Tag Archives: roboticmagazine

#431987 OptoForce Industrial Robot Sensors

Posted on February 2, 2018 by Android

OptoForce Sensors Providing Industrial Robots with

a “Sense of Touch” to Advance Manufacturing Automation

Global efforts to expand the capabilities of industrial robots are on the rise, as the demand from manufacturing companies to strengthen their operations and improve performance grows.

Hungary-based OptoForce, with a North American office in Charlotte, North Carolina, is one company that continues to support organizations with new robotic capabilities, as evidenced by its several new applications released in 2017.

The company, a leading robotics technology provider of multi-axis force and torque sensors, delivers 6 degrees of freedom force and torque measurement for industrial automation, and provides sensors for most of the currently-used industrial robots.

It recently developed and brought to market three new applications for KUKA industrial robots.

The new applications are hand guiding, presence detection, and center pointing and will be utilized by both end users and systems integrators. Each application is summarized below and what they provide for KUKA robots, along with video demonstrations to show how they operate.

Photo By: www.optoforce.com

Hand Guiding: With OptoForce’s Hand Guiding application, KUKA robots can easily and smoothly move in an assigned direction and selected route. This video shows specifically how to program the robot for hand guiding.

Presence Detection: This application allows KUKA robots to detect the presence of a specific object and to find the object even if it has moved. Visit here to learn more about presence detection.
Center Pointing: With this application, the OptoForce sensor helps the KUKA robot find the center point of an object by providing the robot with a sense of touch. This solution also works with glossy metal objects where a vision system would not be able to define its position. This video shows in detail how the center pointing application works.

The company’s CEO explained how these applications help KUKA robots and industrial automation.

Photo By: www.optoforce.com
“OptoForce’s new applications for KUKA robots pave the way for substantial improvements in industrial automation for both end users and systems integrators,” said Ákos Dömötör, CEO of OptoForce. “Our 6-axis force/torque sensors are combined with highly functional hardware and a comprehensive software package, which include the pre-programmed industrial applications. Essentially, we’re adding a ‘sense of touch’ to KUKA robot arms, enabling these robots to have abilities similar to a human hand, and opening up numerous new capabilities in industrial automation.”

Along with these new applications recently released for KUKA robots, OptoForce sensors are also being used by various companies on numerous industrial robots and manufacturing automation projects around the world. Examples of other uses include: path recording, polishing plastic and metal, box insertion, placing pins in holes, stacking/destacking, palletizing, and metal part sanding.

Specifically, some of the projects current underway by companies include: a plastic parting line removal; an obstacle detection for a major car manufacturing company; and a center point insertion application for a car part supplier, where the task of the robot is to insert a mirror, completely centered, onto a side mirror housing.

For more information, visit www.optoforce.com.

This post was provided by: OptoForce

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Posted in Human Robots

#431790 FT 300 force torque sensor

Posted on December 14, 2017 by Android

Robotiq Updates FT 300 Sensitivity For High Precision Tasks With Universal RobotsForce Torque Sensor feeds data to Universal Robots force mode
Quebec City, Canada, November 13, 2017 – Robotiq launches a 10 times more sensitive version of its FT 300 Force Torque Sensor. With Plug + Play integration on all Universal Robots, the FT 300 performs highly repeatable precision force control tasks such as finishing, product testing, assembly and precise part insertion.
This force torque sensor comes with an updated free URCap software able to feed data to the Universal Robots Force Mode. “This new feature allows the user to perform precise force insertion assembly and many finishing applications where force control with high sensitivity is required” explains Robotiq CTO Jean-Philippe Jobin*.
The URCap also includes a new calibration routine. “We’ve integrated a step-by-step procedure that guides the user through the process, which takes less than 2 minutes” adds Jobin. “A new dashboard also provides real-time force and moment readings on all 6 axes. Moreover, pre-built programming functions are now embedded in the URCap for intuitive programming.”
See some of the FT 300’s new capabilities in the following demo videos:
#1 How to calibrate with the FT 300 URCap Dashboard
#2 Linear search demo
#3 Path recording demo
Visit the FT 300 webpage or get a quote here
Get the FT 300 specs here
Get more info in the FAQ
Get free Skills to accelerate robot programming of force control tasks.
Get free robot cell deployment resources on leanrobotics.org
* Available with Universal Robots CB3.1 controller only
About Robotiq
Robotiq’s Lean Robotics methodology and products enable manufacturers to deploy productive robot cells across their factory. They leverage the Lean Robotics methodology for faster time to production and increased productivity from their robots. Production engineers standardize on Robotiq’s Plug + Play components for their ease of programming, built-in integration, and adaptability to many processes. They rely on the Flow software suite to accelerate robot projects and optimize robot performance once in production.
Robotiq is the humans behind the robots: an employee-owned business with a passionate team and an international partner network.
Media contact
David Maltais, Communications and Public Relations Coordinator
d.maltais@robotiq.com
1-418-929-2513
////
Press Release Provided by: Robotiq.Com
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Posted in Human Robots

#431181 Workspace Sentry collaborative robotics ...

Posted on September 30, 2017 by Android

PRINCETON, NJ September 13, 2017 – – ST Robotics announces the availability of its Workspace Sentry collaborative robotics safety system, specifically designed to meet the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/Technical Specification (TS) 15066 on collaborative operation. The new ISO/TS 15066, a game changer for the robotics industry, provides guidelines for the design and implementation of a collaborative workspace that reduces risks to people.

The ST Robotics Workspace Sentry robot and area safety system are based on a small module that sends infrared beams across the workspace. If the user puts his hand (or any other object) in the workspace, the robot stops using programmable emergency deceleration. Each module has three beams at different angles and the distance a beam reaches is adjustable. Two or more modules can be daisy chained to watch a wider area.
Photo Credit: ST Robotics – www.robot.md
“A robot that is tuned to stop on impact may not be safe. Robots where the trip torque can be set at low thresholds are too slow for any practical industrial application. The best system is where the work area has proximity detectors so the robot stops before impact and that is the approach ST Robotics has taken,” states President and CEO of ST Robotics David Sands.

ST Robotics, widely known for ‘robotics within reach’, has offices in Princeton, New Jersey and Cambridge, England, as well as in Asia. One of the first manufacturers of bench-top robot arms, ST Robotics has been providing the lowest-priced, easy-to-program boxed robots for the past 30 years. ST’s robots are utilized the world over by companies and institutions such as Lockheed-Martin, Motorola, Honeywell, MIT, NASA, Pfizer, Sony and NXP. The numerous applications for ST’s robots benefit the manufacturing, nuclear, pharmaceutical, laboratory and semiconductor industries.

For additional information on ST Robotics, contact:
sales1@strobotics.com
(609) 584 7522
www.strobotics.com

For press inquiries, contact:
Joanne Pransky
World’s First Robotic Psychiatrist®
drjoanne@robot.md
(650) ROBOT-MD

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Posted in Human Robots

#431178 Soft Robotics Releases Development Kit ...

Posted on September 30, 2017 by Android

Cambridge, MA – Soft Robotics Inc, which has built a fundamentally new class of robotic grippers, announced the release of its expanded and upgraded Soft Robotics Development Kit; SRDK 2.0.

The Soft Robotics Development Kit 2.0 comes complete with:

Robot tool flange mounting plate
4, 5 and 6 position hub plates
Tool Center Point
Soft Robotics Control Unit G2
6 rail mounted, 4 accordion actuator modules
Custom pneumatic manifold
Mounting hardware and accessories

Where the SRDK 1.0 included 5 four accordion actuator modules and the opportunity to create a gripper containing two to five actuators, The SRDK 2.0 contains 6 four accordion actuator modules plus the addition of a six position hub allowing users the ability to configure six actuator test tools. This expands use of the Development Kit to larger product applications, such as: large bagged and pouched items, IV bags, bags of nuts, bread and other food items.

SRDK 2.0 also contains an upgraded Soft Robotics Control Unit (SRCU G2) – the proprietary system that controls all software and hardware with one turnkey pneumatic operation. The upgraded SRCU features new software with a cleaner, user friendly interface and an IP65 rating. Highly intuitive, the software is able to store up to eight grip profiles and allows for very precise adjustments to actuation and vacuum.

Also new with the release of SRDK 2.0, is the introduction of several accessory kits that will allow for an expanded number of configurations and product applications available for testing.

Accessory Kit 1 – For SRDK 1.0 users only – includes the six position hub and 4 accordion actuators now included in SRDK 2.0
Accessory Kit 2 – For SRDK 1.0 or 2.0 users – includes 2 accordion actuators
Accessory Kit 3 – For SRDK 1.0 or 2.0 users – includes 3 accordion actuators

The shorter 2 and 3 accordion actuators provide increased stability for high-speed applications, increased placement precision, higher grip force capabilities and are optimized for gripping small, shallow objects.

Designed to plug and play with any existing robot currently in the market, the Soft Robotics Development Kit 2.0 allows end-users and OEM Integrators the ability to customize, test and validate their ideal Soft Robotics solution, with their own equipment, in their own environment.

Once an ideal solution has been found, the Soft Robotics team will take those exact specifications and build a production-grade tool for implementation into the manufacturing line. And, it doesn’t end there. Created to be fully reusable, the process – configure, test, validate, build, production – can start over again as many times as needed.

See the new SRDK 2.0 on display for the first time at PACK EXPO Las Vegas, September 25 – 27, 2017 in Soft Robotics booth S-5925.

Learn more about the Soft Robotics Development Kit at www.softroboticsinc.com/srdk.
Photo Credit: Soft Robotics – www.softroboticsinc.com
###
About Soft Robotics
Soft Robotics designs and builds soft robotic gripping systems and automation solutions
that can grasp and manipulate items of varying size, shape and weight. Spun out of the
Whitesides Group at Harvard University, Soft Robotics is the only company to be
commercializing this groundbreaking and proprietary technology platform. Today, the
company is a global enterprise solving previously off-limits automation challenges for
customers in food & beverage, advanced manufacturing and ecommerce. Soft Robotics’
engineers are building an ecosystem of robots, control systems, data and machine
learning to enable the workplace of the future. For more information, please visit
www.softroboticsinc.com.

Media contact:
Jennie Kondracki
The Kondracki Group, LLC
262-501-4507
jennie@kondrackigroup.com
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Posted in Human Robots

#431175 Servosila introduces Mobile Robots ...

Posted on September 30, 2017 by Android

Servosila introduces a new member of the family of Servosila “Engineer” robots, a UGV called “Radio Engineer”. This new variant of the well-known backpack-transportable robot features a Software Defined Radio (SDR) payload module integrated into the robotic vehicle.

“Several of our key customers had asked us to enable an Electronic Warfare (EW) or Cognitive Radio applications in our robots”, – says a spokesman for the company, “By integrating a Software Defined Radio (SDR) module into our robotic platforms we cater to both requirements. Radio spectrum analysis, radio signal detection, jamming, and radio relay are important features for EOD robots such as ours. Servosila continues to serve the customers by pushing the boundaries of what their Servosila robots can do. Our partners in the research world and academia shall also greatly benefit from the new functionality that gives them more means of achieving their research goals.”
Photo Credit: Servosila – www.servosila.com
Coupling a programmable mobile robot with a software-defined radio creates a powerful platform for developing innovative applications that mix mobility and artificial intelligence with modern radio technologies. The new robotic radio applications include localized frequency hopping pattern analysis, OFDM waveform recognition, outdoor signal triangulation, cognitive mesh networking, automatic area search for radio emitters, passive or active mobile robotic radars, mobile base stations, mobile radio scanners, and many others.

A rotating head of the robot with mounts for external antennae acts as a pan-and-tilt device thus enabling various scanning and tracking applications. The neck of the robotic head is equipped with a pair of highly accurate Servosila-made servos with a pointing precision of 3.0 angular minutes. This means that the robot can point its antennae with an unprecedented accuracy.

Researchers and academia can benefit from the platform’s support for GnuRadio, an open source software framework for developing SDR applications. An on-board Intel i7 computer capable of executing OpenCL code, is internally connected to the SDR payload module. This makes it possible to execute most existing GnuRadio applications directly on the robot’s on-board computer. Other sensors of the robot such as a GPS sensor, an IMU or a thermal vision camera contribute into sensor fusion algorithms.

Since Servosila “Engineer” mobile robots are primarily designed for outdoor use, the SDR module is fully enclosed into a hardened body of the robot which provides protection in case of dust, rain, snow or impacts with obstacles while the robot is on the move. The robot and its SDR payload module are both powered by an on-board battery thus making the entire robotic radio platform independent of external power supplies.

Servosila plans to start shipping the SDR-equipped robots to international customers in October, 2017.

Web: https://www.servosila.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/servosila/videos

About the Company
Servosila is a robotics technology company that designs, produces and markets a range of mobile robots, robotic arms, servo drives, harmonic reduction gears, robotic control systems as well as software packages that make the robots intelligent. Servosila provides consulting, training and operations support services to various customers around the world. The company markets its products and services directly or through a network of partners who provide tailored and localized services that meet specific procurement, support or operational needs.
Press Release above is by: Servosila
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Posted in Human Robots