Dean Kamen recently shared his thoughts about the future of robotics and where their designs are trending.

Recently, I interviewed master inventor Dean Kamen, well known as the inventor of the stair climbing wheelchair and the Segway, as well as the creator of the FIRST Robotics competitions for school children. I explained to Dean how R&D World’s Global Funding Forecast was reporting China will outspend the U.S. for the very first time in R&D in 2021.

As our report predicts, China will invest $622 billion in R&D this year, versus $599 billion for the U.S. I asked Dean what he thought about China’s R&D investments in areas like robotics and AI — and from a technology standpoint, are we going to keep up? Did this concern him at all? Here is his insightful answer.

“Yes, it concerns me a lot, but I think overly simplistically saying, no, we as a country should always spend more than anybody in the world is both neither practical or fair or realistic. They have a multiple of our population, they eat a multiple of the amount of food we eat every day, even if it’s the same amount per capita. The fact is, they have less food per capita, but they still eat more than we do. You have to normalize that. So, it’ll come a point, I hope, where the world has a much better distribution of educated people that are all working on solving problems. And part of me says, ‘I’d rather have 10 times as many people racing towards curing this form of cancer or that form of cancer before I find out it’s the one I have.’

“I think, whether we come up with a great new engine that doesn’t pollute, whether that’s invented in the U.S. or China, or Israel — or any other country in the world — as long as it’s properly disseminated, we all win. In a world where good ideas can be spread across the whole globe, why wouldn’t we want as many smart kids everywhere doing that? But having said that, am I worried that it’s not just that China is spending more and more on research and development, but maybe on a per capita basis, the U.S. isn’t doing everything it should be doing to stay globally competitive? I am worried about that.

“All you have to do is look at this country. We started out with 13 little colonies that somehow escaped from one of the biggest empires the world had ever seen. And these 13 little colonies certainly didn’t start with massive amounts of libraries and universities and research institutions like all of Europe had, or thousands of years of China. Yet, from the time this country became what we now think of as America, from the very beginning, we just screamed ahead of the rest of the world in terms of almost every metric that we claim we value today: public education, standard of living, quality of life, access to health, you name it. How could that be?

“How did that happen? This country was about innovators. They created wealth. We didn’t conquer other countries. We didn’t take over other countries. We were a country built on innovation. It’s not a coincidence that Thomas Edison was here, that Wilbur and Orville Wright were here. When you look at the history throughout the industrial revolution and up until today, whether you think about the modern versions of some of these super innovative companies, whether it’s Apple or Google, they are here, and they create industries, they create great jobs, they create a future.

Related: China’s robotics industry: A look at 2020

“And by the way, a lot of the technologies they create are sustaining and protecting our independence and our freedom. So, if America has any question about whether there’s a return on investment at the government level for research and development, all they have to do is ask themselves why has America always been so uniquely great and always outpacing the rest of the world? And if we stop investing in innovation, I really want most of these people that think there’s a debate about that to look in the mirror and say, “You think you’re just entitled to a better standard of living? You think it’s just going to come free because of what your great-grandparents once did?”

“America needs to keep reinvesting in its future, in education, in kids, in innovation, taking the risks, reasonable risks, and doing things first, and doing things best, and doing things that are scalable, and doing things that will be valuable to us, and then valuable around the rest of the world, so that we can maintain and justifiably maintain a high standard of living without doing it at the expense of other people. I think, ironically, a lot of countries in the world have figured this out, while we’re sitting back taking it for granted.

“A lot of countries around the world, not just China, are highly motivated to make technology, STEM education for their kids, a very, very high priority, because they just look at the model, America. They all think that’s a great, great, great aspirational model to have. They don’t think it’s because we have Democrats or Republicans, they think it’s because we’ve been innovative — and we have technology available to so many people that have this high standard of living because we use these technologies. And the rest of the world is determined to create that next wave of technology where they are.

“Let’s make it a competition where we all win because everybody’s creating more and better technologies at a faster rate, hopefully to keep us ahead of disasters, whether that’s global warming or other shortages. But as the rest of the world picks up their pace, yes, I am worried. If the U.S. doesn’t pick up our pace, we’re going to wake up one day and say, ‘Huh, we’ve lost that edge, we’ve lost that lead.’ We can’t assume that this is going to be the best place for all of us to retire. That’s not a birthright, that’s something that every generation has earned. And I want our culture to make it clear to the next generation, the kids, ‘You better earn it, or you won’t have it.'”

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on sister website R&D World.

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Beaulieu noted there’s massive deficit spending going on. But is that a concern? He said his forecast is actually not dependent on the size of next stimulus bill – as long as interest rates stay low, there’s no problem with the amount of debt.

“We created such a large hole with the pandemic, we can pour a lot of money into that hole before we’ll see any inflation,” he said.

From a business perspective, he told the manufacturing audience that this is a perfect time to do four things: make acquisitions, innovate your products, invest in efficiency gains, and invest in sales and marketing.

While many people are worried about one party being in total control in Washington D.C., Beaulieu cautioned that this sort of alignment isn’t a danger sign. He said that, looking at historical numbers, the United States’ GDP and the country’s economy is really irrelevant to whether either party is in total control.

His other points included:

• The Biden Administration is going to work to boost American manufacturing and is not going to go easy on China. You’re not going to like some things it does, but you are going to like other things it does.
• The U.S. economy, and in some cases, the world economy, is going to be positive this year. His firm’s 12 U.S. economic indicators are all trending to “rise,” which is exceptionally good news.
• Low-cost mortgages point to more housing construction; the housing 12MMT is the highest in more than 12 years.
• Canada will continue to be an important ally and an important business partner of ours.
• Military spending is not dependent on who’s in the White House but is based on what’s going on in the world. Given the uncertainty in the world, it’d be hard to imagine a decline in military spending. But that said, Beaulieu pointed out that high tech and ships and sonar and parts for planes are very different than boots on the ground or bases.
• By late 2022 or early 2023, we will have a full recovery in U.S. industrial production.

Beaulieu noted that the United States is still the second largest manufacturer in the world; the people who think that we don’t make anything here anymore are wrong. Looking at U.S. production indexes, the last quarter is showing a positive shift. So, manufacturers should be gearing up, he said.

“You have a lot of blue sky ahead of you, and I hope you’re ready to take advantage of it.”

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Piab’s piSoftgrip 50-2 vacuum gripper. | Credit: Piab

piSoftgrip has two gripping fingers and a sealed vacuum cavity, all made in one piece, resulting in a simple and robust product. The product is not sensitive to dust and the gripping force is easily adjusted and controlled by the applied vacuum level. The gripper can easily be put in rows (multiple mode) to support picks of extended objects.

piSoftgrip is made from silicone, which is approved for direct contact with food (in accordance with FDA 21 CFR and EU 1935/2004 regulations). The food detectable gripper enables the food/chocolate industry to extend their automated food handling to include a wider range of products.

Related: Coverage of soft robotics

Delicate food/chocolate items can be handled without risk of being spoiled due to crushing. Wash-down fitting options as well as a sealed vacuum cavity make it easy to clean and keep functioning even in challenging environments.

The soft gripping vacuum tool is as easy to control and install as a suction cup. It can be used for multimode applications, putting several piSoftgrip 50-2 in rows or other grid structures, supporting the picks you want to make. The piSoftgrip 50-2 uses same fittings as Piab’s piGRIP suction cups.

An optional stainless-steel fitting offers wash-down provision to assist cleaning (this gripper has the same interface as the piSoftgrip 50-3). The intuitive and user-friendly design makes piSoftgrip easy to integrate into automated procedures, which helps secure the quality of products and increase overall productivity.

The piSoftgrip 50-2 is a cost-effective solution for sensitive and difficult to grip objects. The gripping force is controlled by simply adjusting the vacuum level. The new soft gripper can grip objects with a width of up to 50mm [1.18-in.].

Specs of piSoftgrip 50-2 vacuum gripper. | Credit: Piab

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Epson RC+ 7.5.0 helps push forward the standard in simplified automated robot solutions using Epson’s lineup of SCARA and 6-Axis robots. An advanced suite of software designed to help users quickly and easily implement automated robot solutions, Epson RC+ 7.5.0 offers a powerful set of tools and features that redefine automation efficiency. A comprehensive solution for virtually any application, Epson RC+ provides seamless integration, allowing all components to work together in one integrated environment.

“Epson RC+7.5.0 addresses two distinct automation trends — high-mix, low-volume parts feeding with IntelliFlex 80 and 380, and growth in PLC adoption with Add On Instructions,” said Rick Brookshire, director of product management for Epson Robots. “At Epson Robots, we are continually improving our development software to address these evolving market requirements, helping to set the standard for simplified automated robot solutions.”

Powered by Epson Robots IntelliFlex software and Vision Guide, the IntelliFlex Feeding System delivers a simplistic feeding solution to accommodate a wide variety of parts ranging from 3 mm to 150 mm. The new IntelliFlex 80 and 380 expands the IntelliFlex portfolio to 4 feeders with parts support from 3-15mm and 15-60mm, respectively.

Integrated with Epson RC+ development software, the solution offers easy setup and configuration. A point-and-click interface helps reduce the typical development time required for flexible feeding applications. Smart auto-tuning automatically adjusts the feeder parameters for new parts setup, and multi-axis vibration technology provides optimized parts control and singulation.

Epson Add On Instructions allow Allen Bradley PLC users to seamlessly integrate Epson robots for everything from simple pick-and-place tasks to even more complex tasks using the PLC programming environment they are already familiar with. Add On Instructions feature a rich set of commands that enable robot motion and system setup — all within the native PLC language, so no additional robot-specific programming training is required.

Ideal for regulated industries, these instructions enable users to reuse commands and create instruction signatures. With a single point of control, companies can simplify tracking, training and commissioning. Compatible with Epson’s full line of SCARA and 6-Axis robots, Add On Instructions help make controlled automation easier.

“Every customer wants something different,” said Victor Ferrell, president at Dynamic Control and Automation, an Epson Robots AutomateEliteSM System Integrator. “Add On Instructions will allow us to integrate robots while enabling a single point of control via PLC. By standardizing on a single controls system approach, we believe we can better predict the hours and scope of a project, and it has the potential to lower overall project cost and delivery timeline due to reoccurring engineering over time.”

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I’d like to offer some positive news in the midst of the dire outlook that’s been the regular diet of late on news stations. Last week, we hosted a webinar with renowned economist Alan Beaulieu of ITR Economics that examined what the COVID-19 crisis means for the economy over the next few months and years. If you missed the presentation, it is available on-demand here.

I’ve heard Beaulieu speak many times over the past few decades, and he’s always a voice of reason and logic. Beaulieu’s message was one of relative optimism. He said the U.S. industrial economy will rebound relatively quickly, even assuming that most of the country remains in stay-at-home mode through June — which is currently longer than state governments are anticipating.

He expects a volatile recovery, with the U.S. GDP reaching a bottom in June 2020, but then a peak in June 2021 that will be slightly higher than the last peak. Beaulieu said most leading macroeconomic indicators are still positive and in rise mode — that economic recovery is likely in the foreseeable future, and “we will be at record high levels in the economy here in the U.S. before too, too long.”

Here are eight takeaways from Beaulieu’s presentation:

1. ‘Mammoth amount’ of stimulus money will help

The Paycheck Protection Program money is getting out there. The politicians approached the target economy in a very reasonable fashion, providing some inexpensive loans, a large amount of which will be forgiven, as well as money to individuals so they can continue to move forward. In the 2008-2009 stimulus, it came out piecemeal — politicians dragged it out.

For this iteration, a record setting $2 trillion is being spent, something we will be talking about for a very long time. Even if you were to think about inflation and growth in the economy, this is a mammoth amount of money coming into the economy to the rescue, and it will help. It will do good things.

2. Unemployment rate won’t reach double digits

We’re going to be facing a pretty tight labor market in the future. For right now, manufacturers should try to keep the best and easily trainable, people. The unemployment rate is not going to go to double digits, according to the ITR forecast. It will be above the traditional full employment and it will be quite a bit above what we have grown accustomed to in this country. But it is not going to be the dire numbers you’ve been hearing as we go forward.

3. GDP will peak in June 2021

The rate of growth and GDP had been slowing since the middle of 2018. As it was slowing down, most people didn’t even recognize that was happening. Now, it is falling off a cliff, and it will be painful. It’s going to go way too low in June 2020 at approximately minus 2.4% — and then it is going to move up. The top will come in June 2021 at a peak of 3.6%. ITR is saying the economy is going to go from a contraction at 2.4% and then four quarters later, it’s drawing at 3.6%. People will benefit from that and feel good about that.

4. Forecasted 2022-23 recession no longer expected

Pre-COVID, it was expected that there would be a recession in 2022-2023. That has now been removed from the forecast; the GDP line has the economy slowing down from June 2021 into 2022. But it won’t be a recession because it never reaches a zero line, which represents 0% growth.

5. A resurgence in ‘near-sourcing’

Look for firms that have been sourcing from overseas to be ready to switch back to the U.S. ITR thinks that’s one of the things that will happen as a result of the crisis — that there will be a resurgence in “near-sourcing,” not necessarily only in the U.S. but in Canada and Mexico, as well.

6. Be patient, and you’ll be all right

On the stock market, ITR looked at 11 precedents. When the market bounces back, it tends to rebound in those 11 to 26 months, from 56.5% to 85.5%. Given that the market is off (as of 3/23) 33% from the February 2020 high, if we come back 56.5%, we are made whole. If we can go back to the high side, 85.5%, we’re making some money in a year or two. Beaulieu said that if you want it in a couple months, it’s not likely to happen. “But if you have some patience, you’re going to be all right. Your retirement is not likely to be ruined unless you’re retiring tomorrow.”

7. China is waiting for orders

If you’re sourcing from China, it’s waiting for your order. The problem now is that it’s waiting for orders from the U.S. and the E.U., but it needs raw materials from the E.U. and from the U.S. The demand it has and the demand it is waiting for from us are hurting or slowing the process down. China has its own internal pent-up demand, but consumer demand is not nearly as large in China as it is in U.S.

8. Don’t forget about marketing

Companies need to focus on marketing now to keep their name out there. Beaulieu said product and name recognition has to go on, or else when the crisis is over, they’re going to be forgotten.

“I firmly believe that some level of marketing has to go on, and now’s a good time to be designing products for the future. As you’re designing products for the future, marketing has to be on your team. That’s part of their job, too. We often think of them as the backend, having to do with keeping our name out there and making sure that we understand what the customer wants. They need to be on the front end, helping us design what the customer wants and knowing what they’re thinking so that we can be there.”

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Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is a modern technique that allows surgeons to perform operations through small incisions (usually 5-15 mm). Although it has numerous advantages over older surgical techniques, MIS can be more difficult to perform. Some inherent drawbacks are:

• Limited motion due to straight laparoscopic instruments and fixation enforced by the small incision in the abdominal wall
• Impaired vision, due the two-dimensional imaging
• Usage of long instruments amplifies the effects of surgeon’s tremor
• Poor ergonomics imposed to the surgeon
• Loss of haptic feedback, which is distorted by friction forces on the instrument and reactionary forces from the abdominal wall.

Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery (MIRS) offers solutions to either minimize or eliminate many of the pitfalls associated with traditional laparoscopic surgery. MIRS platforms such as Intuitive Surgical’s da Vinci, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2000, represent a historical milestone of surgical treatments. The ability to leverage laparoscopic surgery advantages while augmenting surgeons’ dexterity and visualization and eliminating the ergonomic discomfort of long surgeries, makes MIRS undoubtedly an essential technology for the patient, surgeons and hospitals.

However, despite all improvements brought by currently commercially available MIRS, haptic feedback is still a major limitation reported by robot-assisted surgeons. Because the interventionist no longer manipulates the instrument directly, the natural haptic feedback is eliminated. Haptics is a conjunction of both kinesthetic (form and shape of muscles, tissues and joints) as well as tactile (cutaneous texture and fine detail) perception and is a combination of many physical variables such as force, distributed pressure, temperature and vibration.

Direct benefits of sensing interaction forces at the surgical end-effector are:

• Improved organic tissue characterization and manipulation
• Assessment of anatomical structures
• Reduction of sutures breakage
• Overall increase on the feeling of assisted robotics surgery.

Haptic feedback also plays a fundamental role in shortening the learning curve for young surgeons in MIRS training. A tertiary benefit of accurate real-time direct force measurement is that the data collected from these sensors can be utilized to produce accurate tissue and organ models for surgical simulators used in MIS training. Futek Advanced Sensor Technology, an Irvine, Calif.-based sensor manufacturer, shared these tips on how to design and manufacture haptic sensors for surgical robotics platforms.

With a force, torque and pressure sensor enabling haptic feedback to the hands of the surgeon, robotic minimally invasive surgery can be performed with higher accuracy and dexterity while minimizing trauma to the patient. | Credit: Futek

Technical and economic challenges of haptic feedback

Adding to the inherent complexity of measuring haptics, engineers and neuroscientists also face important issues that require consideration prior to the sensor design and manufacturing stages. The location of the sensing element, which significantly influences the measurement consistency, presents MIRS designers with a dilemma: should they place the sensor outside the abdomen wall near the actuation mechanism driving the end-effector (a.k.a. Indirect Force Sensing), or inside the patient at the instrument tip, embedded on the end-effector (a.k.a. Direct Force Sensing).

The pros and cons of these two approaches are associated with measurement accuracy, size restrictions and sterilization and biocompatibility requirements. Table 1 compares these two force measurement methods.

In the MIRS applications, where very delicate instrument-tissue interaction forces need to give precise feedback to the surgeon, measurement accuracy is sine qua non, which makes intra-abdominal direct sensing the ideal option.

However, this novel approach not only brings the design and manufacturing challenges described in Table 1 but also demands higher reusability. Commercially available MIRS systems that are modular in design allow the laparoscopic instrument to be reutilized approximately 12 to 20 times. Adding the sensing element near to the end-effector invariably increases the cost of the instrument and demands further consideration during the design stage in order to enhance sensor reusability.

Appropriate electronic components, strain measurement method and electrical connections have to withstand additional autoclavable cycles as well as survive a high PH washing. Coping with these special design requirements invariably increases the unitary cost per sensor. However, extended lifespan and number of cycles consequently reduces the cost per cycle and brings financial affordability to direct measurement method.

Hermeticity of high precision sub-miniature load sensing elements is equally challenging to intra-abdominal direct force measurement. The conventional approach to sealing electronic components is the adoption of conformal coatings, which are extensively used in submersible devices. As much as this solution provides protection in low-pressure water submersion environments for consumer electronics, coating protection is not sufficiently airtight and is not suitable for high-reliability medical, reusable and sterilizable solutions.

Under extreme process controls, conformal coatings have shown to be marginal and provide upwards of 20 to 30 autoclave cycles. The autoclave sterilization process presents a harsher physicochemical environment using high pressure and high temperature saturated steam. Similar to helium leak detection technology, saturated steam particles are much smaller in size compared to water particles and are capable of penetrating and degrading the coating over time causing the device to fail in a hardly predictable manner.

An alternative and conventional approach to achieving hermeticity is to weld on a header interface to the sensor. Again, welding faces obstacles in miniaturized sensors due to its size constraints. All in all, a novel and robust approach is a monolithic sensor using custom formulated, Ct matched, chemically neutral, high temperature fused isolator technology used to feed electrical conductors through the walls of the hermetically sealed active sensing element. The fused isolator technology has shown reliability in the hundreds to thousands of autoclave cycles.

The Robot Report launched the Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum (Dec. 9-10 in Santa Clara, Calif.). The conference and expo focuses on improving the design, development and manufacture of next-generation healthcare robots. The Healthcare Robotics Engineering Forum is currently accepting speaking proposals through July 26, 2019. To submit a proposal, fill out this form.

Other design considerations for haptic feedback

As aforementioned, miniaturization, biocompatibility, autoclavability and high reusability are some of the unique characteristics imposed to a haptic sensor by the surgical environment. In addition, it is imperative that designers also meet requirements that are inherent to any high-performance force measurement device.

Extraneous loads (or crosstalk) compensation, provides optimal resistance to off-axis loads to assure maximum operating life and minimize reading errors. Force and torque sensors are engineered to capture forces along the Cartesian axes, typically X, Y and Z. From these three orthogonal axes, one to six measurement channels derives three force channels (Fx, Fy and Fz) and three torque or moment channels (Mx, My and Mz). Theoretically, a load applied along one of the axes should not produce a measurement in any of the other channels, but this is not always the case. For a majority of force sensors, this undesired cross-channel interference will be between 1 and 5% and, considering that one channel can capture extraneous loads from five other channels, the total crosstalk could be as high as 5 to 25%.

In robotic surgery, the sensor must be designed to negate the extraneous or cross-talk loads, which include frictions between the end-effector instrument and trocar, reactionary forces from the abdominal wall and gravitational effect of mass along the instrument axis. In some occasions, miniaturized sensors are very limited in space and have to compensate side loads using alternate methods such as electronic or algorithmic compensation.

Calibration of direct inline force sensor imposes restrictions as well. The calibration fixtures are optimized with SR buttons to direct load precisely through the sensor of the part. If the calibration assembly is not equipped with such arrangements, the final calibration might be affected by parallel load paths.

Thermal effect is also a major challenge in strain measurement. Temperature variations cause material expansion, gage factor coefficient variation and other undesirable effects on the measurement result. For this reason, temperature compensation is paramount to ensure accuracy and long-term stability even when exposed to severe ambient temperature oscillations.

The measures to counteract temperature effects on the readings are:

• The use of high-quality, custom and self-compensated strain gages compatible with the thermal expansion coefficient of the sensing element material
• Use of half or full Wheatstone bridge circuit configuration installed in both load directions (tension and compression) to correct for temperature drift
• Fully internally temperature compensation of zero balance and output range without the necessity of external conditioning circuitry.

In some special cases, the use of custom strain gages with reduced solder connections helps reduce temperature impacts from solder joints. Usually, a regular force sensor with four individual strain gages has upwards of 16 solder joints, while custom strain elements can reduce this down to less than six. This design consideration improves reliability as the solder joint, as an opportunity for failure, is significantly reduced.

During the design phase, it is also imperative to consider such sensors to meet high reliability along with high-volume manufacturability, taking into consideration the equipment and processes that will be required should a device be designated for high-volume manufacturing. The automated, high-volume processes could be slightly or significantly different than the benchtop or prototype equipment used for producing lower volumes. The scalability must maintain focus on reducing failure points during the manufacturing process, along with failure points that could occur on the field.

Testing for medical applications is more related to the ability of a measurement device that can withstand a high number of cycles rather than resist to strenuous structural stress. In particular for medical sensors, the overload and fatigue testing must be performed in conjunction with the sterilization testing in an intercalated process with several cycles of fatigue and sterilization testing. The ability to survive hundreds of overload cycles while maintaining hermeticity translates into a failure-free, high- reliability sensor with lower MTBF and more competitive total cost of ownership.

Credit: Futek

Product development challenges

Although understanding the inherent design challenges of the haptic autoclavable sensor is imperative, the sensor manufacturer must be equipped with a talented multidisciplinary engineering team, in-house manufacturing capabilities supported by fully developed quality processes and product/project management proficiency to handle the complex, resource-limited, and fast-paced new product development environment.

A multidisciplinary approach will result in a sensor element that meets the specifications in terms of nonlinearity, hysteresis, repeatability and cross-talk, as well as an electronic instrument that delivers analog and digital output, high sampling rate and bandwidth, high noise-free resolution and low power consumption, both equally necessary for a reliable turnkey haptics measurement solution.

Strategic control of all manufacturing processes (machining, lamination, wiring, calibration), allows manufacturers to engineer sensors with a design for manufacturability (DFM) mentality. This strategic control of manufacturing boils down to methodically selecting the bill of material, defining the testing plans, complying with standards and protocols and ultimately strategizing the manufacturing phase based on economic constraints.

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Piab has introduced piSOFTGRIP, a new soft gripping tool developed with food industry automation in mind. The vacuum-based soft gripper will grip fragile and lightweight objects of odd geometries and/or an unusual surfaces. Another application is bin picking of small, irregularly shaped objects such as toys.

piSOFTGRIP has three gripping fingers and a vacuum cavity, all made in one piece, resulting in a simple and robust product, said Piab. As it is vacuum-driven, the gripping force can be easily adjusted and controlled by the applied vacuum level.

“The piSOFTGRIP is a cost-effective solution for sensitive and difficult to grip objects,” said Lennart Ryberg, Piab’s global product manager. “The soft gripper can grip objects with a diameter of up to 50 mm [1.97in.]. However, we are planning to follow up this first release with the introduction of larger models at a later stage,”

piSOFTGRIP designed for ease of use

Piab said the soft gripping vacuum tool is as easy to control and install as a suction cup, and it uses the same fittings as the company’s piGRIP suction cups. An optional stainless-steel fitting offers wash-down provision to assist cleaning.

In addition, Piab said piSOFTGRIP’s intuitive and user-friendly design makes it easy to integrate into automated procedures, where it can help to secure the quality of products and increase overall productivity.

Made in detectable silicone approved for direct contact with food, in accordance with FDA 21 CFR and EU 1935/2004 regulations, the piSOFTGRIP vacuum gripper is the first of its kind, said Piab.

The food-compliant silicone gripper enables the food industry to extend its automated food handling to include a wider range of products. Unpackaged, fresh, and delicate food items can be handled without risk of being spoiled due to crushing, the company claimed.

The piSOFTGRIP is intended to be easy to use, rugged, and lightweight. Source: Piab

The silicone-made piSOFTGRIP vacuum gripper is also a lightweight automation tool, which means that very little extra weight is added when fitted to robot arms. It has a building height of approximately 80 mm, allowing it to be used even where space is limited.

Combined with Piab’s end-of-arm vacuum tool piCOBOT, the piSOFTGRIP offers a powerful and flexible “plug and play” extension for collaborative robots, said the company. As both piCOBOT and piSOFTGRIP offer compressed air saving functionality (ES), virtually no energy is needed to perform a grip and release, said Piab. The handy and application-friendly soft gripper is already UR-certified for such use.

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Bionic SoftHand from Festo plays Rock-Paper-Scissors. Credit: Philipp Freudigmann

Whether it’s grabbing, holding or turning, touching, typing or pressing — in everyday life, we use our hands as a matter of course for the most diverse tasks. In that regard, the human hand, with its unique combination of power, dexterity, and fine motor skills, is a true miracle tool of nature. What could be more natural than equipping robots in collaborative workspaces with a gripper that is modeled after this example from nature and solves various tasks by learning with artificial intelligence? Festo’s Bionic series does just that.

Festo announced that it will show its BionicSoftHand pneumatic robot hand at Hannover Messe 2019. Combined with the BionicSoftArm, a pneumatic lightweight robot, these future concepts are suitable for human-robot collaboration.

The BionicSoftHand is pneumatically operated so that it can interact safely and directly with people. Unlike the human hand, the BionicSoftHand has no bones. Its fingers consist of flexible bellows structures with air chambers.

The bellows are enclosed in the fingers by a special 3D textile coat knitted from both, elastic, and high-strength threads. Thanks to this soft robotics material, it is possible to determine exactly where the structure expands and generates power and where it is prevented from expanding. This makes it light, flexible, adaptable, and sensitive, yet capable of exerting strong forces.

AI-guided Bionic grasping

The methods for machines to learn are comparable with those of humans. They require positive or negative feedback to their actions in order to classify and learn from them. BionicSoftHand uses this method of reinforcement learning.

This means instead of imitating a specific action, the hand is merely given a goal. It uses trial and error to achieve its goal. Based on received feedback, the Bionic gripper gradually optimizes its actions until the task is finally solved.

Specifically, the BionicSoftHand can rotate a 12-sided cube so that a previously defined side ends up on top. The necessary movement strategy is taught in a virtual environment with the aid of a digital twin, which is created with the help of data from a depth-sensing camera and computer vision algorithms.

Proportional piezo valves for precise control

To minimize the effects of tubing, Festo’s developers have specially designed a small, digitally controlled valve terminal, which is mounted directly on the BionicSoftHand. This means that the tubes for controlling the gripper fingers do not have to be pulled through the entire robot arm.

Thus, the BionicSoftHand can be quickly and easily connected and operated with only one tube each for supply air and exhaust air. With the proportional piezo valves used, the movements of the fingers can be precisely controlled.

The days of strict separation between factory workers and automation are passing, thanks to collaborative robots. As their workspaces converge, humans and machines will be able to work simultaneously on the same workpiece or component — without having to be shielded from each other for safety reasons.

The BionicSoftArm is a compact further development of Festo’s BionicMotionRobot, whose range of applications has been significantly expanded. Thanks to its modular design, the Bionic arm can be combined with up to seven pneumatic bellows segments and rotary drives. This guarantees maximum flexibility in terms of reach and mobility. The arm can work around obstacles even in the tightest of spaces if necessary.

At the same time, it is completely flexible and can work safely with people. Direct human-robot collaboration is possible with the BionicSoftArm, as well as its use in classic SCARA applications, such as pick-and-place tasks.

Flexible application possibilities

The modular robot arm can be used for a wide variety of applications, depending on the design and mounted gripper. Thanks to its flexible kinematics, the BionicSoftArm can interact directly and safely with humans.

At the same time, the kinematics make it easier for the Bionic arm to adapt to different tasks at various locations in production environments. The elimination of costly safety devices such as cages and light barriers shortens conversion times and thus enables flexible use – completely in accordance with adaptive and economical production.

BionicFinWave: Underwater robot with unique fin drive

Nature teaches us impressively, how optimal drive systems for certain swimming movements should look. To move forward, the marine planarian and sepia create a continuous wave with their fins, which advances along their entire length.

For the BionicFinWave, the bionics team was inspired by this undulating fin movement. The undulation pushes the water backwards, creating a forward thrust. This principle allows the BionicFinWave to maneuver forwards or backwards through an acrylic tube system.

The BionicFinWave’s two side fins are completely cast out of silicone and do not require struts or other supporting elements. The two fins are attached to the left and right of nine small lever arms, which in turn are powered by two servo motors. Two adjacent crankshafts transmit the force to the levers so that the two fins can be moved individually to generate different shaft patterns. They are particularly suitable for slow and precise locomotion and whirl up less water than, for example, a screw drive.

A cardan joint is located between each lever segment to ensure that the Bionic robot’s crankshafts are flexible. For this purpose, the crankshafts including the joints and the connecting rod are made of plastic in one piece using the 3D printing process.

Intelligent interaction of a wide variety of components

The remaining elements in the BionicFinWave’s body are also 3D-printed, which enables its complex geometries in the first place. With their cavities, they act as flotation units.

At the same time, the entire control and regulation technology are watertight, safely installed and synchronized in a very tight space. The Festo Bionic Learning Network has continued its innovative approach to robotics.

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The Epson C4L Long Reach 6-Axis Robot provides a slimLine design for maximum flexibility along with long reach and up to a 4Kg payload. It includes a compact wrist pitch design to allow easier access into tight work areas.

The C4L robot workcell will show battery pack testing using Epson’s Force Guide product, which provides integrated high precision force feedback. The robot will test rotational torque values for assembled lug nuts and linear force values through wire pull testing. Proper connection of wires to batteries is critical for proper battery power in automobiles and other devices. Integrated testing as a part of the assembly process can catch quality issues early in the manufacturing process.

The C4L is suitable for the lab automation, medical, consumer, food, automotive, electronics, PC peripheral, semiconductor, plastics, appliance and aerospace industries where it can be used for a wide variety of applications such as part load/unload, pallet and tray transfers, kitting, assembly and many more.

Epson Robots
www.epsonrobots.com

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Yaskawa Motoman is a robotics company that collaborates closely with educators and industry professionals across the Americas to help build a relevant workforce training environment through educational tools and STEM curriculum.

RAMTEC (Robotics & Advanced Manufacturing Technology Education Collaborative) is a trusted accreditor of both high school and adult robotics manufacturing licensures and certifications that seeks to create sustainable solutions for filling Ohio’s robotics and advanced manufacturing skills gap.

“Data reveals that within ten years nearly 3.5 million manufacturing jobs will sit empty, with the skills gap being responsible for 2 million of those jobs going unfilled,” said Ritch Ramey, RAMTEC Coordinator and Engineering Instructor. “Forming mutually-beneficial relationships with manufacturers through the Ohio Manufacturing Workforce Partnership will create the foundation needed to move Ohio’s workforce forward.”

Their core mission to partner with real-world manufacturing facilities to help identify and supply the needs of the manufacturing industry, is fueling RAMTEC’s involvement in the partnership. The entire project development funding is earmarked for $400,000 to provide a comprehensive training and application development model that will reach thousands of incumbent workers and students statewide.

“Our workforce-driven training and research partnership with RAMTEC is a solid step to providing students with work-based learning opportunities in the field of robotics,” said Doug Burnside, Yaskawa Motoman’s VP of Sales and Marketing. “The best-in-class instruction and certification programs provided through our Yaskawa Academy will also help to enhance RAMTEC’s vision of providing proficient training and curriculum in 21^stcentury automation and robotics.”

Highlights of the partnership will include the creation of in-lab and classroom instructional strategies, the development of advanced industry-recognized robotic certifications, the utilization of augmented and virtual reality (VR) technologies to develop a new class of training tools and curriculum, and the incorporation of industry-utilized robotic equipment aligned to the industrial manufacturing base.

The on-going identification and creation of new training models to support the robotics manufacturing pipeline will also continue.

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igus has introduced a low-cost delta robot that can help small and medium-sized businesses get introduced to automation for an initial investment that is far less than units currently being used in manufacturing industries.

The igus delta robot provides a thrifty and simple automation solution for assembly tasks. The low-maintenance, lightweight igus delta robot is manufactured entirely with igus components and starts at $6,200.

igus’ delta robot includes a maintenance-free toothed belt drive lubrication-free linkage, encoders and stepper motors as well as optional drive controllers. The unit can be delivered pre-assembled or can be assembled on-site in about 30 minutes with easy-to-use instructions provided by igus. It is ideal for simple assembly functions, pick and place tasks, and applications in inspection technology.

igus delta robot. (Credit: igus)

The igus delta robot is based on three maintenance-free drylin ZLW toothed-belt actuators, lubrication-free igubal spherical bearings and other lightweight components. NEMA stepper motors and encoders ensure quick handling by the delta robot of up to ± 0.5 millimeters.

The system has an installation space of up to 420 millimeters in diameter and can carry up to five kilograms at low speeds. The igus delta robot is constructed with aluminum and plastic materials and reaches a maximum pick rate of 60 per minute. The unit weighs 15 kilograms, has a working area diameter of 380 millimeters (at 75mm) and a maximum process force of 100 N (a radius of 0 millimeters).

“The cost-effective delta robot enables our customers to have their own control box and integration at a cost of less than $9,000,” said Matt Mowry, igus’ U.S. drylin product manager. “They pay off after just a few months, a maximum of half a year.”

The igus delta robot costs between $6,200-$8,850, depending on the assembly and controller package, according to Mowry.

Depending on the customer’s requirements, the igus delta robot can be delivered pre-assembled within 24 hours as a ready-to-install system in a transport frame or as a kit with quick and easy assembly instructions. As an option, customers can use their own software and control system, or the intuitive and easy-to-use dryve D1 control system.

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“We have given our SCARAs a complete makeover. They are now modular in design and, for the first time, incorporate our very own JCS drive technology which has been setting new standards in our six-axis machines. This technology is the key to the enormous performance gains of the four-axis TS2. Hollow shaft technology has made possible a unique cleanroom design which makes external cabling a thing of the past,” said Gerald Vogt.

The differences between the new robots and their predecessors are indeed immediately apparent. They are characterized by their compact, enclosed design with internal media and supply lines. There is no external bundling of cables and thus no irregular contours, sources of mechanical failure or avoidable particle emissions. Completely sealed housing, the quill optionally protected with a cover and affixed with special screws, concealed connections under the robot pedestal (if so desired), dead spaces systematically excluded: this is the epitome of modern hygienic design.

High speed SCARAs for all purposes
What the manufacturer is aiming for is clear: Stäubli is a leader in the life science sector and intends to further consolidate this position with the new SCARAs. Shortly after the launch of the standard model, versions are to be made available that have been specially modified for pharmaceutical, medical and food applications as well as UL and ESD compliant variants. “Our new high-speed SCARAs are suitable for all purposes—and much more besides,” Vogt said. “There are standard robots for all assembly tasks, but these can be upgraded with simple modifications for sensitive production environments, where they open up new application possibilities. I am thinking of applications subject to the strictest hygiene or cleanroom requirements, ranging from food and pharmaceuticals to photovoltaics. All TS2 models can be operated with food-grade H1 oil as lubricant without any loss of performance.”

In order to provide the best solution for all eventualities, the new robot family consists of four members, the TS2-40, TS2-60, TS2-80 and TS2-100. With the four-axis TS2-100, Stäubli has extended the working radius of the predecessor series (400 to 800 millimeters) to an impressive 1,000 millimeters. Overall, the new SCARAs are considerably more compact than their predecessors and are far less greedy in terms of space. And they have a bonus feature—for the first time, the four-axis machine can be ordered with an optional integrated tool change system. This allows the SCARA’s nimble grippers and tools to automatically replace themselves, thereby significantly increasing the uptime in certain applications. Another advantage of this system is that tools or grippers can be changed manually within seconds by means of the bayonet locking mechanism. All media and signal connections are automatic.

Modular design with multiple advantages
Close inspection of the four models reveals their common features. This is not by chance but rather the result of the new modular design. All machines have the same robot pedestal that the series shares with the six-axis TX2 generation. Also, forearms, axes and drives are identical on certain models. In the case of the forearm, the four models are equipped with one of two different versions, the smaller of which is found on the TS2-40 and TS2-60, the larger on the TS2-80 and the TS2-100.

“First and foremost, we saw this modular design as a way of significantly reducing delivery times for the new SCARAs. In addition, we save unnecessary costs and rationalize our spare parts provision. We are now using our own JCS drive technology and in any case have a very high level of vertical integration as a matter of policy, which means we are no longer dependent on the reliability of certain component suppliers. Users will therefore not only be pleased with the high performance of these machines, which are now faster, quieter and more accurate, but will also benefit from shorter delivery times,” said Vogt.

Stäubli
staubli.com

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Traditional vision sensors are usually specialised in a limited number of image processing tasks. If users want to use them for other tasks, they often reach their limits. With IDS NXT, we have chosen an approach that breaks with the classic principles of digital industrial cameras and offers virtually universal possibilities.

The new generation of devices is vision app-based, which means that apps can be installed and run quickly on IDS NXT devices, just as we are used to it from our smartphones or tablets. As a result, the new cameras and sensors have a variable range of functions and can handle a wide variety of tasks. Since we open the platform for users, they can even develop their own vision apps in just a few steps using the app development kit. The Virtual Box now also offers a Qt project wizard: newly created projects will already contain all important project information and dependencies, so that you can start directly with the actual programming of your vision app.

IDS NXT vegas is now available internationally. As an embedded vision component, the 185 g lightweight sensor simplifies integrated design into individual device hardware and software. The board-level option is also very interesting for OEM equipment manufacturers. IDS NXT vegas can be used, for example, in optical quality assurance, as an analytical device in medical technology, for monitoring tasks by facial recognition or for vehicle and people counting.

IDS
www.ids-imaging.us

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“The results of the ZEW study on the labour market confirm what we’re observing in leading industrial nations across the world,” said Junji Tsuda, president of the International Federation of Robotics. “The modernization of production shifts hazardous, unhealthy and monotonous work to the machines. In the vast majority of cases, only certain activities of a job are automated and not the entire spectrum of an employee´s work.”

However, if jobs are cut—the ZEW reports that 5% of employees were replaced within five years—these losses are compensated for by new jobs overall.

In Germany, the rise in the use of machines has allowed employment to grow by 1%. This development looks set to continue in future: based on details from companies surveyed, the ZEW estimates that further automation and digitalisation in industry will generate a 1.8% rise in employment by 2021.

This development tallies with experience from the 1990s onwards with the computer boom. The large-scale use of IT in companies did render traditional processing jobs superfluous. But according to calculations by the ZEW, from 1995 to 2011 employment rose by just under 0.2% per year.

The London School of Economics (LSE) recently published a study entitled Robots at Work on the use of industrial robots in 17 developed economies between 1993 and 2007. LSE head of research, Guy Michaels, summarized the key results at a Messe Muenchen press conference on automatica 2018: “Productivity has improved by around 15% due to industrial robots. At the same time, the proportion of low-skilled labour dropped and pay increased slightly. Industrial robots don’t have any significant impact on the number of employees overall,” said Michaels.

International Federation of Robotics
www.ifr.org

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At NVIDIA’s GPU Technology Conference, I spoke with Xiaodi Hou, co-founder and CTO of TuSimple, a startup that is employing artificial intelligence to drive R&D of an SAE Level 4 autonomous trucking solution. Founded in 2015, the company has created a low-cost, commercially viable self-driving system to address a variety of pain points in the logistics industry.

Why is this such an area of interest? The freight industry is the backbone of economies around the world and, according to TuSimple, in the United States alone, it represents more than 70% of all freight tonnage is transported by trucks. TUSimple’s platform is focused on line-haul trucking – this niche is the transportation of cargo between ports, plants, warehouses, and distribution centers.

“We’re focused on the middle mile,” said Hou. “There are a lot of logistic centers or hubs in different places – and there’s a lot of need for transporting container boxes from one hub to the other; this is what our truck is doing.”

By integrating technology into this crucial part of the supply chain, TUSimple aims to address current industry challenges such as road safety and driver shortages, while helping to reduce carbon emissions with optimized driving.

TuSimple’s technology is able to detect and track objects at distances of greater than 300 meters through advanced sensor fusion that combines data from multiple cameras. The localization technology achieves consistent, decimeter-level localization, even in a tunnel. Furthermore, the truck’s decision-making system dynamically adapts to road conditions, changing lanes and adjusting driving speeds to maximize safety and efficiency.

“We are very product oriented, so many of the things that we build are not just building a demo,” Hou said. “We build the whole stack of the product. Whenever there is something we feel missing, or not good enough for our solution, we just build it by ourselves. For example, we build the mask ourselves. And we build the camera modules by ourselves, and we build the servers by ourselves. And, of course, all of the software stacks are done by TuSimple. We’re very heavily invested in safety and product level safety, such as ASIL D and ISO 2662.”

TuSimple Turns to Deep Learning

Deep learning is really an enabler for TuSimple, although Hou explained that in the company’s code base, they have probably less than 10% of the code in deep learning.

“Even though deep learning is only five or 10 years old, it’s really changing the entire idea of how we use computer vision to see the world,” he said. “Based on the triumph of deep learning, the majority of our sensors are camera based. With the camera-based sensors, we can actually beat the performance of some of the LIDAR performance, using them as pure cameras.”

Photos: 9 Self-Driving Trucks Disrupting Logistics

“We’re using deep learning a lot, and it consumes a lot of computational resources. Also, we always want to have a conjugate algorithm, in addition to one. We don’t want the system to rely on one algorithm result, because that’s not stable. If you have a conjugate algorithm, adding on another conjugate algorithm, adding all together, you need a lot of computation. That’s why we have a lot of graphic cards used in this chassis. So that’s the idea of the necessity of using Nvidia.”

Hou said TUSimple is currently doing a lot of road testing in both China and the U.S. It’s working with Peterbilt and other tier-one OEMs, including ZF, Cummins, and Bendix.

He is “pretty optimistic” that, by the end of 2019, TUSimple will be able to get most, if not all, of the algorithm ready to be completely driverless.

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