OnRobot has opened its first location specifically dedicated to research and development (R&D) in the United States. Based in Culver City in Los Angeles, California, the new office area boasts 6,000ft² for engineers, researchers, and local staff to work and develop new products. Last year marked OnRobot’s first foray into the LA area, as it acquired Perception Robotics. With this acquisition, OnRobot brought the Gecko Gripper technology into its product offerings and developed it for commercial launch. The tactile Gecko Gripper uses millions of micro-scaled fibrillar stalks that adhere to a surface the same way that lizards climb. Originally created to help NASA salvage and repair satellites, the Gecko Gripper’s unique ability to pick up porous and delicate objects has already gained significant traction with OnRobot’s industrial automation customers.

With limited square footage in the original Perception Robotics space, there wasn’t enough room for OnRobot to focus on its two important tasks: production and assembly, along with continuing its R&D efforts to spawn new ideas for future product development.

“As OnRobot continues its aggressive expansion throughout North America, moving to a larger location in Culver City offers multiple benefits,” says Enrico Krog Iversen, CEO of OnRobot. “It has space for our current staff of 17, with plenty of room for the research team to use multiple types of collaborative robot arms in our quest to develop new tools for these. It’s also directly across the street from a multi-million-dollar entertainment industry hub that is currently being built, called Ivy Station. The new building will be home to HBO, Apple, and Amazon, bringing to Culver City a more qualified pool of candidates for us to choose from when we look at increasing our staff next year. We’re excited to be here and are looking forward to all the great things we’re going to accomplish in this region.” 

Explosive industry growth
The collaborative robot market is now the fastest growing segment of industrial automation, expected to jump ten-fold to 34% of all industrial robot sales by 2025 according to the International Federation of Robotics. Collaborative robots, or simply cobots, are robots that unlike traditional industrial robots do not need to be bolted down in safety cages but can work safely alongside humans on ever-changing tasks. With the U.S. facing record low unemployment rates, companies are now turning to cobots to help them automate tedious, repetitive tasks that they can no longer staff. OnRobot plays a pivotal role in this growth by providing cobots with end-of-arm-tooling such as grippers, tool changers, and force/torque sensors, that are used with cobots and light industrial robots from a variety of robot manufacturers. OnRobot works with all major cobot brands at the new Culver City office, with plans to add more as the California location grows.

Phil Quade, a 34-year veteran of the National Security Association (NSA) and chief information security officer at Fortinet, provider of cybersecurity infrastructure solutions, will deliver the keynote address at Hannover Fairs USA and Deutsche Messe’s inaugural Digital Industry USA on September 11. Quade plans to offer an in-depth look at the evolving cybersecurity landscape and will focus his discussion on the evolution of Cy-Phy, the convergence of cyber things with our physical spaces.

© Hannover Fairs USA | https://digitalindustryusa.com

Known as Industry 4.0 and digital transformation in the manufacturing space, Cy-Phy is being driven by the implementation and convergence of technologies, including operational technology (OT) networks, Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial IoT (IIoT), 5G, edge computing, and artificial intelligence (AI). “All of these, combined with rapidly developing new technologies on the horizon, are fundamentally changing the industrial automation landscape,” Quade says. “But for these changes to achieve their transformational potential, their security implications need to be understood and planned for long before their impact is felt in the plant. Manufacturing operations, engineering and security professionals will inevitably be drawn into the Cy-Phy revolution.”

Quade will also discuss how this revolution can enable the securitization of industrial automation for those manufacturers who recognize its significance and who are ready to implement the foundational elements of a security strategy that will allow them to thrive in this rapidly emerging Cy-Phy environment. Critical to thriving in the new Cy-Phy environment is the adoption of the foundational elements of a security strategy that includes speed, integration, collaboration, and automation.

“As the convergence of OT and IT accelerates, the likelihood of digital attacks will surface,” Quade says. “Manufacturing equipment and operational technology networks will be exposed to attacks from the plant’s IT networks.”

To that end, Quade’s keynote also will highlight best practices that industrial automation facilities need to implement to future proof their organizations, discussing how to increase network visibility, segment networks, analyze traffic for threats, enforce identity and access management, as well as how to secure wired and wireless access to secure your facility’s IT and OT networks.

During Digital Industry USA, Fortinet and its partners will showcase the company’s latest security solutions, including Fortinet’s Security Fabric platform that provides integration and automation across the plant’s security infrastructure, delivering protection and visibility to every network segment, device, and appliance, whether virtual, in the cloud, or on-premises. Additionally, Fortinet will demonstrate via a host of devices exactly what a cyberattack looks like and what its cybersecurity platform can do to allow organizations to control access to their networks and to prevent future attacks.

Procyrion Inc.’s Aortix – a circulatory support device for chronic heart failure patients on medical management who have been hospitalized for acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) with worsening renal function device – has received Breakthrough Device Designation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Breakthrough Designation is granted to certain medical devices and device-led combination products that provide a more effective treatment of life-threatening or irreversibly debilitating diseases. It enables manufacturers to provide patients and healthcare providers with timely access to medical devices by expediting their development, assessment, and review. Benefits of this designation include frequent interactions and feedback from FDA during the premarket review phase and Procyrion can expect prioritized review of its FDA submissions for the Aortix system.

TMD featured Procyrion and its Aortix system on the cover of the June 2014 issue;
Helping the heart heal itself
Rapid prototyping accelerates development of a circulatory support pump – Aortix – that once implanted, will let the heart rest and heal without surgery.

“We believe Aortix addresses an important unmet clinical need and can fill a major gap ineffective therapy options that are available for heart failure patients. This is particularly critical as this large patient population has high rates of rehospitalization and death, long lengths of stay in the hospital and high healthcare costs,” says Eric S. Fain, MD, president and CEO of Procyrion. “We plan to fully leverage the benefits of FDA Breakthrough Device designation as we seek to accelerate the U.S. clinical and regulatory process with the goal of providing physicians and patients with the benefits of our novel device.”

Heart failure (HF) is common, affecting more than 6 million adults and resulting in over 1 million annual hospitalizations in the United States alone. HF costs the nation an estimated $30.7 billion each year. HF is a chronic, progressive condition, marked by episodes of acute decompensation typically requiring hospitalization for stabilization and improvement in symptoms. Unfortunately, outcomes after a hospitalization for decompensated heart failure are poor. The 1-year mortality rate after a heart failure hospitalization has remained high at 20-30%, and there is additive risk with each subsequent hospitalization. In addition, at least moderate renal dysfunction (Stage III) is present in up to 64% of ADHF admissions and it is estimated that over 325,000 admissions per year in the U.S. are for patients with ADHF who also have worsening renal function. These patients represent a particularly high-risk population as they are frequently non-responders to available medical therapy and have poor outcomes.

The Aortix System is a percutaneous circulatory support device for the treatment of heart failure. The initial version of the Aortix device provides up to 7 days of circulatory support for chronic heart failure patients who have been hospitalized for ADHF, have worsening renal function and are unresponsive to medical management. As demonstrated in animal studies and a 6-patient First-in-Human study, Aortix benefits both the heart and the kidneys based on its unique design and placement in the descending thoracic aorta. Aortix can disrupt the harmful cardiorenal cycle in two ways: above the pump, it rests the heart by reducing aortic root pressure (afterload) resulting in increased cardiac output and decreased cardiac work; downstream, it provides increased blood flow to the kidneys resulting in increased urine output and a reduction in fluid overload. The device is placed via a minimally invasive catheter-based procedure that takes less than 10 minutes.

The simulator, developed at Lancaster University in the U.K., allows researchers to test different back brace designs and configurations without needing to test them on people.

The simulator includes a male torso-shaped mechanical test rig, alongside computer simulation models. It includes an artificial additively manufactured (3D printed) spine and rib cage, created using modified CAD models derived from CT scans of a human spine, and a torso with geometries and other properties that closely resemble and behave like human tissues.

The rig also allows for different spine configurations and deformities, such as scoliosis, to be modelled and tested with different back braces without causing discomfort to human testers.

Researchers can use the rig to collect data on the reduction of flexion, extension, lateral bending, and torsion the design each back brace provides.

Although human testing of back braces would eventually be required, it will be further down the design process to help optimize comfort and muscle engagement.

Dr. David Cheneler, part of the Lancaster University team of engineers that created the simulator, says: “Back braces have been used as both medical and retail products for decades, however existing designs can often be found to be heavy, overly rigid, indiscrete and uncomfortable.

“Our simulator enables new back braces to be developed that are optimized to constrain particular motions but allowing for other movements. It could also help with the design of braces and supports with targeted restriction of movement, which would be beneficial to some conditions and helping to reduce the risk of muscle-loss.”

The researchers tested the rig with two novel back brace designs, an existing medical back brace as well as a weightlifting belt.

Jon Harvey, who recently graduated with a MEng in Mechanical Engineering from Lancaster University and who worked on the back brace project, notes: “This is an excellent example of how engineering research can have wide reaching impact, not only in industry, but also in the quality of life of a population. It also shows how research is used to enhance engineering education at Lancaster University.”

The research, funded by the Engineering Department at Lancaster University, has been outlined in a paper ‘Experimental Platform to Facilitate Novel Back Brace Development for the Improvement of Spine Stability,’ which has been published in the journal Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering.

The authors are Liam Cooper, Alex Gullane, Jonathan Harvey, Anna Hills, Michelle Zemura, Dr. Allan Rennie, and Dr. David Cheneler, all of Lancaster University’s Engineering Department, and Dr. Jane Martindale of the Wrightington, Wigan, and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust.