The Robot Report - Design World - August 2018

Inside: Q&A: Universal Robots co-founder Esben Ă˜stergaard

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Robots get a grip at Automatica

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Fabulous new robots at Automatica. page 60

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Inside: Q&A: Universal Robots co-founder Esben Ă˜stergaard

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Robots get a grip at Automatica

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A Supplement to Design World - August 2018

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The Robot Report

By Frank Tobe • Founder of The Robot Report

Takeaways from Automatica

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Automatica 2018 is one of Europe’s largest robotics and automation

trade shows and a destination for global roboticists and business executives to view new products. It was held June 19-22 in Munich and had 890 exhibitors and 46,000 visitors, both up 7% from the previous show.

I was at Automatica from start to finish, seeing all aspects of the show,

attending a few ISR keynotes, and had interviews and talks with some very informative industry executives. Here are some of my takeaways.

The Awards go to ...

The Joseph Engelberger Award was given to International Federation of Robotics’ (IFR) General Secretary Gudrun Litzenberger and to Universal Robots CTO and co-founder Esben Østergaard (see our Q&A with Østergaard on page XX).

The IFR Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Robotics and Automation (IERA) Award went to three recipients for their unique robots: Lely Holding, the Dutch manufacturer of milking robots, for its Discovery 120 Manure Collector; KUKA Robotics, for its new LBR Med, a lightweight robot certified for integration into medical products; and Perception Robotics for its Gecko Gripper that uses a grasping technology from biomimicry observed in geckos.

Strong Industrial Robot Growth In addition to the CEO roundtable discussion, IFR President Junji Tsuda previewed the statistics that will appear in this year’s IFR Industrial Robots Annual Report covering 2017 sales data. He reported that 2017 turnover was about $50 billion, that 381,000 robots were sold, a 29% increase over 2016, and that China, which deployed 138,000 robots, was the main driver of 2017’s growth with a 58% increase over 2016 (the US rose only 6% by comparison).

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A FANUC industrial robot lifts a BMW SUV high into the air at Automatica 2018. | Credit: Thomas Plettenberg/Messe München GmbH

Tsuda attributed the drivers for the 2017 results - and a 15% CAGR forecast for the next few years (25% for service robots) - to be the growing simplification (ease of use) for training robots; collaborative robots; progress in overall digitalization; and AI enabling greater vision and perception.

CEOs Weigh in During the IFR CEO Roundtable, panelists were asked about their thoughts on where the industry would be five years from now. KUKA Industries Germany Stefan Lampa said we would see a big move toward mobile manipulators doing multiple tasks. Per Vegard Nerseth, ABB senior group vice president, said programming robots would become as easy and intuitive as iPhones.

Dr. Kiyonori Inaba, director executive managing officer, GM, Fanuc, said future mobile robots wouldn’t have to wait for work

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The Robot Report

Automatica 2018 drew a record 46,000 attendees. | Credit: Thomas Plettenberg/Messe München GmbH

as current robots often do because they would become more flexible. Markus Kueckelhaus, DHL’s VP of innovations and trend research, forecast that perception would have access to more physics and reality than today. And Professor Dr. Bruno Siciliano, director of ICAROS and coordinator of the PRISMA Lab at the University of Naples Federico II said the tide has turned and more STEM kids are coming into the realm of automation and robotics.

In relation to jobs, all panelists members said the next 30 years would see dramatic changes in new jobs not yet defined as present labor retires and skilled labor shortages force governments to invest in retraining.

The panelists also said artificial intelligence would have major impacts on the following areas: • In logistics, particularly in the combined activities of mobility and grasping • In the increased use of sensors which enable new efficiencies particularly in QC and anomaly detection • In clean room improvements • And in in-line improvements, eg, spray painting

Cobots Everywhere Cobots were touted throughout Automatica.

Universal Robots (UR), the originator of the cobot, had a mammoth booth that was always jammed with visitors as the Danish manufacturer introduced its new e-Series. There were many other cobots present that were very stylish, but none of them had the mechanical prowess of UR. In fact, UR robots were used in many non-UR booths throughout Automatica, thereby indicating UR’s acceptance within the industry.

ABB and Kawasaki announced a common interface for each of their two-armed cobots. They hope other companies will join the cause and that the group would soon add single-arm robots to the software, emphasizing the problem in training robots where each has their own proprietary training method.

Quick Hitters • Bin-picking, which had as much presence and hype 10 years ago as cobots had five years ago and IoT and AI had this year, is blasé now.

The technology has finally become widely deployed and almost matches the original hype.

• AI and the Internet-of-Things were buzzwords and vendors that offered platforms to stream,

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store, handle, combine, process, analyze and make predictions were plentiful.

• Better programming solutions for cobots and even industrial robots are appearing, but they still have a ways to go.

• 24/7 robot monitoring is gaining favor, but access to company systems and equipment is still mostly withheld for security reasons.

• Many special-purpose exoskeletons were shown to help improve factory workers do their jobs.

• The Danish robotics cluster is every bit as successful as clusters in Boston, Pittsburgh, and Silicon Valley.

• Vision and distancing systems, plus standards for same, are enabling cheaper automation.

• Hype about digitalization, data and AI, IoT, and machine (deep) learning was everywhere.

Transforming end-of-arm devices Dr. Michael Zürn, an exec from Daimler AG gave a talk about Mercedes Benz’s use of robotics. He said the company has 50 robots and at least 500 different grippers.

Yet humans with two hands could do every one of those tasks, albeit with superhuman strength in some cases.

He welcomed the years of testing of ABB’s two-armed YuMi robots because they’re the closest to what they need, despite being nowhere near what a twohanded person can do.

Enrico Krog Iversen was the CEO of Universal Robots from 2008-2016 when it sold to Teradyne. Since then he has invested in and cultivated three companies (OnRobot, Perception Robotics and OptoForce) that he merged together to become OnRobot A/S. Iversen is the CEO of the new entity.

With this foundation of sensors, a growing business in grippers and integrating UR and Mobile Industrial Robots [MiR] systems, and a promise to acquire a vision and perception component, Iversen foresees building an entity where everything that goes on a robot can be acquired from his company - and it will have a single

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intuitive user interface. This latter aspect, a single intuitive interface for all, is a very convenient feature that users request but can’t often find.

Martin Hägele, head of the Robotics and Assistive Systems Department at Fraunhofer IPA in Stuttgart, advocated that there is a transformation coming where end-of-arm devices will increasingly include advanced sensing, more actuation, and user interaction.

It seems logical. The end of the robot arm is where all the action is -- the sensors, cameras, handling devices and the item to be processed. Times have changed from when robots were blind and being fed by expensive positioning systems.

“We are convinced that industrial gripping will change radically in the coming years,” said Schunk CEO Henrik Schunk. “Smart grippers will interact with the user and their environment. They will continuously capture and process data and independently develop the gripping strategy in complex and changing environments and do so faster and more flexibly than man ever could.”

KUKA Humanoid Concept KUKA, in a booth far away from its main booth (where it was demonstrating industrial, mobile and collaborative robotics products), was showing a 5-foot-tall humanoid robot concept with a big screen and stylish 18-inch silver cone behind the screen. It looked like an airport or store guide. When I asked what it did, I was told that it was the woofer for the sound system and the robot didn’t do anything. It is one of many concept devices Kuka is reviewing.

Nevertheless, KUKA had a brochure that didn’t show or even refer to any of the concept robots it showed at Automatica. Instead it was all hype about what it might do sometime in the future: purify air, be a gaming console, have an “underhead projector”, HiFi speaker, camera, coffee and wellness head and “provide robotic intelligence that will enrich our daily lives.” RR

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The Robot Report Dan Kara • VP, Robotics in Business Development

Bioservo Technologies’ Ironhand

Industrial Exoskeletons Arrive, More to Come Exoskeleton systems designed for industrial work are now available, and more are coming. The reasons are obvious. The business benefits in terms of increased productivity, reduced worker injuries, and more, are simply too many, and too large, to ignore.

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“Exoskeletons” are those mechanical devices or soft materials worn by patients/operators, whose construction mirrors the structure of operator’s limbs, joints, and muscles, works in tandem with them, and is utilized as a capabilities amplifier, assistive device, haptic controller, or for rehabilitation. Exoskeletons stand in contrast to non-articulated mechanisms such as braces and slings that do not work complimentarily with human operators.

Many early exoskeleton systems were designed for military applications, with defense departments, primarily in the US, funding research and development initiatives. Commercialization efforts followed, led by exoskeletons designed for medical rehabilitation (often for wounded veterans), or as mobility aids allowing paraplegics to stand upright, walk and climb stairs (quality-of-life exos).

Exoskeletons designed for performing manual labor tasks in industrial environments are now commercially available. More importantly, exo research is ongoing and more industrial products are coming. It is easy to see why. Many industrial processes are too complex to automate with existing technology. At the same time, some of this same work is too physically demanding or risky to be accomplished by humans. Exoskeleton technology can act as a bridging solution

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The Robot Report

industrial use includes suitX’s MAX Exoskeleton Suite, Ekso Bionics’ Work Vest, StrongArm Technologies’ FLx ErgoSkeleton, Laevo’s Laevo and Lockheed Martin’s Fortis.

Rigid and Soft

Esko Bionics’ Work Vest between the extremes of fully manual, non-technology enabled tasks, to those operations that demand traditional industrial robots. Exoskeletons exploit the intelligence of human operators and the strength, precision and endurance of industrial robots.

The business benefits of commercial/ industrial exoskeletons are obvious and easily quantified. They include increased productivity, with a concomitant reduction in the number of worker related injuries, as well as decreased need for expensive, “full on” robotic solutions.

Nascent Market Currently, industrial exoskeletons are primarily being used (or under evaluation) in support manufacturing and logistics work. While market for wearable, humanguided, industrial exoskeletons is still in its nascency, the opportunity for solution providers is very large. For example, ABI Research (Oyster Bay, New York) finds that the total addressable market (TAM) for commercial/industrial exoskeletons currently exceeds 2.6 million units, with those featuring technologies that support standing and squatting, the most common type. Many developers of military and healthcare exoskeleton technologies have now added industrial systems to their product lines.

First Generation Systems The first generation of military and rehabilitation exos shared many features.

Both types were composed of ridged,

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often heavy, structural elements including belts, actuators, struts, clips and more.

When used, the devices often interfered with the body’s natural movements, decreasing efficiency and run times, and forcing the wearer to expend a great deal of energy to compensate. That is, the use of the exoskeletons produced results that are the opposite of the purported benefits of the technology – power and endurance augmentation.

The early military and rehabilitation exoskeletons were also powered using battery packs. Unfortunately, the portable power technology of the time was often too power limited and heavy to for extended work.

Powered and Unpowered The new generation of commercial/ industrial exos, some still under development, have benefitted from more efficient battery solutions, while some have resorted non-traditional power solutions such as compressed air.

Examples of commercial class powered exoskeletons include Innophys’ Muscle Suit, Activelink’s Powerloader Ninja, Cyberdyne’s HAL for Labor Support RB3D’s HERCULE, Esko Bionics’ Esko Vest, Sarcos Robotics’ Guardian XO and Noonee’s Chairless Chair.

In contrast to powered exoskeletons, unpowered or ‘passive’ exos increase strength and provide stability through a combination of human guided flexion/ extension and locking mechanisms.

Unpowered exos for commercial and

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Rigid exos can produce musculoskeletal stress and fatigue due to their weight, as well as the unnatural or constrained movement of the suit. As a result, a number of companies are developing new types of soft exoskeletons made of soft, lightweight, compliant materials. The systems themselves are powered with soft muscle actuators or compressed air, or use flexion/extension mechanisms. Bioservo Technologies’ Ironhand and Daiya Industry’s Power Assist Glove serve as examples. In a manner to first generation exoskeleton systems, groups developing soft exo systems for military, and even consumer applications, such as Harvard University and SuperFlex, respectively, are sure to target the industrial sector at some point.

More to Come Supported by advances in materials, battery and actuator technologies, new exoskeleton systems designed for industrial work will continue to come to market. The role for these exo systems will also expand, and the number of industries employing exoskeleton technologies will also increase (think construction, agriculture and more). The reasons are obvious. The business benefits in terms of increased productivity, reduced worker injuries, and more, are simply too many, and too large, to ignore. RR

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The Robot Report

The Sad Demise of

Jibo

Steve Crowe • Editor, The Robot Report

S

Social robot company Jibo is sadly running on fumes after burning through nearly $73 million in venture capital funding. After a round of layoffs in December 2017, Jibo laid off the majority of its workforce in early June to enable “additional time to secure additional funding or pursue an exit.” At press time, there were five employees left at Jibo trying to sell off the remaining assets.

Once billed as the “first social robot for the home,” Jibo’s story is a classic case of over-promising and underdelivering. But we all saw this coming. After multiple shipping delays, the emergence of cheaper, more skilled smart speakers, cancelling international orders and the Chinese copycats and knockoffs, Jibo was doomed. And in the end it simply didn’t deliver the engaging social robot from the marketing video that captivated Indiegogo backers to the tune of nearly $4 million in September 2014.

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The Robot Report

It’s also an unfortunate reminder that most of the innovation in robotics is taking place outside the consumer market. Other than a few robot vacuum companies, mainly iRobot, no company has developed a successful home robot.

The list of companies that have tried is impressive, too, including the likes of Honda, Samsung, SoftBank, Sony and Toyota, all of which have tremendous financial and engineering resources.

Even iRobot’s success is limited when compared to a consumer device like the iPhone, which sold 40.6 million units alone in the first quarter of 2018.

Jibo was plagued by its lack of business expertise and inability to foresee the emergence of the smart speaker market. Jibo repeatedly rejected comparisons to Amazon Echo and Google Home because of the social robot’s enhanced motion and personality. But from a practical standpoint, there’s really no difference.

Amazon Echo was introduced soon after Jibo’s crowdfunding campaign.

And the more capable Echo was priced seventy-five percent less than Jibo. Almost simultaneously, Amazon announced The Alexa Fund, a $100 million investment vehicle to fuel voice technology innovation for developers, device-makers, and companies.

Instead of pivoting in 2015 to meet the new demands of the changing landscape, Jibo’s Indiegogo commitments became

Jibo was plagued by its lack of business expertise and inability to foresee the emergence of the smart speaker market. a curse that loomed over the company.

Jibo eventually shipped for close to $900 and was merchandised next to a series of more skilled products priced significantly lower. That’s a killer.

Jibo also needed to rely heavily on third-party app developers to expand its skills library to have an outside chance at being as functional as the aforementioned smart speakers. This is something Amazon and Google, and other tech giants, excel at. But Jibo struggled in this department, too, delaying the SDK multiple times and ultimately leaving third-party app developers in the dark.

It’s unclear exactly what percentage, but a chunk of Jibo’s cost is tied up in its three-axis motor system that allows it to spin 360 degrees. Before the layoffs, a former Jibo employee told The Robot Report that Jibo was exploring the idea of downgrading the motor system.

To compensate for its non-human appearance, Jibo over-engineered the robot’s motion to make it seem more

human. The thought was that lessening the motor system might not have a major impact on Jibo’s performance while significantly cutting costs. Again, this cost-benefit analysis should have been done years ago, not as the company is shuttering its doors. Cutting production costs doesn’t matter now.

With all that said, social robots aren’t dead. The market for social robotics is forecasted to expand to more than half a billion dollars by 2023, driven largely by the growing demands of the aging-inplace market. Unfortunately, Jibo wasn’t able to deliver tangible benefits or a great experience to customers at an affordable price.

But most companies building robots for the home have suffered the same fate.

Jibo won’t be the product that sparks the social robotics movement, but Intuition Robotics, Mayfield Robotics, Norby and many others hope they’ll be the ones to do so. Will they be successful or suffer the same fate as Jibo? Only time will tell.

While Jibo languishes, the future of robotics will be written by innovators carving out their own market niche against the backdrop of a very competitive economy. Survival will no longer depend on just money, but creativity. It’s why going to Automatica 2018 and seeing hundreds of robots that provide such clear value was refreshing.

RR

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The Robot Report

14 Fabulous New Robots at Automatica

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Automatica 2018 has come and gone.

The leading conference about smart automation and robotics attracted 46,000 attendees and 890 exhibitors in Munich, both increases of seven percent over the 2016 event.

The next Automatica will take place June 1619, 2020 in Munich, and we can’t wait to head back and see the innovations that continue to propel the industry forward.

We scoured Automatica and also shared our main takeaways from the event (see pages 4850), including the enormous presence of cobots, improved programming methods, and the wide deployment of bin-picking applications, and the newest grippers (see page xx).

Let’s take a look at the robots that left a lasting first impression. This isn’t an exhaustive list, of course, as there were nearly 900 exhibitors at Automatica. But here are 14 fabulous new robots we saw at Automatica 2018.

Universal Robots e-Series Cobots

By Steve Crowe • Editor

Comau MATE exoskeleton | Comau MATE

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Collaborative robots pioneer Universal Robots (UR) unveiled its e-Series 6-axis cobot arms.

The UR3e, UR5e, and UR10e offer more precision and sensitivity, enabling a wider range of applications, faster set-up times and new safety features. The cobots started shipping to customers on August 1. The older cobot arms will still be sold.

The e-Series doesn’t look much different on the outside from UR’s older models. But it’s what’s inside the UR3e (3kg payload, 500mm reach), UR5e (5kg payload, 850mm reach) and UR10e (10kg payload, 1300mm reach) that counts. Here’s a quick breakdown of the major new benefits of the e-Series: • A built-in force torque sensor at the wrist • A 500Hz bus frequency • A larger and higher resolution teach pendant • New software interface • 17 safety features, including the ability to program stopping time and stopping distance With the built-in FT sensor, UR said its range of applications has broadened significantly, especially to applications that require more sensitivity. The UR+ family of third-party accessories will be compatible with the new e-Series.

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The Robot Report Co-founded in 2014 by Kristian Kassow, former co-founder of Universal Robots, Kassow Robots is developing lightweight, 7-DOF collaborative robot arms. The KR810 (850mm reach, 10kg payload), KR1205 (1200mm reach, 5kg payload) and KR1805 (1800mm reach, 5kg payload) range in price from €25,000 to €35,000. The KR810 and KR1205 are in production, while the KR1805 will be in production at the end of 2018.

There are other 7-DOF cobot arms on the market, including ABB’s YuMi, Franka Emika’s Panda, and KUKA’s LBR iiwa series, to name a few. So 7-DOF aren’t unique to Kassow, but it hopes the combination of 7 DOF, joint speeds up to 225 degrees per second, and its reach and payload will differentiate itself from the competition.

Kassow has been testing its arms in the lab for one year. The self-funded company will initially sell its robots in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Switzerland. Kassow is targeting pick and place, palletizing, pallet labelling and machine tending applications.

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Kassow 7-DOF Cobot Arms | Kassow Robotics

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The Robot Report ABB Single-arm YuMi ABB’s IRB 14050 single-arm YuMi is challenging head on the Meca500. ABB essentially cut in half its popular dual-arm YuMi, reducing its footprint, to create the new YuMi. The 7-axis IRB 14050 features the same 0.5kg payload as the older YuMi, with a repeatability of 0.02mm and a maximum reach of 559mm. It also features the same lead through programming as dual-arm YuMi for streamlined set-up.

ABB said the single-arm YuMi increases flexibility to help meet high-mix, low-volume production in short cycles. ABB envisions applications that combine the YuMi family of robots.

For example, a single-arm YuMi can be used to feed parts to a dual-arm YuMi to speed up cycle time, or added as an extra arm to integrate a testing and inspection station into an electronics assembly application.

Meca500 6-axis small industrial robot arm | Mecademic

Meca500 Small Industrial Robot Arm Our first glimpse of Mecademic’s Meca500 small industrial robot arm came in 2014.

The robot officially launched in mid-2016, and the Montreal-based company launched an upgraded version of the 6-axis arm at Automatica.

The major upgrade is the absolute encoders that allow the Meca500 to remember its position when it’s powered down or has an outage. The Meca500 also now has faster joint velocities, unlimited rotation on joint 6, and a safety module with an integrated power supply. The rest of the $15,000 robot remains the same, including the embedded controller in the base and the lack of a proprietary robot programming language, which is designed to make the robot easier to use.

The precision, which is co-founder Ilian Bonev’s specialty, is incredible. The Meca500 has a repeatability of 0.005 mm and a path accuracy better than 0.1 mm. Bonev credits this to the fact Mecademic makes many of the Meca500’s parts in-house. It buys the motors and drives from third-party companies, but that’s about it, according to Bonev.

Mecademic has sold about 200 Meca500s to date, but it expects to sell hundreds more in 2018. Primary applications, to date, include inspection and pick and place. Mecademic is seeing increased competition from ABB, Denso and Yaskawa, which all showed competitive products at Automatica. Bonev said competition is good because companies will start making tool changers and grippers, for example, specifically for smaller robots.

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ABB single-arm YuMi | ABB

Comau ‘MATE’ Exoskeleton Comau, an industrial automation provider, unveiled a spring-based exoskeleton called “MATE Fit for Workers.” This is Comau’s first exoskeleton, and MATE is designed to reduce the stress placed on shoulder muscles caused by manual, repetitive labor.

MATE doesn’t use batteries or motors. Instead, the lightweight exoskeleton offers ergonomically-assisted movement to help workers increase the precision of repetitive tasks and do the same tasks with less fatigue.

MATE is the first in a series of wearable robots it is commercializing in partnership with IUVO, a spin-off company of The BioRobotics Institute (Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna) and Össur, an Iceland-based non-invasive orthopedics company. www.designworldonline.com

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Epson Dual-arm Bertie Epson introduced “Bertie,” its new dual-arm WorkSense W-01 robot that comes on wheels so it can be moved to different locations. The 7-axis arms have a reach of 545mm and a 6kg payload (3kg for each arm) and are designed to automate complex tasks in small spaces.

Berties comes equipped with four color cameras in its head, one in each wrist, and a force sensor in each arm. It features a singleaxis waist for some flexibility. The gripper you see in the video above was designed specifically for Bertie and won’t be sold as a standalone product, according to Epson.

Epson dual-arm WorkSense W-01 | Epson

MiR500 Autonomous Mobile Robot Odense, Denmark-based Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR) launched the MiR500 autonomous mobile robot (AMR). There is no need to change the facility layout when operating the MiR500 as autonomous navigation software replaces the need for wires, magnets or QR codes.

The robot has a payload capacity of 500kg (1102 lbs), which is five-times the payload of the MiR100 and 2.5-times that of the MiR200. The MiR500 can automatically collect, transport, and deliver pallets with speeds of nearly 4.5 MPH. The MiR500 features a SICK microScan3 360° laser scanner, which provides visual protection around the robot, and two 3D cameras for detection of objects 300-2000 mm above the floor. The MiR500 features a 1300 x 900 mm load surface and an 8-hour run-time with a 1-hour battery charge. The MiR500 is the same size as a standard Euro-pallet, and the company expects the robot will be used to transport pallets in manufacturing floors and warehouses.

Omron i4 SCARA series | Omron

Omron i4 SCARA Robots OMRON will introduce in Spring 2019 the first three models of its i4 SCARA series: the i4-650, i4-750 and i4-850, which have reaches of 650mm, 750mm and 850mm, respectively. The payload can hold up to 15kg, and customers will have a choice of two Z-axis strokes (210mm and 410mm) for each robot.

The i4 series features a compact controller (iCS) is integrated into the base of the robots, minimizing footprint and requiring less wiring with no flyover cable.

The i4 features EtherCAT connectivity that allow each robot to communicate with other equipment in the production line. The SCARA robots also have a builtin display to simplify troubleshooting and predictive maintenance. RR

MiR500 autonomous mobile robot | MiR, Mobile Industrial Robots

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The Robot Report Engelberger Robotics Award winner discusses next-generation e-Series, challenges of staying atop the cobot

Q&A:

market, and trends to watch.

Universal Robots co-founder

Esben Østergaard

Automatica 2018 was quite the success for Universal Robots. Not only did the Danish manufacturer of collaborative robot arms launch its next-generation e-Series and have a major presence throughout the exhibition halls, co-founder and CTO Esben Østergaard was named a winner of the 2018 Engelberger Robotics Award. Gudrun Litzenberger, General Secretary of the International Federation of Robotics, was the other winner.

By Steve Crowe

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Known as the “Nobel Prize” of robotics, the Robotic Industries Association (RIA) has bestowed the award upon 126 robotics experts from 17 nations since its inception in 1977. The Engelberger Robotics Award honors individuals for excellence in technology development, application, education and leadership in the robotics industry and recognize outstanding individuals from all over the world.

Jeff Bernstein, president of the RIA, called Østergaard a visionary in defining a new category of robotics. “His work in the field of collaborative robot applications has allowed robots to enter previously unthinkable sectors in just about every industry,” said Burnstein. “Østergaard’s emphasis on robots that work side-by-side with people and are easy to use has created enormous interest among many small and medium sized companies who never even considered robots before. In a world that is increasingly characterized by people and robots working together, Esben’s pioneering technology advances play a pivotal role.” Østergaard co-founded Universal Robots in 2003 and in 2015 sold it to Teradyne

for $285 million. We caught up with Østergaard at Automatica to discuss the collaborative robotics market, challenges his company faces, how cobots will continue to become easier to use, and more.

What does winning the Engelberger Robotics Award mean to you?

I’m too young too retire, so I think I’m too young to receive a lifetime achievement award. Hopefully, I’m only halfway through life. It’s a great honor to win it.

It’s a big recognition that what we’re doing at Universal Robots is legitimate.

We weren’t taken too seriously at the beginning, but now the general industry has seen that collaborative robots isn’t a fad.

Tell us about Universal Robots’ new e-Series We define collaborative as the combination of fast set-up, easy programming, flexible deployment, and

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Universal Robots co-founder and CTO Esben Østergaard was named a winner of the 2018 Engelberger Robotics Award

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The Robot Report “The main challenge we have is awareness. Most of the companies we’re targeting, especially the small-to-medium manufacturing companies, they don’t yet know much about what robots can do for them. Many of them haven’t even started thinking about automation.”

safe operation. Those four core principles define what collaborative robots are. A lot of people mistake it as only being about safety, but it’s the whole package.

What we’ve done with the e-Series is upgraded all the internal features of the robot and strengthened each of those four core principles. The e-Series is safer, easier to program, faster to set up and more capable, meaning it’s more flexible in where it can be deployed. So we have raised the bar for what it means to be a collaborative robot.

Robots were too big and heavy to move around. And the companies couldn’t hire robot programmers because there wasn’t enough work for them.

They’d get bored or find other things to do. It wasn’t a good business case to hire robot programmers. On the other hand, it was also annoying to have to call someone every time a small change had to be made on the robot. That’s when we started thinking about making a robot that was easier to program and move around for different applications.

What are the benefits of the e-Series’ built-in force torque sensors?

This enables force torque applications and easier teaching of the robots. We’re showing a polishing application using the same polishing tool a human would hold. You can just add your manual tool to the robot now. Another demo shows a gripper moving down until it feels a small resistance, and then it opens and grips a part. With built-in force torque sensors, there’s no need for an external sensor to find out when you have contact. That’s all built into the robot.

Has the UR+ program turned into a profit source?

No, it’s a dating service for us. We provide a contact between problems and solutions, but we don’t get involved in the actual business. The UR+ program allows more people to automate. The problems people around the world needed to solve with our arms were repeated over and over again. That’s why we made the UR+ program – to get the partners to leverage each other’s solutions. If something is already developed once, why not try to build it into a product you can sell, and avoid reinventing the wheel.

We had these small universitytype startup companies that had great technology solutions to problems, but they didn’t have the sales capacity or global reach. The UR+ ecosystem accelerates adoption of new technology for automation. The more technology you can package and make accessible to non-experts, the more you can start harvesting the benefit of automation.

Were there new features UR couldn’t work into the e-Series that further enable ease-of-use?

Yes, but I can’t say what. We are, of course, aware of the growing competition that’s coming. We want to stay ahead.

We have the lead now, and we want to keep it that way even though the market is growing.

Describe the moment you realized robots were too difficult to use?

We had a project going on with the [Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark] that asked our university group to figure out how to get more robots into the Danish food industry.

We found two specific companies and tried to get them to use robots to automate their production lines.

One company had to reconfigure a production line roughly every month to make a new kind of food. We tried to teach them to re-program a traditional robot and it simply wasn’t possible for them to learn that.

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What are the main challenges UR needs to overcome?

The main challenge we have is awareness. Most of the companies we’re targeting, especially the small-tomedium manufacturing companies, they don’t yet know much about what robots can do for them. Many of them haven’t even started thinking about automation.

Thinking about robots is the next step for them. We need to continue to create the market and educate the companies about the possibilities of robots. That’s the main challenge we have – getting the word out there.

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From left to right: Universal Robots’ new UR3e, UR5e, and UR10e feature built-in force torque sensors for improved precision, faster set up times, and new safety features.

So what’s the potential market for cobots?

In the US alone, there are 300,000 small and medium-sized manufacturers, and I haven’t been to one that couldn’t use robots. They all could probably use more than one robot. It’s probably similar in Europe and Asia. So the potential is enormous.

What’s the most unique application you’ve seen using a UR robot?

The one where one of our arms landed an aircraft as a co-pilot. I’m also surprised

every time I go to the movies and see our robots in a movie, [including building David, the android in Alien: Covenant].

That’s robots building robots.

But for real applications, landing airplanes is something I didn’t see coming. It gives us an idea that we’re onto something with the word “Universal.”

It’s amazing how much these robots stimulate creativity from people. We want to give people a tool that can automate their jobs and make their lives easier. But we didn’t expect it to go so far.

Thoughts on OnRobot merger?

We see a lot of activity in the ecosystem around our robots. A lot of these companies don’t just bet on us. There are other companies coming into the space, which we welcome. It’s cool to see so much activity around the robot.

It’s becoming a business to build on our robots. That’s what we wanted. OnRobot is selling in the UR+ program, like Robotiq and a lot of others. We have over 300 partners in the UR+ program.

History of Universal Robots

Østergaard co-founded Universal Robots in 2003 and sold it in 2015 to Teradyne for $285 million.

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2003: Co-founders Kristian Kassow, Esben Østergaard, and Kasper Støy meet at University of Southern Denmark 2005: Universal Robots founded 2008: First UR5 cobots sold in Denmark and Germany 2010: Expands business into all of Europe 2011: Enters Asian market 2012: UR10 launches 2015: UR3 launches; acquired by Teradyne for $285 million 2016: Introduces UR+ program 2018: Launches e-Series; Østergaard wins Engelberger Robotics Award

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The Robot Report Will UR create arms with 7 degrees of freedom?

There are some companies making 7-DOF arms. It means you can move the elbow. There’s a need [for 7-DOF arms], but it’s generally not a major one.

How has the Teradyne acquisition helped UR? Teradyne acquired the company based on our plan for growth. Teradyne is supporting that growth and hasn’t changed our strategy. It was a help to get them on board. Teradyne has knowledge about how to do things when you’re a larger company. We were a growing startup company [at the time], and we didn’t have all the procedures in place to handle larger volumes. It was pretty useful to have access to their experts in our growth phase.

Will UR change its model of only selling through integrators/distributors?

Our main vision is to get robots out, make a difference in manufacturing companies, and get people away from working like robots. I think there will always be a need for integration. But level of integration required varies. The amount of integration done is limited by the number of available integrators.

There are not enough integrators today to handle all the automation needs.

There is a need for 3.5 million automation engineers in the US alone, but there’s only 1.5 million available today.

Our mission is to make it easier to integrate and give more ownership to the factory floor. But I don’t see a situation where there’s no need for integration.

It’s becoming easier to automate, but eventually more advanced processes will be automated, so we’ll need integrators.

fear people have of technology. The fear is real, but the problem isn’t real. We won’t replace people with robots. We won’t make work go away. We’ve always used technology to make our lives more convenient and get more done in less time. But technology has never made our species unemployed. We want to be lazy, but we cannot not work. Work will continue to change, and it’s really hard for us today to guess what a job is in 200 years.

What are some cobot trends to watch?

The trend to watch is more and more competition. A lot of the new companies won’t make it, but maybe watch for who will be Number 2. I don’t know who Number 2 is or will be, but we can’t have this to ourselves forever. We welcome it as it creates more awareness. It doesn’t make us nervous. Of course we want to win, we want to stay ahead, but we also welcome the competition.

Do you foresee UR creating robots other than cobot arms?

No. Of course, Teradyne just acquired Mobile Industrial Robots [MiR], which makes a mobile platform. They have their product, we have our product. We are doing this open ecosystem approach to robots. It makes sense for Universal to continue making the best possible arm platform and then that platform can sit on MiR’s platform. RR

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

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What about UR are you proudest of?

One thing we see with the companies using our robots is that they’re not laying off people, they’re hiring more people.

The robots aren’t replacing people, they’re helping grow the business. When the business grows, there’s more work, which means more people need to be employed. That’s something I’m proud of.

This whole discussion about robots replacing people is there because of the

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The Robot Report

Robots

Get a Grip at Automatica With the collaborative robot market exploding, grippers will be an area of growth and increasing competition.

That was made abundantly clear at Automatica 2018 where new robotic grippers made quite a splash.

By Steve Crowe | Editor Robot Report

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While market growth has an impact on the amount of innovation taking place, Lasse Kieffer, CEO and co-founder of Purple Robotics, said a shift in mindset is also leading to new grippers.

“End users want a collaborative robot application. You can’t make that if only the robot is collaborative,” said Kieffer.

“Everything in the system needs to be collaborative, including the gripper. Until now, everyone’s been focused solely on the robot being collaborative. This is the trend in the market, but ISO standardization is also going from looking at features on the robots to the grippers because they might come into contact with the people.”

While the grippers are improving, there’s still a long way to go before they scratch the surface of being anywhere near as capable as human hands. And one size doesn’t fit all. An exec from Daimler AG spoke about how Mercedez Benz has about 50 robots that require at least 500 different grippers to perform all their tasks.

Here is a recap of the new grippers The Robot Report encountered at Automatica 2018.

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The Robot Report

OnRobot licenses a concept developed by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory for its Gecko Gripper.

With the collaborative robot market exploding, grippers will be an area of growth and increasing competition.

That was made abundantly clear at Automatica 2018 where new robotic grippers made quite a splash.

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OnRobot Merger The newly-formed company OnRobot was a big hit at Automatica. Located next to Universal Robots (UR) booth, the company combined the work of Perception Robotics (US), OptoForce (Hungary), and OnRobot (Denmark).

Automatica was the company’s comingout party with three grippers and an upgraded force torque sensor. The merger could signal the rise of another Denmark-based robotics powerhouse.

OnRobot CEO Enrico Krog Iversen foresees building an entity where everything that goes on a robot can be acquired from OnRobot with a single intuitive user interface.

“Collaborative robots have the potential to become the comprehensive standard in industrial automation,” said Iversen, the former CEO of UR from 20082016. “We want to unleash this potential by making collaborative applications even easier to implement and to carry them into completely new applications - that is the idea behind all our new products that we are presenting here at Automatica.”

The Gecko Gripper, developed by Perception Robotics, was inspired by nature, applying a similar adhesive system for gripping as the feet of a gecko lizard. Fine fibers adhere to the surface

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of an item to generate a strong grasp.

The gripper is compatible with UR and Kawasaki robotic arms. OnRobot licenses a concept originally developed by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and brought the Gecko Gripper to market.

The Gecko Gripper was one winner of the International Federation of Robotics Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Robotics and Automation (IERA) Award.

OnRobot said the Gecko Gripper will work well perforated or porous objects that are typically troublesome for vacuum-based grippers to manipulate.

The Polyskin Tactile Gripper, also developed by Perception Robotics, is a two-fingered gripper. The fingers can be individually aligned and have integrated tactile sensors in the fingertips.

This allows the gripper to precisely measure the condition of the surface of workpieces and align its gripping processes accordingly. The Polyskin Tactile Gripper is also compatible with UR and Kawasaki.

The RG2-FT, a variation of OnRobot’s original RG2 gripper, has integrated force torque sensors and a proximity sensor, that accurately detects the condition of objects. OnRobot said the gripper detects the danger of objects slipping before it happens, making handling safer. The RG2-FT is compatible with UR and KUKA. DESIGN WORLD

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The Robot Report Purple Robotics PR10 Purple Robotics is another new gripper company that has ties to UR. The Odense, Denmark-based startup was founded by a team of “three super nerds” that have a combined 18-plus years experience developing the UR3, UR5 and UR10 robots. Along with Kieffer, the Purple Robotics co-founders include CTO Peter Nadolny Madsen, and COO Henrik Tilletz Hansen.

Purple Robotics is offering the PR10, an electrical-based vacuum gripper that doesn’t require an external air supply.

The PR10 features an internal air supply with an airflow that is self-contained, according to the company. It also offers two individual vacuum channels that can use simultaneously use different suction power and lost grip detection.

So not only does the PR10 eliminate external air hoses, Purple Robotics said it’s more energy efficient than traditional vacuum grippers. Purple Robotics claims the PR10 can be up and running in about 30 minutes with no prior training, which would reduces both the cost of implementation and changeover time between production lines.

qb robotics SoftHand Industry

The PR10 was quite heavy. It has a payload up to 10kg and costs about $4700 (€4000 Euros). Kieffer said the built-in pump is a major benefit, but it’s something that could be done before.

He said, however, building a customized electrical-based pump that fit into a robot can be time-consuming, whereas the PR10 is an off-the-shelf solution with plug-and-play capabilities.

Kieffer said Purple Robotics has patents pending on the gripper and its tool changer. At press time, Purple Robotics already signed two U.S. distributors, Olympus Controls and Thinkbot Solutions, and expected to add nearly half a dozen more for coast-tocoast distribution in the US. Since UR owns the majority of the cobot market, at the moment the the PR10 is specifically designed to be used with UR arms. Kieffer said the interface is generic to fit other robots in the future, but there’s no plans for that yet.

Purple Robotics is already included in the UR+ program of third-party robot accessories. In this partnership, Purple Robotics joins more than 77 industryleading developers of robotics software, accessories, and endof-arm tooling that share a sales channel with UR.

Robotiq Hand-E Adaptive Gripper

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Schmalz also makes an electricalbased vacuum gripper that is part of the UR+ family called the CobotPump ECBPi. The CobotPump is customized to work with UR cobots and is available as a SIO-Link version without the URCap. “The PR10 is a one-size-fits-all setup that eliminates the barrier to entry that is typically caused by customers’ unfamiliarity with pneumatics,” said Nick Armenta, automation engineer at Olympus Controls. “Existing vacuum systems need custom design and usually at least five different parts, sometimes from different sources. A single package that can be bought off-the-shelf and quickly deployed without any engineering is a huge benefit for the customers.”

As for the company name, here is its explanation: “not only is purple a beautiful color, but it is a color that takes courage to use. We often get the question “why is your company name Purple?” We want people to remember us, and we want to make a difference by doing things differently.”

Robotiq Hand-E Adaptive Gripper Montreal-based Robotiq added Hand-E to its line of adaptive grippers.

Hand-E is an electric gripper designed for Universal Robots collaborative robot arms being used in industrial applications. Like Robotiq’s other adaptive grippers, the 2F-85 and 2F140, Hand-E gives users full control over its position, force and speed. The plug-and-play gripper integrates with DESIGN WORLD

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The Robot Report

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Robotiq’s Wrist Camera and FT 300 Force Torque Sensor.

“We wanted to create a product that fits any manufacturer’s needs and allows them to start production faster,” said Robotiq CTO Jean-Philippe Jobin.

“Hand-E comes with a 3-fingertip kit so automation engineers can easily integrate the gripper in their application.

Its compact and ergonomic shape makes collaborative robot hand-guiding safe and easy.”

There are two major differences with Hand-E: its high accuracy and 50mm parallel stroke are well-suited for precision assembly tasks, while the 2F-85 and 2F140 excel at manipulating bigger items.

And Hand-E’s sealed design ensures reliability in the tough conditions. Robotiq said Hand-E can be set up in 10 minutes. qb robotics Softhand Industry The qb SoftHand Industry is a soft robotic hand designed for industrial applications.

It’s based off the company’s SoftHand Research gripper that was built for the educational sector. At first glance the SoftHand Industry resembles the Shadow Robot Dexterous Hand, but it only has one motor and each finger can’t be individually controlled. qb said this reduces the cost, but because it’s made of soft materials, the hand is deformable to the objects it’s grasping. RR

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mk North America Enhance Your Automation with Pallet-Handling Conveyors Pallet-handling conveyors utilize pallets to transport workpieces asynchronously between stations. Pallets range in size from 10x10 inches to 48x48 inches, and are capable of carrying loads of nearly 1,000 lbs.

Pallet-handling Conveyor Benefits Are Delivered By: • Continuously move materials from point to point • Handling every item in the same fashion with no variance • Removing production inefficiencies and wasteful delay by streamlining and standardizing the movement of material • Consistent material handling routines ultimately reduces work in process and allows greater throughput • Eliminating bottlenecks and operations that require labor but do not add value • Easily adapt to changing demands and production requirements • Efficiently handle changes to work flow by adding in new stops, locates or transfer components

Contact info: mk North America, Inc. Website: www.mknorthamerica.com Phone: 860.769.5500 Email: info@mknorthamerica.com

New England Wire Technologies Advancing innovation for over 100 years Why accept a standard product for your custom application?

NEWT is committed to being the premier manufacturer of choice for customers requiring specialty wire, cable and extruded tubing to meet existing and emerging worldwide markets. Our custom products and solutions are not only engineered to the exacting specifications of our customers, but designed to perform under the harsh conditions of today’s advanced manufacturing processes. Cables we specialize in are LITZ, multi-conductor cables, hybrid configurations, coaxial, twin axial, miniature and micro-miniature coaxial cables, ultra flexible, high flex life, low/high temperature cables, braids, and a variety of proprietary cable designs. Contact us today and let us help you dream beyond today’s technology and achieve the impossible.

NEW ENGLAND WIRE T E C H N O LO G I E S

www.designworldonline.com

Contact info: New England Wire Technologies www.newenglandwire.com 603.838.6624

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NSK Precision For Maintenance Free Operation Choose NSK  K1TM Lubrication Unit NSK’s K1TM is a uniquely designed system that not only lubricates but also helps minimize contamination. K1 material composition consists of 70% mineral

oil

and 30% polyolefin resin which ensures long-term, maintenancefree operation even under tough lubrication environments. K1TM offers no maintenance for up to 5 years or 10,000 km operational distance. K1 is ideal for environments where the lubricant is hard to replace or is easily washed away. Available in ball screws, linear guides, monocarriers and tough carriers.

NSK Americas www.nskamericas.com

Universal Robots Universal Robots Raises the Bar With e-Series Cobots With the new e-Series platform the market leader of collaborative robots sets a new standard for cobots, adding built-in force/torque sensing, unrivaled safety features, and improved precision for faster integration in a wider range of future-proofed applications.

With built-in, tool-centric force/torque sensor, the e-Series is ready to take on tasks that require force control right out of the box. Increased repeatability of down to 30 microns makes the new cobots suitable for precise finishing, assembly and electronics operations. Advanced users can utilize the new externally accessible 500Hz system bus to implement more complex applications, such as machine vision systems.

August 2018 www.designworldonline.com

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Contact info: Universal Robots USA, Inc. 5430 Data Court, Suite 300 Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108 United States Phone: +1 844.462.6268 Email: ur.na@universal-robots.com

DESIGN WORLD

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