Welcome to podcast edition #144. I welcome my friend Konrad Konnerth to the pod

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the robot industry podcast . Thanks for joining us and for subscribing.

Konrad, welcome to the podcast. Can you take a few minutes and introduce yourself to our audience?

Tell me about your automation background here in southwestern Ontario (SWO).

What is happening from a high level in automation?

You have a strong background in precision indexing automation from Germany, correct?

Can you tell our audience about your Adapto Solution?

Who are your customers?

Success stories and use cases for Adapto?

Greenhouse automation?

You are involved in the innovation community here in London. Tell me about that.

Did we forget to talk about anything?

When you are not innovating, robotics and automation, what kind of hobbies do you have?

How can people find you if they want to reach out and find out more about Konnexio.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/konradkonnerth

I would like to mention A3: the Association for Advancing Automation. they are the leading automation trade association for robotics, vision and imaging, motion control and motors and the industrial artificial intelligence technologies.  Visit Automate dot org to learn more.

If you would like to get in touch with us at THE robot industry podcast, you can find me jim beretta on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimberetta/

Today’s podcast was produced by Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing and I would like to thank my team Chris Gray for the music, Geoffy Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet and our new sponsor: Mecademic Industrial Robots ~ world leading manufacturers of compact and precise industrial robots. https://mecademic.com/

Warm Regards,

Jim

Jim Beretta

Customer Attraction & The Robot Industry Podcast

London, ON

Welcome to edition #143 of The Robot Industry Podcast. For this edition I am interviewing Andrew Perkins. He is a long time automation machine vision expert and is heading up TrueLight Machine Vision, a division of BOS Innovations.

Andrew, how did you get into this industry?

Who are your customers? Manufacturers or other integrators, robotics OEMs (or all three)?

Do you have a typical customer or are they all custom?

Who is TrueLight Machine Vision Integrations?

Tell me a bit about what is going on in automated vision (in the industry)?

Are you busy?

Lighting?, lenses, AI, data, security and robot guidance?

USE CASES

What kind of vision “inquires” do you get from customers?

How do you go about it, do you need a specification before you do a project?

Engineering study?

What does the future look like for vision, any predictions?

Did we forget to talk about anything?

If someone wants to find out how do they get a hold of you?

https://truelightvision.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/perkinsandrew

I would like to acknowledge A3: the Association for Advancing Automation. they are the leading automation trade association for robotics, vision and imaging, motion control and motors and the industrial artificial intelligence technologies.  Visit Automate dot org to learn more.

If you would like to get in touch with us at THE robot industry podcast, you can find me jim beretta on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimberetta/

Today’s podcast was produced by Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing and I would like to thank my team Chris Gray for the music, Geoffy Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet and our new sponsor: Mecademic Industrial Robots ~ world leading manufacturers of compact and precise industrial robots. https://mecademic.com/

Warm Regards,

Jim

Jim Beretta

Customer Attraction & The Robot Industry Podcast

London, ON

MPI Solutions is a talented group of professionals helping industries across North America with AB, Siemens and Beckhoff machine control and system integration.

Scott Pytel, P. Eng is Co-Owner and VP at MPI. MPI Solutions invited me to tour the facility and chat with the founders.

Kevin van der Maarel is also a Co-Owner and a mechanical engineer. He enjoys the constant change brought about by automation.

What is happening in the world of machine control?

What is Industry 4.0 from your (or your customers') lens?

What type of work do you do at MPI?

Type of control systems do you work in?

You are a Beckhoff Control Systems Integrator. Why is that?

Is there a typical customer or customer project?

What else do you do at MPI Solutions?

Why PC controls?

What industries do you operate in?

Maintenance and support in controls and automation.

MPI Solutions Inc. is located at 980 Adelaide St South Unit 112, London, ON N6E 1R3, Canada

Telephone: 519-690-0494

If you would like to get in touch with us at THE robot industry podcast, you can find me, Jim Beretta on LinkedIn or you can use [email protected]

Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing produced today’s podcast and I would like to thank my team: Chris Gray for the music, Geoffy Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet and our sponsors Ehrhardt Automation Systems and our new sponsor Mecademic Industrial Robotics.

Warm Regards,

Jim

Jim Beretta

Customer Attraction & The Robot Industry Podcast

London, ON

It brings me great pleasure to welcome two experts in the industry to this edition of TRIP (The Robot Industry Podcast) #141.

Steve Hoenig is a senior executive with expertise in marketing, sales, product design, business development, P/L Management, Strat planning, engineering, and leading complex teams. He is an astute, decisive, and energetic leader recognized for outstanding interpersonal relationships and bottom-line results. 

On June 2024, Mike Gunner joined BBS Automation Chicago as their Managing Director/President. 

Mike comes to BBS with many years in the global automation sector which include roles at KraussMaffei as VP of Automation and at Mikron Corporation  

During his 30+ years in Automation, Mike has had Management positions in Sales, Applications, Controls Engineering and Project Management. Some of the industries he has touched on include Medical, Automotive, Consumer and Defense.

Mike has a B.Sc. Honors in Electrical Engineering and also a PH. D in Electronic Engineering both from the University of Hull, England.

Welcome guys, thanks for joining me. It is great to catch up.

Can you give our audience an idea who is BBS?

What are some of the changes that have been happening at BBS?

How many people are you now?

Where are your facilities?

Who is your “perfect” client?

What value of jobs can you take on?

Tell me a little bit about the technologies “stack” of machine systems that you have at BBS (high speed, high accuracy, robotics, etc) 

What are some of the automation trends that you are seeing from a high level?

How do you share these capabilities between divisions, say Germany and Italy? (ie the “One Company” convo)

“Can you walk us through a recent project where a customer came to BBS with a unique challenge—and how your team developed a custom automation solution from concept to completion?”

Building for Scalability

“How do you help customers future-proof their automation investments? Is scalability built into your systems from the beginning?”

Culture of Engineering and Innovation

“How do you foster innovation internally at BBS? Are there systems in place that encourage new thinking or cross-functional collaboration across your global teams?”

What about sectors, I assume that medical device and pharma are areas of interest?

Are there any new areas (of note) happening? 

You work in the electronics area and have some specialties in solder, paste and wearable tech, correct?

Service and support

We talked in the warm up about customers, Industry 4.0 and Mike you mentioned about getting  your OEE up, then worrying about Ind 4.0

Data and MES and Ignitioninfluenceing machine design

Automation Inspiration

“You both work deep in the world of automation—what’s a piece of tech, a machine, or even a moment in your career that made you stop and think, ‘This is why I do what I do’?”

Thanks Mike and Steve, for this update on BBS and what is happening in industrial automation. Did we miss anything?

If someone wants to find out how do they get a hold of you?

https://www.bbsautomation.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-hoenig-b5b0921

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-gunner-973691b

I would like to acknowledge A3: the Association for Advancing Automation. they are the leading automation trade association for robotics, vision and imaging, motion control and motors and the industrial artificial intelligence technologies.  Visit Automate dot org to learn more.

If you would like to get in touch with us at THE robot industry podcast, you can find me jim beretta on LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimberetta/

Today’s podcast was produced by Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing and I would like to thank my team Chris Gray for the music, Geoffy Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet and our sponsor: Mecademic Industrial Robots . manufacturers of compact and precise industrial robots. https://mecademic.com/

Warm Regards,

Jim

Jim Beretta

Customer Attraction & The Robot Industry Podcast

London, ON

Few things bring me as much excitement and gratitude as working with a dedicated, close-knit team, working towards a common goal. I graduated in 2015 holding my engineering physics degree with a passion to successfully design and build engineering solutions, learn new things, challenge myself, and meet amazing people along the way. Specifically, my passion covers mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering. My favorite projects, such as building an autonomous vehicle to compete in the NASA lunabotics mining competition as part of the Queen’s Space Engineering team, integrate a large variety of engineering components including control, automation, and mechatronics engineering.

I found you on a project that you did for CFIN, Canadian Food Innovation Network.

Welcome to edition #140 of the podcast. I welcome Adon Portman from JAKS Automation.

Adon, tell our audience a bit about you and your team.

I would ask about you, how you got involved/started in automation, the team,

Typical automation projects, CFIN, challenges, perfect fit projects?

What kind of work are you looking for?

How you find that work?

Some of the challenges for startup automation companies

What advice would you offer to startup system integrators like ourselves?

What markets do you think are adopting automation?

Have we forgotten to talk about anything?

How do our listeners get in touch with you?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/adon-portman

https://www.jaksautomation.com

If you would like to get in touch with us at THE robot industry podcast, you can find me, Jim Beretta on LinkedIn or you can use [email protected]

Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing produced today’s podcast and I would like to thank my team: Chris Gray for the music, Geoffy Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet and our sponsor Ehrhardt Automation Systems.

Warm Regards,

Jim

Jim Beretta

Customer Attraction & The Robot Industry Podcast

London, ON

Francois Giguere CTO at Vention and Etienne Lacroix Founder & CEO join me for this version (#139) of The Robot Industry Podcast. We talk about automating at lower costs, the manufacturing industry ordering products directly, AI and NVIDIA and what the future holds for capital equipment automation

We talk about:

Palletizing

Robot arms vs actuators

Sensors vs. cameras

Shift away from PLCs inside robot cell

Robots and grasping

Agility, simulation and software

Cabinet door sanding for the kitchen industry

Data, software and the cost of automation trends

AI and Robot Motion

Machine Motion AI (the core) of the Vention product

Upcoming trends in the industry.

"There is nothing more manual than industrial automation." ~ Etienne Lacroix

How can people get a hold of you and find out more about Vention?

If you would like to get in touch with us at THE robot industry podcast, you can find me, Jim Beretta on LinkedIn or you can use [email protected]

Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing produced today’s podcast and I would like to thank my team: Chris Gray for the music, Geoffy Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet and our sponsor Ehrhardt Automation Systems.

Warm Regards,

Jim

Jim Beretta

Customer Attraction & The Robot Industry Podcast

London, ON

Hello everyone and welcome to The Robot Industry Podcast (edition #138). We are glad you are here, and thank you for subscribing.

Today, I welcome Louis Lapierre to the podcast; he works for a company called Mecademic Robotics, and they build very precise industrial robots for medical devices, photonics, aerospace, consumer and electronics industries. Their robots are used in assembly, attachment, dispense, material handling and much more.

How did you get in this industry? 

Tell us about the history of Mecademic.

What type of robot did the company launch with?

You are building your robots in North America, correct?

What markets are you serving? Is that changing?

What is different about your manufacturing philosophy (you build your own circuit boards)

Your products are small but highly accurate & precise; why is that?

Can you tell us a bit about your software or lack of software?

End of arm tools, partnerships, etc.

Let’s talk about teach pendants.

Use cases:

Where are Mecademic robots used?

Desktop factories?

Unique markets like watch manufacturing?

I know you cannot talk about many of your customers, but what are some of the processes?

What are your thoughts about the future of robotics?

Did we forget to talk about anything?

How can people get a hold of you and find out more about Mecademic?

If you would like to get in touch with us at THE robot industry podcast, you can find me, Jim Beretta on LinkedIn or you can use [email protected]

Today’s podcast was produced by Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing and I would like to thank my team: Chris Gray for the music, Geoffy Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet and our sponsor Ehrhardt Automation Systems.

Warm Regards,

Jim

Jim Beretta

Customer Attraction & The Robot Industry Podcast

London, ON

Welcome to the podcast (#137) My guest today is Shaun Edwards the CTO of Plus One Robotics.

We are going to be talking about Robotics Foundation Models, RFM for short.

Welcome to the podcast Shawn.

Shawn for those who don’t know about your background, can you tell us about what Plus One Robotics is and some of your experience at Southwest Research Institute / Willow Garage?

Let me set this conversation up. 

Vayu Robotics recently announced its ditching LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology and leveraging foundation models for their newest delivery robot. 

This announcement comes on the heels of Covariant announcing RFM-1, its Robotics Foundation Model that promised general intelligence for robotic control across tasks and environments earlier this year.

What is ROS?

What is a Foundation Model?

What does it take to create a foundational model?

We are in the beginning of foundational models, is that true Shawn?

What is the lifetime or lifespan of a foundational model?

Where are we in the cycle of foundational models?

What are some of the Gaps, Risks and Rewards?

Why should we be concerned?

One of the big challenges is that people are investing in an unproven environment? Are we talking about employees and investors, startups CEOs?

What is next for these foundational models?

Shawn have we forgotten to talk about anything? Can we talk about some latest developments at Plus One Robotics?

You have won a couple of awards and some money, too. A billion picks and a new product. Congratulations!

How can people get a hold of you and find out more about Plus One Robotics?

If you would like to get in touch with us at THE robot industry podcast, you can find me, Jim Beretta on LinkedIn or you can use [email protected]

Today’s podcast was produced by Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing and I would like to thank my team: Chris Gray for the music, Geoffy Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet and our sponsor Ehrhardt Automation Systems.

Warm Regards,

Jim

Jim Beretta

Customer Attraction & The Robot Industry Podcast

London, ON

Welcome to the podcast (#136) My guest today is Ben Huigenbois, he is president of BOS Innovations in London, Ontario, my home town. From Ben's LinkedIn: Experienced President with a demonstrated history of working in the industrial automation industry. Experienced and skilled in leadership, organizational development, ERP system development, skills development, project management, strategic planning, technology deployment, sales and marketing.

Ben, welcome to the podcast, thanks for joining us. How did you get interested in automation? Give us a bit of your background.

Tell our audience about BOS Innovations? What is it that you do, that is what type of automation are you building?

What have you seen change recently in automation systems?

What are your customers asking for that they may not have in previous years?

Our podcast today is going to be about reducing RISK in automation systems. This is an important conversation because reducing risk for both an integrator and an end customer is critical, can you comment?

What are some of the risks that manufacturers face? How about the integrator or machine builder?

How can manufacturers reduce their risk?

Abating risk takes time and money, correct?

Where do you start when it comes to identifying risk areas?

Let’s talk about remote support, something that I know is very important to you and your customers.

What are some of the challenges for remote support?

You have recently moved your entire operations, and thank you for the tour, it is a beautiful facility.

You are also launching a subsidiary but separate business called TrueLight [TrueLight Machine Vision Integration]. Can you tell our audience about the need and the focus on TrueLight? They are a separate business, correct.

Did we forget to talk about anything? 

When you are not automating, innovating, building systems and vision,  what do you like to do, hobbies?

How can people get a hold of you and find out more about BOS Innovation?

If you would like to get in touch with us at THE robot industry podcast, you can find me, jim beretta on LinkedIn.

Today’s podcast was produced by Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing and I would like to thank my team: Chris Gray for the music, Geoffy Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet.

My info:

Jim Beretta

Customer Attraction & The Robot Industry Podcast

London, ON

[email protected]

Welcome to the podcast (#135), Jennifer. I am glad to have you. Can you tell me about Jennifer Apicella?

The Pittsburgh robo-ecosystem is a globally recognized powerhouse of more than 125 advanced technology companies, offering 7,300+ high-impact jobs across 18 industry verticals.

How did you get involved in robotics?

Pittsburgh, it seems both likely and unlikely to be a robotics hub. Tell us about the city.

Is there a synergy between members and / or board members?

How did the city turn into a robotics HUB? How long did it take?

Let’s talk about some (of your) numbers: members, money, sponsors, etc.

Funding, where do you get your funding?

What is the main reason that startups join PRN?

What is the profile of a perfect member?

Who are some of your new and hot robot companies? Do you see any patterns or areas of interest (humanoid vs mobile robots)

What are some of your challenges in being in charge of PRN?

What kind of facilities do you have?

Tell us about some of the programs that you run?

How important are events to your members?

Do you charge for membership?

Are there other robot or automation hubs in the world  that you like? Amsterdam? Waterloo? California?

What is next for PRN?

When you are not organizing robotics and events, what do you like to do?

https://www.robopgh.org

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferapicella

Our sponsor for this episode is Ehrhardt Automation Systems. Ehrhardt builds and commissions turnkey solutions for their worldwide clients. With over 80 years of precision manufacturing they understand the complex world of robotics, automated manufacturing, and project management, delivering world-class custom automation on-time and on-budget. Contact one of their sales engineers to see what Ehrhardt can build for you [email protected] eh rh ar dt automation dot com

If you would like to get in touch with us at THE robot industry podcast, you can find me jim beretta on LinkedIn.

Customer Attraction Industrial Marketing produced today’s podcast and I would like to thank my team: Chris Gray for the music, Geoffrey Bremner for audio production, my business partner Janet and our sponsor, Ehrhardt Automation.

Best Regards!

Jim

Jim Beretta

Customer Attraction & The Robot Industry Podcast

London, ON

info@customerattraction