Industrial Automation and Motion Control Blog | The Knotts Company

This month our employee spotlight turns to Maria Santiago. Maria has been a member of the Knotts Company Sales Department for almost 2 years. As a Robotic Solutions Manager, she helps Knotts Company customers identify collaborative robot solutions to automate their applications. Maria spends a lot of time on-site with our customers getting to know their specific needs so that she can make recommendations to help increase productivity and reduce operating expenses.

Name: Maria Santiago 
Department: Sales
Title: Robotic Solutions Manager  
Time at Knotts: 2 years

Topics: The Knotts Company, The Knotts Co

Rapid technological advancement has already introduced many sectors to the benefits of collaborative automation, but the COVID-19 pandemic has seen that accelerate.

Topics: automation, cobot, Universal Robots, cobots, pharmaceuticals, life science, covid

The strive for efficiency is a constant goal in many industries and the pharma and life sciences sector is no exception. Collaborative automation is already proving beneficial for many areas of the industry and its uses go beyond simply replacing humans with robots.

Topics: automation solutions, cobot, Universal Robots, cobots, pharmaceuticals, quality assurance, life science

Technology has played a major part in the development of many industries over centuries, from rudimentary tools and machinery to sophisticated digital technology. Automation has arguably made the greatest difference to work practice over the last few decades but not all forms of automation are the same. While robots have been enlisted to perform a range of tasks, there are significant differences between industrial robots and collaborative robots – or cobots.

Topics: automation, cobot, Universal Robots, cobots, pharmaceuticals, life science, New Scale Robotics

Few things in recent memory have thrown the economy into a tailspin quite like the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies have had to deal with the consequences overnight and come to some quick decisions. As it has become more apparent that COVID is having greater than a short-term impact on people’s lives and the economy, it has become more pressing that companies seek longer-term solutions.

Topics: industrial automation nj/ny, automation, cobot, Universal Robots, cobots, covid

This month our employee spotlight turns to Claire Ismirlian. Claire joined the Knotts team as a Sales Engineer a year ago and has quickly adapted to life at Knotts. She suppor ts her accounts by providing excellent service and by helping clients identify solutions for their business needs.  

Name: Claire Ismirlian 
Department: Sales
Title: Sales Engineer  
Time at Knotts: 1year

Topics: The Knotts Company, The Knotts Co

This month our employee spotlight turns to James Higgins. James has been with the Knotts team for the past year as a Business Development Representative. He plays a crucial role in helping our customers find opportunities for automation, and, ultimately, to grow their business. 

Name: James Higgins 
Department: Sales
Title: Business Development Representative  
Years at Knotts: 1

Topics: The Knotts Company, The Knotts Co

This month our employee spotlight turns to Stephen Rabideau, Lead Automation Application Engineer. Stephen has been part of the Knotts team for 5 years and has held several roles. In his current role, he leads a team of sharp minds to help resolve our customers' unique automation issues. 

Name: Stephen Rabideau
Department: Automation
Title: Lead Automation Application Engineer
Years at Knotts: 5

Topics: The Knotts Company, The Knotts Co

This month we're spotlighting Strategic Account Manager Jerry Ferrante. Jerry has an interesting history with Knotts. After originally joining us in January 1990, he left the company a couple times, finally rejoining the team for third time in 2011. As a valued member of our outside sales team, Jerry takes great care of our existing customers and is passionate about bringing our products and solutions to new clients in his region. We're so pleased to have him back as part of the Knotts family.

Name: Jerry Ferrante
Department: Outside Sales
Title: Strategic Account Manager
Years at Knotts: 30 years since original start date

Topics: The Knotts Company, The Knotts Co

We're excited to share our new partnership with the robotics software company Micropsi Industries. Its MIRAI technology, a vision-based robot control system that, through artificial intelligence, enables robots to learn, to perform a wide range of complex tasks, and to handle variance in workspaces.

MIRAI is an AI-driven, fully productized system that anyone can use, not least workers at small- and medium-sized enterprises. Robots with MIRAI are trained through human demonstration in only days. No knowledge of programming or AI is necessary. To train a robot, a human repeatedly performs demonstrations of a task by manually guiding the robot by the robot's wrist. During the demonstrations, the MIRAI-powered robot takes in information through sensors, using the gathered data to learn how to do the task on its own. Robots with MIRAI can be retrained for different tasks.

Topics: Machine Vision, Micropsi, MIRAI