stepped into the world of robotics

i visited the ABB robotics factory today. It was a field trip organized by the mechatronics club. Supposedly a field trip when it was only a 5 min walk from the halls. I arrived with boon kiat, david, rayner, and jian kuang. The others were too lazy to be bothered. The reception look rather familar.

Have a look




and now

look at this..



this is taken from the monash website, if you know monash, its exactly the same color scheme and layout. I guess the advertising company sold the same templates to both of them. Bummers.

So we had a presentation on how robots were used in everyday life. Automobile assembly...cutting... welding...and the most interesting.. the processing line of chocolates. One of the presenters showed us a full clip of the whole line of the Cadbury easter egg facility. NICE..

I was sitting at the right corner of the "theaterette"(thats what was written at the door). The presentations were not dull nor entertaining. But Rayner and Jian Kuang started to dose off..Once of the presenters, Paul i think, caught them. He scolded them saying "im sorry im keeping you awake, im sure you had a whole day of classes". We were stunned. After his presentation, he sat next to me to make sure they were awake for the rest of the session.

After all that, we walked around their factory aka storage facility. Boring.... we didnt get to see any machines in action. They were all caged up in fences and we couldnt go in because we didnt wear safety boots. It felt like a new aged zoo where animals were replaced with robots. which by the way..didnt move..how interesting. and the person bringing us around was throwing technical specifications at us and regulations and operating standards. Like how some of these robots are actually water proof and is capable of a wash down. It seems they are also washed using dry ice so that it does not short circuit the electronics. sorry for the nerdy moment there. have a look through the cage.





BTW they made us wear lab goggles in the factory when there is absolutely no moving or dangerous objects nearby. i guess it was to protect ourselves from his accidental projectile of saliva when he was making a point. utter nonsence.

The time all of us were waiting for.. refreshment. i think i liked this part the most. i had miniature shepard pies, fried chicken, beef pies, a variety of sandwiches, some weird cheesy pastries, 2 bottle of softdrinks and tapaued a bottle of beer. contented.

When i was about to leave, i thanked Paul for the great presentation and he said.. "i hope i wasnt keeping you awake". I was...i wasnt sleeping..thats Jian Kuang. wtf? but i didnt say anything. i just stood stunned and continued shaking his hand. i guess all asians look alike huh?

at the end of the day..we all had souvenirs, david had lab goggles, and the others had a bottle of beer each. were just being FAs. all natural