methods of fixturing for airplane and automotive assembly, new advances in autonomous industrial mobile manipulators, real-time image processing of human face identification, and collision-free moving object tracking with active visual servoing.
'The ISR occupies a unique place in the history of robotics, and we're delighted to be hosting it again in the US for the first time since 2007,' said Jeff Burnstein, president of Robotic Industries Association (RIA), a co-sponsor of the Automate 2011 event and the 42nd ISR.
This year's ISR features speakers from the US, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Taiwan among other nations.
'The ISR has a history of presenting cutting-edge research that is likely to be commercialised in the near-term and we expect this year to open up many eyes about what's coming in robotics and related areas such as machine vision,' Burnstein continued.
The ISR is sponsored by the International Federation of Robotics and is held in a different country each year. The 2012 event will be held in Taiwan for the first time. It is not expected to return to the US until at least 2015.
Automate 2011 will showcase a wide range of automation solutions, including pharmaceutical vial inspection, automated test system for the gaming industry, vision guided spindle welding, high speed part inspection, vision-guided robotic flexible feeding, and vision-guided robotic packing and palletising, among other applications. There will also be a special exhibit on machine vision standards.
'The best part of the solutions exhibits is that they will be shown by system integrators, companies who have experience integrating these solutions in a wide variety of industries,' Burnstein explained. 'As a result, the end users who visit Automate 2011 will discover new solutions and meet and compare various integrators in order to find the right solutions partner.'
Specifically with regards to imaging, one area where machine vision is making inroads is warehousing and distribution. Solutions for these industries will be explored at Automate because the event is collocated with ProMat 2011, the leading show for the materials handling and logistics industries.
The Automate 2011 Conference provides several sessions designed to teach customers how to successfully apply vision. Additionally, there are basic and advanced courses that users and suppliers can take to earn AIA's Certified Vision Professional designation.
'The Certified Vision Professional designation is becoming an important credential for individuals involved in developing vision solutions,' Burnstein said. 'Users and suppliers want to have their key people trained on the basic elements as well as the more advanced techniques. The Automate 2011 event is the first time we're offering the advanced level courses and test and we look forward to further expansion of the CVP programme in the future.'
Burnstein said a special booth at Automate 2011 will focus on the CVP programme as well as a new initiative aimed at certifying machine vision and robotics integrators at the company level.
