User tools
Robinson Seismic Limited
Robinson Seismic Limited is world-renowned for its work in developing, testing, manufacturing and marketing seismic protection and damping devices.
Dr Bill Robinson founded Penguin Engineering Ltd in 1995, changing its name to Robinson Seismic in 1998. Bill developed the technique of base isolation when working in the Physics and Engineering Laboratory of the Department of Scientific an Industrial Research. The company has continued his work in this field, consulting on base isolation and manufacturing equipment, while also developing and marketing new products.
The base isolation system has been successfully used in many structures in New Zealand and overseas. The University of Southern California Teaching Hospital survived a 1994 earthquake that closed other hospitals, as did a base isolated building in the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan.
Robinson Seismic was contracted to seismically isolate a new hospital in Bhuj, India, after the collapse of the original during the 2001 earthquake and, in 2007, will do the same for a hospital in Shimla, Northern India. In 2002, the company was contracted to do work in earthquake-prone Turkey on a variety of structures.
The company has developed new seismic devices that better suit the requirements of particular structures. Wanganui Hospital is the first building in the world to be fitted with the RoGlider, a base isolation method more suitable for small, wooden buildings.
Bill and his colleagues have designed and manufactured products for customers in New Zealand, Japan and the USA. They have also visited other countries, for example China, to advise on seismic isolation of buildings.
This article is based on information current in 2007.
Type
Advisory Committee
Contact
Robinson Seismic Limited
PO Box 33 093
Petone 5046
Wellington
New Zealand
