DF Automation Industrial Visit’s Reflection
RSS
On 11 October 2019, I attend my first visit to an industrial company. The company that we visited is DF Automation and Robotics SDN. BHD. which located in Skudai, Johor. The visit consists of three part which are the introduction talk, the workshop and the conclusion talk. We gathered early in the morning for a bus ride to the company. From what I have researched earlier, the company is a Malaysia tech-based company which specialised in manufacturing and production of automated guided vehicle. They provided robots to help many globalised companies in industrial and commercial used.
Dr Yong Che Fai, Co-Founder and the current CEO of the DF Automation and Robotics SDN BHD (and also the Co-Founder of Techcare Innovation SDN BHD), greet us with a warm welcome at the discussion room. He started by discussing what is robot and how does it affect community. Many of us have different idea such as Internet of Things (IoTs) and the purpose to reduce human force but the base of the answer is basically the same, which is a programmable machine to execute one or more task automatically.
After the introduction, Dr Yong explain briefly what is Industry 4.0 and the challenge of robotics in Industry 4.0 in Malaysia. Industry 4.0 is basically a time where robots are used to replace to replace human work in an industry. I have learnt that a lot of challenges will be faced in implementing robotics and Industry 4.0 such as the lack of ecosystem in Malaysia and the cost of living due to High Capital. In Industry 4.0, a lot of companies prefer robots than employing human because of the company’s data privacy and the security of the companies. I also learnt a new term used in industry which is UNICORN (fast high growth company) and some motivation for me to succeed.
Then, Dr Yong explained briefly how his company are helping in developing industrial 4.0. The company had produced a lot of robots to withstand varies weight up to 1 tan. The robots produced also can categorised into two type which are using track and trackless. I was very impressed by the innovation made by the companies as it was my first time seeing a beam sensor used in industrial. Besides that, the company had made a lot of collaboration with other well know companies such as Sony, HP, Western Digitals and across 7 countries.
After that, we were brought to the second part of the visit - the workshop which consists of designing room, assembling room and testing room. My section was brought to the testing room first where the company staff showed us how the machine works. We get to experienced seeing Zalpha MG (track robot) and Zalpha TS (trackless robot) move very smoothly. Both of the robots are programmed and equipped with sensor to detect obstacle during the movement. The only difference between two robots are the type of sensor used. For Zalpha MG, it detects magnetic strip line that are already placed for their movement and equipped with a bumper so that it will automatically stop when it sensed obstacle. They also showed us in a video that 4 or 5 of Zalpha MG can be move simultaneously in a small place using synchronization of programming. They only need to watch the movements of Zalpha MG in the screen, so it is quite useful for a fewer person to keep track of robots. For the second robot, Zalpha TS are equipped with two sensor and one arm (optional for the client). One sensor had covered 180 degrees vision so the robot basically has 360 vision of the surroundings - it is like a machine having their own mind to move, except it must be programmed first by a person. When Zalpha TS detects obstacle, it has the same concept as the track robot, but the Zalpha TS can stop fewer distance before the obstacle, producing an alarm for the obstacle to be moved before the robots can move again. We also get to see the company’s prototype to move around. The prototype used the same sensor as Zalpha TS but very small and without hands. After finish testing the robots, we were brought into the assembling room where we were shown briefly about the inner part and how the robots are made. I was quite amazed about the complexity of the components being assembled. One of the staff show us the mechanical process of assembling the robots. For soldering it could take him 3 hours to solder non-stop, but for me, that’s a fast record.
For the last part of the visit, we were gathered again in the discussion room for the motivation talk from Dr Yong and a special guest. First Dr Yong give a talk about an academic- entrepreneurial mindset, which give me a boost of motivation in my studies. He showed us some of the tips but the most important of all is the determination. I have learnt that to achieve success, we should never give up because there is always an alternate way to achieves targets. The talk from special guest was Mr Tan Ping Hua, one of the Co-founders of the company, to give a talk about his life and their road in building the company. I was amazed by their story because both Mr Tan and Dr Yong were UTM alumni and they start their journey same as us –as a mechatronic student. They were also the pioneers of the ROBOCON club, and ROBOCON was the platform for them to achieve goals of creating a company. They show us the importance of being active in clubs and societies during studies as the experiences helps a lot when entering working phase. Also, by declaring their alumnae, it shows me that anyone could be success such as Dr Yong and Mr Tan
Overall, the visit really helps me in every aspect such experiences, motivation, and creating a target. In addition, the visits explain to me in detail what is to be an engineer. Like an accountant in an office, engineering is a wide area of job. Engineer can be in office designing a machine and programming, or engineer can work at field where most of the theory from mechatronic (mechanical, electrical and electronics) is applied to practical. Thus, now I can analyse my strength and weakness in my studies, so that I can be prepared after I graduates.V