September 2020

n TECHNOLOGY September 2020 www.drivesncontrols.com 20 FESTO HAS UNVEILED a mobile robot that moves by balancing on a ball, and carries a human-like pneumatic “hand” that can identify items and handle them delicately. The BionicMobileAssistant is a prototype of an autonomous helper that could assist humans in assembly and intralogistics operations. Balancing on a ball allows the robot to move freely in any direction. The modular system, developed in collaboration with ETH Zurich, consists of three subsystems: a mobile robot; an electrically-powered robot arm; and the pneumatic gripper – a enhanced version of the BionicSoftHand that Festo first presented in 2019. The BionicSoftHand 2.0 mimics the movements of the human hand realistically, using tightly integrated valves, sensors, electronics and mechanical components. The fingers and opposable thumb are based on flexible bellows with air chambers, surrounded by a knitted fabric. This makes the hand lightweight, adaptive and sensitive, yet capable of exerting strong forces. The fingers are actuated by a compact valve terminal with piezo valves, mounted on the hand. A 3D-printed wrist with two degrees of freedom allows the hand to move both backwards and forwards, as well as left and right. This means that gripping with a tight radius is possible. To increase the stability of the fingers, their air chambers contain structural elements that act as bones. For each finger, a bending sensor with two segments determines the positions of the fingertips. The hand wears a “glove” containing more than 100 tactile force sensors, allowing it to sense the item to be gripped, and to adapt its gripping force accordingly. A depth camera on the inside of the wrist detects objects and allows the hand to grip a variety of objects, even if they are partially covered. Once the hand has been trained, it can use the data it collects to assess the objects and distinguish good from bad, for example. The information is processed by a neural network, which has been trained in advance. The hand is mounted on a lightweight, electric robot arm called the DynaArm. This weighs just 1kg including integrated drive modules, and can carry out fast, dynamic movements. The modular BionicSoftHand 2.0 can be mounted onto other robot arms and is said to be easy to commission. It could, for example, form a completely pneumatic robot system that can work safely with people due to its flexibility and compliance. https://www.festo.com/group/en/cms/13767.htm p Robot users can now extend the working ranges of their systems using made-to-order horizontal linear axes from Schaeffler . The plug-and-play axes are available in various sizes with ballscrew, toothed belt or linear motor drives. They include motors/gearboxes, cables, dragchains, controllers and various comms interfaces. The belt-driven versions are available in lengths up to 18m, running at up to 5m/s, with repeat accuracies of ±0.1mm. www.schaeffler.com p Nidec-Shimpo has announced “the first AGV to use vision-based navigation”. It says that its S-Cart-V AGV can be used where obstacles may appear or disappear suddenly. It is a variant on its S-Cart AGVs which use 2D laser sensors and can operate without magnetic tapes on the floor. But if there are major changes, users sometimes have to place “landmark” objects to help these AGVs to navigate. The new AGV overcomes this by using a stereo camera to detect its surroundings in 3D. It uses a technology developed by Canon, based on wide-angle video images. The first S-Cart-V can carry 100kg and move at up to 60m/min. Other models are planned. www.nidec-shimpo.co.jp/en p Beckhoff has upgraded the firmware in its AX8000 multi-axis servodrives to support oversampling, allowing multiple sampling of process data in one communication cycle, with the data transferred via EtherCat. An oversampling factor of up to 128 allows higher-level controllers to transmit several setpoint positions or speeds to the drive within a cycle, which the drive then follows. Measured variables can be recorded several times in the drive, and the buffered values made available to the controller within a cycle. The oversampling technology – already used in Beckhoff’s EtherCat I/Os – will allow, for example, charts in the TwinCat Scope View software to be resolved even more finely. www.beckhoff.co.uk p Mitsubishi Electric has announced an IGBT (insulated-gate bipolar transistor) module for industrial uses that, it says, will reduce the size and power losses of power converters, including high- capacity motor drives (1.7kV/1.2kA and 1.2kV/1.2kA). The high-current- density LV100-type T-series IGBT is based on a technology already used in railway and electric power applications. The seventh- generation IGBT achieves an “industry-leading” current density of 17.14A/cm 2 . Its internal structure has been optimised to make inverters more reliable. www.mitsubishielectric.com ‘First’ 5G router for private industrial networks avoids limits Festo's BionicMobileAssistant propels itself in any direction by balancing on a ball Ball-balancing mobile robot carries flexible pneumatic ‘hand’ THREE COMPANIES – Phoenix Contact, Quectel and Ericsson – have worked together to develop and deploy the first industrial 5G router for local industrial applications in private 5G networks. It will allowmachines, controls and other equipment to be connected to private 5G networks to manage their behaviour and use of resources. The developers say that previous mobile radio systems using mostly license-free radio bands have had to accept performance losses when the radio spectrum is heavily occupied. The three partners have combined their strengths: Phoenix Contact as a supplier of WLAN, Bluetooth and mobile radio routers for industrial applications; Quectel as a supplier of cellular and GNSS modules; and Ericsson as a network supplier and 5G technology developer. The three have cooperated to enable Industry 4.0 applications with standalone private 5G networks. They say they have developed a system that provides industrial-grade performance over private 5G networks. Extensive interoperability testing has been performed at an Ericsson lab to ensure the reliable commercial performance of the 5G router. www.phoenixcontact.co.uk