According to the data,the global robot market will grow 2.5 times in 2025 to reach US$26.7 billion.At the”Taiwan Robots and Intelligent Automation Exhibition 2022(TAIROS)”held in August this year,the Technology Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs displayed 12 latest intelligent robot technologies,including the world’s largest axis robot controller that can simultaneously control three robots.Through the integration of multi-arm applications in a single system,the productivity can be increased by more than 50%.Affected by the epidemic situation,the demand for automated and highly flexible manufacturing industry has grown rapidly.Countries such as Europe,America and Japan have launched a new generation of industrial revolution,combining the Internet of Things and robots to promote intelligent manufacturing.In the future,the layout of the robot industry will develop in the direction of multi-machine,intelligence and systematization.
Innovative application of robot arm
Looking back on the three years of epidemic ridge cover,the manufacturing industry has actively introduced automated production or made efforts to transform to intelligent manufacturing.More and more robots and robotic arms have been used in production lines or work fields to replace human operation of instruments and equipment or other human operations.With the rapid introduction of AI into the robot arm,the traditional robot arm began to have the ability of autonomous learning,and the production efficiency was greatly improved.
AI robot can not only control the speed,strength and accuracy of the robot arm,but also link with various data through advanced technologies such as sensing and digital twinning to reduce the error rate.The robot arm can not only be used in manufacturing production lines and warehousing logistics,but also can be seen in various robot arm cooperation cases in smart medical,smart life and other fields.
For example,Skyline Robotics developed Ozmo system to perform the task of automatic exterior wall cleaning.Ozmo combines the advantages of AI,machine learning,KUKA’s KR AGILUS small robot,and computer-aided image processing system.Only one staff member is required to control the operation platform,power supply,water supply and crane,and the robot arm is responsible for cleaning the glass exterior wall.In the past,it took 3-4 months to complete the cleaning work with 3-4 staff in less than 50%of the time,saving time and safety.
Figure 1:KUKA’s KR AGILUS small robot performs the task of automatic cleaning of external walls??.(Source：Skyline Robotics)
In terms of smart medicine,the Cancer Medical Center of the University of Taiwan and the branch of the University of Taiwan in Hsinchu have set up a”minimally invasive surgery system for robotic arms”,which has so far completed more than 5000 robotic arm assisted surgery.Compared with traditional surgery,surgeons can greatly improve the quality of surgery through 3D high-resolution visual images,surgical instruments imitating human wrist joints and precise operating systems.With the help of the robot arm,it can reduce the amount of blood loss during the operation,reduce the postoperative complications,significantly shorten the hospitalization time of patients,and have a better prognosis.
AI makes the robot arm develop towards intelligence,lightweight and miniaturization.The cooperative robot arm can even undertake daily tasks,such as picking fruit,making tea,teasing pets,and robots that help fold clothes.For example,the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence(BAIR)laboratory adjusts the original robot BRETT,and uses two robot arms and infrared scanning technology to fold towels.After several amendments,Now it takes only 90 seconds to fold the T-shirt.The folding robot is named SpeedFolding.Researcher Yahav Avigal pointed out that the SpeedFolding system uses the neural network BiManual Manipulation Network to learn 4300 smoothing and folding actions,which can flatten and fold 30-40 pieces of clothing per hour,with a success rate of 93%.The only minor shortcomings are that the speed is still not fast enough,there are still small wrinkles on the surface of clothing,and there is room for improvement.
Figure 2:The SpeedFolding clothes folding robot uses two robotic arms and infrared scanning technology to fold the T-shirt in 90 seconds.(source：Griffig)
Cooperative robots and robot arms need to rely on perception,visual perception and computing ability to confirm whether they need to slow down or stop moving in response to changes in the external environment.Visual radar can help judge whether the distance is safe and whether the robot needs to slow down.The computing ability is to calculate the aforementioned sensing data through software to further give correct instructions or feedback.As 3D vision,autonomous path planning,AI recognition and other technologies are increasingly advanced,the intelligent process of collaborative robots and robot arms is accelerated.In view of the high cost-effectiveness,flexibility,safety and ease of use of collaborative robots and robotic arms,the four traditional industrial robots giants ABB,FANUC,KUKA and YASKAWA have also begun to layout relevant businesses.
Industrial robots and service robots are no longer distinct
Compared with the collaborative robots and robots in the field of intelligent medicine and intelligent life,the related applications in the field of intelligent manufacturing are also developing rapidly.The development trend of the industry can be seen in the 2021-2022 Taipei International Automation Industry Exhibition and the 2022 Hannover MESSE in Germany.
Taking the 2021 Taipei International Automation Industry Exhibition as an example,ABB Robot cooperated with ASUS IoT,AUO,DSA,G4 and SINTAI to display a number of robot intelligent flexible manufacturing programs and application technologies.The ABB GoFa CRB 15000 cooperative robot,which has faster integration speed and higher repetition accuracy than the peer cooperative robot,has the functions of omni-directional movement,AI intelligent obstacle avoidance and so on.AMR can shuttle through narrow walkways,move left and right,and improve the smoothness of the semi-guided system;AI intelligent detection flexibility automation scheme combines the ABB IRB 1200 small robot arm with high production flexibility and ASUS AISVision.It can quickly adjust the detection capability of the production line by changing the detection process of the robot arm and matching different AI models.
Daming Robot showed the all-around intelligent cooperative robot AI Cobot at the 2022 Taipei International Automation Industry Exhibition-combining the original AI engine with intelligent vision and cooperative robot arm,as well as rapidly integrating AI intelligent stack and flaw detection application solutions,and welding robot cases;The fully upgraded AI Cobot S software and hardware can integrate more intelligent vision and peripheral software as well as more intuitive human-machine interface to help improve the efficiency of automatic production and fully implement AI value-added intelligent manufacturing.
AI Cobot,together with the intelligent vision solution TM AI+developed by Daming itself,has an intelligent vision system built in,which covers traditional machine vision and advanced AI vision capabilities,and can easily identify the defects that are difficult to identify,which can be widely used in manufacturing,automobile and food industries.The high-load arm in the AI Robot S series is suitable for AMR mobile robots to carry large weight crystal boxes,and it also strengthens the work safety of human-machine cooperation.
Figure 3:The omni-directional intelligent cooperative robot AI Cobot combines intelligent vision and cooperative robot arm with native AI engine.(source:Daming robot)
In 2022,many exhibitors exhibited innovative technologies,products or application solutions at the industrial exhibition in Hanover,Germany.For example,the German robot start-up Aeon Robotics exhibited DROID robot system.DROID has AI auxiliary force sensing function,which can adapt to different grasping objects and work field changes.Combined with the robot arm and the five-finger gripper structure imitating human fingers,the combination of the five-finger gripper and the robot arm is designed according to the human body model,and the operator can complete the predetermined actions and tasks through the wearable force feedback controller without having programming skills,The DROID machine palm can directly transmit the force to the operator through the force feedback control system.
Figure 4:The combination of 5-finger gripper and robot arm is designed according to the manikin and can be operated in an environment designed for human beings.(Source：Aeon Robotics)
Robonik Automation,which is good at the research and development of robot technology and the development of autonomous mobile robot(AMR)products,has developed a variety of indoor AMR applied in the field of factory and storage,as well as outdoor multi-purpose AMR.For example,the SUMMIT-XL STEEL autonomous mobile robot platform can be applied in the field of factory,logistics,indoor transportation and other fields.The operation mode includes autonomous navigation,camera real-time image transmission,and the operator can remote control,Equipped with UR cooperation robot arm,it can perform part grabbing work.
Hyundai Robotics displays a number of autonomous mobile service robots,which can be used in stores,stores or restaurants.For example,Hyundai S1 has a three-layer food storage tray,which can carry items weighing 30 kg,and can move at a speed of 1.5 meters per second.It uses SLAM(Simultaneous Localization and Mapping)autonomous guidance,and can be set and controlled through voice or panel.
OMRON exhibited the intelligent production system of Cell Line Control System,integrating the cooperative robots,AI,machine vision and multiple sensors of Taiwan,China Daming Robot,which can detect the production quality in real time,and whether the personnel perform the work according to the standard operating procedures,to meet a small number of diverse production needs.
Xiong Zhimin,an industry analyst of the Industrial Technology Base Research and Knowledge Service Program of the International Institute of Obstetrics and Obstetrics of the Industrial Research Institute,believes that the development trend of intelligent robots can be observed from the”2022 Hannover Industrial Exhibition in Germany”,such as the innovative technology of service robots with more security and application flexibility.Taking a comprehensive view of the global robot development trend,the boundaries between industrial robots and service robots are gradually blurred in the past,and the trend of their integration is obvious.Some bionic industrial robots and cooperative robots have greater application flexibility and security,and relevant applications continue to increase in non-industrial fields.Future development is worthy of attention.
The rise of small robot arms:smarter,lighter and smaller
Small robot arms have existed for many years,and in recent years,they have benefited from technological innovation,which has led small cooperative robot arms to rapidly move towards innovative applications.For example,the robot arms and application cases in the above-mentioned intelligent medical treatment,intelligent manufacturing,and intelligent life have seen the new trend of the integration of traditional robot arms and AI:leaping away from the traditional medium and large robot arms and the bulky,hard appearance that is not very aesthetic,digital technology makes the robot arms intelligent Lightweight and miniaturized development.
AI,5G,Metauniverse,AR/VR give the robot arm a higher level of intelligent application possibilities.For example,ROBOENTER,a Taiwanese start-up company,focuses on the design planning and construction of the interactive exhibition of the robot arm,combines the robot arm with the entertainment concept,and connects VR,XR,AI,5G,display,photography and other technologies to create different interactive art exhibition,VR exhibition and virtual flight market,In the future,it is possible to combine the application of intelligent networking(AIoT),imitate the cooperation mode of Skyline Robotics and KUKA robot arm,enter the high-rise exterior wall cleaning market,and significantly shorten the cleaning operation time through AI analysis and calculation of the best cleaning track of robot arm,5G remote control,XR/VR situation concatenation.
Figure 5:Robot arm VR released by Lefet Technology in the information month.(Source:Lefet)
Future trend:no minimum,only smaller!
In addition to the diversified and smaller robot arms mentioned above,there are also more mini industrial robot arm applications.The start-up company Mecademic has successfully built the six-axis robot arm Meca500.The size of the palm is only half of that of other small industrial robots,and the weight is only 5 kg.However,the small robot arm can bear 500 grams,and has the functions of anti-collision and zero-gravity mode.The built-in controller can not only save space,but also greatly simplify the operation mode.It only needs 24V power supply,a computer and an Ethernet cable to set and operate the program for the Meca500.
Mecademic uses maxon’s brushless disk DC motor,combined with a backlash less reducer and a high-resolution encoder,with a repetition accuracy of 0.005mm,which is about 20 times finer than printing paper!In the future,Mecademic will develop special grippers for robot arms,which can provide customized firmware for individual needs.In this way,Meca500 can also become another kind of cooperative robot.
Zhide Technology in Taiwan,China,China,has also successfully created a cpc Robot mini six axis robot arm with only one A4 paper size after sales,which has the characteristics of small size,light weight,low noise,etc.,and is more in line with the market application trends of energy saving and carbon reduction,automation,diversity,flexible moving,etc.It can be used in the semiconductor industry,biomedical industry,laboratory automation,micro product production and assembly automation,test equipment automation,and other fields.
Industrial robots and service robots are gradually integrated,and the robot arm is developing towards the trend of light and short.In the future,robot manufacturers must be able to integrate various control devices and operating systems on a smaller platform,and plan more solutions for various use situations.In addition,they must have both hardware and software to build a light,short,smart and efficient future robot arm.
