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SENSOR READINGS
The weekly magazine for robotics and automation industry
Issue 2 24 July 2015
Makers and making money A broader perspective on commercial opportunities
Drone by law Commercial drones prepare for take-off
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Interview: Jason Ernst CTO of Redtree Robotics on the Hydra and the mPLC
One small step for Baxter Rethink Robotics opens first office in Asia Case studies Some interesting automation solutions
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Germany makes progress Robotics sector grows 11 per cent in first quarter of 2015
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Contents Interview: Jason Ernst The CTO of Redtree Robotics talks about the Hydra and the mPLC 14
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or a new magazine like Sensor Readings and its staff, every week is an interesting week. For the journalists, many important business developments take place, and then there’s the social implications of increasingly widespread use of robotics and automation systems. For the marketing and advertising team, there’s a lot of research to do. What’s probably most interesting to all of us here is the detail of the technology, the engineering side – whether it’s the mechanical aspect or the software development. But this magazine is unlikely to delve too deeply into either area, partly because there are some specialist media that deal with those subjects very well, and partly because we want to develop the magazine and website – roboticsandautomationnews.com – as provider of an overview of the industry, offer a broader perspective. The big picture. Sometimes, in order to understand the big picture – a moving, constantly changing big picture – it’s necessary to look more closely at small parts of it. Deciding which frames, or even pixels, of the picture will start changing the overall scene is part of the fun of being a journalist. Spotting small but significant developments and trends before they become the mainstream can be rewarding if you get it right. And if you get it wrong, no big deal. We’re not trying to be investment advisers. There are some great sources for that. But we’ll try and see what companies, business sectors and technologies are most likely to make money in the future, and are already making money now. Having said that, getting financial information – or any kind of numbers – out of companies, is not always straightforward. But that’s understandable. l
Makers and making money A broader perspective on commercial opportunities in robotics and automation 6 Drone by law Commercial drones prepare for take-off as an industry, if the FAA will allow it 10
Rethink Robotics opens its first office in Asia 4 Tayzo Robotics signs deal with Verizon on drones 5 There’s gold in them thar machines 6 You can drone, but you can’t hide 10 Branches of the same Redtree 14 Automations case studies 16 Marketplace 18
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In Brief
In Brief
Smart robots sector to reach $8bn According to a new market research report by MarketsandMarkets, the total smart robots market is expected to reach $8 billion by 2020, at an estimated annual growth rate of 19 per cent between 2015 and 2020. Smart robots are the robotic systems which are capable of carrying out operations without direct human intervention. They are currently being designed to perform autonomous tasks and work along with humans. The smart robots market for industrial applications consist of collaborative robots which are designed to work along with humans
Fetch partners with Innovation Innovation Matrix, a distributor of robotic, motion control, and machine vision systems, has signed a deal with Fetch Robotics that allows Innovation to exclusively sell and support Fetch’s products in Asia. Fetch Robotics has developed a robot system comprised of mobile manipulator robot called “Fetch” and a mobile base “Freight” for the logistics and material handling industry.Eimei Onaga, CEO of Innovation, said: “Through our industrial experience and knowledge of the capabilities of Fetch and Freight, we will be able to provide the best tools and support to our customers to remain competitive in the coming human-robot collaborative era.”
XYZ launches new 3D printer XYZprinting, a 3D printer manufacturer, has announced the release of the company’s first SL Laser 3D printer. At an MSRP of $1,499, the Nobel 1.0 is one of the most affordable stereolithography 3D printers on the market, and comes with a great warranty term, outstanding customer service support and local technical support. The Nobel 1.0 is an industry first, says the company, that provides users with the precision needed to print every intricate detail of their designs at an affordable price – without sacrificing quality. Denso publishes buyers’ guide Denso Robotics, a global supplier of advanced robotic technology, has published a new guide to help prospective robot buyers meet their manufacturing, packaging and other industrial needs. The guide explains what buyers need to know to evaluate their options and comparison shop for the best value. Peter Cavallo, robotics sales manager, Denso Products and Services Americas, said: “Price alone doesn’t tell the whole story. It’s important to know what’s in the package and what isn’t.”
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Baxter is claimed by Rethink to be the world’s first two-armed collaborative robot
Rethink Robotics opens its first office in Asia RethinkRoboticsisparteringwithEpochFoundation to expand its operations in Asia. It will open an office at the Garage+ Incubation Center in Taipei. Rethink Robotics develops robots specifically designed to operate in variable manufacturing environments alongside humans, without the need for traditional safety cages. The Bostonbased company is now extending its automation solutions into Asia, beginning in Taiwan. Epoch is supported by leading tech corporations in Asia and has been providing education and
“
Garage+ was a natural choice for Rethink Robotics’ Taiwanbased staff.” Scott Eckert, Rethink Robotics
support to entrepreneurs for 13 years. Through its Garage+ Incubation Center initiative launched in 2012, it has fostered the development of a thriving tech startup community in Asia. “Garage+ was a natural choice for Rethink Robotics’ Taiwan-based staff because of its innovative atmosphere, entrepreneurial community and proximity to major Asian markets,” said Scott Eckert, president and chief executive officer, Rethink Robotics. Rethink has two robots for use in manufacturing. Baxter is the world’s first two-armed collaborative robot, a humanoid robot designed for a range of manufacturing tasks and research applications. The company’s latest innovation, Sawyer, expands on Baxter’s collaborative features, and its smaller footprint and single arm design make it ideally suited for smaller workspaces.
iRobot reports revenue of $150m iRobot’s revenue for the second quarter of 2015 was $148.8 million, compared with $139.8 million for the same quarter one year ago. The company this week announced its financial results for the second quarter ended June 27, 2015. “Our second quarter results exceeded our expectations. Home robot revenue was up slightly over last year while defense and security revenue more than doubled,” said Colin Angle, chairman and chief executive officer of iRobot. “We continue to expect 2015 revenue of $625 to $635 million, driven by home robot growth,”
he said, adding that the company expects strong performance in the US and China. In the US, home robot revenue grew 24 per cent year over year driven by sales of Roomba 800. Internationally, home robot revenue in China was up 60 per cent, partially offsetting the expected quarter-on-quarter declines in Japan and EMEA. Defense and security revenues grew more than 100 per cent over last year, the company reported, mainly due to the delivery of robots and spares under the Canadian contract awarded in the third quarter of 2014.
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Sony and ZMP in drone link-up Sony and ZMP have agreed to collaborate on unmanned aerial vehicles for image capture combined with cloudbased data processing. Sony Mobile and ZMP will jointly found Aerosense, a new company slated to be incorporated in August. Sony’s camera, sensing, telecommunications network, and robotics technologies will be leveraged alongside ZMP’s automated driving and robotics technologies together with their business experience in industrial fields. NASA funds new Energid robots Energid Technologies Corporation has been funded by NASA to develop a new robot simulation that accommodates uncertainty and discovers exceptional behaviors during mission planning. “Our approach is to apply concepts from game theory and stochastic optimization to deeply simulate NASA’s robotic missions,” said Ryan Penning, project manager on the program. “The result will be a breakthrough ability to reason about uncertain environments and understand the extremes of what a robot can do.”
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All Tayzu Robotics drones will eventually be fitted with the Skywire technology
Tayzo Robotics signs deal with Verizon on drones Tayzu Robotics, a manufacturer and developer of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), has entered into a partnership with Verizon Communications to integrate flight control options into Tayzu’s line of UAVs. At the center of this new technology is the Skywire 4G LTE Module by NimbeLink. This piece of equipment will make the collection and monetization of large amounts of data from autonomous UAV flights possible on Tayzu crafts via a cellular network, says the company.
“
The possible use cases for this new technology are limitless.” Tayzu
Tayzu crafts enabled with Skywire will be able to fly programmed flight paths at the press of a button. These programmed flights can be initiated from anywhere in the world. Tayzu Robotics is also developing technology that will enable the crafts to land in a charging station that will allow crafts to recharge themselves. Without the need of a pilot or an operator to change the battery, the craft will be able to fly indefinitely on its own. Users will need to do no more than program a flight path and press a button to have a craft that will fly and charge itself without any additional operation. “The possible use cases for this new technology are limitless,” says Tayzu in a press statement. Fully autonomous drones will be invaluable for security purposes as they will be able to offer 24-hour observation of large areas.
Amazon automates way to profits Amazon.com CFO Brian Olsavsky said the company’s profit during the second quarter was due to increased automation in its warehouses, which allowed it to cut costs. At the same time, the online retailer’s Amazon Web Services division, which supplies cloudcomputing services to other companies, registered robust growth. In a press conference reported by the Wall Street Journal, Olsavsky said the company’s use of robotics in its warehouses was an important way to lower costs. “We’re using
software and algorithms to make decisions rather than people, which we think is more efficient and scales better,” he said. Amazon has been developing a drone service that aims to deliver goods to its Prime customers within half an hour of ordering them. The company has been lobbying the US government to allow it to launch its Prime Air service. The company also has a sophisticated warehouse automation system developed a company called Kiva, which it bought.
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Features Twain in the 1873 novel The Gilded Age, spoken by a character called Mulberry Sellers, thought to be inspired by Stephenson. At the time Stephenson spoke his words, he was trying to persuade miners to remain in Georgia, rather than go west to California, where gold had been discovered a year earlier. There have been more than a few gold rushes since then – the internet, smartphones and mobile apps, to name but three recent ones. And many millions of people did go west – to Silicon Valley, in California, mostly – to find their fortunes. Now, it seems that robotics is shaping up to be the next gold rush, the next gold rush. Except this time, not many people would try and prevent anyone from going into robotics. Indeed, at least some would encourage it, perhaps because the facts and statistics about the industry would seem to confirm that it’s not a bad place to be. George Devol, the inventor of the first industrial robot, the Unimate robotic arm, would probably have had fewer problems getting his ideas off the ground in today’s investment climate.
Above: robotics exhibitions are seeing higher levels of business. Far left: industrial robots is a strong growth area. Left: so too is healthcare robotics. Below: the Nao robot, which initially sold for $16,000 each
There’s gold in them thar machines Robotics business It’s probably not the most important thing to makers, especially if they pursue it as a hobby, but money can be an important factor in the decision to enter robotics
I
n the five years between 2009 and 2013, global annual industrial robot shipments trebled from approximately 60,000 to 180,000, according to the International Federation of Robotics. Twenty per cent of all industrial robots sold in 2013 went to China, with the world’s largest economy believed to have bought an even greater percentage of the 226,000 sold in 2014, although the IFR is still collating statistics for last year. Concurrent to such colossal growth in industrial robotics has been the enormous increase in the number of people pursuing robotics as a hobby, often buying low-cost robotics starter kits from websites such as RobotShop to get started. There are no figures readily available on how many people around the world could now count robotics as one of their hobbies, but judging by the large number of prestigious robotics competitions – most notably the ones run by NASA and Darpa – offering substantial prizes,
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and the number of people who enter them, it would seem a significant percentage of people now tinker with automatons in their spare time at home. Not only that, but consumers have been buying ready-made robots in their tens of millions. From robot vacuum cleaners to artificially intelligent pets, any and every good robotic invention appears to be rewarded with commercial success. Meanwhile in the business world, hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in robotics startup companies, each one hoping to be the next big thing. Put all these things together and a picture emerges that has at least some of the hallmarks of a gold rush. The history of the California Gold Rush is reasonably well documented, with many people knowing that phrase, “There’s gold in them thar hills”, first uttered by Dr Matthew Stephenson, of the Dahlonega Mint, a branch of the US Mint. His words were made famous by Mark
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Mighty oaks from little acorns grow While establishing any new business can be difficult to say the least, the reality is that there are huge rewards on offer for successful companies in robotics. For example, iRobot, which mainly makes robots for the consumer market, is listed on Nasdaq as having a market capitalisation of $948 million. Its total revenue in 2014 was $557 million, and gross profit was $258 million. The company’s share value has gone up 30 per cent over the past year. Not many of the media-hyped “pure” robotics companies make their financial details public so it’s difficult to give more accurate information about their financial positions. But a look across the wider economy shows that companies which incorporate robotics as part of their portfolio are doing good business. Robo-Stox claims to be the first benchmark index to track the global robotics and automation market. Some of the companies Robo-Stox watches are valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, and some at many billions. Robo-Stox researches thousands of companies listed on stock markets in different countries in the world. Perhaps the most interesting are those which build and supply robotics and automation products and services to the manufacturing sector. Of those, we have selected a few to illustrate. Company Market capitalisation Aida Engineering $706 million ATS Automation $982 million Brooks Automation $782 million Daihen Corp $628 million Denso $36 billion Fanuc $42.8 billion Krones $3.3 billion Kuka $2.7 billion Nachi-Fujikoshi $1.4 billion Nordson Corp $4.8 billion Yaskawa Electric $3.8 billion Yushin Precision $353 million Of course, there are many others, such as ABB, the maker of the YuMi robot, which the company says is the world’s first “truly collaborative dual-arm robot”. Switzerland-headquartered ABB also has
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a presence in the power generation business. The company has a market capitalisation of more than $20 billion, as listed on the New York Stock Exchange. And then there are other well known companies which have robotics divisions, such as General Motors, Epson Robotics, Rockwell Automation, Staubli and TM Robotics.All of these companies are not only successful in their own right, some of them are also critical to the security and economy of their home countries, and other nations they trade in. Moreover, many of them are becoming an important part of China’s industrial landscape. The world’s most populous nation last year became the world’s biggest buyer of industrial robots, yet it does not have a significant robot building industry of its own. China’s president, Xi Jinxing, called for an “industrial robot revolution” last year, and the government has formulated a plan which aims to create a domestic robotmaking industry. The first step it has taken is to work with companies from outside China and invite them to partner with the country’s nascent industrial technology sector. Rags to riches – the Chinese takeaway China has long been one of the world’s largest manufacturers of clothes, and although tailoring may still be too complex and intricate for robots, there’s not many large factories that will be without robots if current trends continue. China seems to have gone robot-crazy. In May, the Shenzhen Everwin Precision Technology started building an all-robot factory in the Dongguan manufacturing district. The company specialises in the development, design, production and distribution of electronic parts and components. And its chairman, Chen Xingqi, wants to reduce the company’s workforce by 90 per cent to just 200. Another more well-known company, Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn, says it wants to replace at least 30 per cent of its workforce with industrial robots by 2020. The company employs more than 1 million workers, so that would be more than 300,000 people it wants to replace, although it says the extra robots may not involve any job losses, just restructuring. Terry Gou, chairman of Foxconn, said by next year, Foxconn will have 300,000 robots. While statistics and forecasts can and will be questioned, what is in little or any doubt is the dramatic changes taking place in Chinese industry. The country’s stock market has lost 30 per cent of its value in three weeks, and one unspoken factor causing the slide could be the realisation that massive unemployment could be the result of widespread robotics and automation systems, at least in the short term. The transition to a more technology oriented economy may happen fast enough to avoid serious social and economic problems. China has proved it can move fast when it needs to, and already a number of smaller robot makers have emerged. But once the workforce is trained to build and maintain robots, and the industry reaches its highest employment level, what will most of the millions and millions of workers replaced by robots do? Where does the country go from there? No one knows and, crucially, no country has shown the way. The first industrial revolution between the 1700s and 1800s gave rise to the so-called Luddites in the UK – unemployed workers who attacked the looms and other machines for taking their jobs. This current industrial revolution is new to every nation, and each can only speculate as to where the majority of its people will find work after all the jobs directly related to
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These countries may be far ahead of China in terms of robotics, but most of them cannot be absolutely certain what the next stage will be. Although Germany, perhaps unsurprisingly, might. Industry 4.0 lacks a little, how you say, je ne sais quois A country which has many inventions to its credit, including the car, Germany enjoyed a centuries-old tradition of developing automata. And its excellence in engineering and technology has given it a unique insight into what could be the shape of things to come for progressive economies around the world. At the beginning of this decade, the country’s government devised a high-tech strategy to promote computerisation in manufacturing. Already one of the most technologically advanced manufacturing sectors in the world, as evidenced by the strength of its world-beating automobile brands – Mercedes, BMW, Audi and so on – Germany wanted to further streamline and optimise its production processes. In formulating the plan, a working group made up of industry leaders such as Siegfried Dais of Bosch, brought about a phrase that they said summarised the contemporary circumstances. That phrase was Industrie 4.0. The Germans argued that the first industrial revolution was the advent of machines which used steam power; the second was electrical power; and then the third was computing power, which enabled greater automation of production. But that computing power was mostly used in isolated situations in the past. Now, with the advent of the internet and the Internet of Things (IoT), all parts of a process can be connected. This connectivity will enable a level of interactivity between machines that has never been possible before. Hence, Industrie 4.0. Growth areas of the future The IoT is also known as the machine-to-machine (M2M) network. Essentially it functions much like the internet that humans use. Except, unlike humans, machines communicate relatively tiny amounts of information, and they’re very precise – they have not yet learned to procrastinate, to um and ah, and to engage in small talk. This means that machines only need a low-power communication devices which can connect to each other on narrowband data networks. The IoT could be seen as a
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robotics and automation are filled, since robots are capable of doing almost any factory task a human can do. In China’s case, it still has a long way to go before that decisive juncture. At the moment, even after buying so many industrial robots over recent years, the country is still way behind in the robot density index – the number of robots per head of population. According to the IFR, the 10 countries with the highest number of industrial robots for every 10,000 people employed in manufacturing are: Country Nº of robots per 10,000 people South Korea 347 Japan 339 Germany 261 Italy 159 Sweden 157 Denmark 145 United States 135 Spain 131 Finland 130 Taiwan 129
Sensor Readings
SENSOR READINGS
The weekly news magazine for robotics and automation industry
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First issue 17 July 2015
Rockwell CEO calls for youth ‘Manufacturing needs to teach and reach younger students’
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 side We talk to the people behind RoboDK, the new offline progamming tool
Above: ABB says it’s YuMi is “the world’s first truly collaborative dual-arm industrial robot”
parallel internet with thinner communication lines with much less data flowing along them, and much of it is wireless. Furthermore, combine the IoT with with other connectivity solutions such as WiFi, near field communication (NFC), and you have the potential to create a mass of machines – simple or complex – that can all talk to each other extremely efficiently. Not only that, the machines can talk to products, and the products can talk back. In a paper called Industry 4.0: The Future of Productivity and Growth in Manufacturing Industries, the Boston Consulting Group outlined what it called “the nine pillars of technological advancement”. They are: l Big data and analytics, which is already finding a place in manufacturing, and helping create different kinds of efficiencies; l Autonomous robots, also to be found in manufacturing in the form of robots that can communicate with and work with each other; l Simulation, such as offline programming of robots and real-world production processes; l Horizontal and vertical system integration, which can facilitate a far greater level of detail in inter- and intra-company collaboration; l The industrial IoT, which can enable products to tell robots how it is to be handled and processed; l Cybersecurity, which is believed will be much stronger as a result of the greater degree of connectivity and much tougher standards; l The Cloud, which is enabling much more flexible and detailed monitoring and management, even through mobile devices such as smartphones; l Additive manufacturing, such as 3D printing and other technologies enabling faster prototyping and lowercost iterations; and l Augmented reality, which could be used to train and retrain staff, and give instructions in realtime. Germany, typically, has implemented many of the technologies of Industrie 4.0 and predicts that productivity will be boosted by 90 to 150 billion euros within five to 10 years. It also expects the manufacturing sector to employ 6 per cent more people, and forecasts revenue to grow by 30 billion euros a year. All this will come at a cost, however. Industrie 4.0 will require massive investment – 250 billion euros over the next 10 years. That is clearly more than Germany expects to earn back in monetary terms within that time frame. However, the Germans are nothing if not long-term planners when it comes to engineering and manufacturing. After all, we’re all driving Mercedes cars even now, more than 200 years after the first one was built. By Germans. l
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You can drone, but you can’t hide Commercial UAVs The US Federal Aviation Administration is being urged to allow commercial drones to operate. Otherwise, the multi-billion-dollar business will never get off the ground
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f US regulators have their way, commercial drones as a multi-billion-dollar industry would be a non-starter. This is according to companies developing the technology. Drones might not even take off at all in the commercial sector, and remain in the domain of hobbyists. Until now, hobbyists flying small, remote-controlled aircraft have not been hampered by any laws or regulations. That’s likely to remain unchanged for the foreseeable future. The most that’s likely to happen to them is that individual states across the US will each impose their own rules depending on local circumstances. However, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed a stricter set of rules to govern both commercial drones, the ones flown by companies such as Amazon, for example, the online retail giant, or Dominos, which wants to use them to deliver its pizzas. The FAA classifies unmanned aircraft systems as being of three types: public operations, which is governmental; civil operations, non-governmental; and model aircraft, for hobby and recreational use. For the government sector, the FAA has been issuing licences for some time, mainly to law enforcement agencies. The agency has not proposed any significant
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changes to that arrangement. Hobbyists are currently allowed to fly their craft as long as they are at least files away from an airport and keep the aircraft to within 400 feet of the ground For the hobbyists, the agency has largely exempted their aircraft from regulations provided they are flown within the line of sight of their pilots, remain under 400 feet and clear of surrounding obstacles. Hobbyists also need to make sure they’re not within five miles of an airport and that their aircraft is no more than 55 pounds in weight. For commercial drone operators, however, the rules the FAA is proposing to the government are unworkable, according to Amazon, which is already limited to
“
e looked into all different kinds of W functionalities of how to get things to a customer on a 30-minute-or-less basis, and what really works are drones” Paul Misener, Amazon www.roboticsandautomationnews.com
Features conducting research and development flights indoors or in other countries. Amazon has asked for an exemption so it can start operating its fleet of drones to deliver goods to its Prime customers across the US. The company even says its goal is to be able to deliver items within 30 minutes of them being ordered. But even if Amazon were allowed to fly its aircraft outdoors under the same rules as hobbyists, the company says its Prime Air business would be not be able to operate. Crucially, Amazon needs to be allowed to operate the aircraft even when they go beyond the line of human sight. At a House of Congress hearing recently, lawmakers asked Amazon’s vice president of global public policy, Paul Misener, whether limiting drones to the line of sight would work. “It won’t, at least for package delivery services,” said Misener. “We have distribution facilities throughout the country, and what we’d like to be able to do is enable that network of facilities to deliver packages to customers more quickly than is currently possible using the ground-transportation network. We looked into all different kinds of functionalities of how to get things to a customer on a 30-minute-or-less basis, and what really works are drones.” The government and the FAA say they will make a final decision in mid-2016. Meanwhile, companies are having to go outside the US to test their drones. Which is encouraging countries such as the Cayman Islands to enter the business, with the government there announcing the opening of a drone testing facility and much greater freedom to fly aerial vehicles. Domino’s has been testing its “DomiCopter” drone pizza delivery system outside the US for more than two years. The UK government has allowed the company to trial the method in a town just outside London. No permanent legal framework has been established to allow Domino’s to use the aerial drones in the rest of the country, but it seems a local next step in the process, especially as Domino’s seems to have gained clearance for its unmanned road vehicles. The company has launched what it calls a “Domi-No-Driver”, which it claims is the world’s first autonomous pizza delivery vehicle. It looks like a motorcycle, and incorporates what looks like a motorcycle helmet in the design, but it is in fact driverless. From the human eye to computer vision Despite the understandable concerns about quite possibly thousands of commercial drones that are likely to appear in the skies, the FAA is likely to bring in rules that will allow their operation beyond the line of sight, probably with stringent requirements for alternative monitoring systems to compensate. This is where the agency will have to leave the human line of sight argument and delve deeper into the technological aspects of the issue and investigate the commercial drone management systems that are being launched by fast-moving companies. One of those companies is called SmartC2 has launched VirtualAirBoss, an online software service for
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aviation business owners who operate fixed-wing or rotor aircraft, whether they are manned or unmanned. Starting at $99 a month, the cloud-based VirtualAirBoss software provides a central source to schedule, manage, and report on aviation operations – from initial customer call, through flight planning, scheduling and payload delivery, to invoicing, says the company. Stuart Rudolph, CEP of SmartC2, says: “For unmanned aircraft in the US, people are being allowed certificates to fly for certain purposes, and they have to file reports. We allow them to create that report in our system. We automate the business process.” VirtualAirBoss has been incorporated into the NASA Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) system, another fast-moving project involving a range of government and industry organisations. UTM is intended to test and develop manage civilian low-altitude altitude airspace and unmanned aerial system operations. The UTM notional scenario, developed by NASA, to help monitor and manage unmanned aerial vehicles “One of the attributes of the UTM system is it will not require human operators to monitor every vehicle continuously. The system will provide to human managers the data to make strategic decisions related to initiation, continuation, and termination of airspace operations,” says NASA in a factsheet explaining UTM. Another company that is part of the NASA UTM project is Airware, a startup company founded by Jonathan Downey, who used to work for Beoing on the A160 Hummingbird unmanned helicopter deployed by the US military. Airware says it is initially targeting companies which have to manage extensive infrastructure spread over a wide geographical area: mining, construction, utilities, telecommunications, oil and gas, transportation are some examples. The company’s Airware Cloud provides tools to manage fleets of UAVs, and for project management, work order scheduling, compliance approval workflows and a number of other features, such as data storage and processing. Another new company that is offering cloud-based software to manage drones is PixiePath, which seems to be aiming at the smaller-scale user. Its beta testing phase is calling for people with DJI Phantom drones, and Android 5 or above phones. With all these drones flying around, a massive amount of data is being collected in the cloud, especially if they are recording video. Which is spawning specialist UAV cloud data companies, such as Skycatch. Skywatch says it offers a range of capture types, including real time maps and multispectral NDVI imaging, which uses sensors to detect whether an object on the ground is organic or not. It also offers thermal imaging, 3D topographical maps, and other functions catering to drone users. May the forecast be with you The FAA forecasts the drone industry will be worth around $90 billion within the next five to seven years. The agency says that its estimate is conservative. It could grow even faster and to a greater size.
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An illustration of NASA’s proposed UTM drone monitoring and management system
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There are already said to be more than 1,700 different types of drones, being manufactured by more than 500 manufacturers worldwide. And the FAA has been issuing licenses on an ongoing basis before full regulations are introduced. The Centre for the Study of the Drone, Bard College, has created a database of all the companies that have been granted exemptions. On its website, Bard says: “We found that while many exempted individuals and companies will be working in a single field like agriculture or film, a large number of the exemptions went to companies that seek to provide aerial imagery and services to a range of industries. “In the agriculture category for example, a little under half of the companies that received an exemption intend to use drones specifically for farming while the rest of the companies intend to also work in other industries.” Certainly the momentum for change is building, and so too is a business community, around commercial drones, and it’s reaching a point where it would seem inevitable that the US regulators’ line of sight argument will no longer be applied. European regulators, too, are faced with the challenge of formulating laws to govern the use of commercial drones across the European Union (EU) as a whole. At the moment, different member states within the EU have different rules and regulations. The EU’s largest economy, Germany, is allowing logistics company DHL to conduct a test in which drones are used to deliver urgently needed medicines in a remote area of the country, the car-free island of Juist. The “parcelcopter” is similar size to commercial drones in the US, at about 5 kg in weight, and flies at up to 40 miles an hour. The company says if the trial is successful, the plan is to extend the use into other geographical areas, but for the same medical purpose. Their utilisation in deliveries of commercial goods and post is being considered now,
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“
ne of the O attributes of the UTM system is it will not require human operators to monitor every vehicle” NASA
and the EU is likely to make a final decision next year. The US Postal Service (USPS) is narrowing down the number of companies it is considering for the its ageing fleet of Grumman road vehicles. The companies still in the running include Fiat, Chrysler, Nissan and Daimler among others. One of those others is Workhorse Group, which is incorporating a drone delivery system in the deal. "We feel very confident that our integrated drone technology on top of our electric truck is the best solution for the Postal Service as well as give them the lowest total cost of ownership for their truck needs and their future drone needs," said Duane Hughes, director of sales at Workhorse Group. The drones would be used in conjunction with the delivery trucks, and the driver of the road-going vehicle would likely be the one launching the drone from his van and piloting it back. The USPS has separately been looking into using drones and is in the process of awarding companies contracts to test prototypes. One of those companies is likely to be Workhorse. Workhorse has been developing a number of variations of its Horsefly drone system, including one which can carry heavier loads of 30 pounds at once. Most drones are designed to carry around one or two pounds. Such developments are likely to be at the forefront of discussions at the International Drone Conference and Expo (InterDrone), in early September, in Las Vegas. The three-day event will feature more than 90 workshops on a wide variety of subjects relating to drones, including vision systems, safety and security, fuzzy logic control systems, power systems, and how “drones that produce wind energy will become a trillion dollar business”. Commercial drones is already a big business, but its continued growth depends on the regulations due to be brought in by the FAA and the government next year. l
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“The other systems have general purpose and fixed I/O. All of the I/O on our system is reconfigurable. This means sometimes the pins can be CANbus, sometimes the same pins I2C, digital, analog, and so on. This makes the platform extremely flexible. It is also modular. It has more I/O pins than many competitors, and is broken out into up to four I/O cards. You only need to buy what you require. “The software we provide is a custom real-time Debian operating system, along with middleware that makes many of the tricky parts of robotics a bit easier. We provide an easy way to program the FPGA, make getting data to and from devices easy with API function calls, and make sharing data with other robots, and the Internet very simple. “Our system comes built in with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and optional 4G/LTE along with software that can manage which combinations of these technologies to use.”
The Redtree Hydra chipset is about the size of a credit card, but the company plans to reduce it to the size of a coin
Branches of the same Redtree Robotics platform Redtree Robotics aims to be the definitive chipset for the maker community. The company also has its eye on innovating the manufacturing sector with its industry-first mobile PLC
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R
obotics enthusiasts, or makers as they are often referred to, is a global community that is growing all the time. Along with it, the demand for chipsets specifically designed for robots is also expanding. Compared to the large number of makers out there, there’s not many chipsets specifically designed for robots – Arduino and Raspberry Pi being the most well known. But now, a new Canadian company is set to make an impact. Redtree Robotics is the maker of the Redtree Hydra, which it says is “the definitive chipset for robotics”. Redtree is a startup and going through various funding rounds. “So far we have raised around $300,000,” says Jason Ernst, Redtree’s CTO, in an interview with RoboticsandAutomation.com. Further rounds of funding will follow, with Ernst saying the plan is to crowd fund the product launch for entry into the consumer/maker space. The company’s crowd-funding page can be found on Angel. Ernst sees crowd funding as “a gateway to into more lucrative and stable contracts with industrial partners in the future”, but these are difficult to win without enough evidence that the product is mature. It’s not unheard of for large, established companies to buy startups in order to incorporate their technology into their portfolio of products, and there are probably some chip makers interested in Redtree. The top chip makers are certainly interested in the robotics. Qualcomm, for example. The world’s largest maker of chips for mobile phones has
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developed a strong interest in the robotics market. Its Snapdragon system on a chip (SoC) is a platform designed for “multiple robotics applications”, including mobile robotics. The company has also launched Qualcomm Zeroth, its first “cognitive computing platform”, a cloud-based service which aims to empower Snapdragon devices with human-like cognitive abilities, such as seeing and hearing, and reasoning. The company is planning to launch Zeroth next year. Right now, Qualcomm is talking about restructuring its $100 billion company and may break it up into several parts, and acquire companies which will enable it to expand and bring in new innovations. Startup companies like Redtree could be on its shopping list. But for the time being, Qualcomm and others are competitors, although Redtree would see itself as being more analogous to companies that have become well known in the maker community, at which the Redtree Hydra is primarily aimed. Making robotics easier for everyone “The Redtree Hydra is a computer platform for robotics that brings enterprise robotics features to everyone,” says Ernst. “It will open up robotics to a huge group of people to which building a robot was previously too difficult. “It’s similar to something like a Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Beaglebone Black and so on, with a few key differences. The Redtree Hydra is not just hardware, it is also software, communications and a cloud service. It’s built for robotics.
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Interesting projects While Redtree waits for the right moment for its full debut in Autumn this year, the company is offering its chipset on request through its website. At the moment, the programming language for the chipset is C and C++, but Redtree indicated that it may add other languages. A number of interesting projects based on Hydra have been posted on Hackaday, the website for engineers. In one, a prototype for a Redtree Hydra Drone is described. “There’s a wide range of projects using, or committed to using, the Redtree Hydra,” says Ernst. “There is a project where a ground vehicle and an aerial vehicle both powered by the Redtree Hydra collaborate together for soil sampling. “Another project is a swarm aerial vehicle project. There are also some projects where robots powered by our system are linked with wearable technology allowing feedback and collaboration with humans.” Redtree is gaining ground in the maker community, which is seen as mostly made up of enthusiasts who build things in their spare time, often with friends and family members. The company is also looking to enter the corporate sector with what it claims is an industry first – a mobile programmable logic controller (PLC), or mPLC as Redtree calls it. A PLC is a computer that controls automated systems in factories. Until recently, most automated equipment has tended to be stationary, or fixed – it stays in one place. But as factories increasingly use robots for a wider variety of tasks, technology will be needed to manage mobile automated equipment, or industrial robots. That’s where Redtree’s mPLC would be useful. It’s a product that could have a massive impact on manufacturing and factory- and warehouse-based processes across many sectors. “A PLC traditionally has been deployed in factories and automation,” Ernst says. “In the 1970s people were trying to scale machinery in factories and warehouses, and found that they were always re-inventing the wheel. “There was no common ‘computer system’ that would enable interoperability between systems in these factories and warehouses. The PLC became this system that prevented lots of custom in-house, specialized development at each factory or warehouse and standardized the industry. “However, these units often depend on fixed infrastructure like wiring and do not work well when attached to moving devices. With our experience in this space, we realize that PLCs and automation has been well understood for some time, but the challenges of mobile robotics were not.” After much consideration of the issue, Tom Hummel, Redtree’s CEO, felt inspired to bring the same ease of programming to mobile robotics, and combined with Ernst’s expertise in wireless networks – specifically keeping moving things connected together – the two found it was possible to take on the challenges of a PLC-like device that moved
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Main features of Redtree Hydra Processing The Redtree Hydra uses a cutting edge Zynq dualcore ARM-A9 & FPGA providing you the ideal tradeoff between performance & energy efficiency. Input / Output Sensors, motors, actuators and components you select can be added to the Redtree Hydra with up to four modular I/O cards. Only pay for what you use.
Connectivity Your robots are always connected with the Redtree Hydra seamless wireless technology. Out of the box you get Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, & optional 4G/LTE.
Toolchain You can design, connect and program complex robots without being an expert using the Redtree Hydra and the tools you’re used to using.
Real-time Control You remain in tight control of events and data generated by components connected to your robot with the Redtree Hydra realtime linux kernel.
Real-Time Data Your robots are always connected to each other and the Internet. All data generated in the robots can be used in other robots, or stored & viewed in real-time.
Download page: redtreerobotics.com
“
The Redtree Hydra is a computer platform for robotics that brings enterprise robotics features to everyone”
Jason Ernst, CTO, Redtree Robotics
around. Some of these challenges, says Ernst, include limited bandwidth, coverage and connectivity of specific wireless technologies, interference, environmental effects, reliability and so on. “Solutions to many of these issues have made their way into the Redtree Hydra.” The Hydra comes with a variety of wireless technologies which can be applied to the Internet of Things (IoT), a network for machines to communicate with each other that many believe will bring profound changes to manufacturing processes and industry in general. And it’s a technology which Redtree has identified as having “a future space to grow into”. Ernst adds: “Our future plans also see further cost reductions with scale as well as reducing the size of the Hydra system. Right now it is roughly credit card sized, but we have designs to make it about the size of a small coin.” The company is also looking at plans to use other services like Upverter, an electronic design automation software application, so that people can design their robots and include the Redtree Hydra as a board level component or chip. “IoT will play an important role in manufacturing,” says Ernst. “The more ‘things’ that become part of the analytics of the manufacturing line, the more people and computers will be able to optimize the production process. Bottlenecks will be improved, waste will be reduced, and so on.” Ernst is a computer science graduate, and won first place in Code 2014, Canada’s largest hackathon. Hummel’s degree is in engineering. Both are PhD candidates. Redtree is actively looking to recruit new talent, and invites applications from those with backgrounds in engineering and computer science. In particular, it’s looking for a partner-level COO to round out its team. Even before more recruitment, however, Redtree says it’s getting ready to disrupt the industry by making the power of its technology accessible to a wide audience of developers. l
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Rockwell Automation helps Fortue 500 food company improve its safety systems Challenges Solved the following operational challenges with safety products from Rockwell Automation: l Improved personnel/ machinery safety l Improved productivity (i.e., production throughput) l Improved overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) Use Case Using safety services from Rockwell Automation, helped with the following: l Eased regulatory compliance l Helped transfer safety system knowledge to new employees l Helped improve knowledge among employees about functional safety standards l Purchased Rockwell Automation safety technology to:
l Improve personnel/ machinery safety l Reduce unscheduled machinery downtime l Standardize equipment on one automation platform l Reduce safety system design time
Results Rated the following Rockwell Automation safety solution capabilities in terms of how differentiated they are compared with those of the competition: l Integration with existing
Cimtec maintains $10m of GE stock Cimtec couples Series Six PLC unit with data processing
G
E Intelligent Systems is the leader in automation control products and has been in the market for decades. Many of their products purchased over 20 years ago are still in service in manufacturing facilities today. Cimtec is an authorized aftermarket supplier for GE Intelligent Platform products, and maintains an inventory of $10 million worth of GE stock and legacy systems. Cimtec stocks complete systems as well as replacement parts, including programmable logic controller (PLC) boards, CPU, controller, and modules. Legacy systems include the GE Series One and Series Six PLC systems, both of which were extremely reliable and popular with many users. In addition to legacy systems, Cimtec also supports all of the latest GE products, including the Series RX3i PLC PAC System Programmable Automation Controllers (PAC’s), so whether you’re looking to maintain your existing systems or upgrade to the latest PLC
“
Cimtec offers connection products so that you can use a reliable Series One PLC with newer computing hardware
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systems: differentiated l Performance: extremely differentiated l Ease of use: highly differentiated l Local support: differentiated l Industry expertise: highly differentiated l Paid back their investment in Rockwell Automation safety solutions in 24 months – 36 months. l Reduced their injury/incident frequency rate by 0 – 10% with Rockwell Automation safety solutions. l Improved their plant’s productivity by 10 – 24% with Rockwell Automation safety solutions. l Improved the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) by more than 10 per cent with Rockwell Automation safety solutions. l
technology, Cimtec has the products and expertise you need. The GE IP Series One was the first small, modular “shoe box” PLC on the market. It was the first small PLC with analog I/O, math functions and multi-rack configurations. The Series One is considered a legacy system by GE at this point, but many users have found them to be extremely reliable and can put in service for over 20 years. Cimtec is the authorized aftermarket support for GE’s Series One legacy products. Despite its legacy status, the Series One can be run on Windows XP or Vista operating systems. Cimtec offers connection products so that you can use a reliable Series One PLC with newer computing hardware, as well as spare parts so you can keep your Series One models running. GE Intelligent Systems released the Series Six PLC in the 1980s as the first modular PLC, and GE estimates that over 500,000 of these PLC units were installed in facilities around the world. Three model configurations were available, and three different CPU versions allowed for increased memory and larger input/output (I/O) capacity. The Series Six could be coupled with a data processing unit (DPU) or a redundant processing unit (RPU) to offload some of the functions. Cimtec maintains a huge inventory of remanufactured Series Six modules, including LX and LR memory modules, CCM communications modules, power supplies, and I/O modules. In addition the Series One and Series Six PLCs, Cimtec also maintains an inventory of new and remanufactured parts for GE’s Series Three and Series Five PLC models. While these legacy systems are no longer manufactured or supported by GE, their users have found that their reliability and performance is still valuable in many production facilities. All of Cimtec’s remanufactured or repaired GE PLC boards come with a two-year warranty. l
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The treasure of Sierra Nevada Inductive Automation’s Ignition system at Sierra Nevada
I
t’s a strange problem when an IT department can put too many features on the system. Usually, it’s the other way around. More often than not, it is the IT department that is overwhelmed with requests. “We find that we can overload our users with new features,” said David Lewis, business analyst for Sierra Nevada Brewery Co. “It’s so easy to build stuff. We’re way ahead of the user-curve. We have found that we have to wait for them to digest what we’ve built, and then wait for them to start asking for more.” Lewis explains that before implementing Inductive Automation software, they had a lot of requests – and those requests took a long time to develop. Accessing production system data was the biggest IT development hurdle. There just wasn’t an easy way to get the data. After implementing the new software, they were able to easily obtain data from anywhere in the plant. “Now, all of a sudden the data is all there,” Lewis said excitedly. “It’s the keys to the kingdom. We’ve now been able to manage some pretty heavy workflow problems.”
Getting Through the Skepticism But it wasn’t initially easy to find those keys to IT bliss. Anytime IT makes a decision to put new software on a system, they need to proceed with caution to ensure no disruption to the plant’s production. “We approached the software with skepticism,” Lewis explained. “There was no support among our automation engineers for using it as a control system for both philosophical and practical reasons: Philosophically, because we treat our control system as a stand-alone system – completely unconnected from any other network – and practically, because our corporate Windowsbased PC network had such a rotten reliability record. “Fermentation is a 24/7 process, so our plant controls staff were in no mood to introduce Windows-style downtime to their lives. The Inductive Automation software was so inexpensive, however, that we decided to try it for data acquisition and production reporting – two areas where there were no good alternatives on the market.” The first experience with the software proved to be very
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user friendly. “It was easy to configure,” explained Jonathan Swisher, system developer for Sierra Nevada Brewery Co. “The reason it’s easy is because I only had to install it on the server – one install. It took me no time, except installing it on the server. Its easiness comes from the client-side because there are no clients to install individually. There’s not a lot of overhead work to get it out to everyone in the plant.” From a technical knowledge perspective, Swisher said the software had a very easy learning curve. It’s familiar to individuals trained in standard office technology such as web, Java, SQL databases, etc. “Most of it seemed intuitive,” Swisher explained, referring to Inductive Automation’s “Jython” scripting. “All these functions are well documented. Python is clean and concise; which makes Jython really familiar. Jython is super easy to learn because it was familiar to what we learn in school.” Access to Data Opened Up Possibilities Ron Mayfield, system developer for Sierra Nevada Brewery, said that various interactions with the company’s SQL database had always been problematic in the past. When they rewrote all of the data to go through Inductive Automation’s Ignition software, life got easier. “Once we realized that was possible – to work with the PLCs and other SQL production databases – we found we could
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bring it all together and put it on one screen,” Mayfield said. “That kind of synergy of info was all off limits until Inductive Automation came around.” By being able to work with the PLCs and the database, Mayfield said they soon realized that they could help all departments communicate seamlessly. One example he gave was their filtration to packaging workflow. Before a tank of beer is ready to be packaged, it has to be processed by the filtration department and then sampled and tested by the lab. Test information was then hand-written on to a series of whiteboards around the plant. Mayfield said they faced a very simple, but big problem: As the plant grew, people had to remember to write that information down in more and more places – a round trip of nearly half a mile! Now, with web-launched client screens bringing together PLC data (tank statuses, etc.), lab test data (from lab devices), and workflow data (approvals, comments, out of spec alerts), all that information is now available through any PC in the plant. In Summary Lewis, Mayfield, and Swisher agreed that changes aren’t always easy. Especially when the IT department can make more features than their users can take in at a time. They’ve actually had to slow down the pace of how many features they add to the system, just so users get a chance to accept the new changes. “But I think everyone agrees that the changes are good,” Lewis said. “We’re a growing company. Five to ten years ago when we had to make a production decision, we would simply walk over and talk to someone … but now, you can’t always find that person. “Using Inductive Automation’s software, we can always find the screen. Operation is much easier than before.” Sierra Nevada Brewery Co. is the sixth largest brewery in the United States. Their beer is produced exclusively in Chico, Calif., and is distributed in all 50 states and exported to Europe and Asia. Their flagship product is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, complemented by a yearround program of seasonal and specialty beers. l
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Off side We talk to the people behind RoboDK, the new offline progamming tool
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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.
euRobotics AISBL eu-robotics.net
British Automation & Robot Association bara.org.uk
Actuation
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.
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.
IEEE Robotics and Automation Society ieee-ras.org
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.
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.
Robotic Industries Association robotics.org
China Robot Industry Alliance cria.mei.net.cn
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.
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.
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PHD PHD is a leading manufacturer of industrial automation actuators, designed to help companies across all industries optimize their manufacturing processes. phdinc.com
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
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
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
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
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
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Marketplace: technology Computing & Software
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
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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
Sensors Ranesas
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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 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
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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
The Raspberry Pi is a series of credit cardsized 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
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
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
4D Technology designs and manufactures laser interferometers, surface roughness profilers and interferometry accessories. 4dtechnology.com
Sensirion is a leading sensor manufacturer, providing relative humidity sensors and flow sensor solutions with unique performance. sensirion.com
Evana Automation
Infineon
Sano
Hansford Sensors
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
We provide semiconductor and system solutions, focusing on three central needs of our modern society: Energy Efficiency, Mobility and Security. infineon.com
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
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
KUKA.WorkVisual Dassault Systemes Robotics Programmer provides a 3D environment where robot programmers can create, program, simulate and validate an entire robot workcell. 3ds.com
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
Freescale 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
NewBotic Corporation
Atmel
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
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 Silicon Labs
FANUC Authorized Integrators Aldebaran by Softbank ABB RobotStudio 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
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
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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
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
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
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Silicon Labs is a team of hardware and software innovators dedicated to solving our customer’s toughest embedded design challenges. silabs.com
Texas Instruments
EMX
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
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
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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
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22
Sensor Readings
Marketplace
Sensor Readings
Marketplace
23
Marketplace: companies Kawada
Kawasaki
SynTouch
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
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
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
DENSO Robotics Yaskawa Yaskawa Motoman offers a wide range of industrial robotic arm models for high-speed precision assembly and small part handling including high-performance sixaxis robots; flexible seven-axis manipulators; dual-arm robots with 15 axes; and more. motoman.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
Vecna Vecna’s robotic logistics solutions are a family of autonomous mobile robots, built to operate within human-centric environments. vecna.com
Cutting edge technology, class leading products and groundbreaking systems are only part of what you can expect when you choose DENSO Robotics. densorobotics.com
Schunk SCHUNK is one of the largest manufacturer for automation components, toolholders and workholding equipment. schunk.com
”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
Brain Corporation Energid
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
Energid Technologies develops advanced software and robotic systems for the aerospace, agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, defense, and medical industries. energid.com
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
Honda Robotics
Ekso Bionics
Bosch Robotics
DMG Mori Ellison
Honda has further advanced intelligence technologies enabling its advanced humanoid robot ASIMO to act autonomously and perform uninterrupted service to office guests. honda.com
Ekso Bionics helps survivors of stroke, spinal cord injury and other forms of lower extremity weakness to walk again. intl.eksobionics.com
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
DMG Mori Ellison Technologies is a provider of advanced machining solutions to North American metal-cutting manufacturers and their global affiliates. ellisontechnologies.com
Epson
iRobot
ASI
DAIHEN
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
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
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
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
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
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
TEUN
Future Robot
Clearpath Robotics
Axium
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 laborintensive and expensive way of unloading containers. teun.com
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.
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
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
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Honeybee Robotics Since 1983, Honeybee has completed over 300 projects for NASA, the US Department of Defense, academia, industry and artists. honeybeerobotics.com
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Aethon Aethon is best known for its TUG autonomous mobile delivery robot which transports medications, meals and materials through hospitals. aethon.com
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Aurotek Aurotek delivers high valueadded 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
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
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
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
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Rockwell CEO calls for youth ‘Manufacturing needs to teach and reach younger students’
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 side We talk to the people behind RoboDK, the new offline progamming tool
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