Robots and automation put on a show

Reports on the Robot & Automation show held at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre alongside the MACH 2000 and other principal manufacturing shows. Some of the robot applications developed by exhibiting systems integrators are described including installations for monitoring clean room staff, acid etching of perfume bottles, laser welding of photocopier chassis and laser cutting of automotive plastic trim parts. None of the large robot manufacturers exhibited but some of the key suppliers of SCARA robots were present. The report also covers some of the robots on display in the MACH exhibition. It particularly focuses on robots for automation of EDM that is dominated by two specialist EDM equipment suppliers, not the conventional robot builders.