SBIR Phase I: Development of an Overhead-Rail Cobot for Intelligent Material Handling

这个由协同运动控制公司提交的小企业创新研究第一阶段项目将产生一个创新的智能物料处理系统原型。原型车将包括一个传统的高架轨道系统，其中添加了一个cobot（协作机器人）组件。协作机器人不会增强人类的力量或取代人类操作员，而是提供虚拟的“引导”表面，帮助人类操作员操纵有效载荷。团队中的人类部分提供所有动力，而协作机器人则与计算机连接。协作机器人的物理被动设计赋予了一定程度的内在安全性。协作机器人提供的操作便利性意味着更少的伤害和降低工人的赔偿成本，这是物料搬运行业非常关注的问题。除了人体工程学，协作机器人有利于生产力（速度）和质量（避免碰撞）。研究目标包括设计足够鲁棒的无级变速（CVT）关节，这是协作机器人的核心机械元件。将开发用于光滑虚拟约束曲面规范的立管接口。为实验室环境开发的控制软件将指向工业微控制器。商业应用包括汽车装配、纺织厂和其他工业，在这些工业中人类工人是必不可少的，但需要机械辅助装置。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project submitted by Collaborative Motion Control, Inc. will result in an innovative prototype intelligent materials handling system. The prototype will incorporate a conventional overhead rail system, to which a cobot (`collaborative robot`) component has been added. Cobots do not enhance human strength or replace a human operator, but rather provide virtual `guiding` surfaces to help a human operator maneuver a payload. The human part of the team supplies all motive power, while the cobot interfaces to a computer. The cobot's physically passive design confers a degree of intrinsic safety. The ease of manipulations that cobots provide translates into fewer injuries and reduced worker's compensation costs, issues of tremendous concern in the material handling industry. In addition to ergonomics, cobots benefit productivity (speed) and quality (avoiding collisions). Research objectives include design of a sufficiently robust continuously variable transmission (CVT) joint, which is the core mechanical element of a cobot. A riser interface for the specification of smooth virtual constraint surfaces will be developed. Control software that was developed for a laboratory environment will be pointed to an industrial microcontroller. Commercial applications include automobile assembly, textile mills, and other industries in which human workers are essential, yet mechanical assist devices are needed.