Control Engineering

Paul Grayson

The Next Big Thing
March 21, 2008

Cartoon version of the Walking Truck on display at the US Army Transportaion Museum Fort Eustis, VA.
http://www.transchool.eustis.army.mil/Museum/Museum.html  

While the ability to see into the future is not available to most of us, it is the job of event planners like RoboBusiness 2008 to sift through all the direct and indirect indicators about where the industry is headed and organize an event that covers the near future.  Knowing that their actions are based careful intel analysis, all we have to do is watch where they are going and that will tell us where they think the market is headed. 

Imagine if you could go back in time to buy stock in the aviation industry when the Wright brothers made their first powered flight and kicked off the global industry that it is today.  I think you have a chance of getting in on the ground floor of what is going to be the next big thing. The robotics industry may be just about ready to enter a large growth spurt. Which stock to buy is up to you, robo conventions might give you a clue as to who the key players are, who the baby Boeings (NYSE: BA) , and who the baby Northrups (NYSE: NOC) might be.  In fact, the industry is so small right now you could buy stock in each one of the robot companies, knowing that some will make it big, others will be bought out by (and your stock merged with) more successful companies. 

Perhaps you are a more adventurous type and rather than just invest a few retirement nest egg dollars in a growth industry you seek the larger adventure of actaully being part of the wild roller-coaster ride ahead for those who work in the rapidly growing robotics industry. If that is the case you'll want get a job with one of rapidly growing robotics companies. While you might take the time to pick which ones you would rather work for I would suggest that it doen't matter which as long as you get hired by one of them. Once you are an industry "insider" it will be easier for you to move to the company you prefer, or if the company you are will turns out to be one of the lesser players, it will likely be absorbed by one of the most successful of the lot, carrying you along in the wave.

Here are the first 39 of what organizers expect will be 75 exhibitors at RoboBusiness 2008 http://www.robobusiness.com/ These are serious players in the Robot Biz and they have terrific web sites. So if you are want to learn more about the industry's products or are shopping for a fun place to work here is the list and links.

1. Advanced Motion Controls http://www.a-m-c.com/
2. ATI Industrial Automation http://www.ati-ia.com/
3. AUVSI http://www.auvsi.org
4. Bayer Material Science LLC http://www.bayermaterialscience.com/internet/global_portal_cms.nsf/id/Home_en
5. Boston Engineering http://www.boston-engineering.com/
6. Braintech Inc. http://www.braintech.com/
7. CCS Rosbotics http://www.ccsrobotics.com/
8 . c-Link Systems Inc. http://www.c-linksystems.com/
9. CoroWare http://www.coroware.com/
10. Elmo Motion Control http://www.elmomc.com/
11. Energid Technologies http://www.energid.com/
12. Evolution Robotics http://www.evolution.com/
13. Foster-Miller http://www.foster-miller.com/
14. Galileo Mobility Instruments http://www.galileo-mobility.com/
15. Gears Educational Systems http://www.gearseds.com/
16. GEMCITY Engineering and Manufacturing http://www.gemcity.com/
17. GOSTAI http://www.gostai.com/
18. Hagisonic http://www.hagisonic.com/
19. iRobot Corporation http://www.irobot.com/
20. INNOmetal IZIrobot http://www.izirobotics.com/english/
21. JETRO/The City of Osaka http://www.jetro.go.jp/
22. KAIRA http://www.kaira.or.kr/english/01_info/0105.asp
23. Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council http://www.masstlc.org/
24. MicroInfinity http://www.minfinity.com/eng_default.htm
25. Microsoft http://www.microsoft.com/en/us/default.aspx
26. National Instruments http://www.ni.com/
27. OceanServer Technology http://www.ocean-server.com/
28. Powercast LLC http://www.powercastco.com/
29. Re2 http://www.resquared.com/
30. Riverhawk Company http://www.riverhawk.com/
31. RobotEver http://www.robotever.com/
32. RoboMatter http://www.robomatter.com/
33. RoboSoft http://www.robosoft.fr/eng/
34. Robotics Academy Carnegie Mellon University http://www.schunk.com/schunk/index.html?country=USA&lngCode=EN&lngCode2=EN&r=1
35. SCHUNK http://www.schunk.com/schunk/index.html?country=USA&lngCode=EN&lngCode2=EN&r=1
36. The Technology Collaborative http://www.techcollaborative.org/
37. University of Massachusetts Lowell http://robotics.cs.uml.edu/
38. Vecna http://www.vecna.com/
39. Worcester Polytech Institute http://www.wpi.edu/

GO ROBOTS !

Paul F. Grayson - Chief Engineer
AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL MAGIC, LLC
Racing to build technology that saves soldier's lives.
390 4-Mile Rd. S.
Traverse City, MI 49686-8411
(231) 946-0187, (231) 883-4463 Cell
pgrayson@aimagic.org
http://aimagic.org
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/robotcluboftraversecitymi/
http://www.controleng.com/blog/1180000318.html

Posted by Paul Grayson on March 21, 2008 | Comments (0)