CCTY Bearing will discuss how its technologies can help humanoid robots at the Robotics Summit & Expo. Source: CCTY

To help robot developers make humanoid robots that emulate the mobility and flexibility of human limbs, CCTY designs and manufactures bespoke parts tailored to the unique requirements of each project. At the Robotics Summit & Expo this week, the global motion-control supplier will highlight how its state-of-the-art bearings can enable robots to move articulating joints with lifelike grace.

These critical joints must replicate the natural range of motion found in the human body while remaining lightweight and durable, according to CCTY. The company today said its customized approach overcomes the limitations of conventional, off-the-shelf products.

“The development of humanoid robots has garnered significant attention,” stated Yaman Obaid, robotics engineer at CCTY. “Their seamless motion is enabled by a complex interplay of precision engineering, advanced materials, and cutting-edge technology, with bearings serving as the base that enables these movements.”

CCTY builds bearings to suit

CCTY specializes in custom bearing engineering and development. The company has a 1.8 million sq. ft. (167,000 sq. m) production facility in China and offices in Lake Zurich, Ill.; Schwebheim, Germany; Tokyo; and Gujarat, India.

For the robotics sector, CCTY designs motion-control components and assemblies specific to humanoid and industrial robot applications. They include rod ends, spherical plain bearings, COM bearings, bushings, and roller bearings that enable articulating joints to rotate freely and smoothly.

“At the forefront of innovation, CCTY collaborates closely with our customers to design, develop, and test application-specific humanoid robotic bearing solutions,” said Nik Jerinic, strategic account manager at CCTY. “We’re not like other bearing suppliers. We are problem-solvers who work side-by-side with our clients to create a custom design that meets an application’s precise requirements.”

In addition to custom bearings, CCTY said it develops full assemblies that yield customer benefits such as cost savings, streamlined products, and simplified vendor management. With its ability to manufacture small batches, the company said it is as a trusted engineering partner to businesses in the fast-paced robotics industry.

Learn more at the Robotics Summit & Expo

At Booth 234 in Hall C at the Robotics Summit & Expo on May 1 and 2, CCTY said it will demystify the process of bearing design and assembly for robotic applications. It said its expertise and customer partnerships have resulted in systems that will advance the future of humanoid robots.

During the event, CCTY experts will also discuss key robotics industry trends and themes, including the importance of:

• Seals in robotics applications
• Finding the right balance for minimizing torque and clearance
• Backlash and its impact on humanoid movement

“When speaking with new and potential customers, our engineers often find that they’re able to present or share a new idea or enhancement, for example a new design idea or material selection, that improves upon the customer’s existing idea,” said Jerinic. “This is the type of partner CCTY wants to be for our robotics customers: Someone who helps them raise the bar in this high potential and fast-growing industry.”

Registration is now open for the Robotics Summit & Expo, which will be at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. The summit will also feature keynotes and sessions with industry experts, more than 200 exhibitors, a MassRobotics Engineering Career Fair, and several networking opportunities.

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Forcen says its technology will help robotic manipulation advance as vision has. Source: Forcen

Forcen last week said it has closed a funding round of CAD $8.35 million ($6.1 million U.S.). The Toronto-based company plans to use the investment to scale up production to support more customers and to continue developing its force/torque sensing technology and edge intelligence.

“We’ve been focused on delivering custom solutions showcasing our world-first technology with world-class quality … and we’re excited for our customers to announce the robots they’ve been working on with our technology,” stated Robert Brooks, founder and CEO of Forcen. “Providing custom solutions has limited the number of customers we take on, but now we’re working to change that.”

Founded in 2015, Forcen said its goal is to enable businesses to easily deploy “(super)human” robotic manipulation in complex and unstructured applications. The company added that its technology is already moving into production with customers in surgical, logistics, humanoid, and space robotics.

Forcen offers two paths to robot manipulation

Forcen said its new customizable offering and off-the-shelf development kits will accelerate development for current customers and help new ones adopt its technology.

The rapidly customizable offering will use generative design and standard subassemblies, noted the company. This will allow customers to select the size, sensing range/sensitivity, overload protection, mounting bolt pattern, and connector type/location.

By fulfilling orders in as little as four to six weeks, Forcen claimed that it can replace the traditional lengthy catalog of sensors, so customers can get exactly what they need for their unique applications.

The company will launch its off-the-shelf development kits later this year. They will cover three degree-of-freedom (DoF) and 6 DoF force/torque sensors, as well as Forcen’s cross-roller, bearing-free 3 DoF joint torque sensor and 3 DoF gripper finger.

Off-the-shelf development kits will support different degrees of freedom. Source: Forcen

Force/torque sensors designed for complex applications

Complex and less-structured robotics applications are challenging for conventional force/torque sensing technologies because of the risk of repeated impact/overload, wide temperature ranges/changes, and extreme constraints on size and weight, explained Forcen. These applications are becoming increasingly common in surgical, logistics, agricultural/food, and underwater robotics.

Forcen added that its “full-stack” sensing systems are designed for such applications using three core proprietary technologies:

• ForceFilm — A monolithic thin-film transducer enabling sensing systems that are lighter, thinner, more stable across both drift and temperature, the company said. It is especially scalable for multi-dimensional sensing, Forcen said.
• Dedicated Overload — A protection structure that acts as a 6 DoF hard stop. The company said it allows sensitivity and overload protection to be designed separately and enables durable use of the overload structure for thousands of overload events while still achieving millions of sensing cycles.
• Synap — Forcen’s onboard edge intelligence comes factory compensated/calibrated and can connect to any standard digital bus (USB, CAN, Ethernet, EtherCAT). This can “create a full-stack force/torque sensing solution that is truly plug-and-play with a maintenance/calibration-free operation.

New offerings include features to support demanding robotics applications. Source: Forcen

Learn about Forcen at the Robotics Summit

Brightspark Ventures and BDC Capital’s Deep Tech Venture Fund co-led Forcen’s funding round, with participation from Garage Capital and MaRS IAF, as well as returning investors including EmergingVC.

“Robotic vision has undergone a revolution over the past decade and is continuing to accelerate with new AI approaches,” said Mark Skapinker, co-founder and partner at Brightspark Ventures. “We expect robotic manipulation to quickly follow in the footsteps of robotic vision and Forcen’s technology to be a key enabler of ubiquitous human-level robotic manipulation.”

Forcen is returning to the Robotics Summit & Expo this week. It will have live demonstrations of its latest technology in Booth 113 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. 

CEO Brooks will be talking on May 1 at 4:15 p.m. EDT about “Designing (Super)Human-Level Haptic Sensing for Surgical Robotics.” Registration is now open for the event, which is co-located with DeviceTalks Boston and the Digital Transformation Forum.

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The Gentle Duo Mini soft grippers are suitable for food handling. Source: Ubiros

Reliable and delicate robotic grasping has long been a challenge, but Ubiros Inc. said it can solve the problem without the bulky pneumatics or complex coding of previous approaches.

The company’s electrically driven and modular grippers are easier to deploy and use than other soft grippers, according to Onder Ondemir, president of Ubiros. He is also a professor in the engineering department at Northeastern University.

Ubiros offers the Gentle Flex Module and Gentle Flex CC for users that want to build their own grippers. The spinout of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) also offers Gentle Duo with two soft fingers and Gentle Pro with four fingers, as well as Touch models for both that include force control, part sensing/confirmation, and a low-power mode.

The Natick, Mass.-based company said its compliant grippers are suitable for food handling and packaging, textiles, and some warehouse applications. Ubiros, which is a resident startup at MassRobotics, already has distributor agreements in China, South Korea, Turkey, the U.K., and the U.S.

Founder fascinated by technology

“I loved Knight Rider as a kid and asked my mom, ‘Who makes [smart car] KITT? What do I need to become to make something like that?’” recalled Ondemir. “She said ‘mechanical engineer.’”

“I grew up and became an industrial engineer, but I’ve always been fascinated with mechanical systems,” he told The Robot Report. “I worked at an insurance company modeling the capacity of systems and demand forecasts, and I became a vice president.”

Ondemir later ran into a friend [Cagdas Onal] who was doing post-doctoral associate work at MIT and collaborating with Harvard University researchers working on soft robotics.

“We knew the limitations of pneumatics – precision is low, control is hard, and the equipment needed to generate compressed air uses a lot of electricity,” he said. “After spending years in the lab, one day, he came to me and said, ‘Onder, I think I have groundbreaking technology for packaging and gripping in general, but I don’t want to run the company.’ Becoming the CEO was a no-brainer to fulfill my desire to build machines and work with my friend.”

Ubiros President Onder Ondemir at MassRobotics. Source: Ubiros

The genesis of Ubiros

Ubiros has largely focused on food handling.

Automating the handling of fruit and baked goods is not easy, because such delicate food items are easily damaged, Ondemir noted. Rigid grippers typically don’t have sufficient sensitivity, and many other companies are trying to solve problems such as object detection and singulation, he said.

“In farming, crops are being left to rot in the field, which is a huge waste,” added Ondemir. “A key barrier to getting automation is handling food with a soft touch.”

“But the real problem we’re solving is the worker shortage,” he said. “Harvesting and packing jobs aren’t interesting to people, and there are the issues of efficiency for the employer – most people work one shift – and also injuries and finally the cost of food.”

Fingers versus suction cups

For most applications where similar items are picked, suction cups are sufficient, said Ondemir. However, when there’s clutter, such as in e-commerce bins, or tight spaces like bookshelves, picking then requires a combination of sensing to identify each object and the ability to singulate that object.

Suction cups are versatile, but porous, dusty, fragile, or oddly weighted items are not always suitable for suction cups, Ondemir observed.

“We’re proud to be one of the few companies developing individual finger actuation rather than the whole hand,” he said. “For singulation, it can provide alternatives in complex picking situations.”

Ubiros Gentle grippers promise benefits

Ubiros’ Gentle grippers use electric servo motors and a cable-driven system similar to the tendons of the human hand.

“The difficulty in designing the system was maintaining softness while mechanically operating the finger – that’s where our patent is,” Ondemir said. “Our technology allows the finger unit to be flexible in the grasping direction but very rigid in twisting or bending sideways.”

Electric end-of-arm tooling (EOAT) removes the need for tubes, valves, and compressors, he said. Also, while pneumatic systems need to cycle to attempt another grasp, an electric one can reposition more quickly.

In addition, electric grippers have instant torque rather than needing to build up pressure for heavy payloads as hydraulic or pneumatic systems do, said Ondemir.

Up to 35% of the electricity bill in factories is spent on pressurized air, and 40% of the battery life of a mobile manipulator is consumed by a suction cup, he asserted. Thus, Ubiros’ grippers could save a lot of battery power for autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) or drones, Ondemir said.

Is Ubiros looking at mobile manipulation?

“We’ve had serious conversations with Staubli,” Ondemir replied. “Our gripper would be in addition to its existing arm and base, unlike others.”

In addition, United Robotics Group has integrated Ubiros’ gripper with a mobile manipulator that will be demonstrated at Automate.

Ondemir surveys tech trends

Beyond mobile manipulation, Ondemir relied on his experience in robotics development to comment on current tech trends.

“Artificial intelligence and machine learning allow us to implement predictive maintenance,” he said. “Our electrical micro-controller is partly a system for force control and partly sensing. It’s able to collect temperature data from inside the gripper, plus cycle counts and electric current to build models to predict failures. That’s in our roadmap.”

Ubiros is not currently working with digital twins because it’s difficult to know the actual deflection of soft objects and where something is in space, acknowledged Ondemir. A lot of research is being devoted to this topic, he said.

What about humanoids? “They’ll have to have soft components for safety and to guard against falling,” Ondemir said. “This will be a key use for soft robotics in general, not just soft grippers. Because we’re a spinoff of WPI, we already have soft 3D sensors and a patented design of a soft arm, but there’s a lot still to do.”

Mechanical intelligence for manipulation

“The idea behind what we call ‘mechanical intelligence’ is that if you can mechanically achieve something, you need expensive programming, motion control, and vision less,” said Ondemir. “We built something that is under-actuated, with fewer motors to move the joints. Electric actuation allows us to have full-bodied fingers rather than hollow ones that can be punctured or leak in otherwise sanitary environments.”

“Depending on the shape of the object, the gripper can automatically conform to it. It’s more forgiving of inaccuracies, and you don’t need extreme precision,” he continued. “Because the grippers bend themselves over an object like an egg or an apple, the force is distributed over a larger area.”

Ubiros did build some force control into its Gentle grippers, allowing users to increase or decrease pressure, but it’s not necessary in most cases, Ondemir said.

Ubiros and its partners recently participated in a MassRobotics Demo Day. Source: Ubiros

Ubiros looks ahead

The Gentle gripper is initially tackling labeling and grading of tomatoes and cucumbers, and Ubiros has received a lot of interest recently from bakeries, said Ondemir. A hygienic gripper could then address handling of raw beef, poultry, and fish.

To that end, Ubiros is looking for funding to make its grippers more hygienic and robust against cleaning agents. It is working on safe-food handling certifications.

On the industrial side, Ubiros is conducting a pilot with Mitsubishi to handle a variety of objects and manage robot grasping through Mitsubishi’s teach pendant.

“Down the road a few years, we want to focus more on the data side, allowing customers to access data through the end effectors,” Ondemir said. “We plan to eventually bring other patented technologies into the workplace – 3D sensors, haptic gloves, human-in-the-loop systems, remote manipulation, and soft arms.”

Ubiros will be at the Robotics Summit & Expo next week and Automate the week after that.

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Custom user interface for Flexiv Rizon 4 sanding robot. Source: Flexiv Robotics

By integrating sensing, robotics, and artificial intelligence, Flexiv Robotics Inc. claimed that it can improve multiple industrial processes, from sanding to sortation. It develops and manufactures general-purpose, adaptive robots.

Founded in 2016, Flexiv produces the Rizon arm with seven degrees of freedom and the Moonlight force-controlled parallel robot. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company has offices in China, Taiwan, and Singapore.

Last month, Red Bluff, Calif.-based systems integrator DOCO Engineering partnered with Flexiv to further expand its presence in North America. More recently, Flexiv shared a case study and Earth Day initiatives.

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EsVata Shutter chooses, quickly installs Rizon 4

Flexiv Robotics recently helped Rosemead, Calif.-based EsVata Shutter automate sanding of window blinds. The company said its adaptive technology sped up the sanding process by 80% and increased the quality and consistency of surface finishing.

“Our commitment to quality led us to select the Rizon 4 from a sea of competitors,” stated Paul Hsieh, founder of EsVata. “Its exceptional precision, powered by advanced force sensors in each of its seven joints, made it the ideal solution for our sanding needs.”

Flexiv said it combined its robotic arm and sensing technology with an OnRobot Sander to free employees for more value-added tasks.

Howard Huang, operations director for North America at Flexiv, replied to the following questions from The Robot Report:

What was required to integrate Flexiv and EsVata’s systems?

Huang: The integration of Flexiv’s Rizon 4 sanding solution within EsVata’s production facility required a customized approach due to EsVata’s lack of a PLC [programmable logic controller] or an existing automated production environment.

Understanding that EsVata is a smaller manufacturer that values modularity and customizability, we implemented a standalone system to boost EsVata’s production capabilities that didn’t necessitate a comprehensive revamp or modification of their current infrastructure, enabling a smooth, trouble-free integration.

How long did it take to set up?

Huang: Integrating Flexiv’s technology into EsVata’s manufacturing operations was achieved in a relatively brief period. The initial setup, which included the installation, configuration, and calibration of the robotic system, was completed in about three days.

This quick deployment reflects the system’s inherent useability and ease of programming, as well as the effective collaboration between Flexiv’s and EsVata’s technical teams. With the installation completed over a long weekend, starting on the Saturday, production was able to resume on Tuesday.

Rizon has automated shutter sanding at EsVata. Source: Flexiv Robotics

System reduces staff effort, production time

What do the people who previously did this sanding do now? Do they supervise the robots, or what other tasks can they do?

Huang: With the sanding solution incorporated into the production line, some staff members have transitioned into supervisory roles to monitor the automated processes or have been assigned to specialized sanding tasks that require a human touch, such as fine corner sanding, which the robot is not programmed to handle.

This redistribution of labor has safeguarded jobs by increasing production efficiency and improved job satisfaction by reducing the physical strain and the monotony associated with manual sanding tasks.

How long did it take for EsVata to realize the time savings on the shutter sanding?

Huang: EsVata recognized the time savings immediately, as the efficiency gains were apparent from the onset of the system’s initiation. With the massive reduction in the time taken to sand a shutter, it was clear that our sanding solution could not only replicate the human sanding process, but also do it far quicker and to a higher standard.

To get consistency of output with manual labor requires a time investment, whereas for a robot, replicating a precise set of actions to achieve a predetermined outcome is simple. As the robot never tires or makes a mistake, it was obvious that the automated system would be faster, but both EsVata and ourselves were surprised at the 80% time decrease.

What are the next steps in this deployment?

Huang: While the current project is complete, EsVata is contemplating installing further adaptive automation solutions within its factory to boost production capacity. This decision is being carefully considered, taking into account a return-on-investment [ROI] analysis, prevailing market conditions, and EsVata’s strategic expansion goals.

An EnVata worker supervises the Rizon sanding robot. Source: Flexiv Robotics

Flexiv Robotics gripper, cleaning station to aid recycling  

Last week, Flexiv Robotics said it has modified the Grav Enhanced robotic gripper to be cleaned in its Grav Enhanced Automated Cleaning Station. The company said this helps the gripper retain its effectiveness in picking up objects weighing up to 5 kg (11 lb.) and those covered with dust.

For Earth Day today, Flexiv showed off a combination of its Grave Enhanced Gecko Gripper, a Rizon 4 adaptive robot, a 3D depth camera, and its AnyGrasp algorithm to identify and sort household waste for recycling (see video below). The company added that the new cleaning station has helped expand its product capabilities.

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Goodbye to the hydraulic version of Atlas and hello to the electric model designed for commercialization. That’s the message from Boston Dynamics Inc., which yesterday retired the older version of its humanoid robot after 15 years of development and today showed a preview of its successor.

“The next generation of the Atlas program builds on decades of research and furthers our commitment to delivering the most capable, useful mobile robots solving the toughest challenges in the industry today: with Spot, with Stretch, and now with Atlas,” said the company in a blog post. Spot is a quadruped used in facilities inspection and other tasks, and Stretch is designed to unload trucks.

Boston Dynamics began with humanoids by sawing one of its pneumatically powered quadrupeds in half back in 2009. By 2016, the Waltham, Mass.-based company showed that its robot could walk, open a door, and maintain its balance while being shoved by a person holding a hockey stick, all without a tether.

Roboticists continued to improve Atlas, giving it a smaller form factor and more sensors, training its artificial intelligence, and enabling it to do increasingly impressive feats. They ranged from parkour and dancing to taking tools through a mock construction site.

In fact, it was that demonstration of Atlas manipulating a plank, picking up a bag of tools, and taking it to a worker that earned Boston Dynamics an RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award. The company will be exhibiting at the RBR50 Showcase at the Robotics Summit & Expo on May 1 and 2.

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Boston Dynamics evolves with the times

As capable as the YouTube darling was, the older version of Atlas still had limitations, both in range of motion and in terms of size and power usage. Boston Dynamics noted that it designed its legged robots to operate in unstructured environments, and it acknowledged that Atlas was initially a research and development project rather than a commercial product.

In the meantime, the company itself changed owners, from Google in 2013 to SoftBank in 2017 and most recently to Hyundai in 2020. Along with those changes came an increasing focus on robots such as Spot and Stretch serving industrial needs. To continue pure research, Hyundai founded the Boston Dynamics AI Institute in 2022.

“The AI Institute recently launched a new version of Spot with an API [application programming interface] designed for researchers,” said Robert Playter, CEO of Boston Dynamics. “We’re talking about how to jointly solve some big challenges — the diversity of manipulation tasks we need to do with this robot [Atlas] is huge, and AI is essential to enabling that generality.”

Playter told The Robot Report that Boston Dynamics needs results within two to three years, while the AI Institute has more of a five-year timeframe.

Robot lessons apply to fleets, new Atlas

“It takes a solid year from a clean sheet to a new robot,” said Playter. “We wanted to know that we could solve essential dexterous manipulation problems before releasing the product.”

Boston Dynamics learned numerous lessons from commercializing Spot and Stretch, he said. It has improved control policies, upgraded actuation, and minimized joint complexity. The new Atlas has three-fingered grippers.

The Orbit fleet management software, which initially applies to indoor deployments of Spot, could also help supervise Stretch and Atlas.

Atlas gets ready for mobile manipulation in industrial settings. Source: Boston Dynamics

“Everything we understood, from the time of launching Spot as a prototype to it being a reliable product deployed in fleets, is going into the new Atlas,” Playter said. “We’re confident AI and Orbit will help enhance behaviors. For instance, by minimizing slipping on surfaces at Anheuser-Busch, we proved that we can develop algorithms and make it reliable.”

“Now, 1,500 robots in our fleet have them running,” he added. “It’s essential for customers like Purina to monitor and manage fleets as a vehicle for collecting data. As we develop and download new capabilities, Orbit becomes a hub for an ecosystem of different robots.”

Safety and autonomy are basic building blocks

Boston Dynamics has considered safe collaboration in its development of the new Atlas. ASTM International is developing safety standards for legged robots.

“We recognized early on that Atlas is going to work in spaces that have people in them,” said Playter. “This sets the bar much higher than lidar with AMRs [autonomous mobile robots].”

“We started thinking about functionally safe 3D vision,” he recalled. “We started with Stretch inside a container, but ultimately, we want it going everywhere in a warehouse. Advanced, functionally safe, remote vision and onboard systems are essential to solving safety.”

While Spot and Atlas are often teleoperated, Playter said this is a necessary step toward greater levels of autonomy.

“Making the robots knowledgeable about different types of objects and how to grasp them, teleoperation is just a tool for providing examples and data to the robot,” he explained. “It’s not a useful way of building intuition, but it’s easier if you can operate robots at a higher and higher level. Like you don’t need to tell Spot where to plant its feet, you don’t want to tell Atlas where to grasp.”

In the new video below, the previous version of Atlas handles automotive parts and real products weighing up to 25 lb. (11.3 kg).

Atlas ready for rivals in the humanoid race

Over the past two years, the number of humanoid robots in development has rapidly grown. It now includes Agility Robotics‘ Digit, Tesla’s Optimus, and Figure AI‘s Figure 01. In the two past weeks alone, Rainbow Robotics, Sanctuary AI, and Mentee Robotics have all made announcements.

Investment has also been flowing to humanoid companies, with 1X Technologies raising $100 million in January, Figure AI raising $675 million in February, and Accenture investing in Sanctuary AI in March.

Humanoid robots have advanced in parallel with generative AI, and Playter said he welcomes the competition.

“There were three seminal events: Boston Dynamics got acquired for $1 billion, interest in Tesla’s robot validated what we’ve done for a long time, and the emergence of new AI holds the promise of generalization of tasks,” he said. “They’ve inspired lots of new players, but having new tech isn’t all you need to have a commercial product. You need to focus on a use case, build a reliable machine, and manufacture it in a way to build a business. We want to avoid a ‘humanoid winter,’ so rollouts have to be real.”

Playter added that practical design and proper implementation of AI will help differentiate robots rather than focusing on making them more human-like. The new version of Atlas demonstrated that point in how it stood up in the video at the top of this article.

“It’s not talking to a robot that moves the needle, but whether you can build a robot that eventually does 500 tasks,” he said. “Anthropomorphism blows things out of perspective. We did not want a human-shaped head for Atlas. We want people to remember it’s a machine and that it can move in ways humans can’t.”

The financial stability of the businesses involved will also be relevant for commercial success, said Playter. 

“It takes sustained investment; these are expensive products to launch,” he noted. “Having products already out helps build momentum.”

Atlas is humanoid — to a point. Source: Boston Dynamics

When will we see the new robot in the wild?

Boston Dynamics will begin testing the all-electric version of Atlas with parent company Hyundai and select partners next year, said Playter.

“We’re beginning in their factory,” he told The Robot Report. “In addition to the target application of a lot of parts movement — a special kind of logistics in automotive production — I think that will evolve as the dexterity of the robots improves over time.”

“We see robots in the workplace as an evolution, a continuum from Spot to Atlas,” asserted Playter. “Each product in the series informs the launch of the next.”

“Industries will have to figure out how to adapt and incorporate humanoids into their facilities,” he said. “We’ll actually see robots in the wild in factories beginning next year. We want a diversity of tasks.”

The post Boston Dynamics debuts electric version of Atlas humanoid robot appeared first on The Robot Report.

maxon says it can provide all key components of a tightly integrated robotics drive from a single source. | Source: maxon

maxon group has launched its new drive systems portfolio specifically designed for modern robotics applications. The company said it believes that developers and startups should focus on their core value drivers and challenges and leave it to maxon to take care of key complexities typically associated with robotic actuators, including high performance, reliability, supply chains, integration, and testing. 

Modern robots require highly scalable manufacturing of complex and high-performance actuators, asserted maxon. Therefore, robustness and reliability are key, especially for systems operate in unstructured environments, the company added. maxon said this is one of its strengths because it designs and tests all of its robotics products to the highest quality standards. 

The Sachsein, Switzerland-based company’s new portfolio contains 15 different actuators divided into two families: High Efficiency Joints and High Precision Joints. It said each provides unique benefits to address a broad range of industrial applications. 

maxon’s High Efficiency Joint line

The High Efficiency Joints integrate torque-dense electric motors from maxon’s EC frameless DT motor lineup, planetary gears, electronics, sensing, and support structures into a fully integrated IP67 ingress-protected actuator unit. 

maxon said this line of joints can achieve up to 86% efficiencies and can output high continuous power, thanks to their integrated cooling capabilities. The joint line’s control system can be configured flexibly and support independent control of the joint. 

Target applications are mobile robots in unstructured environments, explained maxon. This includes humanoids, quadrupeds, exoskeletons, or mobile manipulators. The company said its systems enable roboticists to quickly create a high-performing robot that follows modern design principles such as those dictated by deep reinforcement learning and related simulation approaches. 

Thje new High-Efficiency Joint HEJ 90-48-140 provides 140 Nm and 13 rad/s at the joint, is IP67 rated, and contains electronics and sensors for modern robotics control systems. | Source: maxon

maxon targets systems integrators with High Precision Joints

The High Precision Joints are more configurable systems based on strain-wave gearboxes and high-resolution output encoders, said maxon. While these actuators also feature torque-dense electric motors, the company said it’s targeting systems integrators. It said hopes to enable them to quickly create robotics systems like collaborative or industrial manipulators or surgical robots. 

maxon’s High Precision Joints allow the creation of well-optimized robots. When combined with its customer-facing robotics design simulation, optimization, and consulting services, the company said it can ensure that customers obtain the right systems for their applications. 

maxon is a fully vertically integrated provider of actuation systems ranging from brushed to brushless motors, sensors, gears, and electronics. The company said this enables it to provide robotics actuators that are high-performing, low-cost, and adaptive to customer requirements.

maxon’s High Precision Joints feature strain-wave gearboxes with no backlash and high-resolution output encoders. | Source: maxon

See maxon at webinar and Robotics Summit & Expo

Carsten Horn, applications engineering manager at maxon, and Dario Renggli, business development engineer at maxon, will participate in a free webinar at noon EDT on Wednesday, April 17, on “Motion Control for Healthcare Robotics Applications.”

In addition, Tobias Wellerdieck, head of robotic drive systems at maxon, will be speaking at the Robotics Summit & Expo, which will be on May 1 and 2 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. His talk, “Holistic Drive System Optimization for Robotics,” will discuss the challenges that come with developing robotic systems for new, complex markets. 

maxon will also be exhibiting on the Robotics Summit & Expo show floor at Booth 327. The company is also a Gold Sponsor of the event. Registration is now open.

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Version 1.0 of the EELS robot during field testing in Alberta, Canada, in September 2023. | Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech

In a collaboration that was 17 years in the making, Carnegie Mellon University, or CMU, researchers worked with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory to create an autonomous snake-like robot. The Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor, or EELS, is a self-propelled robot. NASA scientists said they hope to use EELS to search for signs of life in the ocean beneath the icy crust of Saturn’s Enceladus moon.

EELS was developed at NASA’s JPL with collaboration from Carnegie Mellon, Arizona State University, and the University of California, San Diego. Howie Choset, CMU’s Kavčić-Moura Professor of Computer Science in the School of Computer Science, Matt Travers, a senior systems scientist at the school’s Robotics Institute (RI), and Andrew Orekhov, a project scientist in the RI, contributed to the project. 

The resulting robot can navigate extreme terrains, including ice, sand, rocks, cliff walls, deep craters, underground lava tubes, and glaciers. The CMU team developed the controllers for the robot. In addition, an early prototype used modules developed by HEBI Robotics, a university spinout that Choset founded in 2014. 

“Enceladus is essentially covered with water,” Choset told The Robot Report. “But it’s underneath the rock that forms the moon. In the South Pole, the rock and ice are about 2 km [1.2 mi.] thick, and there are geysers that spit the water out from the underground ocean into space. So, there’s a belief that if you fly a spacecraft to Enceladus, land, and then get into the geysers, you may be able to swim in this extraterrestrial ocean.” 

EELS snake robot built for space applications

“So, we’ve been working on snake robots for a very long time,” Choset said. “And what’s nice about snake robots in general, is they can use their many joints and their slender physique to thread through tightly packed volumes and get to locations that people in machinery otherwise can’t access.”

This makes snake robots good for many applications, including search and rescue, he said. In this case, EELS will use these capabilities to wriggle into cracks in Enceladus’ layer of ice. EELS stands out from other snake robots because of its “wheels.” These wheels look more like corkscrews than traditional wheels, said Choset. 

“When those corkscrews rotate, they kind of penetrate the ice a little bit, but also gives the mechanism the ability to roll forward,” he explained. “So the robot has the ability to propel itself, not only with the snake-like motion but also these corkscrew wheels that allow it to traverse icy surfaces really quickly.” 

Choset said these wheels will help the robot to better move across ice until it can find a crack or geyser hole to crawl into.

“The autonomy that we developed is the robot’s ability to get into a tight space, and then use the constraints of that tight space to propel itself forward,” he said. 

But that’s only half of the battle. Once the EELS robot has found its way into one of these holes, it has to be able to swim through Enceladus’ ocean to search for potential signs of life. Choset’s team already had experience building swimming snake robots. 

“We built a variety of snake robots, but the one we most recently built was a swimming one called HUMRS, which stands for ‘Hardened Underwater Modular Robot Snake,'” Choset said. The CMU team was able to apply what it learned while developing HUMRS to this project with NASA JPL. 

Connections bring the right people on board

Choset’s long-held connections within the industry brought him onto the EELS project, along with his expertise in designing snake-like robots. 

“I went to Caltech as a graduate student, and JPL was part of Caltech,” he said. “So, whenever there’s an opportunity to work with JPL, the Jet Propulsion Lab, I jump on it, because it reminds me of my young graduate student days.” 

It wasn’t just the chance to work with JPL that brought Choset on board, however. He was recruited by Rohan Thakkar, a researcher who worked in Choset’s group 17 years ago as a high school student. 

“I think it’s important for people to realize that it’s not just a bunch of engineers getting together to build some mechanism as if they’re reading from a recipe or a cookbook,” Choset said. “Engineering is very important, but I want people to recognize the engineers behind the engineering.”

Choset said that personal connections, like the one between him and his CMU students, are what keeps the industry running. 

Editor’s note: HEBI Robots will exhibit at Booth 448-12 at the Robotics Summit & Expo, which will be on May 1 and 2 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Registration is now open.

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State-of-the-art surgical and healthcare robotics depend on precise motion control. Source: maxon

Technological advances continue to drive growing adoption of robotics in healthcare, particularly for surgical applications. Robots promise to enhance precision and safety, with 5% to 10% of robot-assisted procedures reportedly resulting in positive patient outcomes.

The global market for surgical robots is about $18 billion and could grow to $83 billion by 2032, according to Statzon. In addition, a Bain & Co. study found that 78% of U.S. surgeons are interested in robotics, but many procedures have yet to benefit from automation.

Robotics developers, suppliers, and integrators, as well as healthcare providers and practitioners, should understand how the latest, best-in-class motion-control components can improve accuracy and enable the next generation of patient care.

Learn more about motion control for healthcare robotics applications in a free webinar at noon EDT on Wednesday, April 17.

How to build better healthcare robotics

In this webinar, Carsten Horn, applications engineering manager at maxon, and Dario Renggli, business development engineer at maxon, will join Eugene Demaitre, editorial director for robotics at WTWH Media.

Horn has more than 20 years of engineering and research and development experience with robotics. Renggli specializes in healthcare applications and works at maxon’s headquarters in Switzerland. They will discuss the following topics:

• Trends in customer demands and designing for the future
• The industry’s needs for precise actuation and motion-control systems
• The pace of healthcare robotics development
• How regulatory requirements affect the design of surgical systems
• Common challenges for healthcare robot controls
• Considerations for off-the-shelf components and subassemblies versus custom designs
• The growing importance of software and artificial intelligence
• How to identify and partner with product and service providers

Register now to watch this webinar and have your questions answered live. This robotics engineering conversation will be available on demand after the broadcast date.

Sponsors:

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igus relies on AI-supported low-cost robotics, smart maintenance, and AI-based online tools like the igusGO app to get customer applications ready for Industry 4.0. | Source: igus

igus GmbH will be introducing igusGO, an AI-powered app, alongside a series of smart sensor technologies at Hannover Messe. The company said it designed its latest sensor technologies “to streamline maintenance and optimize production processes for the lubrication-free industry of tomorrow.”

The Cologne, Germany-based company said igusGO is the centerpiece of its innovation. The app uses artificial intelligence to instantly identify optimization opportunities for designers using motion plastics. 

The app simplifies the selection process without the need for traditional catalog browsing, according to igus. The company said the app reflects its commitment to enhancing operational reliability and cost-efficiency across various applications, from heavy-duty machinery to everyday devices. 

“Our aim with igusGO and our suite of smart products is to navigate the vast potential of motion plastics with unprecedented efficiency and transparency,” stated Tobias Vogel, CEO of plain bearings and linear technology at igus.

Michael Blass, CEO of E-Chain Systems, added that innovations such as superwise, a digital service for comprehensive maintenance insights, can bolster competitiveness during challenging times. 

“By merging our innovative products with digital services, we’re demonstrating how our motion plastics can significantly enhance a wide array of applications, driving them towards a more sustainable and technologically advanced future,” he said.

The benefits of polymer bearings

igus cited its collaboration with RWTH Aachen University as an example of the economic and ecological advantages that its polymer bearings offer. They could result in potential savings of up to $14.9 million (€14 million) annually. 

Polymer bearings can also provide substantial CO₂ reductions, as exemplified by Heineken Brazil’s savings of 396.8 lb. (180 kg) of CO₂ equivalents per year through the switch to polymer bearings, said igus. 

igus also offers affordable, precise automation

igus also offers low-cost automation. The Rumford, R.I.-based company has introduced user-friendly robotics with AI-based voice and gesture control, exemplified by the ReBeL collaborative robot and its plug-and-play capabilities.

The company won a 2024 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award for its $2,760 finger gripper for the cobot. igus said these advancements are complemented by its RBTX online marketplace, which facilitates access to compatible accessories and promotes an inclusive approach to automation for companies of all sizes. 

Earlier this year, igus launched a double-shaft stepper motor for its drylin linear technology. The company said the double-shaft design allows for precise control over linear motion, enabling a range of automation, transfer-station, and format-adjustment applications.

Editor’s note: At the Robotics Summit & Expo, which will be held in Boston, igus will exhibit at Booth 414. The company will also participate in a session on “Democratizing Automation” at 2:45 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, May 1. Register now to attend.

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AMP’s MDX+ servo drive family. | Source: Applied Motion Products

Applied Motion Products Inc. this week introduced its MDX+ series family of low-voltage systems that integrate a servo drive, a motor, and an encoder into one package. The family includes systems with 100, 200, 400, and 550 W power output. 

The Morgan Hill, Calif.-based company said this product line supports pulse train-based control methods including Pulse/Direction, CW/CCW, and encoder following. It also supports RS-485, CANopen, and EtherCAT.

In addition, Applied Motion Products (AMP) said it offers packages with electromagnetic brakes “to meet the safety requirements of today’s industries and will soon provide STO [safe torque off].” The company claimed that its MDX+ servo series is suitable for manufacturers in logistics, automated guided vehicle (AGV), medical, semiconductor, packaging, textile, electronic inspection, and solar industries, among others.

Learn from Agility Robotics, Amazon, Disney, Teradyne and many more.

Applied Motion Products shares servo specs

AMP said it designed the MDX+ series to be small and compact. This way, it is smaller but as capable as stand-alone motor and drive systems, it asserted.

The company added that this design, which is at least 20% smaller than that of standalone solutions, can be helpful for applications with limited installation space. 

The MDX+ servo drive is debugged by Luna software. AMP said Luna can assist users with configuration, tuning, and troubleshooting the MDX+ family. The software and drive are connected via USB for fast and reliable communications. 

Applied Motion Products listed the following features of the MDX+ family:

• Drive and motor integration offers a compact design
• Main power supports 24-60 VDC, Auxiliary power supports 24 VDC
• Standardized frame sizes of 40/60/80mm, covering a power range 100W to 550W
• EtherCAT, CANopen and RS-485 options
• Equipped with a 17-bit magnetic incremental encoder or 17-bit batteryless absolute encoder
• Accurate positioning and control
• Support position, velocity, and torque controls
• Built-in brake option is available
• IP20 or IP65 options available

Founded in 1978, Applied Motion Products said it manufactures high-performance motion-control components for OEMs for a broad range of applications. In 2014, the company formed a joint venture with Moons’ Shanghai, a leader in motion control and intelligent lighting. 

AMP said the partnership enables it to provide its customers with supply chain reliability and vertical integration. The partners have research and development centers and more than 200 patents for inventions, utility models, appearances, and software copyrights.

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Harmonic Drive will discuss the requirements for compact, power-dense actuation for reliable robotics. Credit: Adobe Stock

Next-generation collaborative robots, mobile manipulators, and even humanoid robots need motion control systems that can operate in space-constrained designs and that provide high performance and reliability. At the 2024 Robotics Summit & Expo, Harmonic Drive LLC will discuss how to address this challenge.

Conventional actuators and cabling can require additional functionality that can compromise power density, noted the company. Brian Coyne, vice president of engineering at Harmonic Drive, will offer a potential solution in a session on “Developing a Low-Profile, Power-Dense Actuator to Meet the Demands of Current Robot Designs.”

The Enabling Technologies discussion will be at 11:30 a.m. ET on the first day of the Robotics Summit, Wednesday, May 1, in Room 257A in the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

Coyne will explain how Harmonic Drive developed its LPA-20 actuator to optimize power density while integrating a servo drive with options for CANopen or EtherCAT communication protocols. He will also welcome questions from attendees.

About Brian Coyne and Harmonic Drive

Coyne is vice president of engineering at Harmonic Drive. He has applied his mechatronics expertise to helping the company develop and launch its mini-actuator line. Coyne’s team is currently working on new product lines with advanced features.

Before coming to Harmonic Drive, Coyne spent 15 years at Assembly and Automation Technology (AAT). Prior to that, he attended Tufts University, where he developed his appreciation and understanding for custom machine design and processes. Coyne holds a BSME and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (MSME) from Tufts University.

With more than 60 years of experience, Harmonic Drive makes high-precision, zero-backlash strain-wave and planetary gears. The Beverly, Mass.-based company also provides precision servo actuators, gearheads, and gear components sets for Fortune 500 companies and businesses of all sizes.

Harmonic Drive components support industrial and surgical robotics, spaceflight applications, semiconductor manufacturing, factory automation, and medical diagnostics. Robotics Summit & Expo attendees can learn about its motion-control technologies at Booth 101 in Hall C.

Register for the Robotics Summit & Expo

The Robotics Summit & Expo focuses on the design, development, and scaling of commercial robots. WTWH Media, which also produces The Robot Report, said it expects a record 5,000 attendees and more than 200 exhibitors.

Keynotes will feature luminaries from Agility Robotics, Amazon Robotics, Teradyne, Disney Research, and Medtronic. The event will also include various networking opportunities, a Women in Robotics breakfast, a startup showcase, and more!

New to the summit is the RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards Gala. It will include a cocktail hour, dinner, and a chance to hear from the Robot of the Year, Startup of the Year, and Application of the Year winners. Each RBR50 winner will receive two complimentary tickets to the Robotics Summit and RBR50 gala. A limited number of tickets is available, but they’re selling fast!

The Robotics Summit will be co-located with DeviceTalks, an event focused on medical devices, and the inaugural Digital Transformation Forum. Registration is now open for the event.

Learn from Agility Robotics, Amazon, Disney, Teradyne and many more.

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SwRI Workbench for Offline Robotics Development allows manufacturing engineers to independently use complex robotics and simplifies motion planning for seasoned developers. Source: Southwest Research Institute

An industry push for more automation is advancing the Robot Operating System, or ROS, beyond the academic and manufacturing domains into agriculture, automotive, retail, healthcare and more. Various forecasts project that the open-source advanced robotics market will grow more than 10% annually between 2024 and 2029.

These trends are motivating for robotics engineers at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and our colleagues at the ROS-Industrial Consortium and supporting industries. We also recognize that the usability of robotics software is still an impediment to even higher levels of adoption.

Over the years, the ROS-I Consortium has held frequent roadmapping sessions with a wide variety of end users and ROS developers to address ease of use and continuing education. The identified need is a lower barrier of entry for non-programmers (or entry-level developers) to harness the power of tools in the ROS ecosystem, but in a way that aligns with industry adoption of digital thread and Industry 4.0 strategies.

The traditional ROS workflow is software programming-intense, requiring developers deeply familiar with available ROS libraries and tools. Even experienced developers within the ROS-I ecosystem and beyond may spend significant time — days to weeks — on the initial setup and configuration of a ROS application.

Listening to the voice of our own developers, our diverse stakeholders, and consortium members, we heard the need for easier access to the ROS motion-planning tools, while maintaining a tie back to the CAD ecosystem where the products to be worked on are conceived and maintained.

Learn from Agility Robotics, Amazon, Disney, Teradyne and many more.

SWORD is a graphical toolkit for robotics developers

The Southwest Research Institute is launching the SwRI Workbench for Offline Robotics Development (SWORD) featuring a graphical toolkit for developing and testing advanced robotic motion-planning applications.

SWORD is implemented as a plugin to the open-source FreeCAD application, allowing users to integrate robotics capabilities into a cross-platform CAD environment. It provides a graphical interface to many powerful motion-planning libraries.

The goal is to bring ROS to a manufacturing/industrial audience in a way that is more approachable and resides in an environment that is familiar. Most manufacturing engineers are competent with CAD and understand their processes, often doing various forms of programs on process-oriented systems.

SWORD seeks to bring advanced motion-planning capability to this audience enabling to set up their systems and take advantage of these more advanced tools in their operational environments. Through the first Beta test, the team at SwRI has collected feedback from end users and is nearing the release the first version of SWORD. SWORD currently offers the capabilities below:

Environment modeling

• Create workcell model (robot, fixtures, end-of-arm tooling); see Figure 1 below.

  • Use CAD modeling tools or import existing CAD/mesh models

  • Use Convex Hull and Decomposition tools to generate collision geometry

• Import and export URDF (Unified Robotics Description Format) files

• Manipulate robot position

  • Joint Sliders to control individual joint positions

  • TCP Dragger to simulate movement using various IK solver

Figure 1: An example of URDF creation and evaluation in SWORD. Click here to enlarge. Source: Southwest Research Institute

Command language

• Define robot motion using either Cartesian or Joint waypoints

  • Currently waypoints must be manually defined, but import and CAD-generated waypoints are planned for an upcoming release.

• Specify different move segment types (joint/cartesian) and motion groups

• Insert supplementary commands (I/O, delays, etc.)

Motion planning

• Generate motion plan using a variety of Tesseract-supported path planners

  • Currently uses default Profiles (configuration) for each planner, but profile editing is planned for an upcoming release.

• Create custom planning pipelines for application-specific behavior; see Figure 2 below.

• Compute the Allowed Collision Matrix

  • Currently no way to review or adjust the results, but this functionality is planned for an upcoming release.

• Review computed motion trajectory

SWORD is officially released, and seats are available. You can request a trial version to understand if it is right for your organization. If you are interested in a trial license, or want to learn more or get a guided tour from SwRI, please contact Jeremy Zoss or Matt Robinson.

Figure 2: Setting up a motion planning pipeline for testing and evaluation in SWORD. Click here to enlarge. Source: Southwest Research Institute

About the author and the Southwest Research Institute

Matthew Robinson is program manager for ROS-Industrial Consortium Americas at the Southwest Research Institute. He was previously research team leader and a graduate fellow at the Edison Welding Institute. Robinson has participated in RoboBusiness Direct and has an M.S.W.E. from The Ohio State University.

Since 1947, the nonprofit SwRI in San Antonio, Texas, has taken a multidisciplinary approach to research and development for government and industry clients.

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Mecademic Absolute Calibration is intended to improve performance, mitigate risk, and shorten robot deployment times. | Source: Mecademic

Mecademic, a developer of compact, high-precision industrial robots, this week announced Mecademic Absolute Calibration, or MAC. It is a service that the company said can enhance its robots’ accuracy “out of the box.” 

The Montreal, Canada-based company claimed that MAC demonstrates its ability to deliver robots that meet critical precision and accuracy requirements and eliminates the need for third-party calibration services. 

“The development of our Absolute Calibration service stems from a commitment to uphold the high quality standards we set for our products and to fully leverage our robots’ capabilities,” stated Ilian Bonev, co-founder of Mecademic and professor of industrial robotics at École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), a public research university in Montreal.

“This advancement reflects our dedication to innovation and excellence,” he added. “It provides our clients with a solution ready to integrate and operate right out of the box without needing external calibration. This capability is a game-changer for industries requiring utmost precision and accuracy in their operations.”

MAC addresses demanding industrial applications

Mecademic said it created MAC to service industries where the slightest deviation can affect the outcome, such as optics, photonics, electronics, medical devices, and aerospace and automotive components. The company said the service ensures that its robots meet the rigorous demands of micro-application automation.

The MAC service enhances robots with advanced calibration techniques. These include the use of coordinate measuring machines (CMM) to meet or exceed the highest standards of accuracy, according to the company. 

By integrating this service in-house, Mecademic asserted that it offers “a seamless, efficient solution that enhances performance, mitigates risk, and shortens deployment times across all applications requiring high-precision automation.”

Learn from Agility Robotics, Amazon, Disney, Teradyne and many more.

Mecademic offers a range of robots, tools

Mecademic offers a range of compact systems for highly precise operations, including:

• MECA500: A small and compact six-axis industrial robot arm, the Meca500 works as a plug-and-work automation component, making it easy into integrate with a computer or programmable logic controller (PLC). The company built it for inspection and testing, as well as laboratory automation. 
• MCS500 SCARA: This SCARA robot is designed for straightforward integration so that it can deliver for maximum efficiency and precision immediately. It said this robot is suitable for pick-and-place, assembly, lab automation, and other applications. 
• End-of-arm tooling (EOAT): Mecademic has designed three different end effectors, two electric parallel grippers, and one pneumatic module. The company said its tools offer nearly universal compatibility, making them easy to integrate with robots. 
• Software: Mecademic has two software offerings. The first is MecaPortal, a Web interface that allows users to interact with its robots in multiple ways. The second is RoboDK for Mecademic Robots. This is a Mecademic-specific version of the simulation and offline robot programming tool. 

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Portescap and Kollmorgen will discuss motion control at the Robotics Summit & Expo. Credit: Adobe Stock

Portescap, a global leader in micro-motion solutions for the robotics industry, has announced that it will be exhibiting at the Robotics Summit & Expo in Boston from May 1-2, 2024.

The West Chester, Pa.-based company will exhibit at Booth 144 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Its team will show products for demanding robotics applications, including frameless motors and flat motors that can easily integrate with strain-wave gearing.

“Frameless motors bypass the use of a traditional housing with integrated bearings for direct integration into mechanical assemblies, enabling compactness, weight savings, and efficiency gains,” wrote Nicole Monaco, global marketing manager at Portescap. “Pairing flat motors with strain-wave gearing offers high reduction ratios, low backlash, and superior positional accuracy, offering exceptional torque and precise motion control for critical robotic applications.”

Founded in Switzerland in 1931, Portescap said its miniature motor technologies can support medical devices and various industrial applications such as aerospace. The company added that its brushless DC, brush DC, stepper can stack motors, disc magnet motors, and stepper linear actuators deliver motion in a compact package with high efficiency and low power consumption.

Portescap has manufacturing centers in the U.S. and India, and its product development network includes research and development centers in the U.S., China, India and Switzerland.

Portescap and Kollmorgen to discuss design for peak performance

Regal Rexnord acquired Portescap last year, and the company joined its Automation & Motion Control group. Kollmorgen, a fellow Regal Rexnord brand, will be exhibiting adjacent to Portescap at Booth 142 at the Robotics Summit & Expo.

Portescap and Kollmorgen will together present the topic: “Design for Peak Performance: Motion-Control System Selection in Next-Gen Robotics” on Wednesday, May 1, at 1:45 p.m. ET. Greg Harnsberger, senior manager for global industry marketing at Portescap, and Yoshi Umeno, industry manager at Kollmorgen, will discuss how to design robots for peak performance.

The speakers will discuss how to select the right motor, evaluate the latest innovations, and integrate technologies. They will also present real-world case studies on how motion control enables everything from surgical robotics to humanoids.

To learn more about Portescap and its micro-motion systems, visit www.portescap.com or contact it at portescap.sales.america@regalrexnord.com. The DMA News Portal hosts its press releases.

About the 2024 Robotics Summit & Expo

This will be the largest Robotics Summit & Expo ever. It will include up to 5,000 attendees, more than 200 exhibitors, various networking opportunities, a Women in Robotics breakfast, a career fair, an engineering theater, a startup showcase, and more!

New to the event is the RBR50 Robotics Innovation Awards Gala. The event will include a cocktail hour, plated dinner, photo opportunities, and the chance to hear from the Robot of the Year, Startup of the Year, and Application of the Year winners.

Each RBR50 winner will receive two complimentary tickets to the Robotics Summit and RBR50 gala. A limited number of tickets is available to attendees, but they’re selling fast!

The Robotics Summit will be co-located with DeviceTalks, an event focused on medical devices, and the inaugural Digital Transformation Forum. Registration is now open for the event.

Learn from Agility Robotics, Amazon, Disney, Teradyne and many more.

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Olis Robotics error-recovery system will be available with all Kawasaki robot models starting in Q2. Source: Business Wire

Olis Robotics and Kawasaki Robotics Inc. said yesterday that they will jointly offer robots and controls to enable customers to restart production faster, reduce troubleshooting and downtime costs by up to 90%, and gain access to expert support more quickly.

“We’re seeing a growing demand for remote robot monitoring and recovery capabilities,” stated Paul Marcovecchio, director of the General Industries business unit at Kawasaki Robotics, in a release. “Adding Olis to our industrial robots is a game changer for the market.”

“Our new partnership supports the industry gamut, from smaller first-time end users and their integrator partners up to more complex AI-driven applications in larger plants,” he said. “All stakeholders can now easily and cost-effectively monitor, access and recover their robot cells remotely.”

Marcovecchio added that Olis Robotics has taken the time to understand the adaptation barriers. “As a result, they created a powerful tool that also addresses end-user concerns such as cybersecurity or the need to retrofit machines,” he said.

Learn from Agility Robotics, Amazon, Disney, Teradyne and many more.

Olis Robotics offers remote monitoring and control

Olis Robotics claimed that it is a leader in remote error recovery for industrial robots. The Seattle-based company said that by providing the best remote-control user experience, it can “catalyze automation adoption.”

Founded in 2013 as a spinout from the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Lab, Olis said it has built on over a decade of telerobotics research and development conducted with the U.S. Navy and NASA. When robots fail, the company claimed that its flagship Olis system delivers the data needed for remote monitoring, control, and troubleshooting.

The company also said its users can connect directly to their robots through an on-premise device via a secure connection, avoiding the risks and complexities associated with cloud-based systems. To ensure physical safety, Olis is designed to always obey the robot controller’s safety restrictions.

Kawasaki and partners to demo palletizing at MODEX

Wixom, Mich.-based Kawasaki Robotics (USA) Inc. said it has incorporated more than 50 years of experience with industrial automation for a wide range of applications and markets. The company said it provides a set of standard features on all of its robot models.

At Booth C5475 at MODEX 2024 in Atlanta from March 11 to 14, Kawasaki and Olis Robotics plan to showcase their partnership with CRG Automation, a Louisville, Ky.-based integrator. They will demonstrate a “state-of-the-art” robotic corner board system, integrated with a mixed palletizing and depalletizing cell.

The cell will feature a Kawasaki RS007L robot placing corner boards on pallets being wrapped to ensure overall load stability. The system can handle multiple SKUs of unstructured products.

It will be equipped with Olis Robotics remote error-recovery software, so attendees can see how it alerts users when the robot unexpectedly stops or when it fails to pick or place a part. After such a system failure, the attendees can use Olis to run a tool-inspection routine and perform remote error recovery, allowing the robot to resume its cycle and get back to work.

Fredrik Ryden, CEO of Olis Robotics, noted that Kawasaki robots are built to last for decades, giving end users maximum control of a highly customizable product. “Kawasaki’s commitment to a world-class buying experience and quick ROI [return on investment] in a wide range of applications is a perfect match for Olis,” he said.

Ryden asserted that Kawasaki’s extensive integrator network is another key factor in the new partnership, as Olis provides integrators time-saving bandwidth through the remote support capabilities, enabling them to grow up to 25% faster.

“We’re incredibly excited to start working with Kawasaki integrators to deploy and retrofit Olis units with Kawasaki robot arms,” he added. “It’s a win-win for both the integrator and their customers.”

The Olis remote monitoring and error recovery system will be available for any Kawasaki robot model starting the second quarter of 2024.

Learn more about Kawasaki Robotics here, watch robot application videos here and connect on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn

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