Electro Standards Laboratory, Inc. of Cranston has three words for its competition: “Look, no hands.” The company has developed material-testing equipment that uses the operator’s voice, not his or her hands, to work the machine. It’s a first in the industry.
The invention and other innovations by the company came about with the help of a Slater Technology Fund grant and a partnership with University of Rhode Island students.
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The company received $35,000 from the Slater fund and spent another $148,000 in creating the unique tensile testing system, as it is called in the industry. As part of the grant project the company has also developed technology that allows companies to run tests on equipment at Electro Standards Laboratories (ESL) through the Internet.
Currently, the company is working with Ford Motor Company on testing hybrid electrical cars. Engineers do testing on the equipment from Detroit using a web browser.
State officials are applauding the company for getting involved in the Slater grant program, which requires the company to make its own substantial investment in new technology.
”Electro Standards Laboratory exemplifies the entrepreneurial and innovative qualities that lead to economic growth. The team of engineers at Electro Standard’s Laboratory have taken ideas and turned them into jobs,” said Christopher “Kip” Bergstrom, executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council, the state agency that administers the grants.
The Slater Technology Fund is named after Samuel Slater, Rhode Island’s first industrialist, whose innovations set off the Industrial Revolution in America. The funds’ aim is to strengthen Rhode Island’s job base by helping companies develop technologies that marketable.
Raymond B. Sepe, Jr., vice president of research & development at ESL, said a key to making the projects a success has been the company’s partnership with URI’s departments of electrical engineering and computer engineering. URI supplied student interns who are vital in the development of the new products.
”The students did the work. We gave them direction on the technology area we wanted to go into and they followed it. With their training and our industrial experience we succeeded in what we set out to do,” Sepe said.
Two of the three interns involved in the work were hired by the company.
Jim Pace of Warwick, who graduated from URI in December with an electrical engineering degree, worked on the tensile tester project, and is one of those hired.
The machine is used to stretch various materials – anything from jeans to wire – to make various measurements about its durability with the goal of testing the quality of the product.
Pace’s mission was to make the process of testing materials easier by replacing the old style pip cords and hand-held keypads with a wireless headset. The advantage being the operator of the machine can use his or her hands to handle the material being tested while verbally commanding the machine.
Pace, who now works for the company, said as a student the experience of working on a project like this one was invaluable.
”You really don’t learn that much as an undergraduate. You get hired for a job based on your potential to learn,” Pace explained. “For example, I never really did any programming when I was in school and this gave me that opportunity to do it. It turned out that I really enjoy programming.”
Sepe said there is no replacement for experience at a company when compared to classroom assignments.
”In the classroom, projects can ‘kind of work.’ You need to put the pieces together and understand the concept being taught. But at a business ‘kind of’ doesn’t cut it. What you are designing better work or your customer will tell you,” Sepe said.
He added that Pace’s work is ready for the market. In fact, the product will be featured in a trade magazine next month.
”This is just one way we can stay a level above our competition,” he said.
Another way ESL is staying on the cutting edge is through its creation of a system that allows companies throughout the world to test products in Rhode Island through the Internet.
The company is currently working with Ford in the development of electric motor systems. Using a standard Web browser, engineers can see the machine running on a real-time video display and run tests on the product in development.
Sepe said while the company is just working on the Ford project now, he said the technology could be available for a variety of applications.
Once again his staff was able to make progress with help from URI students.
Nathan Short, a URI senior studying computer engineering, said the internship differs greatly from most because he is in the position of creator.
”Most internships involve testing code that other people wrote. Here I’m actually writing the code. Having this experience when I graduate will be important,” said Short, a resident of Richmond.
While at ESL Short has learned Java, a computer language, which he said he didn’t learn at URI. Sepe said another advantage of working with the interns is figuring out what skills they should be taught in college.
”Now we can go back to the school and make recommendations to them and vice versa. It’s a win-win situation for the student, for us and the college,” he said.
