Rossi and the Robots

For many years now, Andrea Rossi has talked about his goal of building robotized production lines to build E-Cats. His reasoning has been that in order to be competitive he needs to be able to mass produce E-Cats in such large quantities, and so cheaply, that it will discourage competitors from reverse engineering his technology, since it would be too expensive to try to do so.

As we know, there has not yet been any mass production of E-Cats for commercial sale, and it would seem that all E-Cats that have been made for internal testing or demonstration purposes have been custom made by Rossi himself, or with assistance from his associates.

It does sound now, however, that Rossi is at a point where he and his team are focusing on robotic production. Here are a few recent Q&As from the Journal of Nuclear Physics on the subject.

Frank Acland
December 17, 2017 at 3:30 PM
Dear Andrea,

Will the first E-Cat commercial product you plan to present be made by hand, or produced on a robotic mass production line?

Andrea Rossi
December 17, 2017 at 6:20 PM
Frank Acland:
The product will be presented only after we will have initiated the industrial production with the robots.
Warm Regards,
A.R.

Frank Acland
December 18, 2017 at 9:06 AM
Dear Andrea,

So if I understand correctly:

1. You are working now to develop the first E-Cat industrial product?
2. You are working now to develop the robotic system to make the first E-Cat industrial product?
3. You will only present the product when both 1 and 2 are accomplished?
4. After success with 1 and 2 and 3, you plan to expand the production capability for massive production of E-Cats?

Andrea Rossi
December 18, 2017 at 3:28 PM
Frank Acland:
1- We are working now to start the industrialization of the E-Cat QX for industrial applications
2- yes
3- yes
4- yes
Warm Regards,
A.R.

Dear Andrea Rossi,

Congratulations on the successful demo in Stockholm. Do you already have a robot that you can program and test manufacturing processes? Once that is perfected it should be easy to replicate and expand to massive manufacturing. Wishing you and your team a Merry Christmas and a successful New Year.

Bernie Morrissey

Andrea Rossi
December 19, 2017 at 4:20 PM
Bernie Morrissey:
Yes, we are working very hard on it.
I badly want to see the massive production start on 2018. Our bsiness plan is very ambitious.
Warm Regards,
A.R.

Frank Acland
December 19, 2017 at 6:56 PM
Dear Andrea,

I would agree that from the information you have shared, you have a very ambitious business plan.

1. Do you now have the expertise at your disposal to make a sophisticated robotic production line?
2. Is the goal of mass production in 2018 yours alone, or is it something your whole team is working towards?
3. Is it realistic to expect the presentation of the first product in 2018?

Andrea Rossi
December 20, 2017 at 2:42 AM
Frank Acland:
1- I am working on it with specialsists. I have not expertise on this field, I am learning.
2- The 2018 target is shared with our Team and our Partners.
3- It is our ambitious target.
Warm Regards,
A.R.

As always, it’s not easy to get detailed responses from Rossi, so you have to somewhat specific in questioning to try and get the picture, but from what he is saying here, it sounds like the focus of his team and new partner is now on how to build his products using robotics. He says he is now working with specialists; and in the past he has consulted with ABB regarding robotics, so it makes one wonders if they are still involved since they would certainly be considered robotics specialists. For the time being I doubt that we’ll get much in the way of verification about the things he is discussing here. He admits that getting the robotic production going in 2018 is ambitious, and we won’t know if it has happened until it happens, so again, we are in a state of waiting with the E-Cat.