Cameras and Bearings

January 21

Today we visited two companies called Qualisys and SKF. Both were very informative and I enjoyed listening in on their companies and how they do business. For the Qualisys visit, we listen to Magnus Holmquist who is the market area director and Helen Holmquist who is the marketing manager. Their mission is to be the world’s preferred partner in creating performance-enhancing motion capture solutions through technical excellence. They use MoCap which is Motion capture and is the process of recording the movement of objects/people. It is primarily used in the military and entertainment and sports. OMC is the optical motion capture and is used in a number of special cameras that view a scene from a variety angels. The team today had 40 people and they produce about 2500 cameras per year. With the team, they worked on applying their technology to different industries like life science, entertainment, and engineering. They work with companies like BMW, Harvard, ABB, and the Olympics. The cameras they use are used for many sports teams and track the movements of the athletes to be sure their form is correct. The Qualysis analysis is a complete solution for full-body running analysis. The system includes a high- end optical motion capture system, an advanced analysis process and a web application through which end- users can book sessions and access the final report. Below is one of our own, Robby, testing out their technology running in a room. He actually had almost perfect stance while being measured. Nicole, Sam, and Matt all put on suits too and moved around while the sensors on them sensed there every move projecting an animation of their bodies.

The cameras are used for drones, cars, model ships, and robots. They are applied for film and games, research, commercial, visualization, biomechanics, simulation and training. They are additionally just getting into virtual reality which I think is such a neat concept! Helen then talked about marketing and she mentioned that the past 5 years has been a challenge in marketing as the segments Qualysis has are varied and all have different marketing approaches. Moreover, work is done on all continents and the budget is divided into a few of their marketing sources like digital advertising and social media so measuring the effectiveness of those is hard.

Next we headed to SKF where we met with Lars Werner who is a tour guide for the company. SKF is over 100 years old and they produce ball bearings, which is a type of mechanism that helps anything that rolls, roll. SKF engages in the manufacturing of machine and rotating equipment. It involves in providing products, solutions and services within rolling bearings, seals, mechatronics, services, and lubrication systems. We were given a tour of the factory where the bearings were produced but I wasn’t allowed to take any pictures. We were given headsets and vests and were told to watch out for moving carts as they are robots. When we got in there, literally everything was a robot and the bearings were being made and packaged by the robots. It was incredible, I had no idea how much robots actually are capable of (and they are much for efficient).

After the visit, we were all very hungry and it was an open dinner so my friends and I walked to a burger place which was AMAZING! I have missed American food so I got a burger, fries, and an Oreo milkshake (literally the best I have ever had). I was so happy! We are now all back at midnight ready to go to bed!

Daily Reflections

• Ball-bearings are in everything that rolls (I literally had no idea)
• Advanced camera technology is huge and is a vast industry that I didn’t know so many companies use
• I need to invest in a really good pair of walking shoes because mine are just not cutting it (also Sweden is full of cobblestone streets which is not meant for heels)