The PocketDelta Robot is a microrobot based on a

parallel structure In grammar, parallelism, also known as parallel structure or parallel construction, is a balance within one or more sentences of similar phrases or clauses that have the same grammatical structure. The application of parallelism affects readability ...

called "

Delta robot A delta robot is a type of parallel robot that consists of three arms connected to universal joints at the base. The key design feature is the use of parallelograms in the arms, which maintains the orientation of the end effector. In contrast, ...

". It has been designed to perform micro-assembly tasks where high-speed and high-precision are needed in a reduced working space. The robot's size is 120×120×200 mm offering a workspace diameter up to 150mm × 30mm.PocketDelta Robot - Asyril SA, http://www.asyril.ch/en/products/delta-robots.html.

Design

Prerequisites to high-speed and high-precision are a light, but stiff mechanical structure. Thus stiff and lightweight materials build up the moving part of the robot, whereas the heavy motors are attached to the supporting frame. The motors are attached directly to the

robot arm A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may ...

(

direct drive A direct-drive mechanism is a mechanism design where the force or torque from a prime mover is transmitted directly to the effector device (such as the drive wheels of a vehicle) without involving any intermediate couplings such as a gear train or ...

), eliminating backlash, friction and elasticity. A high-level of integration reduces the size of the whole system. The mechanics, motion drives, control electronics and computing are all integrated into one compact unit. This innovative configuration simplifies its use and increases the flexibility of the robot. The controller is based on PC architecture with interface boards for communication with the robot

hardware Hardware may refer to: Technology Computing and electronics * Electronic hardware, interconnected electronic components which perform analog or logic operations ** Digital electronics, electronics that operate on digital signals *** Computer hard ...

. The

realtime ''RealTime'', also known as ''RealTime Arts'', was a free Australian arts magazine, published by Open City in print from 1994 until 2015 and online from 1996 to December 2017. History The free national arts magazine ''RealTime'', also known as ...

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. ...

enables the generation of

trajectories A trajectory or flight path is the path that an object with mass in motion follows through space as a function of time. In classical mechanics, a trajectory is defined by Hamiltonian mechanics via canonical coordinates; hence, a complete traj ...

in the

Cartesian space A Cartesian coordinate system (, ) in a plane is a coordinate system that specifies each point uniquely by a pair of numerical coordinates, which are the signed distances to the point from two fixed perpendicular oriented lines, measured i ...

using a direct and

inverse kinematics In computer animation and robotics, inverse kinematics is the mathematical process of calculating the variable joint parameters needed to place the end of a kinematic chain, such as a robot manipulator or animation character's skeleton, in a gi ...

model of the robot. The robot integrates a web server which enables an easy communication through an

Ethernet Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in ...

network using

HTTP The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application layer protocol in the Internet protocol suite model for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web, ...

TCP TCP may refer to: Science and technology * Transformer coupled plasma * Tool Center Point, see Robot end effector Computing * Transmission Control Protocol, a fundamental Internet standard * Telephony control protocol, a Bluetooth communication s ...

or UDP protocol.

History

* 2004: The first prototype is developed at th
microRobotics Lab
of th
Bern University of Applied Sciences in Biel (CH)
as a part of a new project on "

Microfactory A microfactory either refers to a capital-light facility used for the local assembly of a complex product or system or a small (normally automated) factory for producing small quantities of products. The term was proposed by the Mechanical Engineer ...

"'s topic launched by th
CSEM SA (CH)
in collaboration with the EPFL (CH) * 2005
CSEM SA
develops a new version of the robot and introduces it as th

* March 2007

win th
Swiss Technology Award
and are nominated for th
Hermes Award
* 2007: The compan
Asyril SA
was founded as a spin-off company from CSEM. The company developed the current version of the PocketDelta robot together with its sister compan
CPAutomation SA
and has been commercializing the robot as a tool for highly precise micro-mechanical manipulation as well as flexible part feeding systems.

Applications

Typical application's domains for the PocketDelta robot are the following: * Watch and precision mechanics * Assembly of medical devices *

Surface mount technology Surface-mount technology (SMT), originally called planar mounting, is a method in which the electrical components are mounted directly onto the surface of a printed circuit board (PCB). An electrical component mounted in this manner is referred ...

, semiconductor and electronic parts assembly *

MEMS Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), also written as micro-electro-mechanical systems (or microelectronic and microelectromechanical systems) and the related micromechatronics and microsystems constitute the technology of microscopic devices, ...

and MOEMS *

System in package A system in a package (SiP) or system-in-package is a number of integrated circuits enclosed in one or more chip carrier packages that may be stacked using package on package. The SiP performs all or most of the functions of an electronic syste ...

(SIP) *

Biochip In molecular biology, biochips are engineered substrates ("miniaturized laboratories") that can host large numbers of simultaneous biochemical reactions. One of the goals of biochip technology is to efficiently screen large numbers of biological ...

References

External links

Companies and universities
Asyril SA (CH)

CPAutomation SA (CH)

CSEM SA (CH)

Bern University of Applied Sciences (CH)

EPFL (CH)
Videos
PocketDelta robots integrated in a "Microfactory"

PocketDelta robot playing at "Solitaire game"
Publications and articles * http://mechse.uiuc.edu/portals/courses/ME598/dk/IWMF2006/data/PDF/P3-5.pdf * http://www.ch-innovation.ch/smartobjectDatei/ACF166B.pdf __notoc__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Pocketdelta Robot Micro robots Robots of Switzerland 2004 robots Delta robots