Rethink Robotics Smart Collaborative Robot

Rethink Robotics Smart Collaborative Robot

by | Mar 24, 2015 | Automation, News, Technology

Rethink Robotics Sawyer

Rethink Robotics today provided a glimpse into the future of collaborative robotics with the introduction of Sawyer, a single-arm, high-performance robot designed to execute machine tending, circuit board testing and other precise tasks that have historically been impractical to automate with traditional industrial robots. Sawyer is a significant addition to the company’s smart, collaborative robot family, which also includes the groundbreaking Baxter robot that defined the category of safe, interactive, affordable automation.

Sawyer offers the same highly-touted safety, compliance and usability advantages of Baxter – including the iconic “face” screen, embedded sensors and train-by-demonstration user interface – while providing the smaller footprint and high precision performance needed for tasks that require significant agility and flexibility.  In addition, Sawyer runs on the Intera software system, the same extensible platform that powers Baxter, so it works like humans do by dynamically adapting to real-world conditions on the plant floor and integrating seamlessly into existing work cells.  Together, Baxter and Sawyer can address many of the estimated 90 percent of manufacturing tasks that cannot be feasibly automated with traditional solutions today according to the press release.

Weighing 19 kg (42 lbs), Sawyer features a 4kg (8.8 lb) payload, with 7 degrees of freedom and a 1-meter reach that can maneuver into the tight spaces and varied alignments of work cells designed for humans.  Its high-resolution force sensing, embedded at each joint, enables Rethink Robotics’ compliant motion control, which allows the robot to “feel” its way into fixtures or machines, even when parts or positions vary.  This enables an adaptive precision that is unique to the robotics industry and allows Sawyer to work effectively in semi-structured environments.  In addition, Sawyer features an embedded vision system, which includes a camera in its head to perform applications requiring a wide field of view and a Cognex camera with a built-in light source in its wrist for precision vision applications.  Sawyer’s vision system enables the Robot Positioning System for dynamic re-orientation, and over time will support more advanced features that are inherent to the Cognex system, such as barcode scanning and object recognition.

“With Baxter, we introduced the concept of robots and people working together on the plant floor,” said Rethink Robotics president and CEO Scott Eckert.  “With Sawyer, we have taken that relationship to the next level, with a high performance robot that opens the door for many new applications that have never been good candidates for automation.  As we continue to redefine this industry, we also continue to give manufacturers new ways of adding efficiency and flexibility into their operations.”

Jabil, a global electronic product solutions company that is partnering with Rethink Robotics as an early adopter and field tester of Sawyer, recognizes the robot’s immense potential.  “Flexible automation that addresses shrinking product lifecycles and helps companies align with consumer trends is a critical technology initiative for manufacturers,” said John Dulchinos, vice president of digital manufacturing at Jabil.  “Rethink Robotics continues to lead the way in defining how workers and machines can coexist to leverage the strengths of each, and optimize productivity for all.”

Dan Kara, robotics practice director at ABI Research, also sees the value of Sawyer for the robotics industry and its customers.  “With the introduction of Baxter, Rethink fundamentally changed the conversation in the robotics industry and pioneered a new way of thinking about automation.  Today, the collaborative concept has been accepted, the value has been proven, and more companies are looking to standardize globally on these solutions.  Sawyer incorporates advanced technology from the Baxter platform, but is different in other fundamental aspects, making it suitable for wholly new classes of applications.  Rethink’s Sawyer is a very compelling technology that has the potential to once again change the way manufacturers think about their automation infrastructure moving forward,” he concluded.

Sawyer, which will retail for a base price of $29,000, will initially be available in North America, Europe, China and Japan. It is currently being field tested by several large manufacturing companies in those regions.  Sawyer will be released with limited availability in the summer of 2015, with general customer availability targeted for later in the year.

About Rethink Robotics

Rethink Robotics, Inc. helps manufacturers meet the challenges of an agile economy with an integrated workforce, combining trainable, safe and cost-effective robots with skilled labor. Its Baxter robot, driven by Intera, an advanced software platform, gives world-class manufacturers and distributors in automotive, plastics, consumer goods, electronics and more, a workforce multiplier that optimizes labor. With Rethink Robotics, manufacturers increase flexibility, lower costs and can invest in skilled labor—all advantages in fueling continuous innovation and sustainable competitive advantage.

Committed to accelerating robotics innovation in manufacturing and beyond, Rethink Robotics’ Baxter Research Robot gives academic and corporate research environments a humanoid robot platform with integrated sensors and an open software development kit for creating custom applications.

Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the company is funded by GE Ventures, Goldman Sachs, Bezos Expeditions, CRV, Highland Capital Partners, Sigma Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Two Sigma Ventures.

Enhanced Asset Insights Drive Targeted Production Improvements

Enhanced Asset Insights Drive Targeted Production Improvements

by | Feb 13, 2015 | Asset Performance Management, Automation, News, Operations Management

Asset performance management joined the Industrial Internet of Things as a key topic at the 2015 ARC Forum in Orlando. Here is a release from Meridium that reflects many of the trends—data collection, analysis, configurable display, mobility.

Meridium Inc., global supplier of asset performance management (APM) software and services, announced the availability of Asset Answers V2.0. The company claims this as the only cloud-based asset performance diagnostics solution that provides comparative analytics, delivering instant visibility into asset data, and supplying organizations with the insights to drive safer, more informed, and more profitable decisions.

Asset Answers 2.0 delivers next-generation APM insights into industrial assets and their health and overall performance, an improved user interface that includes dashboards and enhanced mobility on a variety of handheld devices that provides true anywhere/anytime availability. Since the introduction of Asset Answers to the market, more than 130 sites in the Petrochemicals, Oil & Gas, Power & Utilities, and Manufacturing industries rely on Asset Answers to support continuous improvement initiatives with the ultimate goal of achieving operational excellence.

For example, Dow Chemical was able to collect and analyze reliability audit report data for 25 production units across 4 plants in less than 1 day, saving 175 man-days of effort and remain focused on cost, availability, and reliability optimization for the company. Another Asset Answers client, Profertil, reduced costs for 30 straight months and was able to readily identify and highlight savings of $900,000 and counting.

According to Roy Whitt, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Asset Answers, “For organizations in asset-intensive industries, Asset Answers 2.0 uncovers the true cost, reliability and availability of asset groups and individual pieces of equipment with the click of a mouse. Subscribers can easily view performance criteria across sites and benchmark themselves anonymously against global industry peers. Combining data mining and preconfigured metrics, reliability engineers can investigate equipment data to identify assets that represent the best opportunities for improving maintenance costs and reliability. With access to the objective truth about asset performance, management can act with confidence to intelligently cut costs while increasing production, especially in times of shrinking margins.”

Asset Answers can identify and evaluate better performing equipment manufacturers and highlight predominant failure modes for specific equipment models. With this analysis, Asset Answers also can create opportunities for equipment improvements and automatically track the savings these improvements have provided.

Whitt also added that, “Asset Answers uses comparative analytics or ‘intelligent benchmarking’ that enables organizations to conduct ‘apples to apples’ comparisons of industrial equipment in production units across multiple plants within an organization. That same information helps organizations compare the relative performance of their assets against industry peers to gain a deeper understanding and a competitive advantage, optimize total cost of ownership (TCO) for critical assets and make better asset purchasing decisions.”

This approach both improves collaboration between Reliability, Engineering & Maintenance and also enables continuous and systematic improvement of operations and production output over time. Benefits of Asset Answers 2.0 include:

  • A proven, systematic and secure approach to continuous improvement and Operational Excellence
  • Improved plant and operator safety
  • Mitigated operational and financial risk
  • Improved insight into non-financial performance
  • Lower asset total cost of ownership (TCO)

 

 

Enhanced Asset Insights Drive Targeted Production Improvements

Advanced Tools Help Train Industrial Process Workforce

by | Feb 10, 2015 | Automation, News, Operations Management, Workforce

UniSim® 3D Connect - UniSim Operations simulator integration and connectivity to 3D virtual environment; provides credible and realistic experiences for field operatorThe ARC Forum, held annually in Orlando, drew approximately 700 total attendees including perhaps 60 members of the media for the 19th iteration—Industry in Transition. Media members devote Monday afternoon each year to meeting with a parade of companies presenting new products and ideas.

First up this year in my writing agenda is an update to industrial process workforce training tools. I’m seeing increasing sophistication in companies combining ideas and technologies from computer gaming with simulation of process plants to train the current and future workforce—especially the new people who grew up with gaming technology.

Honeywell Process Solutions (HPS) managers announced its new UniSim Competency Suite, which improves operator competency and helps prepare them faster through realistic training experiences for console and field operators in the process industries.

Leveraging more than 30 years of experience in process simulation and operator training, Honeywell’s new suite of simulation software offers an integrated, robust training experience that will help industrial facilities address a growing shortage of trained operators.

“In the near future, many operators at industrial plants in developed countries will retire, while process industries in emerging economies will continue to face the challenge of critical skill shortages,” said Ali Raza, vice president and general manager for Honeywell Process Solutions’ Advanced Solutions business. “The expanded UniSim Competency Suite helps our customers train its workforce faster in a more realistic environment to drive safe, incident-free, efficient startups and ongoing operations.”

The UniSim Competency suite features proven simulation models as well as new technologies including:

  • UniSim Operations: Operator Training Simulator (OTS), a dynamic plant simulation system that allows users to accelerate knowledge transfer by consolidating an entire lifetime of experience into a concise process training curriculum; features realistic process, control and safety systems modeling
  • UniSim Curriculum: Customizable competency model that aligns and assists in improving critical requisite skills and behaviors; tracks operator progress; built from Abnormal Situation Management Consortium’s research into operator competency to help businesses define, deploy and manage a structured competency program
  • UniSim Tutor: Knowledge capture and propagation tool; provides a repository for domain knowledge and experiences; teaches and evaluates “what if” reflexes and diagnostic abilities
  • UniSim Field View: Interactive, navigable, panoramic view for realistic field operator training; uses actual facility photographs and extends UniSim Operations simulator training to include field operators
  • UniSim 3D Connect: UniSim Operations simulator integration and connectivity to 3D virtual environment; provides credible and realistic experiences for field operator

“Industrial plant owners and operators around the world recognize how simulation technology can help them achieve a significant competitive advantage in today’s demanding global environment,” said John Roffel, Operator Competency product director for HPS. “This suite provides our customers with the confidence and tools needed for operator competency management.”

Wearable Early Warning Fatigue Detector for Drivers

Wearable Early Warning Fatigue Detector for Drivers

by | Jan 2, 2015 | Automation, News, Safety, Technology

Impecca The Alert Band - with driver smallIf it is the first of the year, it’s time for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas—the big technology show that displaced COMDEX many years ago.

Not much that happens there is directly relevant to manufacturing. Many crossover ideas and other useful products do pop up.

Here is the first press release that has come my way (no, I won’t be attending). As someone who has driven hundreds of thousands of miles, many at night, I find this product very useful.

Wearable early warning system

Impecca, announced The Alert Band, a wearable early warning Bluetooth fatigue detector band that attaches to the driver’s forehead to sense fatigue and help prevent accidents. The Alert Band monitors and analyzes brainwaves, sending real-time notifications and alarms to the driver’s smartphone, family and friends, as well as social networks, 3-5 minutes before the driver begins to doze off and fall asleep.  The notification and alarm are intended to wake him/her up and are designed to save lives.

The Alert Band uses Bluetooth 4.0 technology to connect to the driver’s iOS or Android smartphone, transferring raw data collected by The Alert Band’s forehead sensors and transmitting the data to its app on the smartphone.  The Alert Band features a smartphone App that uses a numbering system, from 0 to 100 to indicate the user’s fatigue level, sending out an alert when the driver’s fatigue level is too high.

According to The National Highway Safety Administration, annually in the U.S., driver fatigue contributes to 100,000 accidents, 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries and $1.25 Billion in financial losses.

The Alert Band developer experienced these statistics first hand. He created The Alert Band after a friend was severely injured in a car accident when the driver who hit him fell asleep behind the wheel. He decided to create a device that alerts drivers in advance when they’re experiencing fatigue. It also alerts the driver’s family or friends to call or talk to him/her to help stay awake.

The device was created by conducting years of testing with hundreds of participants using a simulator for an over 90% accuracy rate. Through EEG brain scanning testing, Impecca saw that the area in charge of fatigue is located in the forehead, so they created a user-friendly thin forehead device that, unlike most unwieldy EEG units, easily attaches to the forehead and is easy to use and comfortable to wear for long periods.

The Alert Band will be available May 2015 through major retailers, Impecca.com, and online, priced at $249.99.
 

Plan, Manage, Maintain Industrial Wireless Networks

Plan, Manage, Maintain Industrial Wireless Networks

by | Dec 19, 2014 | Automation, Networking, Operations Management, Technology, Wireless

Emerson Smart Wireless NavigatorWireless sensor network pioneer, Emerson Process Management, also recognizes the need for customers to manage the growing proliferation of wireless networks within a facility.

It has introduced the Smart Wireless Navigator, a new software platform that enables users with large wireless deployments to maximize the power of their wireless networks. The Navigator brings together Smart Wireless tools for planning, managing, and maintaining networks. Valuable wireless network and device diagnostics and data are organized in an intuitive interface, along with the wireless tools, to streamline the Smart Wireless experience.

“Wireless technology is as scalable as it is powerful,” commented Bob Karschnia, vice president of wireless at Emerson.  “As users’ facilities grow, they are expanding to installations of multiple wireless networks managed by different groups.”

The Smart Wireless Navigator helps users effortlessly manage their expanding wireless infrastructure and get the most value from their networks.  A single software platform design makes it easier for users with large deployments of wireless to manage their networks across functional groups, delivering actionable information to the people who need it.

“To maximize value, facilities also needed a central platform to plan and deploy new networks and to organize the influx of new data and diagnostics,” wireless continued Karschnia.  “In answer, we developed a single window interface that brings together several Smart Wireless tools on a specially designed appliance to maximize visibility, efficiency and value.”

An intuitive design organizes large amounts of wireless diagnostic information and data, and existing infrastructure is illustrated and easily understood.

“The Smart Wireless Navigator is a comprehensive tool that helps users realize the value of wireless across the range of reliability, safety, environmental accountability and process performance,” summarized Karschnia, “it delivers value throughout the cycle of engineering, installation, operation and maintenance.”

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