Newark - MIDLAND PARK - eMachineShop.com, the world's first "factory on the Internet," announced it has completed delivery of 20,000 vital injection molded parts for the 14th FIRST Robotics Competition. Some 70 teams of high school students take their remote-controlled robots to regional competitions across the company, capped by a championship event at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, April 21-23, 2005.
For the 2005 series, eMachineShop.com provided a key part of the assemblies manipulated by the robots. The provided parts were designed, quoted and delivered entirely via the Internet, and were 5 times less costly than competing vendors using traditional methods.
The FIRST Robotics Competition stages short games played by robots designed and built in 6 weeks out of a common set of basic parts by teams of 15 to 25 high school students and a handful of engineer-mentors. The students pilot the robots on the field, cheered on by family members, classmates and local businesspeople.
According to Jim Lewis, eMachineShop.com president, "eMachineShop.com is an online factory enabling anyone to design, price, and instantly order custom mechanical parts. From starting a design to placing an order, the entire process takes as little as 15 minutes."
Customers of the novel online factory have made parts for new products, existing products, inventions, special projects, and replacement parts. Applications range from automobiles, enclosures and electronic devices to robots, sculptures and medical devices.
Mr. Ron Rioux, Engineering Technical Support at FIRST explained, "Each year, teams register in the fall but don't get their first look at the new game until it is unveiled at several "Kickoff" events held around the US and in other countries. Only then, do the teams receive their Kit of Parts and the rules for the game. The teams then have six frantic weeks to build their robots. After the 'build period' the teams are not allowed to work on their robots until they compete at one of the thirty Regional competitions. The Championship event in Atlanta follows the Regional events and is the Grand Finale for the season where over 300 teams compete. A distinguished panel of judges present awards to the teams for design, technology and community involvement at both the Regional and Championship events."
"The students which represent about 1,000 teams, have the opportunity to apply for scholarships which total almost $5 million at some of the country's most respected technology institutions and universities, including Harvard, Rensselear Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Penn Sate, Cornell, and Stanford, to name just a few," said Mr. Rioux.
eMachineShop.com positions itself as an innovative web site offering the easiest, most cost-effective way to turn ideas into real 3D parts at both prototype and production quantities ranging from prototype to production.
Mr. Lewis added, "Whether you are designing a new part or need more of an existing part, getting custom parts is time consuming and costly. Until now, you had to buy and learn expensive and complex CAD software, make technical drawings, locate an injection molding facility, find a way to transmit the drawings to the shop, discuss the design with an accomplished machinist, sift through numerous price quotations, and eventually get your part - often paying thousands of dollars more than necessary while adding weeks of delay."
eMachineShop.com at-a-glance
To begin, users download eMachineShop's free CAD software. During the design phase, eMachineShop.com's automated machining expert analyses the shape, material and finish to keep the user informed of any physical limitations, thereby making it easy for engineers and non-technical people to design parts quickly and easily.
A 3D preview lets the user spin the object around on their screen to visualize the final part before ordering. From the customer's screen to delivery at the customer's door, eMachineShop.com takes care of everything totally transparently. "Although not as fast, it's almost like the transporter in Star Trek," said Mr. Lewis, "which can serve up anything from food to space ship parts."
eMachineShop.com currently offers CNC milling, turning, punching, blanking, laser cutting, plastic extrusion, thermoforming, tapping, bending, water jet cutting, injection molding and wire EDM. Surface finishes include brushing, plating, powder coating, anodizing, polishing, grinding, and more. Materials range from a broad selection of metals, plastics, woods, composites and others.
eMachineShop.com is a subsidiary of Micro Logic, a privately held technology organization located at 666 Godwin Avenue, Midland Park, NJ 07432. Telephone 201-447-9120. Web site: www.emachineshop.com.
Posted on:
Tuesday, March 01, 2005 05:03 AM
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