The Michigan Daily
Vol. XCII,
Ann Arbor Michigan--Saturday, July 17. 1982
Ten Cents
Twelve Pages
student's robot
Computers meet robots in unique
student-built robotic system
By SCOTT STUCKAL
It's small, shiny, has one mechanical arm, and.
is made by University students.
Brave new world come to campus? Not exac-
tly, but it is one of the first student-built robotic
manufacturing systems in the country. The
system was assembled as a project of Prof.
Yorem Koren's Mechanical Engineering 483
class.
THE CLASS normally builds individual
machine parts using a computer-controlled cut-
ting tool, but last year Karen decided that
students should use the parts to build a robot.
"Instead of just making parts that nobody
needs, why not go on to a project and try to make
IT'S NOT A new type of weapon. It's the manipulator arm of a. a practical robot system?" Koren said.
computer-controlled robotic system built by students in Prof. The class designed parts for the robot
Yorem Koren's computer control of manufacturing class. manufactured it, and assembled it in the course
Polish heads
quit in part
shake up
of several terms. The robot, which has a
mechanical arm known as a manuipulator, is
then connected to a computer that controls its
actions. Students said they enjoyed the oppor-
tunity to build, rather than merely study an ac-
tual robotics device.
"WE WERE enthusiastic about the robot in the
sense that it was practical," said engineering
graduate student Jerry Raski.
Mechanical engineering student Jim Randolph
said that when he learned a computer-controlled
robot would be constructed in the class, he
decided"this is the one (project) I want to do.
Robotics is pretty much an up-and-coming
field."
Koren said a major problem with current robotics
instruction offered at the University and across the
See STUDENTS, Page 5
WARSAW, Poland (AP)- Several
prominent Communist Party officials
quit yesterday in a major leadership
shuffle that appeared to strengthen
martial-law chief Gen. Wojciech
Jaruzelski's grip on power.
Leaders also expanded the party's
top ranks.
The changes in the Politburo, the
policy-making Central Committee and
the Secretariat, which administers the
party apparatus, were the most
sweeping since martial law was im-
posed Dec. 13 to crush the independent
Solidarity trade union movement
AMONG THE resignations reported
by the official PAP news agency was
that of Stefan Olszowski, a hardliner
who in the past had been considered a
major contender for party leadership.
Olszowski, who was responsible for
ideology and the news media, resigned
from the Secretariat but kept his Polit-
buro post, PAP said.
The unexpected resignations of
Olszowski, another Central Committee
secretary, Hieronym Kubiak, and
Politburo member Jan Labecki came
at the end of a two-day meeting of the
194-member Central Committee on the
problems of youth.
THE LEADERSHIP changes recalled
the turbulent party meetings last year
during the labor crisis sparked by the
birth of the now-suspended Solidarity
union during shipyard strikes in Gdan-
sk in August 1980.
Among those who rose to power
during the period were Labecki, Com-
munist Party chief in the Gdansk
shipyards, and Kubiak, a liberal from
Krakow who ran the cultural and scien-
tific apparatus.
PAP said Kubiak retained his post on
the Politburo.
A fourth Central Committee
secretary to resign, Marian Wozniak,
was made a full member of the Polit-
buro, as was Stanislaw Kalkus, a
newcomer who is a foreman in the
Cegielski Works in Poznan.
THE ADDITION of Wozniak, elected
Warsaw party chief last month, and the
election of Gdansk party chief
Stanislaw Bejger as an alternate mem-
ber of the Politburo appeared to
strengthen Jaruzelski's hand, obser-
vers said.
Bejger was named Gdansk party
chief in January, replacing liberal
Tadeusz Fiszbach who had been closely
identified with Solidarity.
Although little is known about
Kalkus, he appears to have been elec-
ted in response to demands of workers
of the Cegielski Works who objected to
the removal of the Poznan party chief
earlier this year.
Daily Photo by DOUG McMAHON
Shady characters
These decked-out youngsters decorate the Diag yesterday displaying decals
and dizzy T-shirts to discriminating viewers.