An Introduction To Plug-and-Play Motion Subsystems

If you build machines, you probably work with actuators and positioning stages every day. But do you truly get the best performance or lowest cost of ownership from these motion devices? The answer may not be what you expect.

Real-time behaviour synthesis for dynamic Hand-Manipulation

From Vikash Kumar at University of Washington: Dexterous hand manipulation is one of the most complex types of biological movement, and has proven very difficult to replicate in robots. The usual approaches to robotic control - following pre-defined trajectories or planning online with reduced models - are both inapplicable. Dexterous manipulation is so sensitive to small variations in contact force and object location that it seems to require online planning without any simplifications. Here we demonstrate for the first time online planning (or model-predictive control) with a full physics model of a humanoid hand, with 28 degrees of freedom and 48 pneumatic actuators. We augment the actuation space with motor synergies which speed up optimization without removing flexibility. Most of our results are in simulation, showing nonprehensile object manipulation as well as typing. In both cases the input to the system is a high level task description, while all details of the hand movement emerge online from fully automated numerical optimization. We also show preliminary results on a hardware platform we have developed "ADROIT" - a ShadowHand skeleton equipped with faster and more compliant actuation... (website)

Service Robots Use Flat Motors

Service robots being designed for the disabled must be reliable, safe, and easy to use. Having the right motion system components is essential for these highly specific applications.

Records 1 to 3 of 3

Featured Product

OnLogic Helix 511 Fanless Intel 12th Gen Edge Computer

OnLogic Helix 511 Fanless Intel 12th Gen Edge Computer

OnLogic's Helix 511 Fanless Edge computer delivers ultra-reliable, fanless computing using Intel® 12th Generation performance hybrid processing. The Helix 511 is a versatile fanless computer capable of powering solutions including advanced automation, light detection and ranging (LiDAR), access control & building automation, or virtually any other IoT or edge gateway functionality needed, with support for 4 simultaneous serial connections. The system is able to reliably operate in temperatures ranging from 0 to 50°C, can accept power input ranging from 12 to 24 Volts, and is Wall, VESA and DIN rail mountable.