Engelberger award in robotics presented to Åke Lindqvist, Shinsuke Sakakibara elected new IFR president
Åke Lindqvist, outgoing president of the International Federation of Robotics (IFR; Frankfurt, Germany) was presented the Joseph Engelberger Award for Leadership 2011 at the Gala Dinner of the International Symposium on Robotics (ISR), March 22 in Chicago. During 37 years--the last 20 years in the US--Åke Lindqvist has been one of the key individuals developing ABB Robotics into one of the leading robotics companies in the world. He retired from ABB in December 2010.
The worldwide public perception of the robotics industry increased remarkably during his IFR Presidency. He represented the IFR at trade shows, as lecturer at conferences, and at press conferences. He strengthened ties with Asian robotic associations thru increased and direct communications. As Chairman of the IFR Robot Suppliers Group and later as IFR President he successfully helped to improve the worldwide robot statistics.
After the General Assembly meeting, the IFR Executive Board elected Dr. Shinsuke Sakakibara, Managing Counselor, FANUC Corporation, Japan, as the new IFR President. Dr. Sakakibara announced that he will continue to strengthen the IFR as the most important organization for the world robotics community.
“The key focus areas will be continuing strong publication relation activities, the acquisition of member associations of emerging robot markets, and the implementation of a new concept of the worldwide ISR robotics conference," said Sakakibara. "I am looking forward to a close and fruitful cooperation with our members and the IFR Secretariat.”
Arturo Baroncelli of Comau Robotics in Italy was elected as IFR Vice President. He stated: “Let us continue to work together for a further growth of the IFR and the development of the robot industry.”
Dr. Sakakibara has worked for FANUC since 1972. From 1985 to 1998, he was responsible for the development of intelligent robot system, especially bin-picking with vision sensor. He is serving as Honorary General Manager of the Robot Laboratory at FANUC since 1999. He also serves as Member of the Management of FANUC since 2007. He has a Ph.D. in Control Engineering from the University of Tokyo.
SOURCE: IFR
Posted by Vision Systems Design