Technology, Plant Engineers, Quality Professionals & Factory Managers Council: Co-Bots/Robots

Please join us for a joint council event with Technology, Plant Engineers, Quality Professionals and Factory Managers presenting Co-Bots/Robots!

8 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Registration & Networking
8:30 a.m. – 10 a.m. Presentation

This presentation will provide an overview of the technology and terminology of the “BOT” world; explain how fast it is expanding, and why it’s getting so much attention.  We want to introduce our council members to the latest in automation technology and expose them to new ways to improve their manufacturing efficiency and reduce costs.

Our presenters will be:

• Bill Gerbig, President Ralph W. Earl Company

Graduated Industrial Engineering from Syracuse University in 1984. Started with Ralph W. Earl immediately after graduation as a Technical Salesperson covering Central NY. Became Sales Manager in 1990, VP of Sales in 2000, and President in 2012.

• John Wen, Head, Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)

John T. Wen received B.Eng. from McGill University in 1979, M.S. from University of Illinois in 1981, and Ph.D. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1985, all in Electrical Engineering. From 1981-1982, he was a system engineer at Fisher Controls developing plant-wide coordination control system for pulp and paper plants. From 1985-1988, he was a member of technical staff at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory developing modeling and control algorithms for large space structures and space robots. Since 1988, he has been with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he is currently the Head of Industrial and Systems Engineering and a Professor in the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering with a joint appointment in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering. From 2005-2013, he served as the Director of the Center for Automation Technologies and Systems (CATS), a New York State designated Center for Advanced Technology. In 2009, he also served as the Interim Director of the NSF Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center (ERC). He leads the Rensselaer, and co-leads the New York State, participation in the recently awarded $250M DOD Manufacturing USA Institute, Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM). He is the co-inventor of the Adaptive Scanning Optical Microscope (ASOM), which was licensed to Thorlabs in 2007. The commercialized version of ASOM won the 2007 Laser Focus World Innovation Award in the Conference in Lasers and Electro Optics (CLEO). He was awarded the 2013 IEEE Control Systems Society Transition to Practice Award. Dr. Wen’s research interest lies in the modeling and control of dynamical systems with applications to precision motion, robotic manipulation, thermal management, lighting systems and materials processing. Dr. Wen is a Fellow of IEEE.

We even hope to have a robot or two in residence for the morning!