2014 has begun as the year of the robot. Now, I don’t know if this is a global phenomenon, but our world here has been all about robots recently. I can’t go into any specific details on these exciting projects yet - but these two very different projects share the theme of replacing conventional materials with high performance composites. Across the marketplace, we are seeing wider adoption of composites in consumer goods – until recently only found in high-end sporting equipment. For example, the new Dell workstation now sports a carbon chassis.
The straightforward path to adopting composites into a product is to identify those components that struggle to meet certain criteria: weight, strength, appearance, manufacturability, cost, and sometimes all of the above. Look closely at these components to see if a composite solution can increase performance. And as the comfort levels increase, I expect the trend to be similar to what we see from companies like Tesla where the entire design methodology is changed in order to best take advantage of the materials available. The ultimate case in point here is the recent America’s Cup boats: these 72 foot catamarans could never have lifted clear of the water on hydrofoils at 55mph if made out of metal!
So if you have a part that needs to change – contact us and let us guide you through it. The product will only get better!