Posted to News on 10th May 2007, 13:01
Robot works alongside humans without physical guarding
Neuronics unveiled its small-scale robot, Katana, to an international audience at the Hanover Fair (16-20 April 2007). It was greeted with overwhelming interest, particularly from companies seeking simple yet intelligent and flexible automation for their working processes. Katana is said to open up new dimensions in automation, as it adapts to human ways of working and can be directly integrated into processes without complication and without the need for any physical safeguarding.
Several hundred visitors sought out information about this flexible robotic arm at the Neuronics stand. The intense interest confirms the potential of this intelligent, small-scale robot that closely replicates human physical behaviour. Managing Director Dr Hansruedi Früh, who led the development team, comments: "Visitors to the trade fair were fascinated by just how much intelligence is integrated into this versatile robotic arm and how simple and safe it is to operate."
Katana impressed visitors to the trade fair as part of the Robotics Academy, at which Volkswagen Coaching presented selected state-of-the-art robots: a hand-like robotic arm on a normal table, no guarding and no heavy platform. In this way Katana is said to embody a new philosophy in robotics technology: it adapts to human behaviour and works as a partner capable of learning 'on the job'. In direct interaction with visitors, the uncomplicated learning capacity of this compact robotic arm was demonstrated thanks to its on-board intelligence, variable power and highly developed sensors. The difference between this and traditional industrial robots is striking: Katana's robotic peers were cordoned off from the visitors behind safety barriers.
Wider scope for automation
From small businesses to international large-scale corporations, hundreds of customers worldwide are already enjoying the benefits of Katana technology in their everyday operations. Katana opens up new dimensions in industrial automation. Historically, the potential for automation has been limited for reasons of safety or batch size consideration. Traditional robotics and automation are in many cases inappropriate because they are too big, too expensive, too dangerous or because they are not sufficiently flexible to be used for different types of product. Katana now makes contemporary and cost-effective partial or full automation a real possibility. Thanks to its user-friendliness, safety and flexibility, the intelligent robot can be quickly integrated into the production process. In no time at all it is contributing to improving the quality of products, speeding up production and significantly reducing costs.
The Katana robotic arm is the leading product of Neuronics AG. Weighing just 4kg, the arm is fitted with sensors and independently recognises objects. Katana works and learns like a person – with the benefit of being faster and more reliable. The robot learns and corrects itself autonomously thanks to its neural network and achieves a high degree of precision without requiring extensive programming. All that is necessary to train a new action is to guide the arm through the required sequence of movements. Katana then memorises the sequence and is able to execute it independently, thus serving as a flexible assistant for industrial production, assembly and quality control, which has already been implemented in a variety of locations and tasks worldwide.
Application examples
One example of the wide range of possible applications is laser engraving of plastic housings, which has been successfully automated using Katana. As the print image had to be varied, manual processes were no longer practical. However, Katana was integrated with the existing laser engraving system and now provides relatively low-cost automation.
Elsewhere, Katana has made it possible to set up a fully automated station to set nominal pressures and test safety valves. Four different types of valve pass through the station in batch sizes from a few hundred to a few thousand items. Also in this example, Katana's flexibility allowed seamless integration with the existing, proven adjustment procedures and augmentation of the testing operation to accommodate increasing product throughput as well as part- and full automation.
About Neuronics
Headquartered in Zurich, Neuronics AG is the world's leading supplier of intelligent automation solutions that can operate directly with humans. Around 25 specialists from Zurich's higher education establishments and an international centre of robotics excellence, provide the expertise behind these most innovative products. Neuronics employs state-of-the-art, cutting-edge technologies and developments from research into artificial intelligence and robotics technology. The company sets standards in the development and production of lightweight, versatile and flexible robots, which can be used in industry, service robotics, research and teaching. In view of the flexibility and the excellent price/performance ratio, Neuronics' products will not only change industrial production in large corporations, but will open up the door for small to medium-sized enterprises to embrace robot-assisted production, assembly and quality testing.
