Eva – Development of the first low cost, light weight, plug and play tabletop robotic arm

自工业机器人首次开始改变欧洲、日本和美国的装配线以来，已经过去了四十年。然而，尽管自动化的出现和机器人技术的进步，所有可以自动化的制造任务中仍有90%是手动完成的（BCG; 2015 -机器人革命）原因很简单：经济和能力。即使在今天，考虑到机器人可以执行的任务，使用人工劳动仍然比拥有、操作和维护机器人系统便宜。我们将通过开发伊娃来解决这个问题--这是一款重量轻、成本低、可协作的机器人手臂和创新的“通过实例教学”编程软件。伊娃由高强度塑料制成，并由一个易于使用的应用程序控制，它将比其他小型机器人手臂轻400%（3.5公斤），便宜500%，使目前不可能实现的低价值制造和实验室任务自动化成为可能。我们的“通过实例教学”软件将使任务分配、培训和重新部署变得简单，并且在3小时内完成，无需培训。我们已经在实验室中用3D打印手臂证明了这一概念，但是需要大量的设计和开发工作来创建能够延长工业使用的预生产原型。这包括提高聚合物骨架和机械的鲁棒性，设计新的机载电子控制系统，改进软件，开发新的附件，并在大规模生产之前通过软工具对原型进行广泛的技术验证。所有目前的机械臂解决方案都是金属的，昂贵的，沉重的，专为精密工业使用而设计，而不是用于几项任务。作为一种重量轻、成本低的解决方案，伊娃有可能彻底改变机器人行业--实现卑微、劳动密集型、低成本任务的自动化--每次安装可能节省16，653英镑的人力成本。

It has been four decades since industrial robots first began to transform assembly lines inEurope, Japan, and the U.S. Yet despite the advent of automation and advances in robotic,90% of all manufacturing task that could be automated are still done manually (BCG; 2015 -The Robotics Revolution)The reasons for this are simple: economics and capabilities. Even today it is still lessexpensive to use manual labour than it is to own, operate, and maintain a robotics system,given the tasks that robots can perform. This leads to lower productivity, lower efficiency andlower wages.We will address this with the development of Eva - a lightweight, low cost, collaborativerobotic arm and innovative ‘teach-by-example’ programming software. Made of high- strengthplastic and controlled by an easy to use app, Eva will be 400% lighter (3.5kg) than other smallrobotic arms and 500% cheaper, making is possible to automate lower value manufacturingand lab tasks not currently possible. Our ‘teach by example’ software will make tasking,training and redeployment, simple and done in under 3 hours with no training required.We have proved the concept in the lab with a 3D printed arm however significant design anddevelopment work is required to create a pre-production prototype capable of prolongedindustrial use. This includes improving the robustness of the polymer skeleton and mechanics,designing a new onboard electronics control system, improving the software, developing newarm attachments and extensive technical validation of the prototype made through soft-toolingprior to mass-production.All current robotic arm solution are metallic, expensive, and heavy and designed for precisionindustrial use not required for several tasks. As a light weight, low cost solution, Eva has thepotential to revolutionise the robotics industry - enabling the automation of menial, labourintensive, low costs tasks – potentially saving £16,653pa in human labour costs perinstallation.