Contactless wireless charging can power robots and electric vehicles. Source: Meredot

In the ever-evolving world of technology, the distinction between contact-based and contactless wireless charging has become pivotal, with an added layer of confusion thrown into the mix. Wired charging stations are now marketing themselves as “wireless,” blurring the lines between true contactless solutions and those requiring physical contact.

Let’s examine differences between contact-based wireless charging stations and contactless wireless charging. Wireless charging technology enables robots to operate longer, charge faster, and be safer and more reliable. It can also reduce the overheating chances. However, there are also drawbacks — what are they?

Contact-based charging limitations

Amidst the myriad options in wireless charging, the let’s address the pitfalls of contact-based wireless charging:

• Precise docking required: While these contact-based stations may be wireless, they demand accurate device docking and adapter connections, causing frustration and connectivity issues—a stark departure from the seamless experience promised by contactless solutions.
• Space invasion: Contact-based adapters and stations often take up more space, impacting both aesthetics and spatial efficiency. This contrasts sharply with the sleek and unobtrusive nature of authentic contactless charging.
• Wear and tear: Frequent use of connectors in contact-based charging can lead to wear and tear, compromising charging performance over time. Authentic contactless options eliminate this concern by eschewing physical connectors.
• Compatibility conundrum: Different devices may demand specific adapters with contact-based charging, leading to compatibility issues and the necessity for additional accessories. In contrast, true contactless solutions offer a universal and hassle-free experience.
• Maintenance mischief: The mechanical components in contact-based charging may require more maintenance, resulting in higher operational costs. Opting for genuine contactless technology minimizes the need for constant upkeep, providing a more sustainable and cost-effective solution.

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

Contactless wireless charging benefits

Contactless wireless charging offers a host of advantages:

• Cord-free convenience: Bid farewell to cords, the hassle of tripping hazards, and the inconvenience of forgetting to charge. Contactless charging liberates you from the entanglements of traditional charging methods.
• Charging without precision parking: With contactless charging, simply place your device on the station, and charging begins seamlessly, eliminating the need for meticulous alignment.
• Reduced vulnerability to damage: With fewer exposed parts, contactless charging minimizes the risk of damage, ensuring a more robust and resilient charging solution.
• All-weather reliability: Contactless charging systems are impervious to snow, ice, and dirt.
• Compact design: Such stations can provide a smaller footprint and improved aesthetics. Their sleek and unobtrusive design can integrate more smoothly into an environment.

Contactless charging versus contact-based charging

How does contactless charging compare with contact-based charging? Most contactless stations boast an impressive array of features:

• Versatile operation: Contactless stations can operate indoors and outdoors, adapting to various environments with ease.
• Safety for all: These stations are designed to be safe for both humans and pets.
• Optimized fleet and battery performance: Contactless technology goes beyond mere charging, enhancing fleet and battery operations.
• Streamlined daily operations: Say goodbye to unnecessary complexities, contributing to extended battery charge and lifespan.
• Universal device compatibility: Compatible with a wide range of devices, these stations offer a universal charging experience.
• Durability: Built from durable materials, contactless stations promise longevity and reliability.
• Flexible installation options: Whether securely attached or elegantly inserted into the ground or wall, these stations promise flexible and secure installation choices.

Contactless wireless charging promises to be more robust than contact-based charging. Source: Meredot

Robots, drones already use wireless charging

Several companies are already successfully using or working on implementing wireless charging for robots. First, Amazon has worked on delivering packages with aerial drones. The e-commerce giant is planning to implement wireless charging stations.

Amazon‘s drones are designed to operate within a delivery radius of up to 20 miles from their base. The operational range is based on the drone’s battery capacity, taking into account the weight of the package. This effectively means that the drones can only fly in one direction before requiring a recharge.

To address this limitation and ensure seamless delivery operations within the designated working zone, Amazon plans to strategically place wireless charging stations. These stations will enable drones to recharge mid-operation, thereby doubling their effective delivery range without the need for manual intervention.

Also, companies like Starship Technologies have developed delivery robots with wireless charging. Food-delivery robots are equipped with sophisticated electronics enabling them to sense and navigate through complex urban environments. This level of autonomy consumes a significant amount of power, necessitating recharging approximately twice a day.

Businesses employing these delivery robots seek to streamline the recharging process to ensure minimal downtime and continuous operation. Wireless charging stands out as a promising method. This technology allows robots to recharge without manual intervention, can enhance operational efficiency, and reduces the need for physical contacts that can wear out over time or require precise alignment.

The choice for continuous operations

In addition, several pipe-cleaning brands are considering wireless charging for their robots because it’s challenging to constantly retrieve the systems. They need robots that do not need to be removed from pipes for charging, and wireless systems enable robots to be charged directly through the pipes.

This approach aims to streamline maintenance without the labor-intensive process of manually retrieving, charging, and re-deploying the robots. Wireless charging technology could allow charging stations to be installed within the pipe system itself, thereby providing power to the robots as needed and reducing downtime.

Airports are now planning to implement automatic means of moving people around, such as electric carts, which will require automatic wireless charging. This initiative addresses several logistical challenges, including the need to minimize wait times for passengers requiring assistance, reducing congestion in terminal areas, and optimizing the flow of people.

The adoption of automatic electric carts equipped with wireless charging technology could provide continuous operation, ensuring a smoother, more reliable service. In addition, this technology could support an airport’s sustainability goals by reducing reliance on traditional fuel-powered vehicles, contributing to a cleaner, more eco-friendly environment within the airport.

In short, wireless charging stations are needed in places where automation is taking place.

Addressing safety concerns with contactless charging

“But isn’t contactless charging dangerous?” you might wonder. Contactless technology is equipped with advanced intelligence. It can discern when a foreign object is present over the station’s pad transmitter, promptly shutting down to prevent any potential issues.

As we navigate the labyrinth of wireless charging options, it’s crucial to discern between marketing ploys and true innovation. When engaging with a wireless charging provider, inquire specifically about the nature of their product—whether it requires contact or is genuinely contactless.

Embrace the future of technology with true contactless wireless charging, where the promise of a seamless, efficient, and aesthetically pleasing charging experience is fulfilled.

About the author

Roman Bysko is co-founder and CEO of Meredot, a wireless charging technology company based in Lake Oswego, Ore., and Riga, Latvia. Meredot was founded in 2017 by a group of engineers and scientists who wanted to prove that wireless charging can be at least as efficient, faster and more convenient than the cable-based charging process.

Today, Meredot provides not only wireless charging technology but also already green solutions to wirelessly charge mobility, micro-mobility transport, robots and drones. The company claimed that its proprietary wireless chargers combine hardware and software for ultra-scalable, reliable, and manageable charging of electric vehicle and low-emision vehicles (LEVs).

The post What’s the difference between contactless and wireless charging for robots? appeared first on The Robot Report.

SAFELOG’s mobile robots can operate in a range of warehouse and factory settings using Opteran Mind. | Source: SAFELOG

Opteran Technologies this week announced at LogiMAT a partnership with SAFELOG GmbH, a manufacturer of order-picking and transportation robots for warehouses and factories. SAFELOG will integrate its mobile robots with Opteran Mind, a general-purpose autonomy product.

“We are delighted to announce our partnership with SAFELOG, as this is another significant milestone on our path to commercializing Opteran Mind,” stated David Rajan, co-founder and CEO of Opteran Technologies.

“We are seeing a rapid take up of our technology across the U.S., Japan, and Europe, so today’s agreement with SAFELOG underlines why our technology is best in class for localization and mapping for mobile robots,” he added. “It also shows that while ‘natural intelligence’ is unique in the market, our inputs and outputs are standard, making Opteran Mind a simple and attractive solution to integrate with existing mobile robots.”

The companies said the multi-year agreement will enable SAFELOG to address the urgent need for greater productivity from autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) operating in hazardous and dusty environments. Opteran claimed that its technology can enable AMRs to handle dynamic lighting and ever-changing obstacles without GPS.

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

SAFELOG aims to reduce failure rates

Markt Schwaben, Germany-based SAFELOG said it is developing a new generation of mobile robots that combine robustness and efficiency. A key objective of its project with Opteran is to reduce robot failure rates because of localization errors with existing 2D and 3D lidar, as well as with visual simultaneous localization and mapping (vSLAM).

Another challenge to productivity is when hundreds of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) operate together in a warehouse setting because each installation requires an infrastructure consisting of magnetic tracks and QR code reflectors. This can increase commissioning time and operating costs.

Opteran said its localization software enables new projects to be activated quickly and efficiently without additional infrastructure. 

“There are a lot of challenges for existing autonomy solutions to overcome in the complex conditions of a warehouse, so we have been amazed by what Opteran Mind can achieve,” said Michael Reicheicher, managing director of SAFELOG, in a release. “Opteran’s technology performs significantly better in our mobile robots, which will be hugely beneficial for our customers. Natural Intelligence, their approach to AI, offers a robust technology that we are confident will differentiate our AMRs in the global market.”

Opteran Mind promises navigation breakthrough

Opteran Mind is based on 10 years of research into insect brains. The company, which has facilities in London and Sheffield in the U.K. and Boston in the U.S., said it reverse-engineered natural brain algorithms. 

“Fundamentally, nature does navigation more efficiently than robots,” said Opteran Technologies. By replicating nature’s approach in a model that the company calls “natural intelligence,” it said it has delivered a “dramatic breakthrough.”

Opteran estimated that its system could cost less than $160 running on a Sony and ARM Core and using Sony IMX219 cameras and RK4566 ARM chips. In comparison, current systems can range in cost from $8,400 for a 2D lidar setup to $27,000 for a 3D lidar setup, it said.

Opteran and SAFELOG demonstrated their collaboration at LogiMAT in Stuttgart, Germany. They showed a SAFELOG mobile robot using Opteran Mind, which they said could increase adaptability and minimize downtime.

The partners said Opteran Mind can be embedded in ground-based robots and aerial drones for a wide variety of applications, from logistics and warehouse distribution to oil and gas inspection, mining, and autonomous vehicles.

The post Opteran to bring natural intelligence to SAFELOG mobile robots appeared first on The Robot Report.

How do you protect a robot’s sensitive electronics against water, dirt, and dust? How do you navigate unfamiliar landscapes? Perhaps the most pressing problem of all is how to charge those robots.

The challenge of contact-based charging

Indoor charging environments often use metal contacts on a dock to charge the robot, but that’s problematic in rugged environments where things are less predictable. Dust or mud can dirty the contact and reduce the current or stop it flowing altogether. Water can get in between the contacts and short them out.

Industrial robots cost thousands of dollars, and every minute that the electrons don’t flow turns the device from an asset to a liability. A dead robot can also create secondary costs in the kinds of remote environments that companies are now exploring. It could require a costly truck roll to repair or recharge the device when no one is on site to handle it.

Companies at the sharp end of the rugged outdoor robotics community are increasingly embracing wireless charging as an alternative to contact-based mechanisms. One of them is Clearpath Robotics, a manufacturer that designs custom robotics platforms for applications ranging from mining to oil and gas for research and, increasingly, real-world industrial usage.

Alongside safety, weather, and maintenance issues, positioning accuracy is also critical for rugged outdoor robotics applications, explained Clearpath’s technology director Robbie Edwards. The contact-based charging mechanisms the company uses for indoor systems have a three-centimeter tolerance.

“Even with 3 cm [1.1 in.] of tolerance, the stackup in localization accuracy and control for a larger robot system can be difficult to design for,” he said.

Clearpath’s Husky Observer robot, including WiBotic receiver coil shown mounted on the front. Source: WiBotic

Precise positioning can be a problem outdoors

That tolerance requirement becomes even more problematic in unforgiving outdoor situations. Edwards described one outdoor robot that Clearpath had developed with especially demanding requirements.

“While it was charging, it had to be safe for use around people,” he recalled. “And it needed 10 cm [3.9 in.] of docking tolerance.”

The contact-based charging solution was prohibitively difficult to implement.

“It was a multi-axis mechanism that was larger than the robot itself,” added Edwards. “It was expensive and complicated.”

Switching to a wireless charging system with a laser-guided docking system made challenges like these more tractable. Clearpath now uses autonomous software to dock its vehicle with WiBotic wireless chargers housed in fully weatherproof enclosures.

WiBotic’s mechanism uses resonant charging which, unlike older inductive wireless charging technologies, provides consistent power and efficiency even when coils are substantially misaligned. It enables Clearpath’s robots to recharge within a consistent amount of time to maintain duty cycles.

“We can definitely navigate to well within wireless tolerances, ensuring reliable charging even in difficult environmental conditions,” Edwards added.

When charging challenges heat up

Environments don’t get much more rugged than in the desert, where OnSight Technology sends robots to monitor vast solar arrays. The company helps energy clients solve some big challenges, including labor shortages. It’s difficult to find skilled people to inspect solar panels in remote, inhospitable areas.

OnSight’s uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs) weigh than a quarter-ton,. They trundle along rows of panels conducting close examinations at ground level with a radiometric thermal imaging camera and an optical zoom camera. The AI-enabled devices use visual learning to verify installation crews’ work and then monitor the panels for damage after they leave.

Telltale hot spots on the back of a panel indicate that after long periods generating solar power in the harsh desert environment, something has gone awry. The key is to identify the issues that would require an expensive immediate engineer site visit.

“Every time they roll the truck, they’re going to just focus on the most critical issues,” said Graham Ryland, chief operating officer at OnSight. “Some issues look critical from the air but are really just a little dirt.”

On the other hand, a faulty connector could lead to thermal runaway and set panels alight. That could shut down the panels, creating costly production outages. The robots help to avoid that while balancing the cost of truck rolls.

OnSight’s UGV has a thermal camera and an optical zoom camera to detect and report anomalies on solar farms. Source: WiBotic

Safety is key for UGVs

Safety and reliability when charging are key for OnSight’s desert robots, explained Ryland.

“Our robot cannot be a cause for concern, but using electrical contacts in the desert is dangerous,” he said. Companies using them must build expensive, cumbersome shacks with closing doors to avoid sparks from the contacts causing fires.

Because wireless charging is contactless, there is no danger of arcing, eliminating the need for enclosed docking stations. Instead, the robot simply pulls up to an outdoor charging panel and accesses wireless power automatically.

“Onboard CANBus communication with the wireless charging system allows OnSight to remotely confirm charging success and monitor the health and performance of batteries over time,” said Ryland.

“One of the greatest features we found with WiBotic is the thermal backoff,” he noted. Charging a battery when it’s too hot or cold can damage it. This could be a problem in extreme day and night desert conditions.

However, charge voltage and current can be manually or programmatically adjusted based on those environmental conditions using WiBotic software that monitors and manages all charging stations and onboard chargers in real time.

“That level of intelligent charging greatly improves battery longevity,” Ryland said. “It has been critical for us.”

OnSight’s UGV, fitted with an onboard charger, approaches a wireless transmitter. Source: WiBotic

Easy charger deployment another benefit

Wireless charging in remote environments carries another benefit: charging ubiquity.

“The fact that we’re able to put wireless chargers just about anywhere and pull up to it and wirelessly connect without any electrical contacts has enabled us to deploy quickly,” Ryland says. Robots can increase their 25-sq.-mi. (64.7-sq.-km) range by traveling between chargers rather than returning home to an original charger at the day’s end.

“We primarily charge at night, but if we’re close to a charger, we’ll charge in the afternoon for a couple of hours when the sun tracking modules are flat and hard to inspect,” he explained.

Use cases like these are just the beginning for an outdoor robotics market that was worth over $150 million in 2022, according to Global Market Insights. That market could expand at a 16% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) to reach more than $600 million in 2032, it said.

At WiBotic, we also see big opportunities in construction, where robots will clean sites, capture high-quality photo and video, and mark foundations for walls.

Other applications range from the familiar to the enormously challenging. One of our customers uses wireless chargers to juice up shopping carts that have fully digital displays. Those carts might operate indoors, but they still receive some punishing treatment from shoppers who crash them into other carts in the return corral, leave them outside, etc.

At the other end of the scale, WiBotic has worked with Astrobotic to build wireless chargers for lunar rovers to support NASA’s Artemis program to put humans on the moon for the first time in over half a century. That’s surely one of the most remote, unforgiving environments of all.

Astrobotic’s CubeRover is a modular vehicle designed to provide affordable mobility for scientific instruments and other payloads to operate on the surface of the moon. Source: WiBotic

What challenges or applications for rugged robotics can you suggest that might benefit from wireless charging? Let us know at info@wibotic.com.

About the author

Matt Carlson is vice president of business development at WiBotic. This article is posted with permission.

The post Charging challenges can be solved for rugged robotics appeared first on The Robot Report.

Wednesday, November 29, 2023
2:00 PM ET

Warehouses are key to the supply chain, demanding seamless orchestration of product handling, tracking, and movement. Mobile robots, including automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), are essential tools to augment warehouse efficiency. These technologies can not only streamline product transportation, but they can also reduce dependency on human labor, thereby optimizing operational costs.

Despite their potential, many warehouses have yet to adopt mobile robots. This webinar aims to explore the challenges hindering wider adoption, explore the benefits of integrating AGVs and AMRs, and equip OEMs and suppliers with insights to position themselves as reliable partners in the mobile robotics space.

The content for this webinar is based on The Mobile Robot Guide’s market research into this subject and the recently published report: “The Automated Warehouse: Supporting Growth of AGVs and AMRs in the Warehouse.”

In this free webinar, participants will:

• Gain a comprehensive understanding of current AGV and AMR usage in warehouses, including historical adoption trends and recent industry statistics.
• Learn how to build a robust use case by identifying end-user needs and challenges, and explore practical examples of successful robot deployments.
• Understand the specific challenges faced by warehouse operators, including labor shortages, budget constraints, space limitations, integration complexities, and skill gaps.
• Acquire actionable directives for mobile robot OEMs and suppliers to better serve warehouse operators, including strategies for addressing budget concerns, developing flexible solutions, proactively recommending deployments, and forming a network of trusted partners.

Sponsored by:

Speaker

Mike Oitzman is editor, Robotics, WTWH Media and founder of The Mobile Robot Guide. He is a robotics industry veteran with over 25 years of experience at various high-tech companies in the roles of marketing, sales and product management.

The post Webinar: How mobile robots can bolster warehouse operations appeared first on The Robot Report.

The sales and marketing teams of WIferion become the new PULS Wireless Division. | Credit: PULS

DIN rail power supply provider PULS has acquired Wiferion from Tesla. This deal comes after Tesla acquired Wiferion for an undisclosed amount in June 2023. PULS said it plans to continue manufacturing, marketing and selling Wiferion‘s wireless charging products worldwide.

Wiferion is one of a small number of wireless charging solutions for AMRs, AGVs and electric forktrucks. Tesla never publicly stated what its intentions were for the young startup. But now we know. According to a source with knowledge of both these acquisitions, Wiferion’s engineers will remain at Tesla; they are not included in the deal with PULS. Wiferion’s engineering team has vast experience in high-power wireless power transmission. 

For Wiferion customers, PULS said nothing will change in the operational business of producing wireless power systems. PULS takes over all existing contracts, trademark rights, and patents for the technology. The sales, marketing, and support teams for Wiferion will transition into a new PULS Wireless division that will be located in Germany. 

“PULS employs more than 100 of the best developers in the industry and has global production and sales locations that take our charging technology and scalability to a new level,” enthuses Julian Seume, former CSO of Wiferion, and now PULS Wireless Division Director. “Especially in the area of new product development and application support, we are now in a much stronger position and can offer our customers an even better service.”

Register now so that you don’t miss this exciting event.

Wiferion currently manufactures its solutions through a third-party contract manufacturer. PULS has its own manufacturing facilities in Czechoslovakia and China, and the Wiferion products will ultimately be brought in-house to reduce production costs and take advantage of supply chain synergies with the PULS products, the source said.

Wiferion and PULS have substantial synergies due to the fact that they both compete in the power electronics industry. Power transmission via wireless means is an emerging method of power transfer where the energy is transferred across an air gap with spatially separated coils. This acquisition enables PULS to quickly become a leader in wireless power transmission with a ready-to-sell and deploy solution.

According to the source, Wiferion’s current product line will continue under the Wiferion brand name for the immediate future.

The post PULS acquires Wiferion’s wireless charging business appeared first on The Robot Report.

The maritime industry has recently surged its automation efforts to tackle global seaport congestion. These efforts can range from deploying things like gantries, automated port gates, and stacking cranes as well as AGVs.

“Automation improves port operations’ reliability, consistency, and workplace security. Also, from an environmental perspective, automation can lead to efficient operations and faster services. Automated ports are also far safer than conventional ports. The number of human-related disruptions falls as performance becomes more predictable with automation and data capture solutions,” Adhish Luitel, Supply Chain Management & Logistics Senior Analyst at ABI Research, said.

AGVs can be used to transport containers and loads to and from ships, and have been one of the most productivity-augmenting pieces of automation deployed at seaports, according to ABI Research.

The research firm expects AGV seaport deployments worldwide to have a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 26% from 2022 to 2030, which means global deployments will exceed 370,000 by 2027.

ABI Research also expects robotics automation to continue growing in other modalities of the global supply chain, like rail, air, and road. There are a number of automation providers, like VisionNav Robotics, Konecranes, HERE Technologies, and VDL Automated Vehicles, that are providing automation and digital tools to enhance efficiency and visibility across different transportation modalities.

In particular, rail camera systems for rail infrastructure are on the rise. Over 29,000 inspection robots were deployed in rail infrastructure globally in 2022, according to ABI Research. These robots are set to grow to over 43,000 by 2030 with a CAGR of around 5%, falling in line with the rising rail freight volume.

“Automation in various modalities, despite its benefits, can also bring costs of which supply chain managers might need to be wary. Although automation can streamline workflows and make tasks easier in the long run, they come at the expense of initial potential productivity losses that come with equipping workers with the right skillsets to operate and maintain these solutions. So, there is a change management aspect of which managers and authorities must be more mindful,” Luitel said.

The post ABI Research expects seaports to deploy 370,000+ AGVs by 2030 appeared first on The Robot Report.

An artist’s rendition of the experiment setup. | Source: Chen Y-X, Pan C-Y, Chen B-Y, Jeng S-W, Chen C-H, Huang J-J, et al

Unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) can help fight dengue-carrying mosquitoes in Taiwan sewers, according to a new study published in PLOS Neglected Tropic Diseases by Wei-Liang Liu of the Taiwan National Mosquito-Borne Diseases Control Research Center and colleagues. 

In the study, researchers combined a crawling robot, wire-controlled cable car, and real-time monitoring system into a UGV that takes high-resolution, real-time images of areas within Taiwan’s sewer system. Specifically, the UGV targeted covered roadside ditches that were suspected to be hotspots for mosquitoes carrying dengue fever. 

Schematic diagrams of the UGV equipment, which includes a crawling robot, a monitoring system, and a wire-controlled cable car. | Source: Chen Y-X, Pan C-Y, Chen B-Y, Jeng S-W, Chen C-H, Huang J-J, et al

Dengue fever is an infectious disease caused by the dengue virus that is spread by several mosquito species that are part of the genius Aedes, which can also spread chikungunya, yellow fever, and zika. The World Health Organization estimates that 390 million people worldwide are infected with dengue fever manually. 

Sewers make easy breeding grounds for Aedes mosquitoes, and the most common mosquito monitoring programs struggle to monitor and analyze the density of mosquitoes in hidden areas, like covered ditches.

The robot system created by the researchers was deployed in five administrative districts in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan from May to August 2018. The UGVs found traces of Aedes mosquitoes in stages from larvae to adults in 20.7% of inspected sewers. 

Using the information gathered from the robots, researchers could follow up with additional prevention control measures, including insecticides of high-temperature water jets, in sewers where mosquitoes were found. 

After those interventions, the gravitrap index (GI), a metric that measures the adult mosquito population density nearby, dropped from 0.62 to 0.19. 

“The widespread use of UGVs can potentially eliminate some of the breeding sources of vector mosquitoes, thereby reducing the annual prevalence of dengue fever in Kaohsiung City,” the authors said.

The post These UGVs can combat mosquitoes in Taiwan sewers appeared first on The Robot Report.

According to GAM, the new GML Series Wheel Drive can be used as a direct drive or as a differential drive and can be combined with a steering drive to form a drive-steer unit. GAM said some of the benefits of the drive include:

• Compact design with very short overall length
• Motor mount customized to your motor, no additional coupling needed
• Directly mount the wheel to the gearbox output flange
• Integrated wheel bearing for high loads
• Very high efficiency
• 3 frame sizes available
• Fully sealed and maintenance-free
• Optional wheel available

There are a variety of chassis concepts used in automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). For an AGV, the alignment of the vehicle frame is fixed by the chassis. This leads to increased space requirements when cornering. For an AMR, the orientation of the vehicle frame can be set independently of the vehicle position. The required movement can be achieved using different combinations of travel, steering, and combination steering/travel wheel drives as well as non-driven wheels used for load support.

According to GAM, the new GML series coaxial wheel hub gearbox can be used in the following configurations: tricycle, differential drive and 4 drives with mecanum wheels. GAM said the GML series coaxial wheel hub gearbox will be fully launched later in 2023.

With its engineering and manufacturing flexibility, GAM can collaborate with robotics developers on the right product for its application — from its standard GML and OPG gearboxes to custom solutions for specific applications. GAM is a U.S.-owned manufacturing company that’s been in business for more than 30 years. Its product range of robotic and servo gear reducers, rack and pinion, linear mounts, servo couplings, and other specialized mechanical drive solutions is one of the largest in the industry.

The post GAM soft-launches GML Series Wheel Drive appeared first on The Robot Report.

Mobile robots. Credit: Licensed from AdobeStock

A new standard released by the ASTM defines the types of objects that might be encountered during the operation of an Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) or Automatic Guided Vehicle (AGV).

The new standard documents a list of common terms that describe these objects, and provides a common language for the use of both operators and manufacturers of this equipment. The standard was developed by ASTM’s committee on robotics, automation, and autonomous systems (F45).

This standard (F3588) provides specifications for a set of reference objects to act as obstacles or infrastructure for testing the capabilities of A-UGVs. The objects represent those common in many manufacturing environments. According to ASTM International F45 committee chair Adam Norton, this helps both developers of A-UGVs and those looking to use them with evaluating their systems.

The committee surveyed both end users and manufacturers to assemble the list of items that might be encountered by an autonomous, unmanned robot.

The survey results are listed here and are considered example objects found in warehousing/manufacturing, healthcare, domestic, and retail environments:

“For example, one object is a pallet that an A-UGV may need to avoid while navigating through a facility; another object is a rack that an A-UGV may need to position itself in front of in order to dock with it,” says Norton.

The standard, designated ASTM F3588-22, was released on November 9, 2022, and you can purchase a copy here.

The group is next going to develop standards concerned with dynamic obstacles, including those that move and change position.

The post New ASTM standard F3588-22 defines objects encountered by AMRs and AGVs appeared first on The Robot Report.

MOV.AI, which offers a robotics platform to develop autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and automated guided vehicles (AGVs), brought in $8.2 million in funding.

BOWE Group led the round, which also included participation from MOV.AI’s existing investors State of Mind Ventures, NFX and Viola Ventures. BOWE Group is a supplier of smart automation and IoT software solutions. The Augsburg, Germany-based company is a subsidiary of Possehl Group. 

“We are extremely bullish on MOV.AI’s ability to modernize the robotics market, a market that is a key pillar in modern industrial automation and is poised for hypergrowth,” Joachim Koschier, BOWE GROUP Managing Director, said. “The MOV.AI Robotics Engine Platform enables smooth human-robot collaboration in automation projects – something that BOWE group experienced firsthand as a customer. The digital transformation occurring in the intralogistics space requires flexibility, operational agility, and maintainability. MOV.AI provides the complete infrastructure and tools required to create and operate fleets of any AMR.”

MOV.AI’s Robotics Engine Platform changes how AMRs are built by separating the software from the hardware. AMR development, and deployment, can be expensive and time-consuming, in part due to inflexible robot software that is tightly linked with the robot’s hardware. 

The Robotics Engine Platform can speed development and deployment by offering enterprise-grade tools necessary for advanced automation to both AMR manufacturers and automation integrators. With the platform, manufacturers can more quickly differentiate their robots, and automation integrators can deploy in just days instead of months. 

“We are excited to have such an innovative leader as BOWE GROUP join our strong group of investors and lead this round,” MOV.AI CEO Motti Kushnir said. “The pressure on supply chains creates an opportunity for AMR manufacturers and automation integrators, who need to develop and deploy robots that meet customer needs quickly. BOWE GROUP is a leader in the world of intralogistics and automation. Their knowledge and expertise will drive forward MOV.AI’s ability to meet customer needs and extend our market reach.

We are thankful to our investors – State of Mind Ventures, NFX, Viola Ventures, and now BOWE GROUP – for their ongoing belief in our vision and in our ability to execute it. Their confidence as evidenced in this round is helping us drive change in the market and provide our customers with a much-needed solution.”

MOV.AI announced a partnership with Ouster, a digital LiDAR sensor manufacturer, in May 2022. The partnership integrates the two companies’ solutions for industrial equipment manufacturers that are interested in automating.  

The post MOV.AI brings in $8.2M for its AMR platform appeared first on The Robot Report.

Manufacturing facilities continue to increase their levels of automation to reduce costs, improve productivity, and increase operational efficiency. Newer forms of automation technology also provide manufacturers with a high degree of flexibility, a capability lacking in many earlier forms of fixed, or ‘hard’, automation.

These flexible automation solutions are being embraced by manufacturers as a key strategic differentiator and business facilitator. For today’s manufacturers, “flexibility is the new productivity”.

Manufacturing Automation
Manufacturing automation can take many forms. The use of reprogrammable, articulated robots, and now including collaborative robots, for applications such as welding, painting, and palletizing is common among manufacturers of all types and sizes, and other use cases like conducting quality checks using robotic vision inspection systems continue to expand. Another manufacturing automation mainstay involves the use of technologies for conveyance, the act of transporting materials, parts and other objects, as well as moving items under construction in assembly lines for sequential manufacturing processes.

Conveyance Automation Types
In broad terms, automation solutions for manufacturing conveyance are of two types – Fixed Conveyance Systems and Flexible Conveyance Systems.

• Fixed Conveyance Systems – As their names imply, fixed conveyance systems are automation technologies that are immovable once in place, or can only be redeployed at the expense of disruption and great cost. Fixed conveyance systems such as belts, rollers, and overhead conveyors, provide manufacturers with productivity benefits, but at the expense of flexibility. Towline conveyors (see below), commonly used for moving heavy loads in manufacturing facilities, are another form of fixed conveyance solution.
• Flexible Conveyance Systems – Automation technologies that can be flexibly redeployed once installed, such as Automated Guided Vehicles and Autonomous Mobile Robotics (see below), have found wide use in applications like delivering kitted materials to point-of-use on an assembly line, as well as transporting product like cars, trucks, and tractors through their assembly processes. Autonomous mobile robots are commonly used as an alternative to fork trucks and are typically tasked with transporting components as part of lineside replenishment operations for electric vehicles, agricultural equipment, and medical device manufacturers. Automated guided vehicles have seen wide adoption among manufacturers of heavyweight products because of the safety advantages that come with automation technologies over manual options.

Conveyance Automation
Prior to the development of automated conveyance solutions, items under manufacture were typically transported manually using carts, trolleys or forklifts, both powered and unpowered. Over time, many of these manual conveyance platforms – inefficient and often dangerous – were automated using a variety of system types including:

• Towline Conveyors – Conveyors have been employed in manufacturing plants for over 100 years. One form of these systems, towline conveyors (tow conveyors, towveyors, build line conveyors, trac-veyors), have found wide use for manufacturing processes that require constant forward motion for progressive operations. The majority of towline conveyor systems in manufacturing environments use a recessed towline (usually a chain) to pull wheeled carts along a fixed path through sequential workstations.

The development of towline systems requires substantial construction and engineering of their operational environment. Deep trenching in the floor and extensive concrete / civil work is often required. Reconfiguring traditional chain-based towlines in response to changing business requirements is a very labor-intensive, costly and lengthy undertaking.

AGVs move with precisely calibrated acceleration and deceleration, and employ different sensing technologies to detect people and obstacles, slowing down or stopping depending on how near the object is, and resuming again when the path is clear.

• Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) – Automated guided vehicles (AGVs), are mobile robots that use magnetic tape, RFID tags, optical strips, lasers, or other modalities to guide them through facilities along pre-determined pathways. AGV navigation paths can be altered with relative ease by relocating the guides that control the systems. Modalities like magnetic tape represent the lowest cost, but highest maintenance approach to navigation.

AGVs are a common (and proven) form of robotic conveyance in manufacturing environments for applications such as parts and components delivery. Since AGVs are designed to move continuously along a fixed path, it also makes them extremely well suited as a replacement for traditional conveyor systems for work-in-process movement during manufacturing operations. Further, since each AGV unit can be individually controlled, it is possible to de-couple the assembly line. For example, some manufacturers strategically plan for buffers, queue positions, or in-process kanbans (IPKs), to help smooth station-to-station timing imbalances. AGVs, being de-coupled from the unit ahead of it, are able to progress out of a completed work station to the buffer to keep the line moving if the next station may be temporarily blocked.

Autonomous guided vehicles range in type from lightweight ‘tugger’ AGVs that pull unpowered carts for transporting loads, to heavy-duty, high payload systems (‘unit load’ AGVs) that can transport discrete, multi-ton objects. Unit load AGVs are also increasingly being utilized to move heavy products under manufacture from one fabrication stage to another.

AGVs move with precisely calibrated acceleration and deceleration, and employ different sensing technologies to detect people and obstacles, slowing down or stopping depending on how near the object is, and resuming again when the path is clear. Recently, some AGVs have incorporated technologies such as vison systems and LiDAR allowing them to navigate autonomously in a manner similar to autonomous mobile robots (see below).

• Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) – A relatively new form of conveyance automation – autonomous mobile robots – have been widely embraced in warehouses and distribution centers (DCs) to improve the efficiency of e-commerce inbound (‘putaway’) and outbound (‘picking’) fulfillment operations. While there has been much discussion concerning the use of autonomous mobile robots for industrial work, the technology is still in the relatively early stages of adoption. In manufacturing settings, common AMR applications include the use of deck-load mobile robots to deliver components and subassemblies to workstations, or as tuggers for lightweight carts.

AMRs navigate autonomously using a variety of sensors and sensing technologies including LiDAR (2D or 3D) and camera systems (again, 2D or 3D), with many utilizing both, plus some other types of proximity sensors. AMRs utilize their sensors to detect its surroundings and choose the most efficient route to the target. It works completely autonomously, and if forklifts, pallets, people, or other obstacles occur in front of it, the AMR will safely maneuver around them, using the best alternative route.

For manufacturers, increasing ‘safety’ is positively linked to various business value drivers. Examples include improved worker retention, lower operational costs, and increased production efficiency.

Selection Criteria
Many factors must be considered when selecting manufacturing conveyance automation solutions, including the following critical elements:

• Capacity – In the context of manufacturing conveyance automation, capacity refers to two distinct properties:
  • Payload Capacity – Payload capacity refers to the total amount of weight that towline carts, AGVs an AMRs can carry. Currently, the payload capacity of towline and AGV conveyance platforms exceed that of autonomous mobile robots. For heavy load manufacturing operations, where the parts and objects under assembly often exceed 10,000 lbs., high-capacity towline solutions and AGVs are the only choice.
  • Towing Capacity – Towing capacity denotes to the amount of load weight towline conveyors, AGVs and AMRs can pull.
• Flexibility – In order to respond to changing business requirements and fluctuations in demand, manufacturers are placing greater emphasis on flexible conveyance systems, and eschewing solutions that rely on ‘hard’ automation and expensive, fixed infrastructure. Manufacturers are increasingly looking to avoid new projects with extensive civil work that will “lock in” their facility layout for years to come. Conveyance systems differ on their level of support for flexibility which can take many forms including:
  • • Deployment Flexibility – The ability to deploy manufacturing conveyance systems rapidly and at low cost, is a key requirement for today’s agile manufacturers. Manufacturers should also be able to redeploy or relocate conveyance automation solutions within manufacturing sites with minimal operational disruption and cost.
    • Application Flexibility – Application flexibility refers to the ability to repurpose conveyance platforms for different applications, processes, or operations. For example, most AGVs are customizable so that they can be modified to meet specific application needs or ergonomic requirements. Common customizations include the addition of load-handling carrier frames, lift decks, scissor lifts, powered trunnions, and turntables.
    • Scaling Flexibility – Scaling flexibility refers to the capacity to increase or decrease the number of operational conveyance systems depending on need. For example, when using automated guided vehicles for sequential manufacturing operations, the workflow can be increased or decreased easily by adding or removing AGVS from the line. For manufacturers that have demand that is seasonal or difficult to predict, addition or subtraction of workstations.
• Safety – Safety is a key driver for increasing levels of conveyance automation in manufacturing sites and elsewhere. Compared to manual systems, for example, AGVs have proven to reduce worker injury, and decrease damage to parts, products, and infrastructure. They can detect objects in operational range and slow to stop or avoid them. Systems are also equipped with safety edges and bumpers, along with anticipatory warning systems using lights and sounds to let workers know of their approach.

For manufacturers, increasing ‘safety’ is positively linked to various business value drivers. Examples include improved worker retention, lower operational costs, and increased production efficiency.

• Efficiency and Quality – For manufacturers, improved productivity – increasing the quantity of the products they deliver – is often given as the primary benefit for automating their production processes. While true, is not the whole story. Increasing efficiency, that is, increasing the effectiveness of manufacturing operations, as well as improving and the quality of the items produced (while minimizing costs), is equally important.

Conveyance solutions such as automated guided vehicles are not automation islands. In manufacturing sites, fleets of AGVs are monitored and controlled by sophisticated software, and often linked to warehouse management systems (WMS) and Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). AGV management software can dynamically respond to feedback from production lines to improve operational efficiency by optimizing performance, streamlining workflows, and eliminating chokepoints. Software such as Ignition, Wonderware, Aveva, and PLEX provide directives to an AGV fleet both wirelessly and through commonplace Allen-Bradley or Siemens PLCs.

The use of autonomous guided vehicles in manufacturing environments has been proven to increase the consistency and reliability of operations, which has a positive impact on quality of produced goods. AGVs provide autonomous and dependable point-to-point transportation of goods and material, and by doing so, it dramatically reduces the potential for human error, the primary source of industrial accidents and damage to products, facilities and more. Furthermore, since AGVs are programmatically controlled, and highly integrated with governing software systems, the AGV units can be programmed to only move if specific quality criteria are met, effectively serving as an in-station poka-yoke.

Many manufacturers need to convey and assemble products that weigh 20,000 lbs, 30,000 lbs, and up to 50,000 lbs, but AGVs with capacity in this range are rare.

Automating Heavy Load Conveyance
For industries, such as the electric vehicle, aerospace, alternative energy, and defense sectors, manufacturing processes often involve the movement of heavy parts, objects in work, and eventually, finished products. As such, the capacity of conveyance automation systems for these manufacturers must often exceed 10,000 lbs. Many manufacturers need to convey and assemble products that weigh 20,000 lbs, 30,000 lbs, and up to 50,000 lbs, but AGVs with capacity in this range are rare. The unique load requirements for these ‘heavy’ manufacturers, is very different for other classes of manufacturers, and is a key differentiator when evaluating conveyance automation solutions.

AGVs vs Towlines
High-payload AGVs and towlines both share the ability to move heavy items sequentially along manufacturing work lines. Automated guide vehicles, however, have distinct advantages over older towline approaches. AGVs, for example, can be deployed without the high cost of building the fixed towline infrastructure, including the entrenching required for embedding the towline itself.

Automated guided vehicles also provide much greater levels of flexibility compared to towline conveyors. Production lines can be installed rapidly and modified easily to meet the demands of periodically changing assembly lines in accordance with agile methods.

AGVs vs AMRS
Automated guided vehicles and autonomous mobile robots provide manufacturers with many advantages over towline conveyance solutions. Each delivers high levels of flexibility and safety. AGVs and AMRs deployments can also scale as need dictates. However, the distinctive capacity requirements for heavy load manufacturing – 10,000 lbs. and greater – places AMRs at a distinct disadvantage as an automated transportation option for this class of production. For safety, an ultra-heavy product should typically be assigned to a predefined and fixed travel path without latitude given to a navigation technology to identify and pick alternative routes.

Best of Both Worlds
Manufacturers are increasingly turning to automation and robotics technologies to address the many new challenges brought on by rapid business change, sector growth and increased competition. This includes manufacturers in the medical device (think MRIs), commercial trucks, spaceflight, recreational vehicles, and other heavy industries.

In the past, these manufacturers turned to towline systems to automate their production lines. Towline systems, robust and capable for moving heavy loads, lack the flexibility inherent in more modern automated conveyance solutions such as AGVs and AMRs.

Autonomous mobile robots, a relatively recent addition to the manufacturer’s solution set, are noted for providing high levels of deployment flexibility, application flexibility, and scaling flexibility. While these systems deliver value as transportation platforms in manufacturing facilities and warehouses, their payload and towing capacities fall short for production workflows that demand the movement of heavy loads.

Modern automated guided vehicles combine the capabilities set of autonomous mobile robots – flexibility, safety and scalability – with the load capacity of towline conveyors. As such, they provide manufacturers with the best of both worlds, a cost-effective, flexible, heavy-load conveyance solution for production build lines designed for manufacturing as it is done today, and that can meet the manufacturing demands of tomorrow.

Sponsored content by Invio Automation

About the Author
Dan Kara is the former Vice President of Robotics at WTWH Media where he chartered with driving the company’s robotics initiatives including the Robot Report and Robotics Business Review online portals and the Robotics Summit Conference and Exposition, Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum, RoboBusiness Conference & Expo and the International Field Robotics Engineering Forum. Prior to joining WTWH, he was Practice Director, Robotics and Intelligent Systems at ABI Research. Dan was also President of Robotics Trends, an integrated media and research firm serving the personal, service and industrial robotics markets. Dan has also worked as Executive Vice President of Intermedia Group, and Director of Research at Ullo International.

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Civ Robotics’ CivDot is an autonomous UGV for civil engineering and infrastructure projects. | Source: Civ Robotics

Civ Robotics announced that it closed a $5 million seed round for its autonomous surveying solution CivDot. The company plans to use the funding for sales and marketing and technology development. It also plans to grow its team in the U.S. and Tel Aviv, Isreal, where its R&D operations are based. 

ff Venture Capital, a seed and early-stage venture capital firm with a strong focus on robotics, among other things, and Alley Robotics Ventures, an early-stage capital venture firm that invests in robotics and automation, led the round, which also included participation from Trimble Ventures. 

Civ Robotics’ CivDot is an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) designed for civil engineering and infrastructure projects like solar farms, roadways, data centers and power plants. Users can upload their blueprint in standard CSV or DXF format to CivPlan, and CivDot will be ready to work. 

The robot sprays paint coordinates with dots or dashed lines. If needed, users can follow behind CivDot with flags or nails with whiskers and CivPlan will tell them which color marker to install at each point. When CivDot is done with its mission, it sends a detailed report with the marked coordinates and ground elevation measurements. 

“The construction industry faces worker shortage challenges, and CivDot is empowering efficiency and safety on the job, while driving projects forward from the start,” Tom Yeshurun, co-founder and CEO of Civ Robotics, said. “Already, Bechtel, a leader in the EPC industry, among a variety of others, has adopted CivDots for surveying. Today’s funding demonstrates the opportunity in front of us as a company to construct the world around us.”

CivDot comes with two sets of batteries that each have a five-hour battery life, and can connect to any base station and NTRIP network. It uses spray cans that you can find at any local hardware store, and can handle any terrain or slope with its 6-8″ ground clearance and tire options for mud and sand. 

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What follows is a review of five major trends in the robotics and automation sector, along with how they are impacting industries. When referring to ‘robotics’, there are six main categories that are included under this term:

• Industrial Robots
• Collaborative Robots (cobots)
• Mobile Robots
• Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Systems (UAVs)
• Consumer Robots
• Exoskeletons

USA Receives Most VC Funding

There is a growing eagerness among investors to back robotics startups. ABI Research has found that total venture capital (VC) funding in the robotics industry jumped by 38% between 2021 and 2022—bringing the total investment to US$6.5 billion. COVID-19 is a huge reason for the uptick in robotics investment as the pandemic has led to labor shortages, social distancing protocols, and supply chain constraints—leading companies down the path to automation.

The majority of countries simply lack the money and other resources to develop a strong robotics startup landscape. As a result, we see the big markets leading the way in the robotics industry, including the United States, China, the United Kingdom, Israel, the European Union (EU), etc. Overall, the United States is far and away receiving the greatest amount of VC funding in the robotics industry, encompassing more than half of total investment in 2021.

The United States and China account for six out of the top ten most heavily funded startups in the world (four U.S. startups and two Chinese startups). Both countries have excelled at growing startups with a diverse set of competencies, such as last-mile delivery, indoor Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs), autonomous drones, and machine vision services.

Healthcare Automates

Healthcare has proven to be an enormous vertical for robotics, as these technologies are used for patient monitoring, inventory tracking, automating routine tasks, cleaning and disinfection, and even helping assist with minimally invasive surgeries. As pointed out in ABI Research’s Smart Technologies Revolutionizing the Home Healthcare Market blog post, a common trend in the robotics industry is the use of social robots to provide empathy and social interaction for elderly people. Robots can also be used for putting objects away for the patient and sending health status updates to physicians remotely. In 2021, robotics investments in the healthcare vertical were north of US$1 billion.

Although healthcare saw the most investment in the robotics industry, the delivery and warehouse verticals aren’t too far behind. While the delivery vertical saw US$958 million in investment in 2021, the warehouse and distribution vertical generated US$896 million.

Cobots Advance

Thanks to deep learning-based machine vision innovation, collaborative robots (cobots) are incredibly accurate and precise. Additionally, deep learning and reinforcement learning algorithms enable cobots to function more dynamically. For example, the robot will make real-time motion adjustments when it’s necessary to do so.

Robots are also better equipped straight off the shelf these days, in the form of Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS). It’s commonplace for robots to come pre-trained for specific use cases, eliminating the requirement for system integrators, programming skillsets, and extra hardware.

Overall, the United States is far and away receiving the greatest amount of VC funding in the robotics industry, encompassing more than half of total investment in 2021.

California a Hotbed for Robotics

Although California has a huge influence in several robotics segments, drone services and last-mile delivery were two verticals that really stuck out in 2021.

California Startups in Drone-Related Services

DroneBase, Shield AI, and Zipline are just three of many California-based drone services companies that have received a significant amount of financial backing recently. DroneBase provides an aerial data analytics platform that allows companies to monitor assets, plan for maintenance, and understand site conditions. In 2021, DroneBase raised US$32.5 million in Series C funding.

Shield AI focuses on military and civilian defense using its dynamic UAV solutions. With the company’s Hivemind software, the UAVs can fly without the need for a Global Positioning System (GPS), communications, or even a remote pilot. The learning algorithms that Shield AI UAVs come packed with allow the autonomous aircraft to decide what the best strategies are when operating. Besides raising US$280 million in funding, Shield AI has also made two recent acquisitions: Martin UAV and Heron Systems.

Zipline offers UAVs for the healthcare and retail industries and raised US$250 million in Series E funding in 2021. Much of the company’s focus is on Africa where its drone services are used to distribute medical supplies to impoverished regions. For example, the country of Ghana used Zipline for COVID-19 vaccination distribution in November 2021.

California Startups in Last-Mile Delivery Robotics

Besides the drones segment, California has numerous startups working on last-mile delivery robots. Coco, Nuro, and Starship Technologies are three promising startups based out of California developing autonomous delivery solutions. In addition to making deliveries to residences via sidewalk and to students on college campuses, big-name companies like Domino’s and FedEx have shown great interest in these types of technologies. Collectively, these three California-based startups raised US$653 million in funding in 2021, with Nuro receiving US$600 million alone.

Acquisitions Run Rampant

As established brands want to expand their robotics product portfolios, industry acquisitions have been par for the course. ABB is an early mover among big-name industrial robot vendors when it comes to Autonomous Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and AMRs as the company bought out ASTI, a company that has more than 4,500 AMR deployments.

JASCI, a company that develops Warehouse Management Systems (WMSs), recently acquired NextShift Robotics. These robots are equipped with a conveyor to pick up totes and also transport the totes over to a selected workstation. A solution like this saves human workers a great amount of time and energy going back and forth with totes all day.

In 2017, SoftBank purchased Boston Dynamics from Alphabet for about US$1 million. However, that valuation skyrocketed to  US$1.1 billion in 2021, when SoftBank came to an acquisition agreement in which Hyundai Motor Group took over. Hyundai Motor Group views the addition of Boston Dynamics as a stepping-stone to greater things in the following spaces: autonomous cars, logistics, construction, manufacturing, and urban air mobility.

Planning Ahead

The robotics industry is changing before our eyes and if we do not examine key trends shaping these exciting technologies, we just may miss out on lucrative business opportunities. Whether a new robotics vendor wants to see what other startups are up to or if a C-suite yearns to learn more about the current industry landscape, these five trends serve as the first step on that journey.

With these new innovations manufacturers can prioritize safety and productivity, without having to sacrifice one for the other.

About the Author
Lian Jye Su, Principal Analyst at ABI Research, is responsible for orchestrating research related to robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML). He leads research in emerging and key trends in these industries, diving deeply into advancements in key components, regional dynamics in robotics and AI adoptions, and their future impacts and implications.

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According to Ghost Robotics, adding NAUT makes Vision 60 the first fully amphibious quadruped. While others have been made waterproof so they can walk through shallow water, Vision 60 is the first to actually “swim” in water.

Onyx’s NAUT jet propulsion unit can propel a robot at up to 3 knots for around 25 minutes on a single charge, according to reporting from The Drive. The unit operates with Onyx’s proprietary autonomous propulsion method and is plug-and-play for integration into existing networks.

NAUT includes a semi-autonomous control system that allows an operator to control the robot remotely or have it execute pre-programed missions autonomously. According to Onyx, NAUT can be added to any IP67 or above rated platform.

Vision 60 is a mid-sized, high-endurance quadruped intended for use in defense, homeland and enterprise applications. The robot is agile and durable enough to survive all-weather conditions in a wide range of environments. The quadruped can walk at up to 3 m/s and run for three hours or travel 10 km on a single charge.

Ghost Robotics has shipped over 200 Vision 60 robots or over 25 national security customers, among others. The company was founded in 2015 by Avik De, Gavin Kenneally and Jiren Parikh. 

Onyx and Ghost Robotics unveiled the collaboration at the 2022 Special Operations Forces Industry Conference. 

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Localization technology is one of the key factors in achieving the type of networked production needed for digital transformation. | Credit: SICK Sensors

Digital Twins for Safe Machinery

This year at Automate, SICK is excited to showcase how you can keep things safe in your facility using their virtual reality safety services demonstration. Safety solution designs and turnkey installations on manufacturing equipment can often be complex difficult to engineer or install.

At the SICK booth, you’ll see a 3D safety concept in action, and how it can easily be tailored to your needs. A project like this allows for a preview of your safeguarding measures, efficient project communication with the SICK team, and fast implementation.

Using laser scanner technology with a 1cm accuracy, real-time point cloud data can be used to design your technical protective measures, such as light curtains, laser scanners, muting sensors, and hard guarding. 3D safety concepts can be more precise by defining critical mounting distance and guarding measurements in relationship to the relevant standards.

SICK calls this safe productivity.

Part Localization for Bin Picking

SICK will be displaying its high precision robot guidance system for localizing items to be picked. A high-resolution, high-speed camera detects a wide range of objects of different shapes and colors. The robot has automatic detection of all kinds of objects and colors, even in challenging applications with reflective and shiny objects. It can localize items in multiple bins and has a highly accurate picking rate due to a high-precision 3D point cloud.

In addition, the robot provides machine learning and AI solutions that allows for it to be trained for new scenarios using dStudio from SICK and the classification of a wide range of objects.

Localization of Autonomous Mobile Robots

At Automate, SICK will be displaying solutions for autonomous vehicles and mobile robots, including their latest LiDAR Localization technology. Assets in a factory can be tracked continuously using localization solutions and their space-time coordinates can be continuously recorded and stored.

Having this data means complete transparency about all the important movements on the warehouse floor. Today’s analytics tools can already use this data to make connections between different events, presenting an unfiltered look into actual production processes.

All the established technologies—ultra wide-band tags, LiDAR Contour Mapping, line guidance sensors, infrastructure sensors—record either their own position or the position of the desired objects. Depending on the application as well as the positioning accuracy and update rate required, the right technology is selected, or various technologies are combined with each other.

Localization technology is one of the key factors in achieving the type of networked production needed for digital transformation. It can be used to boost optimization potential in several areas by allowing for agile planning of production processes. Localization data gives companies a high level of transparency and understanding of all production-related assets, load carriers, and loading equipment.

Travel paths can be optimized and adapted dynamically, and setup times can be prepared or scheduled flexibly. The material flow can be planned and controlled based on consumption, boosting delivery quality and on-time delivery.

At Automate 2022, SICK is providing an in-depth look at their approach to robotics, digital transformation, and safety in Booth #4107.

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