Four industry leaders receive 2003 Engelberger Robotics Award

Citation

(2003), "Four industry leaders receive 2003 Engelberger Robotics Award", Industrial Robot, Vol. 30 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2003.04930fab.005

Four industry leaders receive 2003 Engelberger Robotics Award

Four industry leaders receive 2003 Engelberger Robotics Award

Keywords: IFR, Engelberger Awards, Robotics

Four international robotics industry leaders have received the 2003 Engelberger Robotics Awards at a special dinner on 4 June during the International Robots and Vision Show and Conference and the 34th International Symposium on Robotics in Rosemont, Illinois.

Named after Joseph F. Engelberger, considered throughout the world as the "father of robotics," the award honors significant achievements in the areas of application, technology, education, and leadership. The 2003 winners are as follows (Plate 1).

Stefan Muller, Executive Vice President, KUKA Roboter GmbH, Augsburg, Germany received the award for leadership. He is one of the true pioneers of the robotics industry. He has been actively involved in robotics since 1968 and has helped establish KUKA as one of the world's leading robotics companies. In addition to his work at KUKA, Mr Muller has been very active in groups that promote the robotics industry, such as VDMA in Germany, where he serves on the Board of Directors and the International Federation of Robotics, where he is a member of the Executive Committee. Under his direction, KUKA has branched out from industrial robots and in 2002 introduced its Robocoaster™, the first robotic amusement ride. He also has helped to spread the use of robotics in Asia, South America, and in Mexico by establishing business relationships.

George Munson, Industry Pioneer, of Dana Point, California received the award for Application. He is one of the group of engineers who, together with Joe Engelberger and George Devol, conceived the Unimate, the world's first industrial robot, in the late 1950s. Munson supervised the installation of the first robot into a production operation in a General Motors Plant in Trenton, New Jersey in 1961 and was part of the development group that founded Unimation Inc., the world's first robotics company. At Unimation, he held several key management posts including vice president and general manager of Unimation's Systems Division and vice president of marketing. Munson was instrumental in applying robots for applications in machining and in foundries. Unimation was sold to Westinghouse Corporation in 1982. Mr Munson retired from the company and took a post as Director of Industrial Relations for the Center for Robotic Systems in Microelectronics (CRSM) at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He later served as vice president of Schilling Development, an underwater robotic vehicle company, and consulted with Creative Robotic Applications, a systems integration company.

William Townsend, President and CEO, Barrett Technology, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts received the award for Technology Development.

Bill Townsend invented the MIT WAM robotic arm and the BarrettHand, two of the most revolutionary developments in robotics in recent years. Each is rated as "most advanced" in its respective category in the 2002 Guinness Book of World Records. Customers for these advanced robotic manipulators include Sony, Honda, Yamaha, Ford and NASA. Mr Towsend formed Barrett Technology in 1989 after receiving his PhD at MIT, where his work in the Artificial Intelligence Lab resulted in the first haptic (tactile) robotic arm, which became known as the MIT WAM. He individually or jointly holds seven US patents for his technology developments.

Dr Zeungnam Zenn Bien, Professor and Director, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Human-friendly Welfare Robots System Engineering Research Center, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea received this award for education.

Dr Bien has been a pioneer and leading researcher in robotics in Korea since 1977. For the last 25 years, he has lectured on issues such as automatic control, robot control, and intelligent control, and written more than 50 journal articles. He has supervised some 125 masters degree students and 55 PhD students. Many of his students have gone on to work in robotics at industrial companies, universities and research institutes in Korea and around the world. Bien's own robotics research produced prototypes for four-legged walking robots, a wheelchair mounted robotic arm system, and a robotic travel aid system for the visually handicapped. In 1998, he established a research project on an international scale named "Development of Intelligent Human-Robot Interaction Technology." Thirty students and four laboratories are participating in this project, which has produced a new wheelchair-based rehabilitation robotic system. In 1999, he was appointed to establish an ERC (Center of Excellence) called "Human-friendly Welfare Robot System Engineering Research Center" which is funded by a Korean government organization for 9 years with about $1 million in funding per year. The center conducts research on robotic systems to help the elderly and disabled as well as on service robots for entertainment and disaster control.

The Engelberger Robotics Awards are presented annually by Robotic Industries Association (RIA), the industry's trade group that represents some 250 North American companies actively involved in robotics. Each winner receives a $4,000 honorarium and a commemorative medallion. Since its inception in 1977, the award has been presented to 88 international robotics leaders from 15 countries.

According to Donald A. Vincent, Executive Vice President of RIA and a past winner of the Engelberger Robotics Award, the 2003 winners are among the most impressive yet. "This year's winners have all made enormous contributions to the field of robotics and have had a wide influence in their countries and throughout the world," he said.

RIA is now accepting nominations for the 2004 Engelberger Robotics Awards, which will be presented at the 35th International Symposium in Paris, France, 23-26 March 2004. To submit a nomination, contact Kathleen Cusick at kcusick@robotics.org or 734/994-6088 or visit our Web site at www.roboticsonline.com

Plate 1 Engelberger award winners and RIA Robots and Vision User Recognition award winner. Left to right: George Munson, Stefan Muller, Joe Engelberger, Dr Zenn Bien, William Townsend, and Andrew Kearton