Agile Automation, Inc.
Agile Automation started in 1997 with a vision to help industrial control engineers develop automation systems that can adapt quickly as products mature through their planned life cycle. The vision is slowly coming to fruition and has matured itself over the past years. Our founder began as a tool and die maker and was trained in the fine art of lofting. The military later trained him to troubleshoot and repair electronic test equipment, and after learning to write software, he designed sophisticated microwave test systems for a military contractor. Before long, he was controlling various devices such as robots, stages, cameras, conveyors, pneumatics, sensors, exciters, etc. He developed a very strong understanding in the intricacies of mechanics, electronics, computers, and software. He can breathe life into an integrated system like no one else. While developing this experience, he has refined and honed his software models for quick adaptation. His models are now the cornerstone of the concepts behind our vision.
Early projects
One of our early projects was to help a leading manufacturer of magnetic tape-heads streamline their manufacturing process. Part of their process required a technician to use three separate systems to accomplish a single task. The challenge was to develop custom software to integrate all three systems into a single system. That project turned into a manufacturing opportunity where Agile Automation redesigned the new system and later built, tested, and delivered them to the client.
Another early project resigned control software used for manufacturing pharmaceutical stents. That customer later awarded Agile Automation a Product Management contract to help them meet an aggressive production schedule. Their customer (the largest producer of pharmaceutical stents at the time) ordered around 50 automated laser stent cutters to be delivered in about nine months’ time. The company was currently hand-building systems at the rate of one every three months. Our task was to restructure the company, re-engineer the machine, decompose and redefine the manufacturing process, hire and manage new employees, and ensure on-time delivery of their quality stent cutters. The project was a success and the company delivered all machines as scheduled.
Long-term projects
The longest project to date is developing control software for a sophisticated imaging system. This system controls high-bandwidth cameras capable of capturing single photons of light. End-users that purchase these systems have many different and specific uses. As such, these systems must be able to accommodate many different configurations. Configurations are comprised of microscopes, stages, various exciters, dark chambers, lasers, lights, filters, shutters, etc. The software controls all devices through a well-orchestrated synchronous composition. The software can switch some exciters and filters fast enough to produce a different image for every frame without losing camera frames. Other devices require more time to switch, so the software has to wait for their completion before imaging can continue. The software is sophisticated enough to command all slow devices to switch simultaneously, whereby minimizing latency to the slowest device and not the aggregate. This project has matured over the years with constant upgrades to accommodate new features and new technologies such as faster cameras and computers.