sensor readings – first issue

SENSOR READINGS First issue

17 July 2015

The weekly magazine for robotics and

automation industry

The robot road race is onFrom automatic transmission to fully autonomous road vehicles

Interview: Albert Nubiola RoboDK chief talks about the

popular OLP software

Rethink raises $40m Maker of Baxter and Sawyer robots to expand into Asia

Case studiesA closer look

at some of the more interesting robotics solutions

A star is born Pepper the emotional robot proves popular with public

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32 Sensor ReadingsSensor Readings Editorial

This is the first issue of Sensor Readings magazine. It’s connected to the Robotics and Automation News website, and aims

to summarise some of the more interesting developments in the two sectors, which are directly linked, and often one and the same.

In developing an editorial policy for this magazine, we decided to cover as many aspects of robotics and automation as resources allow. However, we decided to give priority to physical robotics and automation, rather their virtual counterparts.

So, for example, Automator, which is a great little application that Apple Mac users will be familiar with, may be considered a robot, but given the choice between a story about Automator and another about a physical robot, especially one in an automation setting, we will choose the latter story.

However, that is not to say that we will ignore virtual robots and virtual automation. There are many interesting developments in this area – developments that are saving companies millions of dollars and saving many thousands of working hours. Therefore, it would perhaps be remiss of us not to deal with the virtual world. Particularly when you consider that a lot of physical hardware is being virtualised, or digitised if you prefer.

As to the geographical perspective, we aim to be as international as we can, prioritising whichever country has the most activity. So, obviously China, the US, Germany, Japan would be four countries to keep our eyes on. But they are by no means the only ones.

And for you non-stop sub-editors and proofreaders out there, it’s not that big of a deal whether it’s dollars or yen, color or colour, as long as you know what we mean. l

Abdul Montaqim Editor

Editorial & Production

Managing Editor Anna Schmidt Email [email protected]

Editor Abdul Montaqim Email [email protected]

Art Editor Mark Allinson Email [email protected]

Marketing & Advertising

Advertising Manager Maria Santiago Email [email protected]

Advertising Executive Sam Francis Email [email protected]

Marketing Director David Edwards Email [email protected]

We are living in interesting times

Sensor Readings magazine Monsoon Media,London, United Kingdom

Subscriptions: £10 per year (digital only) Single issue: £1 (digital version)

Contents

Autonomous journey The popularity of automatic transmission has led to fully autonomous road vehicles6

Interview: Albert NubiolaRoboDK chief talks about the popular offline programming software 14

A star is born Pepper the emotional robot proves popular with public 4, 10

Pepper leads the way by ‘marrying’ couple 4Robotic bricklayer can build a house in two days 5The robocar race is on 6I wandered lonely as a robot 10Offline programming for robots 14Robotics case studies 16Marketplace 18

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Mechanical data Information


17 July 2015

The weekly news magazine for robotics

and automation industry

China’s robot revolution The world’s most populous nation now buys the most robots

From strength to strength Japan unveils the

‘world’s strongest robot’

Germany makes progress Robotics sector grows 11 per cent in first quarter of 2015

Off sideWe talk to the people behind RoboDK, the new offline

progamming tool

Rockwell CEO calls for youth ‘Manufacturing needs to teach and reach younger students’



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4 News Sensor Readings Sensor Readings

In Brief

China biggest buyer of robots China is now the world’s largest buyer of robots, overtaking the US. Sales of robots in China grew 54 per cent last year, according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). The IFR is forecasting the China market will grow again in 2015. IFR chairman, Arturo Baroncelli, said China is “the most dynamic robot market in the world”. According to the IFR, approximately 225,000 robots were sold worldwide in 2014, an increase of 27 per cent from 2013. All major markets saw growth, with Asia growing the fastest, largely because of China, which bought 56,000 robots in 2014.

Rethink raises $40m Rethink Robotics has raised $40m to expand operations worldwide, and launch its latest robot, Sawyer, which can perform precise tasks that robots have not previously been able to do. Rodney Brooks, who runs Rethink, said: “So far manufacturing robots have only been sold in the US … but the Sawyer will be a worldwide robot and it will have certification for anywhere in the world.” Europe has potential but so does Asia – China in particular, Japan and Korea. He said the original Sawyer robot was good at packing and repacking but this is a machine which can do light assembly.

Japan has most robots Japan has the most number of industrial robots in the world, with 60 per cent of the global total, according to a new report by Research in China (RiC). In terms of sales, the company claims that Japan, the US, Germany, South Korea and China bought a combined total of 70 per cent of the world’s robots. China was the world’s largest buyer in 2013, with 36,560 units, or 20 per cent of the global total. RiC had predicted China to buy 45,000 units in 2014, a figure which differs somewhat from other researchers, which put the number at more than 50,000.

The world’s first bricklaying robot, named Hadrian, has been unveiled in Australia.

The machine uses a 28 metre articulated robotic arm to lay bricks, and works by first eating a 4D image of the house, then calculates where each brick needs to be located, and develops a sequence to lay those bricks, all from a single location.

The man who invented the machine, Mark Pivac of Fastback Robotics, says Hadrian can lay 1,000 bricks an hour. ““People have been laying bricks for about 6,000 years and ever since the

One of the most important labs in the US, Arup, has installed new track technolo-gy in its facility at the University of Utah.

The organisation is now “one of the most automated laboratories in the United States”, according to Dr Charles Hawker, who re-cently retired after 23 years working at Arup.

The MagneMover LITE automation track system, supplied by MagneMotion, will help Arup process the 50,000 sam-ples it receives every day from patients.

MagneMotion first demonstrated its prod-

industrial revolution, they have tried to automate the bricklaying process,” Pivac told PerthNow.

“We’re at a technological nexus where a few different technologies have got to the level where it’s now possible to do it, and that’s what we’ve done.”

While Hadrian is claimed to be the first of its kind, there are other similar machines that have been used in construction for some time.

Construction Robotics has two robotic Semi-Automated Masonry (SAM) systems available on a limited release basis. SAM works just like a human mason, says the company, and can lay bricks and mortar. “SAM will actually put mortar on the brick instead of on the wall,” says Zak Podkaminer, operations manager for Construction Robotics.

“We tested it out in 2013 on a prototype system that worked alongside a mason. Then we went back to the drawing board and made SAM smaller.”

uct, which it developed with Tekmatic, earli-er this year. At the time, Tekmatic’s president, Chris Muldowney, said: “We are confident that the advanced engineering solutions provid-ed by both Tekmatic and MagneMotion will be valuable tools for engineers and scien-tists as they pursue new discoveries and in-creased productivity in laboratory automation.”

The lab automation market was worth $3.5 billion in 2014, according to a re-port by Markets&Markets, which forecasts it will grow to more than $5 billion by 2020.

News

Robotic bricklayer can build a house in two days

Arup installs new lab technology

The bricklaying robot which marks the beginning of a new era in the construction industry

NewsIn Brief

Giant robots prepare to fight Makers of giant robot in the US have challenged their counterparts in Japan to a mechanised duel. MegaBots, a US company, said it has built a giant robot to fight Kuratas, another giant robot built by Japanese company Suidobashi Heavy Industries. In a good-natured challenge, rocket launchers would be filled with paintball and the whole spectacle will be designed for entertainment, on television and online. In an interview with qz.com, MegaBots founder Gui Cavalcani said: “I definitely need to see this in a sport. “We’re children trapped in engineers’ bodies. We wanted video games to come to life.”

Gone in sixty secondsIt took just one minute for Japanese telecom giant SoftBank Corporation to sell 1,000 of its newly launched humanoid Pepper robots when it went on sale on June 20. SoftBank is working with Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) to build the humanoid Pepper, which has a price tag of 198,000 Japanese yen ($1,600). The companies say they plan to manufacture and release 1,000 units a month, most likely at the same price. Customers can buy Pepper, which has 200 related apps available, on SoftBank’s website.

Ageing workers spurs growthWorkers in Japan are getting older, which is leading employers to turn increasingly to a robot workforce, according to the government. Kyuuichiro Sano, a director of a trade ministry division, said: “Shortage of labour is a structural problem Japan faces in the long run, given the ageing society.” Underlining this view, a recent Bank of Japan survey showed large companies were planning to boost capital expenditure, which would mean directly putting money into robotics and automation systems.

They make not be as useful around the house as some people might expect or want them to be, but humanoid robots are massively popular regardless. The first batch of 1,000 Pepper robots sold out in one minute, according to its makers, SoftBank and Foxconn.

Pepper’s developer, Aldebaran, claims it designed the robot to be able to able to detect emotions. Pepper is said to be able to understand facial expressions and other clues to a person’s mood.

Chris Andreson, chief executive of 3D Robotics, calculates that more than 500,000 consumer drones were sold last year, and 70 per cent of them to his company’s main competitor, DJI Technology.

Anderson has high hopes for 3D Robotics’ new launch, the Solo, quadruple-rotored consumer drone which is on sale at Best Buy for around $1,000. The company is confident of gaining market share from DJI because, he claims, Solo is the world’s first smart drone.

“Solo is a breakthrough in intelligent

“With this emotion function, Pepper’s emotions are influenced by people’s facial expressions and words, as well as his surroundings, which in turn affects Pepper’s words and actions,” said SoftBank Robotics in a press release.

“For example, Pepper is at ease when he is around people he knows, happy when he is praised, and gets scared when the lights go down. Depending on the emotion at the time, Pepper raises his voice or sighs, for example. Pepper’s emotions can be seen on the heart display, which shows different colors and movements.

“Furthermore, a number of robot apps have been developed to make life fun with an emotional robot. The ‘Pepper’s Diary’, for example, links Pepper’s emotions with daily family events that are recorded with pictures and photos.”

flight,” said Anderson. “It’s not just smarter so that it can do more; it’s smarter so that you have to do less. We’ve turned the Hollywood toolkit into software, and allowed everyone to experience epic video, both behind and in front of the camera.”

Solo is claimed to be the first to support full control of GoPro cameras, through which it can deliver live streaming HD video straight to mobile devices or through the controller’s HDMI port.

The controller itself can accommodate iOS and Android devices, such as tablets.

Pepper leads the way by ‘marrying’ robots

3D Robotics chief predicts big year

Two humanoid robots were ‘married’ in Japan, at a ceremony conducted by Pepper the robot

“Pepper is happy when he is praised, and gets scared when the lights go down.”

Aldebaran

“We’re at a technological nexus where a few different technologies.”

Mark Pivac of Fastback Robotics




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76 Sensor ReadingsSensor Readings FeaturesFeatures

With fully autonomous road-going vehicles on the horizon, and many examples already upon us, it’s probably a good time to take a closer look at the

origins of the automation technology in cars and how it has developed over the years.

Since their introduction in the late 1930s and early 1940s, cars with automatic transmission have almost wiped out manual alternatives in the US. According to several reports over the past couple of years, the percentage of automatic cars in the US is anywhere between 3 per cent and 10 per cent.

Automatic transmission was first patented by Alfred Munro, in 1921, of Canada. The first car to feature the technology was the Oldsmobile, a product of the Olds Motor Vehicle Company, which was the biggest-selling carmaker of the early 1900s, selling 425 cars in 1901.

Oldsmobile, subsequently acquired by General Motors, launched its first fully automatic transmission car in 1940, naming it the Hydramatic. And manual cars have been in inexorable decline ever since, only clinging on to a significant market presence because of the perception that they were more economical and could achieve better performance.

Automatics are thought to have been outselling manuals in the US since the 1950s, with sales taking a dramatic dip between 1987 and 2003, according to Edmunds.com, an automotive research company.

“The stick shift (gear stick) hasn't yet gone the way of the passenger pigeon and the dodo, but it's definitely an endangered species,” says John Adolph at Edmunds. He lists what he says are five myths about manual cars.

They are:l manual transmission cars are more fuel-efficient

than automatics;l a car with a manual transmission costs less than the

same model with an automatic;l sports cars, or supercars, use manual transmission

because of better performance;

The robocar race is on

Above: Mercedes has launched the F015 Luxury in Motion concept car, saying it has the technology to produce fully autonomous vehicles. Left: the Daimler Freightliner Inspiration autonomous truck

“The stick shift hasn’t yet gone the way of the passenger pigeon and dodo, but it’s definitely an endangered species”

John Adolph Edmunds

Autonomous cars The growing popularity of vehicles with automatic transmission is the evolutionary backdrop to the fully autonomous road vehicles we are seeing today

l all cars are produced in manual and transmission version; and

l young people prefer to learn to drive manual cars.Adolph surmises that advances in automotive technology

mean that the old perceptions about manual gearboxes are “not supported by the facts”.

Does a Ferrari have an ‘economy’ mode?Whatever the other facts are, the reality is that automatics are outselling manuals in America. The reasons for this are inevitably manifold, but in the modern era, one of the most influential factors could be trends in sports cars, or supercars as they have come to be known.

The majority of high-performance cars sell for vastly more money than the average road-going vehicle, the price of which is calculated by auto researcher Kelly Blue Brook to be around $33,650.

At the above-average end, the price of a Ferrari can be as high as $1.7 million. Yes, that’s one point seven million dollars. A McLaren can be picked up for around $1.3 million, while a Porsche is a bargain at $1.1 million.

All these are high-end sports car makers, and all of them integrate automatic transmission. In fact, very few cars in that category feature manual transmission at all.

And it can’t be just because automatic transmission has become more fuel-efficient over the years. If someone can afford to buy a car at those prices, it’s unlikely that they’ll worry too much about saving money on fuel.

The Ferrari 458 Italia, which was the beginning of the end for manual transmission systems in supercars

When it comes to supercars, the metaphorical end of the road for the manual gearbox was probably signposted by Ferrari, which in 2009 launched a model – the 458 italia – which did not offer manual transmission. From then on, automatic or at least semi-automatic transmission became the rule rather than the exception.

Lamborghini followed suit a few years later by dispensing with manual transmission altogether because, as the company said, no-one cares.

At the time, Lamborghini’s chief engineer Maurizio Reggiani said only five percent of Gallardo orders were for a manual. Lamborghini CEO Stephan Winkelmann went further, saying: “Close to zero percent Gallardos were ordered in manual.”

The reasons for the global shift towards automatic transmission could perhaps be summed up in five points:

l they are easier to drive because the driver does not need to manually operate the gearstick and clutch pedal simultaneously as they speed up or slow down;

l there’s more of them around and, therefore, more choice for the buyer;

l less to frustrate you in slow traffic, which requires stopping and starting and slowing down and speeding up – all of which require gear changes, and restarting if the car stalls, which rarely happens in an automatic;

l they can provide more power and smoother gear changes for non-professional drivers; and

l they tend to sell for higher prices on resale market.Interestingly, unlike in America, most Europeans drive

manual cars, partly because automatics are, on average, a thousand dollars more expensive. But even in Europe, more and more countries are reporting increasing sales of automatics, and some countries are seeing automatics outnumber manuals in recent annual sales.

What do those Europeans know?Apart from the dubious point about supercars influencing the wider market (it may have been just an excuse to

include a nice picture), automatic transmission technology is advancing all the time.

In 2013, a German company called ZF launched what it claimed was the world’s first nine-speed automatic transmission, the 9HP (inset picture). The company claimed the new system offers higher efficiency and lower CO2 emissions than the six-gear autos that are most in use today. It also claimed fuel consumption was up to 16 per cent lower than other automatic transmission systems, and that the nine gears enable small gear steps for more ride comfort, and due to the high spacing, “the engine always operates in the ideal speed range”.

Most average family cars in the US have four, five or six gears. Trucks, however, can have anywhere between nine and 18 gears, depending on their size mostly. And while most cars have automatic transmission, most trucks are manual, although this is changing as automatic transmission technology becomes more available and usable for larger vehicles.

ZF also has an automatic transmission systems for larger trucks, called the AS Tronic, which features 12 speeds. “It is considered a milestone in drive development and has meanwhile become indispensable in modern-day commercial transport,” said Fredrik Staedtler, head of ZF’s commercial vehicle technology division.

The company had sold 1 million units of the AS Tronic, as of March 2015. And the 9HP is selling at a rate of about 400,000 units a year. Among the first customers of the 9HP were Fiat, Chrysler, BMW, and Jaguar Land Rover.

Mercedes, the inventor of the first production car featuring a combustion engine in the form of the Benz Patent Motorwagen, was also the first to break free of

the apparent limit of six gears, launching its seven-speed 7G-Tronic system in 2003. The 7G-Tronic was

integrated into several Mercedes models, and the company announced its in-house-developed nine-

speed automatic transmission system in 2013. Cars featuring the 9G-Tronic are just making

their way off the production lines and onto the roads this year.

Automatic gearboxes have a come a long way since the days of the Oldsmobile Hydramatic. Indeed, the whole area of automation of driving actions has come a long way. Such a long way that cars no longer need to be driven – they can drive themselves. From being a hi-tech feature worthy of Star Trek, electric windows seem almost a non-event.

Now, drivers are not only saved the trouble of winding down their windows, they no longer even have to keep their eyes on the road, or their hands on the steering wheel – which isn’t there anyway. Drivers can now, quite literally, take a back seat. And let the car drive itself.

That annoying backseat driver is you in a few years’ time Driverless cars, or autonomous vehicles, are here. Some are already in use, in business sectors where the spaces they navigate are privately owned. But on public roads, they’re still being tested.

Having undergone trials in California, Google’s self-driving cars have taken to the roads of Texas. The internet search giant seems to be in a race with the big, heritage automakers because only last month Daimler debuted its robot truck in Nevada for the first time.

Daimler’s Freightliner Inspiration truck was apparently given the freedom of the roads in Nevada, and a licence. “This is not a testing licence,” said CEO Wolfgang Bernhard. “We believe that these vehicles and systems are ready.”

The 18-wheel heavy-goods vehicle uses long- and short-range radar, as well as a stereoscopic camera, in its operation, and has already clocked up nearly 20,000




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8 News Sensor Readings

kilometres in the US state. The autonomous truck was first demonstrated in 2014, driving along a closed-off section of the autobahn in Germany. Daimler claims the vehicle is the first autonomous truck on the road anywhere in the world.

Navigation of the Inspiration is enabled by what Daimler calls the “Highway Pilot system”, the company’s built-in autonomous driving system which uses sensors and cameras.

“If the legislative framework for autonomous driving can be created quickly, the launch of the Highway Pilot is conceivable by the middle of the next decade,” Bernhard said last year. Looks like he didn’t have to wait as long as he expected.

As well as Google and Daimler, many other companies are currently testing driverless car technology. Mercedes, BMW, Tesla and all the major carmakers around the world. Which will inevitably create vast opportunities for technology companies of all types, and even individuals.

In software, Google and Stanford programmers with skills in Python to have a go at learning to programme a robotic car through a course being offered on Udacity.

Unpronounceable automation thingy for the people. Ja! German industrial giant Bosch wants to bring together tech experts to develop more powerful computers for driverless cars, under something it calls the AMALTHEA4public project. It wants to create a standardised platform to enable developers to work across different sectors.

“This should make the outcome of AMALTHEA4public available to a wider circle and establish it as the standard for developing embedded multi- and many-core systems,” said Bosch.

“The trend towards automated driving means that individual computers have to run more and more software, and the overall system is becoming considerably more complex,” said Bosch. “That’s why embedded systems will need more computing power in the future.”

However, while onboard computing power is necessary, it’s very likely that the majority of the computing for driverless cars will be done in the cloud, which has resources at a massive scale that a car cannot match.

And while the arrival of autonomous vehicles may bring with it countless job opportunities, it may also signal the end of the road for the cab driver. Taxi drivers in France apparently recognised this and protested recently.

Uber, the app which enables users to hail the nearest cab, has said it wants to buy half a million driverless cars.

Forbes reported that Uber chief Travis Kalanick told Tesla that he would buy 500,000 of the company’s electric cars if Tesla can meet the deadline of 2020.

Although it sounds more or less like an order, it’s uncertain whether Tesla would take up the offer. The carmaker is known for high-end cars that sell for prices starting at $100,000 and selling them in small numbers. Moreover, pure electric cars are yet to be proven as viable long-term alternatives to the traditional combustion engine, which is what Tesla’s owner, Elon Musk, had set out to research.

However, if Tesla chose to produce hybrid cars, which are proven on the roads, and if it chose to go into mass production, there’s no reason why it could not make large numbers of cars. Whether it can make them by 2020 is open to question.

Certainly the race is on. Lawmakers and technologists are working out the details. But it’s inevitable. Not only will we no longer have to press a button to wind down a car window, we may not even have to carry ourselves into the car, much less drive it. l

For Bosch, automated driving is not just a pipe dream. The supplier of technology and services is already achieving commercial and technological success in this area today.

“Automated driving will be ushered in by the booming market for driver assistance,” says Dr Dirk Hoheisel, member of the board of management of Robert Bosch. Bosch’s sales in this field are currently increasing by a third every year.

Hoheisel adds: “In 2016, our sales in driver assistance will exceed one billion euros.” As a systems supplier and one of the world’s largest automotive suppliers, Bosch benefits especially from its broad product portfolio.

Like barely any other automotive supplier, Bosch is an expert in all the technologies needed for automated driving. These include not just the powertrain, brakes, and steering, but also sensors, navigation systems, and

connectivity solutions inside and outside the car.

As Hoheisel says: “Bosch develops everything, from the individual components to the entire system.”

For example, Bosch sensors are in great demand: Last year, the company set a new record by selling more than 50 million surround sensors for driver assistance systems.

The number of radar and video sensors sold doubled in 2014 – and will do so again in 2015.

When it comes to the radar sensors used in systems such as ACC adaptive cruise control, Bosch leads the market worldwide. Its ten-millionth radar sensor (77 GHz) is expected to roll off the line this coming year.

The number of associates Bosch employs in this field attests to the growing success that the company enjoys. Currently, about 2,000 engineers are working on refining driver assistance systems at Bosch. l

Bosch makes progress in autonomous market

Bosch develops individual components and entire systems

“ This is not a testing licence. We believe that these vehicles and systems are ready”

Wolfgang Bernhard,

CEO, Daimler

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Pepper the robot goes on sale in the US this weekend, and the company behind the toy will offer customers cloud robotics connection as an optional extra. The

initial purchase price is expected to be around $1,600. It will cost an additional $100 a month for an online service plan, which allows access to such things as the cloud robotics voice-recognition software.

When Pepper went on sale online in Japan last month, the entire 1,000 available units were sold out within one minute. SoftBank Robotics, which makes Pepper, says the humanoid robot is capable of detecting human emotions and modify the way it communicates to suit human moods.

“Like any companion Pepper is a sociable person,” says SoftBank subsidiary Aldebaran, a French developer of the NAO robot, which is in some ways similar to Pepper.

One of the key components of Pepper is its cloud robotics connection. Being able to call on big data in the cloud is what enables the robot to interact, if not understand, sophisticated human qualities, such as emotion and language, and communicate and behave accordingly.

The big data cloud which serves as the one-metre-high Pepper’s “mind”, or its outer-body brain, was

developed by cloud robotics artificial intelligence company Cocoro, also owned by SoftBank.

While it’s debatable whether even actual real-life humans understand each other’s emotions and moods, what is perhaps easier to evaluate from a common-sense perspective is whether the robot is using appropriate words in its conversations.

In this area, there are already many virtual robots, or software, being used by large companies around the world, mostly for telephone call handling.

In Japan, which is thought to have the world’s largest robot population and where there has always been more acceptance of robots, the virtual robot takes humanoid form in many instances, with increasing

I wandered lonely as a robot

“NTT is continuing its research and development of the cloud robotics infrastructure”

Toyoaki Kagaya senior robotics expert, NTT Data

Cloud robotics The cloud is playing an increasingly important role in robotics, with both popular consumer robots and industrial robots being connected to ever more powerful artificial intelligence

numbers of robots being “employed” in stores and other environments where they interact with humans.

Pepper is also available for work. Cocoro has launched a service which “dispatches robots to perform simple routine work such as handing out tissues, working reception or promoting goods for an hourly wage, just like with hiring people for part-time work”.

The company says Pepper is capable of image recognition, action plans, collision avoidance, voice recognition and speech synthesis. All of which are cloud robotics AI, served through SoftBank’s massive global data infrastructure.

SoftBank is a multinational telecommunications and internet services provider, established in 1981, and one of the largest 100 largest companies in the world by market capitalisation.

The company offers cloud services to enterprise customers, and may have placed itself in a strong position to capture a significant proportion of the cloud robotics market.

NTT has its head in the cloudAnother company that is well placed to play a leading role in the cloud robotics is Japan’s national carrier, NTT, which has been preparing for the new wave of robots for some years.

The senior robotics expert at NTT Data, Toyoaki Kagaya, said the company was researching ways to approach the technology, with a view to using machine-to-machine (M2M) communications networks.

Kagaya said: “NTT is continuing its research and development of the cloud robotics infrastructure and solutions to provide a service robot system that is highly beneficial to users, as well as M2M cloud coordination.

“We intend to achieve such infrastructures and solutions by equipping robots with high-speed computation abilities, large storage, advanced functions, and knowledge, which cannot be achieved with conventional standalone robots.”

NTT has developed numerous technologies and partnerships with other companies in the field of M2M networks, also known as the internet of things (IoT), which many believe will be crucial in the development of advanced manufacturing processes, or “smart manufacturing”.

NTT has many large, multinational corporate customers from the manufacturing sector. One of them is Honda, famous for making road-going vehicles as well as Asimo, perhaps the most famous humanoid robot in the world.

In an interview with RoboticsandAutomationNews.com, NTT Comm’s global director of network services, Ivano Rondelli, said the company’s other customers include Konica Minolta, Bank of America, and many others.

“We provide network services for enterprise customers,” said Rondelli. “Our core product is the global backbone, our MPLS (Multi-protocol Label Switching)

network. We transport about a quarter of the whole internet traffic worldwide, anywhere.

“These are large, multinational companies that have a global presence and need to connect their offices, factories, sales points, data centres and so on in order that the company can function as one entity.”

The only company that carries more data around the internet, says Rondelli, is Global Crossing, now known as Level 3, which carries about 50 per cent. Another company that carries a large amount of internet traffic is Indian company Tata.

For corporate customers the size of Honda, for example, NTT provides what’s called a managed service, which come with realtime monitoring and management of the entire network.

“The network business is in a very interesting stage at the moment,” said Rondelli. “We have seen the rise of cloud business, and applications, and now the network itself has changed as well. It has become more flexible and agile.”

He added: “Automation is a core driver for every company. From the point of view of the person using, for example, a portal to access services, things seem simple. But in the background a huge amount of things have to happen and have to happen quickly, and all that is only possible through a high level of automation.”

Meanwhile, NTT Docomo has signed a deal with General Electric to create an IoT network for industry. The network will integrate GE Digital Energy’s MDS Orbit router into the infrastructure, and utilise an NTT IoT-enabled embedded communication device for the robots.

Also, last month NTT teamed up with toymaker Tomy to launch a small robot called Ohanas, which they

say can make conversation in a natural manner with human beings. It will be available in October and will be priced at around $150.

Ohanas, short for Organized Human interface and Network Artificial intelligence

System, is connected to NTT’s cloud robotics architesture for its natural-language dialogue functionality.

Talking and conversing are relatively easy activities for most humans. But for robots, such complex functionality

is only possible through accessing extremely large amounts of information, or big data.

What’s big data idea?Simply put, big data is extremely large amounts of information. A more detailed description, which market research company Gartner uses, is “high-volume, high-velocity and high-variety information”.For a computer, the amount of data

that the average human being generates if engaged in an activity as straightforward as conversation is probably too much for even the top of the range machines available now.

The average desktop computer has about 4 gigabytes to about 12 gigabytes of random

access memory, or RAM. The hard disk could be up to 4 terabytes. That would be a reasonably

good machine. But it’s nothing compared with the human brain.

There are no definite or even widely agreed figures for how much memory,

random or otherwise, the average




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1312 Sensor ReadingsSensor Readings AdvertiseFeatures

human being possesses, but, writing on the Scientific American website, Professor Paul Reber of Northwestern University suggest that the brain’s memory storage capacity is around 2.5 petabytes.

But that’s just storage, not the equivalent of RAM. And the volume of data generated by human beings when they engage in everyday activities – which could be classed as high-volume, high-velocity and high-variety information – is not widely known or discussed.

It’s probably safe to say it’s huge. Which means that in order to record, mimic or interact with such behaviour, computers with very large memories would be required.

The best way to attempt the endeavour would be to use computers connected together, all making giant storage and processing units. This is what the cloud is.

Google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and many other companies have massive cloud computing facilities. And they offer big data platforms for many types of services.

However, cloud robotics services – specifically designed for robotics – is a relatively new phenomenon and providers are few and far between, with the majority of existing cloud robotics platforms proprietary, and well-guarded.

Google, for instance, may be a big supporter of the open-source movement, but it’s highly unlikely to share the data it is generating through testing its driverless car, which is of course a robot.

But there do exist companies out there that are launching what is being called “robotics as a service”, or RaaS. Neurala, for example, whose tagline is “brains for bots”, is a software company that has created a patent-pending “brain” for robots.

The Neurala Intelligence Engine (NIE) is based on research the company conducted for NASA and the US Air Force in collaboration with the Boston University Neuromorphics Lab. The projects included developing robot intelligence for use on Mars, from where robots have limited communications with Mission Control on Earth.

“Neurala is taking the work designed for Mars and bringing it down to Earth,” says the company on its website. “Neurala Intelligence Engine is what makes robots smarter. It enables deep autonomy, in which robots and drones use deep learning perceive their environment and then act.”

NIE utilises “massively parallel GPU processing”, which means they use a large number of graphics processing units running simultaneously. This enables the robot to analyse that “high-volume, high-velocity and high-variety information” it receives through its sensors as it goes about its environment.

Massamiliano Versace, CEO and co-founder of Neurala, says: “We plan to develop practical commercial applications for both flying robots and ground-based robots that utilize our deep learning software.”

Some robots are more equal than othersMeanwhile, back in the comparatively mundane world of manufacturing, the humble industrial robotic arm is developing a mind of its own, thanks to organisations like ROS-Industrial.

The nonprofit group has been working to make industrial robots more flexible, agile, more able to perform different tasks at different times, and having the intelligence to know what is appropriate and when.

“Agility is the perhaps the greatest unrealized promise of robotics,” says ROS-Industrial, which is working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology to develop standards for the manufacturing industry.

The organisation is researching several specific areas:

l robot testing and evaluation;l dual arm manipulator development;l calibration library improvements; andl ontologies for agile planning in manufacturing.“They all have the common theme of enabling robotic

agility,” says ROS-Industrial, an organisation which grew out of the Robot Operating System initiave.

Robot Operating System (ROS) is a collection of software frameworks for robot software development, written in C++ or Python. It was originally developed by the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory to support the Stanford AI Robot STAIR (STanford AI Robot).

A number of industrial robots – including those made by ABB, Adept, Motoman and Universal – are supported by ROS, which is designed to be run on Linux operating systems, but can be installed on other platforms.

The majority of the servers in data centres around the world run Linux, so ROS would seem to be well suited to cloud robotics.

The future is cloudyCloud robotics is a relatively new phrase, but the concept has been around for a while. Only now, it’s being articulated more clearly, and the technology is becoming available to make it a reality for businesses and homes.

In an article published by The Aspen Institute, Ken Goldberg writes: “Until now, Robots have been viewed as self-contained systems with limited computation and memory. Cloud robotics suggest an exciting alternative where robots access and exchange data and code via wireless networking.”

Goldberg lists what he sees as the five elements of cloud robotics:

l big data;l cloud computing;l open-source software;l robots learning from each other; andl human guidance in the form of crowdsourcing and

call centres.Goldberg adds: “Cloud Robotics will build on related

effort including the IoT, IBM’s Smarter Planet, General Electric’s vision of the Industrial Internet, and Siemens’ concept of Industry 4.0.”

It seems inevitable that robots will be networked, whether it’s consumer robots like Pepper, which need to connect to the big data store that tells it how to emote, or nameless and faceless industrial robots whose owners want them to learn new skills and be more straightforward to operate. l

“ Automation is a core driver for every company”

Ivano Rondelli global director of network services

NTT Comm

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Offline programming: Offline programming has never been easier thanks to RoboDK. You don’t need to learn brand-specific languages anymore. RoboDK handles the robot controller syntax and outputs the right program for your robot. Try a basic Pick and Place example.

CNC friendly: Use your robot like a CNC. Convert CAM files into robot programs, your robot can be used like a 5-axis CNC. You can easily simulate the result with RoboDK and avoid collisions, robot singularities and joint limits. Download and try our robot milling example.

Multiplatform: RoboDK is the first multiplatform robot offline programming software. It works on Windows, Mac, Linux and Android devices. It even works on your phone or tablet! Check the download section.

Robot accuracy: Certificate robots. Check the accuracy of your robots with a ballbar test. Obtain a PDF report describing the accuracy and repeatability of your robots. RoboDK allows you to calibrate your robots and improve production results. Contact us for more information.

Python powered: RoboDK is a robot development kit that allows you to program any robot from any brand through Python. Python is easy to learn yet powerful and flexible. Robot offline programming has no limits with RoboDK’s Python API.

Extended library: The RoboDK Library has many robots, external axes and tools from different brands. We are constantly adding new robots to RoboDK. The library can be directly accessed from our desktop app. l

Main features of RoboDK

Offline programming (OLP) seems like such a logical method of managing industrial robots that it’s difficult to find a good enough reason to do it any other way.

OLP, mostly in the form of robot simulation software, is a relatively new development in industrial robotics but it has been gaining popularity over the past few years.

Previously, the majority of robots were programmed using the teach pendant method. A teach pendant, also known as a “teach box”, is a hand-held device often attached to the robot which has numerous buttons and a screen with which to program the robot, usually on-site, requiring the robot to be isolated from the production line and not do any work.

This downtime can clearly be costly, even if the robot is out of action for a few minutes, let alone a few hours or a few days. Offline programming drastically reduces and can even eliminate the need to take the robot away from the automated cell and, therefore, is far more cost-effective.

That’s the theory. But in practice, the offline programming solutions released so far have been prohibitively costly for many companies.

RoboDK, a new simulator for industrial robots, is aiming to change that. RoboDK is the result of many years’ development at École de technologie supérieure (ETS) university in Montreal, Canada. It is the commercial spin-off from RoKiSim, an educational simulator for industrial robotics that the university made available for free.

“RoKiSim was a basic simulator but we realised that

people used it a lot,” says Albert Nubiola, founder and CEO of RoboDK. “We got a lot of feedback and we used it to build the commercial version, RoboDK.

“There is a demand for cheaper and more effective offline programming solutions. Current solutions are too specific and expensive. You often end up using more than one software, or plugins, to accomplish simple tasks.”

Nubiola says RoboDK integrates many features in one software application – offline-programming; robot milling from numerical control programming languages such as G-code, or high-level programming languages such as APT; robot accuracy checks such as ISO 9283 or ballbar testing; robot calibration; and so on.

“The RoboDK API gives you huge freedom to integrate everything the way you want, allowing you to simulate almost anything. Also, with the RoboDK API you can program robots using Python programming and run your programs in realtime, or use one single script to simulate and generate the robot program.”

Offline programming for robots Industrial robots RoboDK is a new offline programming application for industrial robots. Here, in an interview with Sensor Readings, CEO Albert Nubiola says the application gives users ‘huge freedom’

“RoboDK is highly customisable and we help our customers achieve what they need”

Albert Nubiola, CEO, RoboDK

A screenshot from inside the RoboDK software application

Download page: http://robodk.com/download.php

Perhaps the reason why OLP solutions in the past have been expensive is because OLP is complex. Unlike the teach pendant method, which tends to concentrate only on one robot at a time, OLP makes a graphical representation of the entire workspace – including the robot and all the machines and instruments connected to the robot.

Using an OLP app, an offline programmer can design the system on a computer using a virtual representation of the workspace and a simulation of the robot. Only when the program has been finalised will it need to be installed into the robot and its linked machines, minimising and possibly eliminating any downtime.

RoboDK has hundreds of simulated robots in its library, all based on data taken from real-world robots made by all the leading makers, such as ABB, FANUC, Kuka and Motoman. Any one of these virtual robots can be used in the RoboDK virtual workspace to easily design a system and workflow.

Unusually for an industrial application, RoboDK is also available for Mac, Linux and Android, as well as Windows, of course. Nubiola claims RoboDK was the first cross-platform application of its type, and says the team intends to keep updating the software to make it available for as many users on as many platforms as possible. RoboDK is an “active project”, he says, and it is being updated and improved with each project that they become involved in.

Having been involved in research and industrial robotics for eight years, and having helped develop RoboDK itself, Nubiola says he finds it surprising to see engineers using Notepad to program their robots in assembler-like programming languages.

“RoboDK is highly customisable and we help our customers achieve what they need,” says Nubiola.

RoboDK is approaching 2,000 downloads since launch at the start of the year, and the customers come from a variety of backgrounds. “They can be engineers, integrators, maintenance departments, robot programmers, and so on.”

Nubiola says his team saw that maintenance personnel in factories needed ways to validate the ‘health state’ of their robots. The common practice has been to use something called the “ballbar test” to check the accuracy of CNCs.

“The ballbar test has been used for CNCs for a long time,” says Nubiola. “Now with RoboDK it is possible to easily make this test to robots.”

There is no doubt that this “health state” check to robots can reduce scrap parts. Integrating a robot into a production line may be expensive. However, over the years, buyers have seen an increase in hardware choices and decrease in price. Software will likely follow a similar trend. RoboDK believes it is well-positioned to satisfy industry needs.

The download comes with a set of examples explained in the Examples section. An online

library of more than 200 robots, tools and external axis can be accessed directly from the application.

You can also preview or download robots from the library in the library section.

RoboDK also comes with several examples:Example 1: Pick and placeSimple pick and place simulation.Example 2: Pick and place with PythonPick and place using Python. This example shows how to

use Python to program a robot.Example 3: Drawing with a robotSimulates a robot drawing an SVG image. This

example shows how to use an external Python library to easily draw an SVG image with a robot.Example 4: Robot milling

Shows how to machine or weld. The example uses an APT file (CNC program) to make the robot path. l




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1716 Sensor ReadingsSensor Readings Case studies

ProblemA Tier 1 automotive supplier wanted to prevent the shipment of defective parts to their customers. Traditional methods had operators inspecting parts; separating known good parts from known defective parts.

This manual method made it possible for operators to accidentally include defective parts in shipments to the customer. Engineers concluded that an automated inspect and pack-out cell would significantly reduce the possibility of defective connectors being shipped to their customer.

SolutionFlexible Automation, an automation equipment builder

KS Metallbearbeitung GmbH, in the Swabian town of Spaichingen, has taken a bold step towards automation: a decision well worth taking. That’s because using automated solutions in the form of industrial robots and machine tools has a clear competitive advantage.

KS Metallbearbeitung GmbH specializes in the machining of aluminum. Their technical expertise is predominantly in the machining of aluminum profiles – from sawing and CNC machining to vibratory finishing.

KS was founded in 1983 by Kurt Schuhmacher. He is still the managing director of this company, which has its headquarters in Spaichingen, in the rural district of Tuttlingen. The company supplies businesses from diverse sectors, such as window and facade technology, mechanical engineering and the electronics industry, each of which has its own special requirements.

A complete and convincing solution consisting of machine and automated robot cell KS was on the lookout for a new, high-speed

machining center. At EMO 2011 in Hanover they came into contact with Dreher AG, trade partner of the American machine tool manufacturer Haas Automation Inc. and system partner of KUKA Roboter GmbH from Augsburg. Once reservations regarding the operation of the robot cell had been dispelled, and the use of a variety of different parts was guaranteed, Dreher AG devised a complete machine and automated robot cell solution.

After visiting the 2012 in-house trade fair on Dreher’s premises, the decision was made in favor of an automated solution with a Haas VF-2SS.

“The automated solution from the DR-1B robot cell and Haas VF-2SS fulfills our requirements completely. Fully-automated manufacture means we can produce higher quantities, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In addition, the connected VF-2SS milling machine accomplishes the required drilling and milling work at high speed. At the same time, we remain flexible due to the low set-up times and can

based in Burton, MI, designed and built a workcell that automated the handling and inspection routines. The workcell is equipped with an EPSON TT8800 robot and a simple pneumatic gripper.

The robot picks up a connector from an incoming conveyor and loads it into a blanking press. After blanking, the part is transferred to a station that performs an electrical test. Next the part is moved to an automated vision inspection station that checks for flaws created during the injection molding process.

After visual inspection the robot makes the connector with a date and shift code for manufacturing traceability.

The final step is packout. Good parts are loaded into a shipping container and defective parts placed in reject chutes, segregated by their test results. As a result of the significant benefits achieved from the first workstation, the Tier 1 supplier ordered 5 more identical stations.

Benefits l Higher production yields as a result of consistent handling timesl Reduced number of shipments containing defective partsl Increased end user satisfaction because they only received parts that were ready for use

therefore manufacture a variety of parts,” says Bernd Haller, head of production for CNC machining. SS stands for Super Speed – high-speed milling.

The VF-2SS has a spindle with a direct drive which generates 12,000 rpm. With resonance filtering, path smoothing that can be set by the operator and an extended program memory, the VF-2SS can machine a wide variety of parts due to the short set-up times.

High speeds aren’t only important in the milling cell but also in the loading and unloading of the machine tool. Therefore, for the robot cell the decision was made in favor of the new KUKA KR AGILUS 6-axis jointed-arm robot.

A conveyor belt transports the workpieces into the robot cell. After that, the KUKA KR AGILUS collects the workpieces from the selected position and temporarily stores them on a special fixture in the cell.

The configuration has been programmed and saved on the separate user interface in advance. The robot grips the workpieces, which are now aligned to the zero point, and loads them into the VF-2SS. The machine carries out the drilling and milling work. The robot removes the workpieces after machining and feeds them through a chute into a receptacle installed outside of the cell.

The KUKA KR AGILUS: a master of speedThe KUKA KR AGILUS is characterized by short cycle times and a high degree of precision and reliability. When it comes to handling tasks, especially

Pick&Place, the small robot delivers impressive results combined with minimized cycle times.

At the same time, the KR AGILUS family works with great precision, enabling manufacturing quality of the highest standard. Its speed and accuracy make the performance of the KR AGILUS unique in its payload category. The product portfolio includes robots with a payload of 6 and 10 kg and reaches of 700, 900 and 1100 mm. A KR AGILUS is used in the solution applied at KS.

The basic equipment of the DR-1 cell includes an industrial robot with gripper system and a clamping fixture. Dreher supervised all components in this project: the robot interface to the zero point clamping system, programming of the KUKA robot and the Haas machine.

“At first glance, an automated system appears to be an expensive matter. The combination of Dreher robot cell and Haas machine tool is a high-performance and therefore cost-effective solution with low amortization times.

“All those who calculate correctly know that automated solutions mean an initially high-cost investment, but the hourly rates of automated machining are only a third of those for manual operation.

“This means that automated solutions are internationally competitive and the production will stay here in Germany and not be relocated to Eastern Europe,” explained Martin Dreher, director of Dreher AG.

Epson Robotics TT8800 robot installed in automotive workcell

Fanuc robot helps reach target at speed

Inspection/Packaging Application

KS turns to automation in the milling of aluminum workpieces. Working with the extremely fast and compact KUKA KR AGILUS

ABB met Wuhan Liaoyuan Mould & Plastics Co., Ltd. in the 1990s when Liaoyuan was challenged by some process problems. The first cooperation was started with the delivery of an IRB 4400, a flaming robot for bumpers.

With China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, the manufacturing industry, especially automobile, motorcycle and household appliances, increased its demand for industrial robot applications to meet the dynamic growth and fierce competition. Industrial robots and their automatic production equipment play an important role in improving quality and productivity and reducing cost and labor intensity.

The focus of the industrialization was shifted to industrial robot-based production equipment and

control systems and an industrial robot-based automatic production line.

Liaoyuan is a manufacturer of plastic auto parts and a quality supplier to car manufacturers like DPCA. In 2003, to meet the increasingly fierce competition, Liaoyuan decided to spend over one hundred million Yuan building the first automatic painting line for plastic auto parts in Central China.

This time ABB provided 6 IRB 5400 paint robots, and installation and commissioning for the painting line, which helped Liaoyuan improve productivity and deliver on time.

Increasing competition resulted in increasing demands. In 2007, Liaoyuan bought 6 more IRB 5400 paint robots to improve capacity even more.

Liaoyuan enhanced its pro-

ductivity, reliability and quality using the ABB robots. “Robots are capable of handling compli-cated profiles. It was difficult to improve the quality and capacity of the parts with manual labor. Now, with these agile robots, our coating film thickness is ensured with better quality and doubled capacity, and our costs for a single part has been reduced by 20%,” said Zhou Yu, Equipment Manager at Liaoyuan.

Facts about Wuhan LiaoyuanLocated in Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, Liaoyuan is a specialist in injection moulding and coating of small to large auto parts. The company combines development, injection moulding, coating and assembly with logistics and focuses on systematic support and modularsupply.

ABB supplies auto parts maker in Wuhan Liaoyuan, China with first robotic painting

Case studies




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1918 Sensor ReadingsSensor Readings Marketplace

Wittenstein From machine tools or woodworking and packaging machines through robotics and handling equipment to food processing, pharmaceutical and medical technology or intralogistics, Wittenstein actuators keep you one step ahead of the competition.wittenstein-us.com

British Automation & Robot Association bara.org.uk

The aim of the BARA is to promote the use of, and assist in the development of Industrial Robots and Automation in British industry. In 2009 BARA joined forces with the PPMA (Processing & Packaging Machinery Association) to become a special interest focus group.

PHD PHD is a leading manufacturer of industrial automation actuators, designed to help companies across all industries optimize their manufacturing processes. phdinc.com

Robotics Society of Japan rsj.or.jp

The Robotics Society of Japan promotes progress in academic fields and provides specialists with a venue for announcing their research and exchanging technical information.

International Federation of Robotics ifr.org

The purpose of IFR shall be to promote and strengthen the robotics industry worldwide, to protect its business interests, to cause public awareness about robotics technologies and to deal with other matters of relevance to its members.

ATC The Actuator Technology Company operates independently and is located close to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. We are acclaimed and appreciated for offering vital design support during FEED and detailed design stage (EPC). atc-actuators.com

euRobotics AISBL eu-robotics.net

euRobotics AISBL is a Brussels based international non-profit association for all stakeholders in European robotics. euRobotics builds upon the success of the European Robotics Technology Platform and the academic network of EURON, and will continue the cooperation abetween members of these two community driven organisations.

IEEE Robotics and Automation Society ieee-ras.org

Our Mission is to foster the development and facilitate the exchange of scientific and technological knowledge in Robotics and Automation that benefits members, the profession and humanity. Our Vision is to be the most recognized and respected global organization in Robotics and Automation.

Ham-Let More than half a century of excellence servicing the high purity and process industries with designing, developing, producing and marketing of fluid system components.ham-let.com

The Valve and Actuator Co We realise there is an urgent need to provide experienced technical support with competitive pricing. We carry an extensive stock of electric and pneumatic actuators and general valves. valveandactuatorcompany.co.uk

Robotic Industries Association robotics.org

The Robotic Industries Association (RIA) drives innovation, growth, and safety in manufacturing and service industries through education, promotion, and advancement of robotics, related automation technologies, and companies delivering integrated solutions.

China Robot Industry Alliance cria.mei.net.cn

CRIA is a non-profit organization composed of enterprises, manufacturers, universities, research institutes, regional or local robotic associations, related organizations as well as organizations in the fields of R&D, manufacturing, application and services of the robot industry.

Rethink Robotics

Our patented SEA technology uses springs to advance the robot’s motion control solution from one of rigid positioning to one of force control. rethinkrobotics.com

Parker Parker actuators come in a wide range of construction types, ranging from compact light duty aluminum air actuators, motorized electric actuators, to heavy duty hydraulic designs.parker.com

Marketplace Associations: Robotics and Automation

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4D Technology

4D Technology designs and manufactures laser interferometers, surface roughness profilers and interferometry accessories. 4dtechnology.com

Ranesas

Renesas Electronics Corporation, the world’s number one supplier of microcontrollers, is a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions including microcontrollers, SoC solutions and a broad range of analog and power devices. renesas.com

Alphasense Alphasense has established a reputation as a reliable source for a wide range of gas sensor technologies. We supply high-quality Oxygen,CO2, toxic and flammable Gas sensors to many of the world’s leading industrial OEMs.alphasense.com

Freescale

Freescale Semiconductor enables secure, embedded processing solutions for the Internet of Tomorrow. Freescale’s solutions drive a more innovative and connected world, simplifying our lives and making us safer. freescale.com

STMicroelectronics

A world leader in providing the semiconductor solutions that make a positive contribution to people’s lives, both today and in the future. st.com

Sensiron Sensirion is a leading sensor manufacturer, providing relative humidity sensors and flow sensor solutions with unique performance. sensirion.com

Atmel

Atmel Corporation is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of microcontrollers, capacitive touch solutions, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency components. atmel.com

Infineon

We provide semiconductor and system solutions, focusing on three central needs of our modern society: Energy Efficiency, Mobility and Security.infineon.com

Sano

Sano is a biometric sensor and software company with a patented, breakthrough sensor that will help people understand what’s happening inside their bodies through continuously monitoring important markers in their bodies’ chemistry.sano.co

Hansford Sensors At Hansford Sensors, we design, develop and manufacture a wide range of high performance industrial accelerometers, vibration transmitters (loop powered sensors) and ancillary equipment. hansfordsensors.com

Silicon Labs

Silicon Labs is a team of hardware and software innovators dedicated to solving our customer’s toughest embedded design challenges. silabs.com

Texas Instruments

TI’s microcontroller platform offers innovative devices with integrated on-chip architectures, unique intellectual property, system expertise in key markets, and a comprehensive ecosystem of software, tools and support.ti.com

Synaptics

Synaptics is a world leader in capacitive touch sensing technology. This patented technology is at the heart of our industry-standard TouchPad products and other solutions. synaptics.com

EMX

EMX is one of the world’s leading innovators of specialty sensors in the factory and process automation markets. Our sensors are used in automotive, packaging, labeling, metal stamping, paper and wood processing, plastics, electronics and pharmaceutical manufacturing.emxinc.com

Microcontrollers & Microchips

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Marketplace

Computing & Software

Cognex

No matter what the machine vision application, Cognex offers a complete family of vision products—from standalone vision systems to 3D vision software—that provide unparalleled accuracy and repeatability.cognex.com

Arduino

Arduino is an open-source computer hardware and software company, project and user community that designs and manufactures kits for building digital devices and interactive objects that can sense and control the physical world.arduino.cc

Rockwell Automation

Preferred integration starts with using plug-and-play technology, which means robots connect through Ethernet/IP with software and service interfaces that simplify design, operation and maintenance efforts to improve machine and overall line OEE.rockwellautomation.com

Adept

Adept has cultivated and maintained key partnerships with industry-leading integrators, OEMs, and machine builders across the globe and throughout numerous application segments. adept.com

Raspberry Pi

The Raspberry Pi is a series of credit card-sized single-board computers developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the intention of promoting the teaching of basic computer science in schools. raspberrypi.org

Evana Automation

Evana specializes in designing and implementing robotics automation solutions that fit your specific manufacturing needs. Let our robotics engineering and robotics manufacturing experts develop a custom robotics automation solution that meets your requirements.evanaautomation.com

NewBotic Corporation

NewBotic is a robotic systems integrator, best known for its specialized engineering services that designs advanced transformative manufacturing and warehousing processes for a wide variety of industries. newbotic.com

Dassault Systemes

Robotics Programmer provides a 3D environment where robot programmers can create, program, simulate and validate an entire robot workcell.3ds.com

KUKA.WorkVisual

Programming. Configuration. Loading. Testing. Diagnosis. Modifying. Archiving. KUKA.WorkVisual groups all the steps of a project together in a homogenous offline development, online diagnosis and maintenance environment. kuka-robotics.com

Genesis Systems

Genesis Systems Group designs, builds and implements robotic arc welding systems, assembly automation systems and robotic tooling, material handling solutions, non-destructive inspection cells and robotic waterjet cutting systems like nobody else.genesis-systems.com

Aldebaran by Softbank

Aldebaran enables both novices and experts to use its robots with ease. To do this, an SDK has been developed to support creation in the best way possible: 3D simulator, simple and intuitive programming software, C++ libraries, Python, .Net.aldebaran.com

ABB RobotStudio

RobotStudio provides the tools to increase the profitability of your robot system by letting you perform tasks such as training, programming, and optimization without disturbing production. abb.com

Marketplace: technology Integration & Process

RoboDK

Offline programming has never been easier thanks to RoboDK. You don’t need to learn brand-specific languages anymore. RoboDK handles the robot controller syntax and outputs the right program for your robot.robodk.com

FANUC Authorized Integrators

An Authorized FANUC Integrator is ready to analyze your system requirements and provide a robotic solution that will improve quality, throughput, and productivity to give you the return on investment you are looking for.fanucamerica.com




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DMG Mori Ellison

DMG Mori Ellison Technologies is a provider of advanced machining solutions to North American metal-cutting manufacturers and their global affiliates. ellisontechnologies.com

Brain Corporation

Brain Corporation develops software, hardware, and cloud services for consumer robotics.Our goal is to make intelligent and useful machines a part of everyday life with the world’s first training-based operating system for robots – BrainOS. braincorporation.com

Energid

Energid Technologies develops advanced software and robotic systems for the aerospace, agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, defense, and medical industries. energid.com

Aurotek

Aurotek delivers high value-added services and solutions, and helping customers achieve greater value through its introduction of advanced and quality components, acquirement of new technology concepts. robot.com.tw

Stäubli Stäubli is a mechatronics solutions provider with three dedicated divisions: textile, connectors and robotics, serving customers who want to increase their productivity in many industrial sectors. staubli.com

Ekso Bionics

Ekso Bionics helps survivors of stroke, spinal cord injury and other forms of lower extremity weakness to walk again. intl.eksobionics.com

Bosch Robotics

We are working on Personal Robotics and the enabling technologies. Our interdisciplinary team conducts research on topics such as mobile manipulation, navigation, perception and semantic analysis of 3D data.bosch.us

Apex Automation and Robotics

Apex Automation and Robotics is an Australian company specialising in the design and manufacture of custom-built automation machines and robotic systems. apexautomation.com.au

Dyson

Dyson recently invested in a joint robotics lab with Imperial College London to investigate vision systems and engineer a generation of household robots. dyson.co.uk

ASI

Autonomous Solutions is a world leader in vendor independent vehicle automation systems. From our HQ in Utah, we serve clients in the mining, agriculture, automotive, government, and manufacturing industries with remote control, teleoperation, and fully automated solutions.asirobots.com

DAIHEN

The DAIHEN Group makes it our mission to provide products and services indispensable to primary industries around the world, including first and foremost the power industry or so-called “lifeline” of society. daihen.co.jp

Adept

Adept systems provide unmatched performance and economic value throughout the production lifecycle, enabling customers to achieve precision, quality and productivity in their assembly, handling and packaging processes. adept.com

Clearpath Robotics

We build the world’s best unmanned vehicles for research and development. Our products will save time, money and headaches on your next project.clearpathrobotics.com

Aethon

Aethon is best known for its TUG autonomous mobile delivery robot which transports medications, meals and materials through hospitals. aethon.com

Axium

Axium designs, manufactures and installs a complete range of automated solutions for robotic material handling (palletizing, depalletizing, case packing, and peripheral equipments) and transformation of plastic products.axiumsolutions.com

Reis Experts know REIS as creative pacemaker for process-oriented system solutions. Since 1957 our way has been going dynamically up. The fundamentals: Inventive genius, competence, innovative power, and reliability. reisrobotics.de

Marketplace

Kawasaki

For over 40 years, Kawasaki has been improving technology to meet the high demand of assembly applications. Kawasaki’s innovative hardware and software can help you solve your complex assembly challenges.kawasaki.com

3D Robotics

3DR helps people see their world from above. As North America’s largest personal drone company, 3DR is a pioneer in making advanced, easy-to-use drone technology. 3dr.com

SynTouch

SynTouch LLC developed and makes the only sensor technology in the world that endows robots with the ability to replicate - and sometimes exceed - the human sense of touch.syntouchllc.com

Kawada

”Serving society through technology,” has been Kawada’s mission since its inception in 1922. Our mission has been accomplished through technological innovations in a vast range of operations, including projects involving transportation, energy, and information, all basic necessities of society. global.kawada.jp

Yaskawa

Yaskawa Motoman offers a wide range of industrial robotic arm models for high-speed precision assembly and small part handling including high-performance six-axis robots; flexible seven-axis manipulators; dual-arm robots with 15 axes; and more. motoman.com

DENSO Robotics

Cutting edge technology, class leading products and groundbreaking systems are only part of what you can expect when you choose DENSO Robotics.densorobotics.com

Honda Robotics Honda has further advanced intelligence technologies enabling its advanced humanoid robot ASIMO to act autonomously and perform uninterrupted service to office guests. honda.com

Universal Robots

Universal Robots is a result of many years of intensive research in robotics. The product portfolio includes the collaborative UR3, UR5 and UR10 robot arms named after their payloads in kilos. universal-robots.com

Epson

With over 45,000 robots installed in factories throughout the world, many of the top manufacturing companies rely on Epson Robots every day to reduce production costs, improve product quality, increase yields and help increase their bottom line.epson.com

Robotiq

Our goal is to enable all manufacturers to take full advantage of robotics. We work with robot manufacturers, system integrators and end-users to automate applications that require fexibility. robotiq.com

iRobot iRobot’s home robots are revolutionizing the way people clean – inside and out. More than 10 million home robots have been sold worldwide.www.irobot.com

Vecna

Vecna’s robotic logistics solutions are a family of autonomous mobile robots, built to operate within human-centric environments.vecna.com

TEUN

TEUN is a comprehensive concept, based on a smart unmanned machine, the PIQR. The concept has been developed to offer a solution for the frequently complex labor-intensive and expensive way of unloading containers. teun.com

Honeybee Robotics

Since 1983, Honeybee has completed over 300 projects for NASA, the US Department of Defense, academia, industry and artists. honeybeerobotics.com

Future Robot

We, Future Robot, aim to create an exemplary service robot market. We deal with Coupon Advertising Robot, Mobile Infotainment Service, Robot Event Service, and many more.

Marketplace: companies

SCHUNK

SCHUNK is one of the largest manufacturer for automation components, toolholders and workholding equipment. schunk.com




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24 Sensor Readings

Thanks for your time, from Sensor Readings magazine

Some information about forthcoming features

l Amplifiers and power supplies l Automated systems

l Data acquisition systems l Embedded processors and software

l Grippers and tactile sensorsl Linear and rotary motors and encoders

l Programmable logic control systemsl Robots and robotic systems

l Signal conditioners and filtersl Software for system analysis and simulation

l Software development tools l Vision systems and sensors

l Robotics and automation rngineering reference and textbooksl Robotics and automation engineering conferences and courses

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