The man‐machine interface get friendlier at Manufacturing Week

A report on robots at the Manufacturing Week exhibition, highlighting some of the developments on show in the man‐machine interface field. This reveals that the Windows environment is becoming increasingly popular for robot manufacturers. Special attention is given to the exhibits of two robot companies. In the first, a new robot off‐line programming and simulation system from Kuka is described. Its uniqueness is that the robot controller logic module and software is embedded into the off‐line programming PC, so that developed programs can be directly downloaded to the robot. The second, shown by System Devices, is a Windows‐based programming support package developed by Epson for its SCARA robots.