Design News for Mechanical and Design Engineers

Tokyo-based, Speecys Corp., has developed a simulation software platform designed to aid in robot development. Demonstrated through a prototype of the SPC-003 robot, the software uses a combination of SolidWorks, 3D CAD and COSMOSMotion, and a mechanical analysis simulator. With the software platform, a design engineer can verify robotic motion before prototyping a robot.

Developing a robot requires a servo controller for human muscle, frame for bone, sensors for eyes and ears, microprocessor and OS (operating system) for a brain, motion control for walking, neuron for communication networking, and other functions.

The newly-developed software and robot called Real Motion System enables engineers to lighten a development load.

"Previously we had marketed a software development tool designed for programming robotic motion, together with an OS-embedded robot. To reduce an engineer's load we offer a simulation software and hardware," says Tomoaki Kasuga, chief executive officer of the company.

The Real Motion System consists of a robotic software development tool for programming control of robotic walking, software for implementing robotic motion, robot prototype, its 3D CAD data and mechanical simulation tool. The OS embedded in the SPC-003 is based on a UNIX-compatible NetBSD, facilitating smooth data communication between SolidWorks and COSMOSMotion.

With the newly-developed platform, engineers can run a motion data on the SolidWorks and COSMOSMotion to obtain motion of a 3D robot. "SolidWorks and COSMOSMotion simulates 3D robot motion, without prototyping a real robot," Kasuga comments. The simulation includes how the robot will balance, where its center of gravity is, and the amount of torque individual portions have.

A motion comparison of a real robot with a CAD design is also available with the system. Previously, if an engineer wanted to change an arm on a robot, he or she had to produce aluminum frames and assemble them to create a real robot. Now, the change can be simulated with COSMOSMotion combined with the three-dimensional design data of SolidWorks, considerably cutting development time.

The SPC-003 is a modified version of the SPC-001, marketed in December 2004. The new robot is thinned by 30 mm, and the center of the gravity has been repositioned. Three joint portions of the hand, arm and hip have also been added to simulate 26 different motions. As a result, the robot can rotate the arm, bend the body forward and backward, and grasp objects in its hand (see video at http://rbi.ims.ca/4917-514, and http://rbi.ims.ca/4917-515). The neck has two joints simulating horizontal and vertical motion and the head contains a 350,000-pixel CMOS camera, LED, microphone and speaker.

A processor unit using PowerPC with a 400 MHz clock is equipped in the rear side, and has many interfaces including servo control, sensor inputs, video inputs, audio inputs and Compact Flash card slot. To achieve multiple servo controls and higher data communications, an RS485 interface chip is implemented with a FPGA designed by Futaba Electronic Industry.

The robot has a single-axis gyro sensor and three-axis gravity sensor to prevent it from falling to the ground. When someone weakly pushes the robot back, the robot tries to return its attitude. When he or she strongly pushes it, the robot starts to walk to keep its attitude in one or two steps (see video at http://rbi.ims.ca/4917-516).

Within the next six months, Speecys Corp. plans to strengthen the link between COS-MOSMotion and the 3D model simulation of robots, according to Kasuga. "A non-expert may design a stable robot that will not fall to the ground through automatic correction of its center of gravity," adds Kasuga.