They move like snakes and reach places that are too narrow or dangerous for humans. The robust robotic arms of the Tokyo-based company HiBot take inspection, maintenance and repair to new levels. In the past, maintenance was not given much consideration in the construction of industrial plants, buildings or bridges. As a consequence, the maintenance…
AGVs: The solutions for logistics?
AGVs (automated guided vehicles) are essential tools in the current commercial and industrial transformation. But what challenges do they need to address? The AGV market: why are we seeing such a boom today? Back in the 1950s, car manufacturers used guided vehicles in their factories to distribute mechanical parts. Since then, different methods have been…
The field of the future
We are witnessing the start of a robotic evolution that is sweeping through all aspects of agriculture. This includes drones that monitor fields, spray specific plants, or send information to other robots on the ground that pull-out weeds and harvest fruit. The current edition of driven, the maxon magazine, is dedicated to agriculture and it…
Why field-of-view matters
The more an Autonomous Mobile Robot can sense, the better it will perform. And the larger the field-of-view of each sensor, the more practical a solution can be. By Mark Davidson, CRO, DreamVu Inc. If a robot cannot sense it, it cannot deal with it. Whether a person, or another approaching AMR, or an object…
5 challenges a motor has to overcome on Mars
Outer space is unforgiving. This is why precision drives embarking on a trip to other planets need to meet extremely high quality standards. Every Mars drive from maxon is based on a catalog product and is modified for the specific mission. That’s because the DC motors, gearheads, and encoders face brutal conditions during liftoff, the…
The people behind the Mars drives
Years of collaboration between maxon and the space experts at JPL led to the development of the BLDC motors which handle the valuable soil samples on Mars during the Perseverance mission. Meet maxon’s specialists behind those actuators and find out what drives them. Was there once life on Mars? To answer this question, NASA has…
In search of signs of life on Mars
Mars once had liquid water and an atmosphere—was there life too? To answer this fundamental question, NASA sends the Perseverance rover, a robot of unparalleled complexity. Mars missions may seem to be routine now, yet it’s still the case that only a few craft make it to the planet’s surface intact. The European Space Agency…
Precision drives on the Red Planet
More than 100 electric motors from maxon have been used on the Red Planet and have withstood cosmic radiation, dust storms, and temperature fluctuations. With the Perseverance rover, precision drives are once again flying to Mars. The key to success is the same as before: standard industrial products. Mars missions without maxon drive systems? Unthinkable!…
Doosan Robotics: Driving innovation and growth in cobots
As a leader in the cobots application sector, Doosan Robotics is drawing attention for introducing the H-SERIES, which provides the highest payload in the market of up to 25KG. By Doosan Robotics In the fast-growing cobot sector, advancements in collaborative robot applications and capabilities continue to mature. South Korea remains the leading innovator in the…
Podcast: FORT Robotics on how to keep humans safe and in control of robots
The automotive sector has, for years, driven the growth of the robotics industry. But robots are now moving beyond industrial manufacturing environments and into other industries, including agriculture, construction, healthcare and logistics, to name a few. As robots continue to find new applications, alleviating concerns about safety and security are crucial to their adoption, acceptance…
IES servo control gripper
Dean Crumlish, Applications and Product Manager The servo control gripper is mostly seen in industries due to the convenience and control in using it. The movement of the gripper jaws is controlled and assisted by electronic motors that are highly flexible and allow different material tolerances when handling parts. The clean structure and no air…
How to design an exoskeleton
An exoskeleton must be lightweight, compact, powerful, reliable, and easy to use – what could be easier? Many developers around the world dabble in this discipline with different degrees of success. Christian Bermes, head of the VariLeg enhanced team explains what it all comes down to. Mechanics “Emulating the human gait with mechatronic systems is…
Cybathlon teams
At Cybathlon 2020 Global Edition, all of the attention will be focused on our main players: The teams. They are competing all around the world to be part of a unique event. Every fifth team uses maxon products. A small selection: SoftHand Pro The team from the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia and the Centro E.…
Trap the trash
A spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) has been given responsibility for a EUR 100 million project by the European Space Agency, ESA. ClearSpace SA now heads a consortium developing the first debris removal mission in the Earth’s orbital field. Our lives are becoming more and more dependent on space technologies.…
Uncovering the secrets of Mars
Our fascination with Mars is stronger than ever. At this very moment, yet another robot called Perseverance is on its way to uncover the secrets of Mars. The mission will also involve the first helicopter flight in space. This issue of the driven magazine is dedicated to Perseverance and all of the other explorative missions…
The Colossus robot on the front line against Covid-19
To disinfect surfaces without taking risks, the Bataillon de Marins-Pompiers (marine fire service) from Marseille has equipped itself with two Colossus robots. These remote control and highly modular autonomous robots are proving to be valuable assets in the fight against Covid-19. Fitted with maxon motors, these versatile robots are also capable of supporting the unit…
Covid-19: Drive technology and physical distancing
The sanitary crisis linked to the diffusion of Covid-19 requires everyone to apply measures of social distancing. Motorized and automated solutions are being developed at high speed as a solution. This article gives an overview of innovations that reinvent human interactions without dehumanizing them. Delivery and logistics robots To decrease the risk of contamination, the…
Challenges for the packaging industry
Under the pressure of environmental concerns, the packaging industry is reorganising. Changing lifestyles and rising raw materials prices have completed this movement. The stakes are high, given that this sector, dominated by food processing, is expected to be worth several hundred billion dollars in the coming years. What challenges will the packaging industry have to…
High-Quality Data — Challenge Accepted
As artificial intelligence achieves greater importance as a competitive advantage and efficiency driver, the race to usable data is heating up. Yet according to Dimensional Research, 8 out of 10 AI projects fail, and 96% of those failures are due to the lack of data quality. Data quality is clearly paramount for a successful AI…
How to cut the cost of manufacturing
Manufacturing to budget can be achieved with a forward-thinking approach, encompassing the design of cost-efficient parts and the selection of a versatile manufacturing partner. By Ronan Ye Whether your business needs five parts or five million, identifying cost-cutting techniques can be easier said than done. After all, cutting costs can seem like a surefire route…
Analytics: Robotics’ untapped vein of business value
“Finding patterns is easy in any kind of data-rich environment; that’s what mediocre gamblers do. The key is in determining whether the patterns represent noise or signal.” -Nate Silver, The Signal and Noise Ratio By Jeff Linnell, CEO, Formant Every day, robots are performing increasingly complex tasks in increasingly complex environments. At the same time,…
LEA walks tall with machine learning, predictive maintenance, and NLP
Robot Care System has designed the LEA smart walker to help people with mobility challenges. It used AWS RoboMaker and the cloud to improve the robotic capabilities of its product.