Around the Industry

Engineering students from the Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa) at Virginia Tech have developed a bipedal humanoid robot using the National Instruments LabVIEW graphical system design platform. The Dynamic Anthropomorphic Robot with Intelligence (DARwIn) was originally developed to study human locomotion for the research and development of prosthetic limbs. DARwIn achieves full range of motion and accurately imitates human movement so effectively that it was quickly modified to play soccer for entry into RoboCup, an international robotic soccer competition created to promote research in robotics, artificial intelligence and related fields. As a result, it has been accepted as the first-ever U.S. entry into RoboCup in the humanoid division.

Endevco Corporation has announced a strategic representation partnership with RepTech Northwest for sales and customer support in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

Active Sensing, Inc. (ASI) today released PDXpert® PLM 2008 Edition product lifecycle management software, which has been enhanced to further meet the unique requirements of growing companies.

Catalog Data Solutions (CDS) today announced that Rino Mechanical Components Inc. has adopted its CAD model download solution.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. announces the expansion of its comprehensive range of online resource centers with the addition of two new web entry portals for X-ray and Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES). The new resource centers provide essential tools and information for both existing users and industry professionals interested in X-ray and OES applications. Specifically designed for the metals, minerals, cement and petrochemical industries, the comprehensive new web resources enable users to easily find information and support on Thermo Scientific OES and X-ray instrumentation. The online portals are available via www.thermo.com/xray for X-ray Spectrometry and www.thermo.com/oes for Optical Emission Spectrometry.

Michel Mateu, President of Hexis S.A. received the coveted 2007 Innovation Award for the Mediterranean region jointly awarded by Ernst & Young and the magazine L’Entreprise recognizing his continued effort in innovative entrepreneurship.

Enhanced versions of the P&E Cyclone, a family of debugging and programming tools for the Freescale families of microcontrollers, are now available from Computer Solutions.

RHINO Professional Labeling Tools is proud to announce the hiring of Todd Morse for the position of Southern West Coast Regional Sales Manager, and Candace Neff Randolph for the position of South Central Regional Sales Manager. Both hires are in keeping with RHINO’s sales expansion efforts in order to meet the growing demand for RHINO label printers.

REACH in Europe represents the most significant influence on chemical regulation. The Chemical Business Association, the principle UK trade association continue to speak out for common sense.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc today announced that the China Doping Control Center (CDCC) has selected Thermo Scientific instruments and software for its sports testing program at the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing. The CDCC has been accredited by the Chinese government and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to conduct all doping control analyses during the 2008 Olympic Games.