Online magazine for design and development

Here you will find everything that the designer needs for his design and the development engineer for his new development, from the draft to quality assurance in production, such as new products, their applications, new technologies or research results. Company reports as well as topics on technological and megatrends in all industrial sectors complete our range of industry news. Let's start with the news.

Company News

Ebm-Papst wants to sell industrial drive technology to Siemens
The Ebm-Papst Group has announced that it will sell its Industrial Drive Technology (IDT) division to Siemens AG. Both sides have signed a corresponding agreement.
Jumo's new Sensilo plant construction is progressing
Jumo is building a factory in the technology park for the production of temperature and pressure sensors with a production area of ​​around 13 m². At around 000 million euros, the new building is the largest investment in the company's history.
3DExperience Word 2024 in Dallas
At 3DExperience World 2024 in February in Dallas, Texas, Dassault Systèmes celebrated the event's 25th anniversary. The annual user meeting supports the global community in the development of future-proof products and processes.
Michael Koch GmbH moves into a new workshop
There is now more space available in Michael Koch's “Factory” for the assembly of customer- and machine-specific safe braking resistors. The new, modern hall was recently “taken by storm” by the employees.
Elon Musk is suing OpenAI for profit-making
Elon Musk files a lawsuit against OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman, accusing them of breach of contract because the company, which was originally designed as a nonprofit, is now operating for profit.
AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Industry news for your design and development from the specialist areas

switch cabinet

switch cabinet

On to the intelligent drive train for predictive maintenance

The Roba-brake-checker module or the torque-measuring shaft coupling from Mayr ensure intelligent safety in smart production.

To the post

plastics

plastics

The first 100 Igus bikes hit the streets

The first 100 Igus Urban Bikes hit the streets and an in-house production facility with a capacity of 10.000 bicycles is set up in Cologne.

To the post

Couplings

Couplings

Torque measuring shaft coupling

The smart steel multi-plate coupling Roba-drive-checker from Mayr can do more than just transmit torque and compensate for shaft misalignment.

To the post

Robotic

Robotic

Programming robots for cable handling

As an exhibitor in the Application Park at the Hannover Messe, Artiminds Robotics is presenting a cable handling application for precise cable harness assembly.

To the post

INDUSTRY SPECIALS

Industry news for your design and development from the branches

food technology

food technology

Lubrication and sealing-optimized linear guide

Schaeffler presents linear guides for food technology with optimized seals, wipers and long-term lubrication units.

To the post

Mobile Machinery

Mobile Machinery

Flexible, customizable gateway for agricultural technology

IFM Electronic is presenting the Isobus Gateway at the Hannover Messe, which is designed for agricultural equipment and can be specifically adapted.

To the post

Energy Technology

Energy Technology

All Electric Society – vision of the future of connectivity

At the Hannover Messe Preview, Harting gives an outlook on the Hannover Messe and draws the future picture of an “All Electric Society”.

To the post

Inverter

Inverter

Certified servo controller with Profisafe interface

At Logimat, Wittenstein is presenting a safety-certified servo controller with a Profisafe interface and integrated safety card for AGVs.

To the post

EXHIBITION SPECIALS

Industry fair news

Hannover Messe promotes energy for sustainable industry
As a networked industrial ecosystem, the exhibitors demonstrate how climate neutrality can be achieved through the use of electrification, digitalization and automation under the guiding theme of Energizing a sustainable Industry.
Control Fair 2024 | The industry is already looking forward to Stuttgart
Control 2024, the important international trade fair for quality assurance, will take place from April 23rd to 26th in Stuttgart. The trade fair places a particular focus on automation and digitalization.
SPS Nuremberg: Now in 16 halls!
The SPS – Smart Production Solutions from November 14th to 16.11th. 2023 will see significant growth in the trade fair compared to the previous year and is on the way to pre-Corona levels.

The start-up Rovi RobotVision by three researchers Technical University of Munich has made it its mission to significantly simplify the hardware for robots of all kinds: Based on their research, the team has succeeded for the first time in the world in using expensive traditional electronic Sensors to be replaced with new software and common cameras. Because of the direct control option of the Motors used the inventors grab from Gimatic.

Gimatic Rovi Robot

 

Contents

Sensor software in robotics sees instead of feels

Dr. Clemens Schuwerk, Control Engineering, Marketing and Sales at the start-up Rovi Robot Vision, Munich, presents a technology in which software, cameras and Image Processing expensive traditional electronic sensors in robots substitute. Also included: the gripper technology from Gimatic. The lecture was given on June 7, 2018 at the trade press conference in Roncadelle, Italy.


Measuring torque with sensors inside the transmission


The idea for the camera-based sensor software for intelligent robots arose from the doctoral thesis on the subject Visual-haptic environment perception for autonomous robot systems by co-founder Dr.-Ing. Nicolas Alt. Inspired by observing how robotic vacuum cleaners intentionally and repeatedly encounter obstacles to tactile mapping, he developed a tactile sensor for mobile robotic platforms during his PhD. The sensor consisted of a simple foam beam, which is observed by a camera already installed on the robot and which doubles as a soft bumper.

Gimatic Rovi Nicolas AltThe same concept also applies to the tactile sensors that we now attach to the fingers of grippers,” explains Dr. Clemens Schuwerk, Control Engineering, Marketing and Sales at Rovi Robot Vision. “Later we expanded the concept of using an external camera to combine it with passive elements to build other sensors for robots, namely force-torque sensors and angle sensors. “All three sensor concepts are patented or patent pending.

dr Nicholas Alt and dr Clemens Schuwerk got to know each other while they were doing their PhD at the same chair and ended up with the third in the group, M. Sc. Stefan Lochbrunner soon joined forces to further develop and commercialize the new technology and spin off a company. A spin-off project emerged from the research project in 2016. The project is currently being financed by EXIST Forschungstransfer, a funding program of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy specifically for high-tech start-ups from the Research.

Principle of sensor software technology

The sensor software replaces complex hardware-based sensor systems and enables robots to do just that feeling through seeing. The technical innovation includes the robust measurement of joint positions, positions, gripping forces, contact profiles and other tactile or haptic contact information using image processing and a camera mounted externally around the arm or on the gripper.


Gimatic robot gripperRobot grippers, EOAT, gripper kits for cobot and industrial robots


This novel sensor concept can be explain clearly with an analogy to humans: With closed eyes, a person can only position his arm imprecisely, since our perception of the position of our limbs and their joint positions is imprecise. Classic Industrial robots Although they usually work 'blind', in contrast to humans, they use highly precise sensors together with a rigid construction in order to nevertheless achieve highly precise positioning of the end effector.

Humans, on the other hand, also use the visual perception and thus multimodal information processing to enable precise manipulation of objects. Similarly, with Rovi's software-based sensor technology, joint positions become one Robotic arms as well as positions and gripping forces are recorded using an inexpensive camera, thereby enabling precise and autonomous interaction of the robot with objects.

Gimatic camera-based sensor software


The software calculates the joint positions one Robotic arm in three-dimensional space using image analysis algorithms. Force-torque sensors and tactile sensors are replaced by simple passive flexible elements such as inexpensive foam. Contact forces lead to characteristic deformations of these elements. The software also measures this deformation with the help of image analysis methods and calculates the forces and moments present using a material model. The sensor software can be applied to complete robot systems, robot arms, grippers or mobile robot platforms and enables intelligent control of these systems.

The Rovi software replaces a large number of sensors in robotic systems, which, among other things, the cablingeffort reduced. In addition, it enables the realization of sensitive and at the same time cost-effective robots. Because these industrial cameras are extremely cost-effective and powerful due to their enormous distribution. At the same time, they are indispensable for environment recognition on robots and are therefore already present on many robots.


Schaeffler harmonic driveHarmonic gears for industrial robots, cobots and handling


Since the current robot configuration via external cameras and software is measured Fasteners not necessarily be constructed as rigidly as possible and manufactured with high precision. Instead, compliant elements and materials and simpler manufacturing processes with less precision can be used. This saves costs and avoids complex protection systems. With flexible elements, however, the position of the arm can no longer be calculated using the joint positions and the rigid robot model, as is conventional. An external camera in connection with the Rovi software, on the other hand, still enables the precise calculation of the position of the arm and end effector, since deformations are also recorded by the camera.

Also on industrial grippers cameras will become more and more the standard in the future. In many cases, these cameras can be used for the software-based sensors described, since these work together with any cameras.

Characteristics in comparison to traditional robotics

Gimatic Rovi Robot camera sensorsIndustrial robotic arms with conventional hardware sensors point very high absolute accuracies of <0,1 mm and high joint speeds because they were specially designed for this. Hardware sensors can deliver sampling rates of >1 kHz here. "It is not the goal of our technology to compete with these values," says Dr. footwear.

“A relevant measure for robots in unknown and changeable environments is the relative accuracy between robot and target. And here we see our terrain. Just like any industrial arm that is supplemented with a camera, we are limited by the camera-based position estimation of the target object. In typical setups with simple cameras we get about 1mm. Ultra HD cameras allow <0,3 mm. We aim for a speed of <45°/s" explains Clemens Schuwerk. This is a safe choice for robots 'outside the cage' and is also used by many existing robots.

The accuracy of the tactile and force-torque sensors depends heavily on the camera setting (distance, resolution). In typical cases, an accuracy of less than 5% is achieved, which is comparable to the accuracy of mid-range hardware sensors.

Intelligent gripper with integrated camera

For the intelligent gripping system with an integrated stereo camera system and camera-based sensors, the two-jaw gripper MPLM1630HAN from Gimatic was used. On the one hand, this fits well with the applications of the current size for picking small parts. "Most importantly, we couldn't find any alternative gripper on the market that would allow us to control the motor directly," the young entrepreneur recalls. This interface is important so that the sensor data from the software can be used to intelligently control and monitor the gripping process.

The Gimatic gripper allows through the open interface to the engine the quick and easy development of a prototype. "While we use high-quality, tested/proven hardware here, we can concentrate on our core topic of software," says Dr. Schuwerk and further: "For young startups like us, it is particularly important to use the limited resources available to us efficiently. In this way, we still quickly get a product as a pilot customer and can further develop it with the feedback gained.”

Challenges in development

“Building a robot is generally a challenge to master the various disciplines such as mechanics, electronics, controls, software and computer vision in a small team. We also had to avoid separate development projects for each discipline," says Dr. Clemens Schuwerk. However, Rovi's core competence lies in the area of ​​software and so the young entrepreneurs wanted the hardware use existing components.


robot softwareProgramming robots | software and controls


"There is very limited availability of open and/or modular hardware for robotics, which has made building a demo system difficult," says Dr. footwear. “It was precisely for this reason that we decided on the gripper from Gimatic, because there is no other 'open' interface to the motor on the market. We are still looking for other partners for certain subsystems such as Robot joints and gears. After all, the software is to be continuously developed and the main aim is to work very closely with customers and partners.

To open up new fields of application

Gimatic Rovi Robot Clemens Schuwerktraditional Industrial robots such as those used for handling materials, assembly or in logistics are today mostly pre-programmed specialists tailored to specific applications. They usually do their job reliably 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“With our technology, we are not targeting traditional automation technology applications where very short cycle times are required for firmly defined or pre-programmed tasks. Our sensor software makes it possible novel robotic arms and grippersthat act sensitively and autonomously, but are technically very simplified and can therefore be produced very cheaply," explains the co-founder of the vision for use.

The startup thus enables the use of robots in entirely new markets and applications that would not be economically feasible with today's technologies. Application examples can be found in all areas of industry, but preferably where flexible and safe handling of objects is required, such as in logistics, Agriculture, food industry or in areas where robots have to adapt to a rapidly changing product mix. In the medium term, the researchers see applications for the technology, but also for household applications, where there is generally enormous price pressure.

First successes and a look into the future

For the first time, the camera-based sensor software for a table robot arm on Hannover Messe presented in 2018. The response from visitors to the stand was very positive. “We were able to talk to some key industry decision makers and showcase our product. At the same time, we were able to talk to a large number of users from a wide variety of industries. This resulted in completely new application possibilities for our sensor solution, which we hadn't even considered before," summarizes Dr. footwear. By the way, in June Rovi will be at the Automatica be represented in Munich.

As a young startup, the three researchers are pursuing the primary goal of using the technology for pilot customers. There they are looking for visionary entrepreneurs, whose processes they can improve and automate with intelligent and cost-effective robot systems. In the long term, they see themselves as providers of this sensor software, which they license to manufacturers of robot systems and integrators.

Lecture by Dr. Clemens Schuwerk

 

You might also be interested in...

Robot Gripper | Automated little hands

Robot Gripper | Automated little hands

Nowadays, robotic grippers are indispensable tools in industrial production. Whether in the automotive industry,...
These vacuum grippers handle everything

These vacuum grippers handle everything

The new vacuum gripper series FGS-120 from Gimatic is modular, very flexible and energy-efficient. With the modular...
Gimatic | The smart gripper specialist

Gimatic | The smart gripper specialist

One year after Managing Director Thomas Trefzer took office, a lot has changed at Gimatic Vertrieb GmbH in Hechingen...
vacuum pump | Innovations for Industry 4.0 + branch-specific

vacuum pump | Innovations for Industry 4.0 + branch-specific

Today's vacuum pumps for industrial applications must be high-quality, energy-efficient, quiet and much more....
Robot grippers and EOAT solutions

Robot grippers and EOAT solutions

A specialty of Gimatic's gripper technology are gripper systems for robots. You will be at the end of a robotic arm...
gripper | pneumatic, electrical, magnetic

gripper | pneumatic, electrical, magnetic

Electric and pneumatic grippers are used in automated production and assembly. While a...