Internet page

Citation

(1998), "Internet page", Industrial Robot, Vol. 25 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.1998.04925aag.001

Internet page

http://www.zymark.com/

Zymark

The website for Zymark Corporation, self proclaimed pioneer and world-wide leader in the field of laboratory automation and robotics. The Hopkinton, Massachusetts-based manufacturer provides products and services to a multitude of high profile companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical, agriculture, and food industries and claim an installed base of over 2,700 robotic systems and thousands of workstation-based automation products in the research and analytical laboratory environment. The website is a definitely upbeat commercial site packed with company specific information aimed at both existing and potential customers. Zymark claims the first laboratory robotic automation installations in the early 1980s and appear to have developed the technology and the company at a similarly fast pace in the interim. Although richer in content than many sites, the format is conventional, one of products and applications, contact information and company background. For existing customers there is more specific information on spare parts, upgrades, troubleshooting and general support. A departure from the norm is the provision of reprints of relevant technical papers available via an enquiry form at the site, though they are not included on the site per se.

http://www.islar.com

International Symposium on Laboratory Automation & Robotics

What will imminently be the fifteenth International Symposium on Laboratory Automation & Robotics at the time of writing, will have passed by the time of publication of this journal. This site is the conference overview and organisational details. However it might be reasonable to presume that like last year there will be a resource of some form left after the event. The proceedings of the 1996 are summarised in a brief title and authorship format at http://www.islar.com/1996toc.htm#cmpdpur, with an email address for further information.

http://www.fleximation.com/

Fleximation

Fleximation AG is an engineering company supplying both specialist packaging machinery to the pharmaceutical industry and customised robot and handling systems for operation in a cleanroom environment to the semiconductor and optical disk manufacturing industry. Their main involvements are an automatic blister packaging system for clinical trials and cleanroom automation equipment. The former is a robot based solution with an integrated vision system, and is used to fill pharmaceutical products into blisters. The site offers product information, some technical illustrations of the machinery and specifications, and an update feature whereby via a simple form on the website you can request to be kept abreast of any developments via regular e-mails; a feature that is surprisingly rare on commercial sites. A set of links to other cleanroom equipment sites is also available.

http://www.adept.com/DS_550CR.html

The Adept 550 CleanRoom Robot

Part of Adept's website, the above is their cleanroom specific robot. The site in general is proficient and colourful with plenty of photographs of the range of robots, though is aggravating in use due in particular to a proliferation of unnecessary page breaks.

http://www.ntyneside.ac.uk/aboutcollege/cleanrom.htm

University of North Tyneside

Proponents of the North East of England in areas other than their sporting achievements might be interested in this site proclaiming the only purpose built (constructed by Lamarflow of Sussex) industry standard cleanroom specifically designed for training purposes. Among other equipment the facility boasts an Infab/Jenoptik Sort Merge Station with integral Robot for wafer handling.

http://www.ram-center.com/

RAM Center Inc., Industrial Systems Group

RAM Center designs and builds reliable, cost effective, robotic automation systems to satisfy the needs of manufacturing facilities. Included in the repertoire are packaging, material handling and palletising. The site is shortform web presence in nature, offering little more than a marker as to their existence. A contact form is however provided formaking contact with the organisation.

http://ds.dial.pipex.com/robotics1/

Sands Technology International

A commercial site offering a range of bench top and light industrial robot arms and systems. Interestingly the robots in question are based on stepper motor technology, for which the site has a page dedicated to their justification; another explains why one might need a robot in the first place. There are CAD renderings of the robots and some operating envelope drawings, though no photographs. In addition to the usual company background and contact information there is some explanation of cleanroom specific work with their equipment and a brief description of their proprietary robot programming language.

http://www.eee.metu.edu.tr/~gurses/robotics/robot/table.html

Middle East Technical University, Robotics Resources Index

The above is the URL for the index to the robotics resources for the Middle East Technical University. Still under construction at the time of writing, though there is a good amount of information concerning robotics at the site. It is not the most attractive robotics website having more the functional air of an FTP directory, but its coverage is comprehensive. There are lists of publications, suppliers, institutions and internet resources, though not all of the latter are working at this time.