Search results

This paper recommends an improved design methodology for the slave half of teleoperator systems based on the notion of master‐slave symmetry. Traditional slaves consist of a conventional robot retrofitted with force‐torque sensors. The new methodology eliminates dependence on destabilizing force‐torque‐sensor schemes by augmenting existing master design methods with newly invented cable mechanisms. Design goals such as bandwidth, backdrivability, and force fidelity have been applied successfully to optimize design of the trajectory‐and‐force‐controllable Whole‐Arm Manipulation (WAM) robot. Although not yet used as the slave of a teleoperator system, the results from performance tests of the experimental WAM manipulator are promising. Finally, the authors suggest a new concept ‐ Whole‐Arm Haptics ‐ that is only possible with whole‐arm manipulation, where the user steers the kinematic redundancy directly. Whole‐Arm Haptics allow teleoperators to manipulate objects larger than the slave itself.

This paper details the design and operation of the BarrettHand BH8‐250, an intelligent, highly flexible eight‐axis gripper that reconfigures itself in real time to conform securely to a wide variety of part shapes without tool‐change interruptions. The grasper brings enormous value to factory automation because it: reduces the required number and size of robotic workcells (which average US$90,000 each – not including the high cost of footprint) while boosting factory thoughput; consolidates the hodgepodge proliferation of customized gripper‐jaw shapes onto a common programmable platform; and enables incremental process improvement and accommodates frequent new‐product introductions, capabilities deployed instantly via software across international networks of factories.

The following article is a special, new “Q&A interview” conducted by Industrial Robot Journal as a unique way to pass along information from a prominent, robotic industry engineer-turned entrepreneur regarding the evolution, commercialization, and challenges of bringing a technological invention to market. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This first interview was with Dr William Townsend, the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Barrett Technology. Before founding Barrett, he created the world's first haptic manipulator, dubbed Whole-Arm Manipulator (WAM™) and designed to be user-centric, during his PhD 1988 completed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. He completed his PhD minor at Harvard Business School and Sloan School of Management on Managing Technical Innovation. He has won more than a dozen awards, including the Joseph F. Engelberger Award, for his technical leadership in robotics and has authored many papers and patents on the foundational technologies of robotics.

Initially perceived in 1985 as controversial, PhD candidate William Townsend convinces the MIT thesis committee that his groundbreaking concept of a safer robot with backdrivable cables would lead to new markets of human/robot interaction. Three patents resulted from this PhD effort, as well as the start-up company, Barrett Technology, to develop and sell the company's flagship robot product, the WAM. One of the first uses of this cable-driven arm technology was effectively deployed in surgical robots. Other innovations were developed over several decades and to date Barrett Technology has cumulative sales of about $40 million with an accelerating pace and net profitability.

In a unique situation at the time, a robot PhD inventor turns his originations into a profitable business that catapults new applications and markets in the robotic industry. The details, challenges, and successes of his 25-year experiences are highlighted as a valuable contribution for other engineers contemplating a robot start-up.

To describe the design methodology and human‐centre functionality of the whole arm manipulator (WAM) developed originally at MIT and brought to commercial fruition by Barrett Technology.

The WAM arm is driven by cable‐and‐cylinder transmissions, which uniquely exhibits zero backlash with low friction and low inertia, endowing the WAM with good open‐loop “backdrivability”. Two key benefits of the high backdrivability are: motion control through joint torque control, which enables the intrinsic sensing of forces over the whole arm and makes it inherently safe to humans; operation directly in the Cartesian domain without the need for inverse kinematics calculations, providing very rapid responsiveness as demonstrated in the “baseball robot” of Tokyo University. Another benefit of the WAM is its kinematic redundancy through the 4‐dof (degrees‐of‐freedom) main axes (7‐dof with the wrist). Recent major advances in the WAM include the “puck”, the world's smallest fully‐featured servo‐controller that eliminates the need for an external controller cabinet, and a safety circuit that limits, by a set amount, the power flow from the WAM to a person or object while not inhibiting the reverse from human to arm. The WAM's intrinsic force control has allowed the development of software‐defined haptic walls, which are being exploited by partners such as the CMU (Carnegie Mellon University) Robotics Institute, in patient rehabilitation, and Mako Surgical, for use in joint surgery.

The Barrett WAM's good open‐loop backdrivability has initiated the development of novel human‐centred robot applications that will expand the use of robots outside the factory and into human‐inhabited areas.

Presents the design methodology, features and applications of the Barrett WAM human‐centred robot.

Describes the development and application of the haptic whole arm manipulator (WAM) robotic arm in surgical operations. Discusses the fusion of 2D and 3D body images with the robot which allows the precise positioning of laparoscopic and other surgical tools to assist human surgeons. Benefits attributed to this system include minimally invasive surgery, reduced collateral damage, reduced infection risks and reduced requirements for revision surgery.

This paper examines the corporate policies on workplace relationships in the insurance industry. It consists of identifying whether the 48 insurance companies found in the Fortune 500 have any policies that restrict employees from dating each other within their organization and if so, what were these restrictions. In addition, 235 employees in the insurance field were surveyed to determine their perceptions of the positive and/or negative effects of romantic relationships had in their workplace environment. These results were examined from a Platonic perspective with a recommendation for a code of ethics developed from policies existing in other insurance companies and suggested by the current literature.

Top officials of the Inner London Education Authority will be going into the field next term to explain to headmasters, division by division, just what the authority means by its notorious Sixth Form Plan — the plan about which the teachers' associations have said that it causes ‘very grave disquiet’ and that ‘the systematic imposition of the proposals could be in some cases educationally disastrous’.