With the continuous expansion of application fields, more and more collaborative robot companies have begun to actively participate in the exploration and development of new industrial robots, and strive to inject unprecedented vitality and possibilities into the high-end manufacturing industry through continuous breakthroughs in technology and continuous exploration of forms.
▍Transform into a humanoid? A number of manufacturers display new products
From a certain broad perspective, any robot that functions in an industrial environment can be classified as an industrial robot.
In this area, humanoid robots show extraordinary potential for industrial applications due to their unique advantages. They are not only highly flexible and adaptable, able to easily cope with complex and changeable working environments, but also because of their human-like design, and show excellent capabilities in human-computer interaction and work collaboration, so to a certain extent, humanoid robots can also be called industrial humanoid robots.
Because of this, at this exhibition, a number of collaborative robots such as Jieka and Estun Kuzhuo were unveiled with humanoid robot products.
The first humanoid robot JAKA K-1 is 1.8m tall, has 29 movable joints (excluding dexterous hands) and 14 degrees of freedom in both arms, with a repeatability of ±0.1mm. In terms of overall design, the robot adopts an anthropomorphic structure, integrating components such as the brain, cerebellum, arms, feet, force sensors, and vision system.
The humanoid robot CODROID 01 displayed by Estun Kuzhuo is 170 cm tall, weighs less than 80 kg, has a load capacity of 5 kg with one arm, and can walk at a speed of 5 kilometers per hour. In terms of degrees of freedom, it has 7 degrees of freedom for one arm and 6 degrees of freedom for one leg, with a maximum of 44 degrees of freedom for the whole body, and 6 to 7 degrees of freedom for the dexterous hand, which has extremely high flexibility and working ability.
In terms of overall design, CODROID 01 adopts an integrated joint module, and the core components are all self-developed, which has outstanding advantages such as fast module response, high torque density, strong bearing capacity, long service life, stable operation, low noise and impact resistance.
In addition to companies focusing on collaborative robots, Yaskawa, one of the giants in the field of industrial robots, also unveiled its humanoid robots at the event. In particular, it is worth mentioning that this year's industry fair has set up a special area for humanoid robots, which brings together 10 top domestic humanoid robot companies to jointly demonstrate the wide range of application scenarios of humanoid robots in all aspects of intelligent manufacturing.
▍Concentrated display of arms? Focus on upper body development
It is worth noting that whether it is Jieka, Estun or Yaskawa, the core technology and key components of the humanoid robot products launched by them are still deeply rooted in the technology accumulation of collaborative robots.
In the display of application scenarios, various companies invariably focus on the upper body of the humanoid robot, especially the function of the robotic arm and hand. JAKA K-1 of the festival card attracts attention with the warm interaction of waving hands; Estun's cool humanoid robot CODROID 01 shows the amazing flexibility of hand movements and the accuracy of workpiece grasping and transfer with the empowerment of embodied intelligence; Yaskawa's humanoid robot won bursts of applause through its superb performance of playing drums.
In-depth exploration of the arm structure of these humanoid robots, it is not difficult to find that most of its key technologies and components are derived from the company's original collaborative robot product line, but they are innovatively designed in form, and integrated with the vision system and artificial intelligence assistance technology of humanoid robots, so as to achieve a higher level of intelligence.
Taking Estun Cool as an example, the self-developed high-performance motors, reducers and other core components used in its collaborative robots, with optimized intelligent control algorithms, ensure the high speed, high precision and low jitter of the robot movement. In particular, its self-developed SA rigid joint module not only covers a wide range of medium through hole diameters from 8 to 16 mm, but also supports the EtherCat communication protocol, which can easily meet the diverse application needs of users from 5.1 Nm to 382 Nm rated joint torque. Through modular design and optimization, the product covers key components such as drivers, dual encoders, harmonic reducers, torque sensors, motors and brakes, and all joint modules have been carefully optimized to meet the technical specifications of collaborative robots, bionic robots, medical robots, and humanoid robots and other application fields, significantly shortening the product design cycle.
These advanced technologies are also used in the humanoid robot CODROID 01. The collimated drive joint module used for the elbow and knee has multiple advantages such as high response speed, high torque density, low noise, impact resistance and high reliability. The shoulders and hips are rigid joint modules with high bearing capacity, long service life, stable operation, small size, light weight, low noise, large output torque and large speed ratio; The linear joint module used in the wrist and ankle provides a strong guarantee for the excellent performance of the humanoid robot with its high space utilization, motion stability, high efficiency and high rigidity.
▍Composite form robot? Quickly apply the best solution
Compared with the emerging humanoid robot form, the composite robot formed by the fusion of collaborative robots and mobile robots, as a replacement version of humanoid robots, not only integrates the hand operation ability and movement flexibility of humanoid robots, but also shows great potential for rapid deployment and practical application, and has achieved remarkable results in many industries. At this exhibition, a number of collaborative robot companies have demonstrated their advanced composite robot application solutions, which have attracted wide attention.
Universal Robots demonstrated the outstanding performance of its mobile composite robots in the field of wafer handling. Its composite robot can efficiently complete the integrated programming of arms, vehicles, hands and vision in just 1.5 hours, and at the same time achieve 360° all-round safety protection. In addition, it can use dual 3D cameras for obstacle detection and autonomous path planning and obstacle avoidance. Repeatability of up to ±0.5 mm ensures a high degree of stability and accuracy in the production handling process.
The composite robot displayed by TM is equipped with Jaspiro AMR, which ensures a high degree of stability during movement and grasping with industry-leading storage design, all-round sensing system, numerous sensors and unique patented technology and vision system. The robot has multiple advantages such as high efficiency, continuity, accuracy, flexibility and safety, and is especially suitable for the handling of various types of vehicles in the semiconductor industry, providing an efficient and reliable solution for the semiconductor industry.
AUBO displayed the integrated physiotherapy bed, moxibustion robot, intelligent hyperthermia robot, X-SPA health care physiotherapy robot 2.0 displayed by Siling Robot, and a full range of physiotherapy robot products such as intelligent tongue diagnostic instrument, shock wave physiotherapy robot, energy physiotherapy robot, moxibustion physiotherapy robot and other physiotherapy robots brought by Fao Robot. Advanced technologies such as force control can accurately perceive and automatically adjust areas such as physiotherapy and massage, moxibustion, etc., and provide personalized health service solutions for different groups of people.
▍Intelligent robotic arm? Future exploration with low development costs
Driven by emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing, the field of robotics is accelerating towards high-end and intelligence. Through a careful observation of this exhibition, it is not difficult to find that most companies are more inclined to deepen the development of intelligent collaborative robots, rather than directly jumping into the deep water area of humanoid robot research and development.
The development trend of AI collaborative robots is not only a direct response to industrial needs, but also brings innovative service models to business scenarios. With the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry and the increasingly surging wave of "machine substitution", the demand for automation and intelligent equipment is rising. In the industrial field, cobots are gradually taking on complex assembly, inspection and operation tasks in precision manufacturing industries such as automobiles and medical treatment, which undoubtedly puts forward higher requirements for the intelligence level of robots. In the retail, catering, medical and other service sectors, cobots need to interact with humans more granularly, including understanding complex instructions, providing customized services, and responding to various unexpected situations, which further drives the market for intelligent robots with stronger perception, understanding, reasoning and decision-making capabilities.
At this exhibition, many collaborative robot companies demonstrated how they can improve the overall intelligence level of collaborative robots such as intelligence, perception acuity, and operation accuracy through the deep integration of AI technology and 3D vision technology. In addition, a number of companies are competing to exhibit the dual-arm collaboration technology that is infinitely close to the advantages of humanoid robot applications.
Franka showcased the application unit of adaptive robot installation, Franka AI Companion, and interactive AI-driven optimization capabilities. In the adaptive installation demonstration, the two Franka Research 3 robotic arms operated efficiently at a 45-degree tilt angle, and with high-precision seven-axis force control and a high-sensitivity haptic perception system, the two robotic arms worked together to achieve real-time adjustment of force and position to ensure that the ball did not fall between the two blocks. In addition, the Franka Research 3 features a human-arm-like movement pattern and a high degree of flexibility to complete assigned tasks in challenging workspaces.
In the teleoperation demonstration, through FCI, the main robotic arm of Franka Research 3 can control the slave robotic arm, and the operation control algorithm of 1kHz frequency enables the robot to receive force feedback immediately with almost no delay, realizing high-precision, high-sensitivity force control feedback and efficient and safe human-machine collaboration functions.
Franka AI Companion is an intelligent control terminal that integrates FCI, ROS, camera drivers and other environments, which can greatly simplify the process of large model development and improve efficiency for researchers. The AI Companion is embedded with NVIDIA GPUs and leverages NVIDIA computing power to deep vision neural networks, enabling users to view images of detected objects in real time, and quickly perform object detection and visual servo functions. In addition, AI Companion integrates a variety of libraries to enable researchers and developers to develop machine learning models at a faster pace, and supports easy connection to experimental software setups to achieve a seamless transition from research to real-world applications, which can greatly improve the efficiency and speed of users in AI research, large model development and training, and more.
Gebot showcased the building block assembly and intelligent control passing application of a new generation of embodied intelligent industrial robots (EIIR) jointly launched by it and Weiyi Intelligent Manufacturing. The robot does not need to be cumbersome teaching and programming process, only needs to accurately capture and identify the user's actions and assemblies through images and videos, and then combine with industrial vertical models for process disassembly and assembly learning. Thanks to the self-developed single-chip multi-axis drive control integrated motion controller (SCIMC), EIIR achieves precise operation with near-zero control delay, can perfectly reproduce the assembly process of the same building block, and instantly synchronize this skill to the remote production line through the cloud to achieve mass production execution. In addition, its minute-level flexible tangential capability perfectly matches the needs of future industrial production scenarios.
Compared with traditional industrial robots, they are limited to a preset and closed working environment, perform a single and repetitive task, have weak generalization ability, and lack of flexible tangential ability, which greatly restricts the wide application of industrial robots. EIIR Robot is the first to integrate the theory of embodied intelligence into industrial practice, integrating cutting-edge technologies such as high-speed visual tracking, precise real-time control of robotic arms, and intelligent capture, and deeply integrating multiple technologies such as perception, drive, control, algorithm and cloud services, which can better understand and adapt to the complex industrial environment, easily cope with the flexibility and adaptability of the production line, perform various diversified tasks with an accurate and efficient attitude, and achieve the optimal allocation of resources.
Feixi Technology showcased its two-arm cucumber peeling demo, which is based on AnyShave, a universal object surface scraping skill developed by Noematrix Brain and adaptive robots. Without the need for modeling in advance, the dual-arm robot can scrape irregularly curved objects such as cucumbers and ensure meticulous and safe operation. AnyShave has the technical advantages of independent identification & decision-making, time-saving and labor-saving, fine operation, and two-arm collaboration, and can independently adapt to irregular and flexible object surfaces for fine operation.
Universal Robots showcased an AI collaborative robot that can be recognized and executed by voice commands, and is suitable for a variety of application scenarios such as academic research, forward-looking R&D of enterprises, AI-based secondary development of UR+ partners, equipment care, polishing and grinding, and welding. It is understood that the robot is a future-oriented AI robot development platform jointly developed by Universal Robots and its parent company Teradyne Group and NVIDIA, and is equipped with NVIDIA Jetson high-standard GPU, which can provide powerful computing power support for AI-based collaborative robot applications. The platform supports RTDE, ROS, ROS2 and other interfaces, and can be connected to high-end AI development platforms such as NVIDIA Isaac Ros in the future to accelerate the intelligent process of collaborative robots. At the same time, combined with large models such as language and vision, the robot can generalize skills, and is expected to achieve no teaching, no programming and automatic generation of programs and trajectories in the future.
In addition, Han's Robotics presented its Elfin-Pro series of collaborative robots with integrated AI vision applications. Yuejiang Robotics brought their "AI + robotic arm" that can achieve autonomous operation and generalization tasks. TM Robotics demonstrated the pick-and-place application of multi-layer flexible objects, namely the TM Al+ Trainer flexible object learning system.
At this stage, compared with humanoid robots with complex structure, high cost, intelligence and practical applications, which still need to be explored in depth, it may be a better solution to turn the focus to collaborative robots that have been widely penetrated into a variety of application scenarios and carry out intelligent development.
▍Conclusion
In general, whether it is a humanoid robot or a composite robot, although they are different in product form, they show similar commonalities at the technical level of industrial products. For enterprises, the core idea of choosing to buy production parts or complete machines is to fine-tune the assembly and configuration of collaborative robots to meet their own production needs to the greatest extent.
However, the real development trend and direction of collaborative robots is still mainly intelligent. With the continuous development of artificial intelligence, machine learning, visual recognition and other technologies, cobots will be able to more intelligently perceive the environment, understand tasks, learn autonomously, and collaborate with humans more naturally and efficiently. This will provide infinite possibilities for the application of collaborative robots in more fields, and will also promote the continuous innovation and development of the entire robot industry. Therefore, for enterprises, grasping the intelligent development trend of collaborative robots will be the key to winning the future market competition.