Adept Technology founders Brian Carlisle and Bruce Shimano are at it again. The pair, who left robotics vendor Adept Technology Inc. last December, have launched a new automation company, Precise Automation LLC.
The new company, based in Los Altos, Calif., will focus on developing low-cost, easy-to-use robotic motion controls and mechanisms for small part material handling and assembly applications. Precise Automation expects to begin delivering products early next year.
Carlisle was previously chief executive officer and Shimano was vice president of research and development at Adept Technology, Livermore, Calif., an assembly robot company they founded in 1983. Adept grew to become a market leader in robotics, with sales of $100 million by the late 1990s. In late April this year, Adept announced shipment of its 20,000th robot. Before founding Adept, Carlisle and Shimano were members of the team that developed the Puma robot for Unimation Inc. The Puma is considered to be a watershed product that helped launch the assembly robot business in the United States and Europe.
In a recent press release, Precise Automation said it is developing the next generation of compact, low-cost, high performance vision-guided robotic motion controllers with integrated motor drives for robots and other multi-axis precision machines in the electronics, semiconductor and life sciences industries. These controllers will be able to run stand-alone, be networked together in a group or be personal computer-controlled.
In addition, Precise is developing a series of new mechanisms for material handling and assembly in the life sciences and electronics industries. These mechanisms will range from light-payload, low-cost devices to medium payload, high-performance devices, the company said.
