INDUSTRY News


Melexis gives robots a sense of touch


Melexis has made a major innovation to improve robots’ ability to interact with fragile or diverse objects. The company has unveiled Tactaxis, a fully integrated tactile sensor that is compact, soft and provides the 3D force vector acting on its surface. This improves robots’ hands and grippers, making delicate operations such as fruit picking possible.


“Robots need the sense of touch to manipulate fragile objects. For such applications, we have developed a novel magnetic sensor to accurately measure the contact force, while being robust against disturbances,” said Gael Close, Global Innovation Manager at Melexis. The sensor is accompanied by a magnet which is embedded into an elastomer material. This presents a soft contact interface, emulating the attributes of human skin. The arrangement offers a high sensitivity so that detection of even small amounts of force will generate a response. The achieved force resolution is 2.7mN which is enough to distinguish weight change of ~ 0.3 grams. The Tactaxis prototype is highly compact (5 x 5 x 5 mm) and therefore suitable for tight spaces.


The gradiometric approach makes the sensor immune to magnetic stray fields. This prevents potential measurement errors. It is also robust enough to cope with harsh conditions (temperature variations, etc.). Unlike competing optically-based tactile sensors, Tactaxis is completely integrated.


ABB COLUMN


WHY IT PAYS TO FALL IN LOVE WITH ROBOTS


February is traditionally the month for love, but leaving aside the hearts and flowers, could your company fall in love with robots? Growing numbers of UK companies are.


According to a survey by the International Federation of Robotics, the density of robots in the UK – defined as the number of installed robots per 10,000 manufacturing workers – rose from 71


in 2015 to 101 in 2020. This is encouraging and represents a growth rate of 77% over those five years. Yet, when we compare this to other leading nations, the picture is far from rosy. Leading European nations such as Germany and Sweden are much more passionate about robots, with figures of 371 and 289 respectively. So, what would get British companies to take robots to heart? The government is offering sweeteners to bring UK manufacturers


and robotic automation together. These include increasing the Annual Investment Allowance limit to £1m for qualifying investments up to 31st March 2023, a 130% super deduction offsetting tax against investments in a new plant, and R&D tax credits. Some companies are ahead of the game and are using robots to vastly improve productivity. Castings PLC produces iron components for vehicle chassis and engines. The company wanted to improve the efficiency of its workforce, who were using manual methods that wasted a lot of potential production time. A robot cell using an ABB robot, imaging system and conveyer showed it could boost productivity, allowing one person to operate four machines instead of the previous two.


Even some of the oldest industries can benefit from new techniques.


Wade Ceramics makes ceramic drinks flagons. New flagons placed too closely together sometimes became fused during firing and needed scrapping. Now, two ABB IRB1600 robots use a vision system that locates each flagon to ensure they remain separate. ABB robots are also helping DB Shoes produce a wide range of models – with a large number of template programs, the robots can easily switch between shoe types, as production dictates. Examples like these show that it pays to fall in love with robots,


so make this February the month you begin a great relationship with them.


Nigel Platt LBL Manager, UK and Ireland, ABB Robotics


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automationmagazine.co.uk


Automation | March 2022


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