Victor Scheinman
Encyclopedia
Victor Scheinman is a pioneer in the field of robot
ics. He is a graduate of the now-defunct New Lincoln High School in New York. In the late 1950s, and while in high school, Scheinman engineered a speech-to-text machine as a science fair project. In 1972 (some sources say 1969), while at Stanford University
, Scheinman invented the Stanford arm, an all-electric, 6-axis articulated robot designed to permit an arm solution
in closed form
. This allowed the robot to accurately follow arbitrary paths in space under computer
control and widened the potential use of the robot to more sophisticated applications such as assembly and arc welding. In 1973, Scheinman started Vicarm Inc. to manufacture his robot arms. In 1977, Scheinman sold his design to Unimation, who further developed it, with support from General Motors, as the Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly
(PUMA). He served briefly as General Manager of Unimation's West Coast division before joining Automatix
as a cofounder and vice-president in 1980. While at Automatix, Scheinman developed RobotWorld, a system of cooperating small modules suspended from a 2-D linear motor. The product line was later sold to Yaskawa.
On June 22, 2006 broadcast of the American game-show Jeopardy!
, Scheinman was the subject of the $1600 "answer" for the category "Robotics": "In the 1970s Victor Scheinman developed the PUMA, or programmable universal manipulation THIS" (question: "what is THIS?" - answer: "arm".).
Today Scheinman continues to consult and is a visiting professor at Stanford University
in the department of mechanical engineering.
His niece is jazz violinist Jenny Scheinman
. He was married to Sandra Auerback in August 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/fashion/weddings/06auerback.html.
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
ics. He is a graduate of the now-defunct New Lincoln High School in New York. In the late 1950s, and while in high school, Scheinman engineered a speech-to-text machine as a science fair project. In 1972 (some sources say 1969), while at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, Scheinman invented the Stanford arm, an all-electric, 6-axis articulated robot designed to permit an arm solution
Arm solution
In applied mathematics as used in the engineering field of robotics, an arm solution is a solution of equations that allow the calculation of the precise design parameters of a robot's arms in such a way as to enable it to make certain movements....
in closed form
Closed form
-Maths:* Closed-form expression, a finitary expression* Closed differential form, a differential form \alpha with the property that d\alpha = 0-Poetry:* In poetry analysis, a type of poetry that exhibits regular structure, such as meter or a rhyming pattern;...
. This allowed the robot to accurately follow arbitrary paths in space under computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
control and widened the potential use of the robot to more sophisticated applications such as assembly and arc welding. In 1973, Scheinman started Vicarm Inc. to manufacture his robot arms. In 1977, Scheinman sold his design to Unimation, who further developed it, with support from General Motors, as the Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly
Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly
The PUMA is an industrial robot arm developed by Victor Scheinman at pioneering robot company Unimation...
(PUMA). He served briefly as General Manager of Unimation's West Coast division before joining Automatix
Automatix
Automatix Inc., founded in January 1980, was the first company to market industrial robots with built-in machine vision. Its founders were Victor Scheinman, inventor of the Stanford arm; Phillippe Villers, Michael Cronin, and Arnold Reinhold of Computervision; Jake Dias and Dan Nigro of Data...
as a cofounder and vice-president in 1980. While at Automatix, Scheinman developed RobotWorld, a system of cooperating small modules suspended from a 2-D linear motor. The product line was later sold to Yaskawa.
On June 22, 2006 broadcast of the American game-show Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
, Scheinman was the subject of the $1600 "answer" for the category "Robotics": "In the 1970s Victor Scheinman developed the PUMA, or programmable universal manipulation THIS" (question: "what is THIS?" - answer: "arm".).
Today Scheinman continues to consult and is a visiting professor at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in the department of mechanical engineering.
His niece is jazz violinist Jenny Scheinman
Jenny Scheinman
Jenny Scheinman is an accomplished violinist. Renowned as a jazz violinist, she has credits with artists in many genres. She has collaborated and played with Linda Perry, Norah Jones, Nels Cline, Lou Reed, Ani Difranco, Bruce Cockburn, Aretha Franklin, Lucinda Williams, Bono, and Bill Frisell and...
. He was married to Sandra Auerback in August 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/fashion/weddings/06auerback.html.