SINGAPORE – Robots can now manipulate tiny objects – together with electronics elements and optical lenses – with nearly the identical nimbleness as human arms, with assistance from new know-how powered by synthetic intelligence.
This enables for a degree of precision dealing with solely human employees have been able to till now, comparable to assembling engine gears.
The know-how was developed by Eureka Robotics, a spin-off from Nanyang Technological College (NTU), and is at present supposed to be used within the software program of business robots bought by tech agency Denso Wave, which is a part of the Toyota Group.
With it, employees may be free of mundane and repetitive duties whereas making certain top quality management by minimising human errors, mentioned NTU, Eureka Robotics and Denso Wave in an announcement on Nov 29.
The know-how permits robots to own each excessive accuracy and agility – traits that almost all industrial robots at present should not have.
A robotic with excessive accuracy and low agility will be capable of carry out a job repeatedly with little error however is unable to range its actions to permit for a wider scope of perform.
An instance could be the welding machines in an automotive manufacturing facility, which may work solely on an identical automobile fashions positioned on the identical place every time.
Conversely, a robotic with low accuracy and excessive agility will be capable of carry out a wider scope of duties however is unable to do exact work.
One instance could be a warehouse robotic dealing with parcels of various sizes and in various positions.
Affiliate Professor Pham Quang Cuong, who’s Eureka Robotics’ co-founder, instructed The Straits Instances that three components are wanted for a robotic to attain excessive accuracy and agility.
The primary is imaginative and prescient, he mentioned. “For instance, if objects are randomly positioned, (the robotic) wants to have the ability to discover the place of an object and… go to the precise place.”
The second is robotic movement planning. In the identical instance, which means that the robotic has to have the ability to adapt to dealing with varied shapes and positions of objects.
The final issue is drive management, which determines how a lot drive the robotic ought to use when performing its duties. That is particularly essential in conditions the place excessive accuracy is required, comparable to within the meeting of objects.
Prof Pham mentioned robots typically require a number of days of fine-tuning so as to obtain the right drive management wanted.
However the software program powered by the brand new know-how requires solely a single parameter to be set – the anticipated stiffness of contact – thereby permitting the required drive management to be programmed right into a robotic in a shorter interval.
The know-how was first developed by Prof Pham and his Eureka Robotics co-founder Hung Pham in 2018. It was additional refined earlier than the 2 males printed their analysis on it final 12 months.
Eureka then collaborated with Denso Wave to combine the know-how into the software program of the latter’s robots, which was accomplished in the course of this 12 months.
The brand new software program will likely be out there as an non-obligatory replace to the working techniques of Denso Wave’s robots ranging from this month.
The agency’s purchasers can even have a selection to incorporate the brand new know-how within the software program of latest robots they buy.
Mr Hiroyasu Baba, challenge supervisor in Denso Wave’s manufacturing facility automation/robotics enterprise unit’s product planning division, mentioned the brand new know-how is at present supposed to be used within the electronics and automotive industries.
The agency is exploring plans to implement it on robots dealing with and processing uncooked meals, he mentioned.
Mr Takeshi Idomoto, who’s assistant supervisor in the identical division, mentioned: “Manufacturing is our predominant goal.” He added that there are additionally plans to make use of the brand new know-how within the agriculture trade.
As to be used in households, this may be attainable sooner or later, he mentioned.