Design & Development

Perception is foundational to enabling advanced capabilities such as navigation, SLAM, and AI in modern robots and autonomous vehicles. Yet when sensors stop working, robots stop working, too. As a result, today’s perception systems and the sensors they rely on are under increased scrutiny for capability and reliability — particularly when fleets scale into the hundreds or thousands of devices. In this talk, we’ll explore how the underlying infrastructure of perception — namely sensor calibration, sensor fusion, and sensor monitoring agents — can be used to increase uptime, unblock performance, and reveal aggregate health trends for large fleets of deployed devices.

In today’s rapidly advancing technological landscape, robots are becoming integral to various industries, from manufacturing to healthcare. However, with great power comes great responsibility—or in this case, a plethora of standards. This session is a lighthearted yet informative presentation that dives into the essential guidelines governing robot design, functionality, and safety. We will explore the quirky and often amusing aspects of these standards, highlighting the challenges and triumphs in creating a unified framework for robotic systems.

Through engaging anecdotes and real-world examples, attendees will learn about the history of robot standards, key regulatory bodies, and the critical role these standards play in ensuring interoperability, reliability, and safety. We will discuss the intricacies of ISO, ASTM, and other regulatory frameworks, examining how they shape the development and deployment of robots across various sectors.

Moreover, we will touch on the future of robot standards, considering the impact of emerging technologies such as AI, machine learning, and humanoids. By the end of this presentation, participants will have a better understanding of the importance of robot standards, an appreciation for the complexities involved, and a smile on their faces from the sometimes humorous journey through the world of Robo-Rules.

Mechatronic assemblies are tasked with ever-higher payloads and faster-operating specifications in more compact and lighter form factors. This presentation will provide technical insights to motor design considerations to improve robotic system thermal dynamics and efficiency. It will offer insights into designing high-performance systems that also conscientiously consider size, weight, and cost factors.

This presentation will address some critical engineering considerations when evaluating the robotic system design and ultimately the performance specs and operating life of their robots:

– Technical formulas behind motor performance

– Primary causes of heat losses seen in motor design and their trade-offs

– How optimized motor design improves heat management in robotic system designs