INDUSTRIAL INK–CODE MARKING SYSTEMS

• Provide reliable, low cost, ink code marking.

• May be mounted in any orientation.

• The sealed ink system allows discontinuous operations with immediate start-up of comparable previous impressions.

• Can be modified or made to order for your particular marking application.

OPERATOR-FRIENDLY. LOW OPERATING COST.

according to radley Scott, a research engineer for alabama IMaDe®, a renewed focus on Industry 4.0 is more important now than ever before as many people are unaware of how greatly the fourth industrial revolution impacts them. “In today’s world, for example, no one even thinks twice about placing an order on amazon and their item showing up on the doorstep,” Scott said. “There are so many different technologies involved and only a limited number of skilled people who are able to make these technologies work in unison. From the very first step of logging into your account and placing your order online, you are already a part of Industry 4.0. Starting at the amazon server, down to the aGVs and robots that pick and place your item, and scanned barcodes, all were programmed and integrated.” a s technologies continue to advance, Scott believes it is important for both individuals and companies to become better educated regarding Industry 4.0 benefits. “Industry 4.0 technologies and practices enable manufacturers to do more with less and allow companies to maximize their production output while distributing and using resources in a more cost-effective and efficient way,” Scott advised. “They also contribute to a more reliable, robust and flexible production process. With that being said, as resources are becoming scarcer, and product demand is increasing, applying Industry 4.0 technologies can help businesses increase their production rate while decreasing raw material waste and increasing profits.”

Groundbreaking Industry 4.0 Research

a s part of its focus on Industry 4.0 education and development, alabama IMaDe® is currently conducting leading-edge research in the area of human-robot interaction as the need for collaboration between humans and robots becomes more vital to successfully complete workforce tasks. This research involves the use of an e4 wristband, a wearable device that collects physiological data from participants such as heart rate variability, skin conductance and hand movement acceleration. Patterns extracted from the physiological data assist researchers in predicting human feelings and interactions with the robots. “Our team is developing research to increase humans’ physical and mental safety when working with robots to complete tasks. In order to make the partnership safer, we are adding a layer of intelligence to the robot that tracks how its human coworker is feeling while the human and robot are working together. Therefore, this allows the robot to adjust its behavior based on how the human is feeling — nervous or comfortable — which will result in a safer process and will help maximize production outcome,” Scott said. underway, The university of alabama and alabama IMaDe® will remain at the forefront of educating, training and connecting the future manufacturing workforce.

For more information on The university of alabama’s IMaDe program, please visit this link: www.eng.ua.edu/research/alabama-imade/