Knotts Team Spotlight Turns to Stephen Rabideau

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

Tell us about what you do: 
I lead a team of engineers that works with customers to increase efficiency and productivity through automation. I work with conveyors, robots, cobots, and simple aluminum extrusion to solve problems for our customers. 

What else have you done at Knotts over your tenure?
I have been an 80/20 Specialist, a Dorner specialist, and an Application Engineer.

What’s a recent challenge a customer (or internal Knotts Team) brought you and how did you solve it?
Recently we needed to work with a customer to automate a difficult pick and place with very small, clear objects. We sourced the proper camera and spent time developing a testing station to make sure that we could do what they asked, and then learned how to best communicate between the camera and the robot. It took some time, but as a group we learned what we needed to about the different components and eventually we were able to successfully implement the solution.

What you love most about working at Knotts?   
The company culture. We all work hard towards a common goal, and we support each other as we do.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I enjoy reading and painting in my spare time, I find that an artistic outlet is perfect for balancing my technical work.