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.  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 many years of diverse industrial experience. This experience includes working as an engineer at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Station, Port Gibson, Mississippi and a Project Manager for the Ford Aerospace Sidewinder Missile Thermoelectric Assembly at Marlow Industries, Dallas, Texas. Dr. Erlbacher has extensive experience in machine design. During his employment at the University of Texas at Arlington he was directly involved with the development of several projects including a high pressure (60,000 psi) water jet quick-disconnect.  Dr. Erlbacher served as project manager in the development of a pharmaceutical medication dispensing system utilizing a six degree-of-freedom custom manipulator designed to singulate and dispense medication from 100 storage canisters. The dispensing system design encompassed mechanical, electrical and software development efforts.

Dr. Erlbacher invented the pneumatic active adjustable force control method as the basis of his Ph.D. dissertation and received a U.S Patent for the technology in 1993. The design included complete mechanical design and dynamic modeling as well as the development of non-linear feedback control algorithms allowing precise force control.

Since the formation of PushCorp, Dr. Erlbacher has continuously added enhancements to the original adjustable force device design. He has been involved in the development of the entire PushCorp product line.  In addition he served as project manager for the highly successful Phase I and Phase II SBIR "Automated Composite Scarfing/Step Machining Apparatus for Curved Structures."

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.

Lester Godwin: Mr. Godwin is currently handling sales, and marketing for the entire PushCorp product line.  He is also responsible for design and development of electrical and software systems, including robotic control and machine vision. During his many 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, PLC control systems, and cell user interface design.

Also Mr. Godwin designed and implemented robot control and sensor interface software for the Robotic Abrasive Water Jet 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 also designed and implemented a non-contact laser range and normality sensor for a robotic drilling and fastener insertion process. Both of these automation projects were in support of fabricating and assembling graphite epoxy composite components for the B-2 bomber.

Since that time Mr. Godwin has designed control systems for various projects at PushCorp, Inc. and the University of Texas at Arlington including open architecture robot controls, and Stewart Platform manipulators. 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 serves as Production Manager at PushCorp, Inc. He has many years of experience in mechanical design, procurement, and vendor relations. He earned a B.S. Industrial Distribution from Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas in 1989. In addition he is a NFPA Certified Fluid Power Specialist.

Facilities / Equipment

PushCorp, Inc. is an engineering design and manufacturing company located in Garland, Texas. The facility is equipped to support high-tech production and product development. PushCorp has computer resources 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 microcontroller software development environment. These facilities allow complete electromechanical prototype systems to be quickly designed, fabricated, implemented and evaluated.

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 currently has over 200 systems installed all over the world in production at companies including:

• General Motors
• Saturn Corporation
• Ford Motor Company
• Chrysler Corporation
• Caterpillar
• John Deere
• Libby-Owens-Ford
• RCA-Thompson
• Kuntz Electroplating
• Areway, Inc.

• Aeroquip Inoac
• Boeing Aircraft Company
• Bristol Aerospace, Canada
• 3M Company, USA
• 3M Company, UK
• Mack Truck
• Rubber Maid
• ABC Group
• LIPS Production, Netherlands
• Techspace Aero, Belgium