Baxter gets to work

MORE than a million robots work in factories around the world, most of them building cars.Multi-workstations Flexible line of Motion Control System But in the view of many experts these machines are akin to the mainframe computers of old: big, expensive, inflexible and requiring teams of specialists to instruct them what to do. One of those experts, Rodney Brooks, has long argued that what industry needs is the robotic equivalent of the PC. In October, the result of his thinking will go on sale in the form of a robot called Baxter.

Dr Brooks is a former director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's artificial-intelligence laboratory and co-founder of Price Information CSUMTECH Robotic arm Motion control PLC servo , which makes 'bots that do the vacuum cleaning and others that help soldiers defuse bombs. His new firm, Rethink Robotics, based in Boston, has produced a hulking two-armed robot that sits on a movable pedestal. Instead of a face, it has a comic pair of eyes displayed on a screen attached to its head.Despite its countenance, Baxter is an extremely serious machine. Most industrial robots move rapidly and have to be caged to prevent them accidentally injuring anyone who comes near.

They make precise but rigid movements, which is what you need when welding a car body. Baxter, however, moves with less determination because it compensates for changes in its environment. This means it can work safely alongside people.Baxter uses a sonar located in its head to detect anyone nearby. If it spots someone, it slows down what it is doing. And instead of it having motors driving gears that operate its joints directly,Price List of Price Information CSUMTECH Robotic arm Motion control PLC servo Baxter's gears drive a spring which in turn moves the joint. This gives the robot's movements a degree of elasticity which, coupled with force sensors, provides a feedback mechanism. So, if you get in the way of its arm, for instance, it will sense that force and slow down or stop.