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

自从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40年。然而，尽管出现了自动化和机器人技术的进步，90%可以自动化的制造任务仍然是手动完成的（BCG； 2015 -机器人革命）。原因很简单：经济和能力。即使在今天，考虑到机器人可以完成的任务，使用体力劳动仍然比拥有、操作和维护一个机器人系统要便宜。这导致了更低的生产率、更低的效率和更低的工资。我们将通过开发Eva来解决这个问题，Eva是一种轻量级、低成本、协作的机器人手臂和创新的“以身作则”编程软件。Eva由高强度塑料制成，由一个易于使用的应用程序控制，比其他小型机械臂轻400%（3.5公斤），价格便宜500%，这使得自动化低价值制造和实验室任务成为可能。我们的“以身作则”软件将使任务，培训和重新部署，简单，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一个能够长期工业使用的预生产原型。这包括提高聚合物骨架和力学的稳健性，设计新的机载电子控制系统，改进软件，开发新的附件，并在批量生产之前通过软工具对原型进行广泛的技术验证。目前所有的机械臂解决方案都是金属的，昂贵的，沉重的，专为精密工业用途而设计的，不需要几个任务。作为一种重量轻、成本低的解决方案，Eva有可能彻底改变机器人行业——使卑微的、劳动密集型的、低成本的任务实现自动化——可能节省16,653英镑的人工成本。

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.