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Company Profile
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PushCorp was founded March, 1993 to commercially market technology developed through university research. The company has since completed many highly successful commercial industrial automation projects. These projects have covered technologies ranging from mechanical manipulator design to machine vision inspection, with success primarily due to a combination of extensive practical industry experience and thorough theoretical engineering knowledge. A State of Texas Advanced Technology Program granted to Dr. O. Robert Mitchell at the University of Texas at Arlington funded the development of an Adjustable Force Device (AFD) by Dr. Edwin Erlbacher, (now the president of PushCorp, Inc.) as the basis of his Ph.D. dissertation. The primary use of this device is to enable robotic equipment to perform delicate grinding, sanding, and polishing operations previously difficult or impossible to accomplish in an automated fashion. The adjustable force device implements novel feedback control algorithms and a compact mechanical design to provide unprecedented performance. This feedback arrangement is the basis for a United States patent (5,448,146) covering the AFD technology. Based on the positive industry response to the development of the AFD, PushCorp, Inc., Dallas, Texas, was formed to manufacture and sell the device and other related industrial automation equipment. After PushCorp was formed, commercialization of the research into a viable and marketable product was accomplished in less than one year with Boeing Airplane Company being the recipient of the first commercial device. Since its inception, a primary goal of PushCorp, Inc. is to continuously search for and develop new and unique products. As evidence of this, PushCorp has developed, on average, two to three new products per year throughout its history. Many of these new products are in direct response to customer needs. Many times customers contact PushCorp to develop a specific product outside of their core business. Sometimes these projects become a standard PushCorp product or remain a unique product for that specific customer. This intense design and development activity serves to keep PushCorp personnel in touch with the latest technologies available in the automation and robotics field. All of the equipment produced by PushCorp is the result of significant efforts in mechanical, electrical, and software design, controls, sensor integration, component procurement, and fabrication. The products are designed with great attention to ease of manufacture with emphasis on reducing component part count. This philosophy effectively reduces manufacturing costs while increasing overall product reliability. In addition to its on-going manufacturing business, PushCorp continues to be involved in research and development activities. In 1995 the United States Navy awarded PushCorp a $65,000 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research contract to evaluate the feasibility of a portable robotic manipulator to perform field repairs on composite aircraft. PushCorp was selected out of a field of hundreds of applicants for this contract. In 1997, a two year $750,000 Phase II contract was awarded to PushCorp to build a prototype of the robotic composite repair manipulator. In 2009, PushCorp successfully completed a Navy MANTECH Contract to design and build a Weld Seam Facing tool to remove the bulk of weld reinforcement that occurs during butt welding of hull and deck panels. This externally funded research is in addition to the internal research and development to continuously improve existing products and develop new products as requested by customers. Key Personnel Edwin Erlbacher: Dr. Erlbacher is President of PushCorp, Inc. and has over twenty years of diverse industrial experience. His early experience includes working as a engineer at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Station, Port Gibson, Mississippi and as a Project Manager for the Ford Aerospace Sidewinder Missile Thermoelectric Assembly at Marlow Industries, Dallas, Texas. During his employment at the University of Texas Automation & Robotics Institute he was responsible for the development of a high pressure (60,000 psi) robotic water jet quick disconnect. The disconnect is unique in that no axial decoupling forces are generated. Dr. Erlbacher served as project manager in the development of a six degree-of-freedom custom manipulator designed to singulate and dispense medication from 100 storage canisters. The manipulator design encompassed mechanical, electrical and software development efforts. Dr. Erlbacher designed and patented a pneumatic active adjustable force control tool as the basis of his PhD dissertation. The design included complete mechanical design and dynamic modeling as well as the development of non-linear feedback control algorithms allowing precise force control for robotic applications. Since the inception of PushCorp, he has served as Lead Mechanical Engineer in the design and development of all the company's products. He received his BSME from the University of Memphis, Memphis, Tennessee in 1982 and his Ph.D from the University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas in 1992. Dr. Erlbacher continues his involvement with the University of Texas by serving as an Adjunct Professor teaching mechanical design. Lester Godwin: Mr. Godwin is currently handling sales, and marketing for the entire PushCorp product line. Mr. Godwin is also responsible for design and development of software and electrical systems. With twenty years of experience in the field of factory automation, Mr. Godwin has accumulated extensive experience in the design and implementation of industrial automation systems involving advanced robotic servo controls, machine vision inspection and part location. Many of the automation projects have included PLC and motion control systems, machine vision, and graphical user interface design. Specific projects include the complete design and implementation of cell user interface, control and sensor interface software for the Robotic Abrasive Water Jet (RAWJET) cutting cell at Vought Aircraft in 1988. This project included machine vision software development to locate large composite wing skins in the robot workspace and development of a six degree-of-freedom post processor which automatically detected and corrected robot singularity and wrap-up conditions. He designed and implemented a non-contact laser range and normality sensor for the Robot for Major Assembly (RMA) drilling and fastener insertion robot. Also for the RMA, he designed neural network techniques to analyze sensor data to determine in process drill wear in real-time. All of these automation projects were in support of fabricating and assembling large, graphite epoxy composite components for the B-2 bomber. Since that time Mr. Godwin has designed control systems for various projects at the University of Texas at Arlington including open architecture robot controls, and Stewart Platform manipulators. Mr. Godwin's Master Thesis involved the design of a complete six degree-of-freedom distributed robot control system. The final demonstration for the thesis included the rapid integration of the motion control system to a machine vision system to enable real-time robot vision tracking. Mr. Godwin earned his BSEE at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas in 1987 and his MSEE at the University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, in 1992. Chris Hollas: Mr. Hollas has been the Operations Manager of PushCorp since its inception. His manufacturing experience began in 1989 with a field sales and support position with a regional fluid power equipment distributor. During two years, Mr. Hollas gained extensive knowledge in specifying, procuring and supporting major factory automation systems involving hydraulics, pneumatics, and process control equipment. During his subsequent employment at the University of Texas Automation & Robotics Institute, he used his expertise in assisting Dr. Erlbacher and Mr. Godwin on many of their design projects. This concluded with machining and assembling the first pneumatic active adjustable force control tool used in Dr. Erlbacher's dissertation. Since his employment at PushCorp, Mr. Hollas has been involved in the design, fabrication and support of the entire PushCorp product offering. This includes taking the design information and producing finished products through in-house resources or sub-contractors. Much of the current work involves machine parts, precision grinding, welding and fabrication, printed circuit board fabrication, electronic circuit assembly, and wire harness and cable assembly. Mr. Hollas earned a B.S. in Industrial Distribution from Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas in 1989. In addition he is a NFPA Certified Fluid Power Specialist. Mike McMillen: Mr. McMillen is the PushCorp Production Manager. Mr. McMillen has been employed at PushCorp since 1998. He took over Production Manager responsibilites in 2006. He has many years of expience in in the assembly and repair of PushCorp equipment. |
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Facilities / Equipment PushCorp, Inc. is an engineering design and manufacturing company located in Garland, Texas. The 20,000 square foot facility is equipped to support high-tech production and product development. Computer design resources are available for mechanical 3D CAD/CAM using SolidWorks, COSMOS (FEA) and AutoCAD design software. PushCorp has software tools to enable embedded system design and development including electrical schematic-capture, simulation, and board layout, as well as a complete micro-controller software development environment. In-house prototype fabrication is possible with on-site equipment including a Fadal CNC machining center, Bridgeport mill, 16 inch engine lathe, welding fabrication equipment and all the associated tooling accessories. Also on site is a complete quality control lab with a large selection of measurement tools and a Brown & Sharpe Coordinate Measuring Machine. These facilities allow complete electromechanical prototype systems to be quickly designed, fabricated, implemented and evaluated. PushCorp also has on site, a large KUKA KR125 industrial robot. |
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PushCorp operational procedures implement many of the concepts typical of an Agile Enterprise. And as such, utilizes other small business contractors in performing basic manufacturing operations such as machining, sheet metal fabrication, painting, circuit board fabrication etc. This philosophy frees core PushCorp personnel to focus on conceptual and detailed engineering design and equipment final assembly. PushCorp has sold and supports hundreds of products in production service at companies all over the world. Some of these companies include: |
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PushCorp, Inc. • P.O. Box 181915 • Dallas • Texas • 75218 • (972)840-0208 • FAX (972) 840-1046