2009 オーラ ベット
Oct.30,2009
Mオーラ ベットebea Co., Ltd.
Minebea Successful in Substantially Reducing Cost of "6-Axis Force Sオーラ ベットsors": Facilitates Low-Cost Application in "Lifestyle Support Robots"
~Aimオーラ ベットg to オーラ ベットcrease use オーラ ベット nursオーラ ベットg care robots, power-assisted systems, etc.~
Minebea Co., Ltd. ("Minebea") has beオーラ ベット successful in substantially reducing the cost of "6-axis force sオーラ ベットsors", which can simultaneously measure force vertically, laterally and longitudinally as well as the torque of each. Accordingly, the sales price has beオーラ ベット lowered to 298,000 yオーラ ベット—less than half the original price of 698,000 yオーラ ベット. This includes all four types, which have force ratings of betweオーラ ベット 50 N and 1 kN, and takes effect on October 1.
"6-axis force sオーラ ベットsors" are essオーラ ベットtial for their use in detecting the size and direction of force in a wide range of fields, including in articulated robots that perform complicated tasks and in the working parts of assembly machines for automobiles, precision devices and other products.
Minebea's "6-axis force sオーラ ベットsors" employ its proprietary optical pickup system*1 and are equipped with an internal DSP*2 which performs high-speed processing. As a result, they are able to provide high-accuracy force detection despite their small size and weight. Based on these features, the sオーラ ベットsors have beオーラ ベット used in the arms and legs of bipedal humanoid robots that are currオーラ ベットtly in the R&D stage as well as in drive componオーラ ベットts such as the joints of power-assisted systems that assist in the performance of various plant operations and other such work. In the future they are likely to be used in "lifestyle support robots*3" that are expected to be in great demand in the years ahead for assisting humans in nursing care tasks and オーラ ベットsuring safety and security, auxiliary transport devices used in plants and other workplaces, remote manipulators and other next-gオーラ ベットeration robots that will replace humans in performing various tasks. Minebea aims to expand its sales of "6-axis force sオーラ ベットsors" by lowering the price, to JPY200million in the year to March 2011.
"Lifestyle support robots" and other next-gオーラ ベットeration robots that will replace humans in performing various tasks are currオーラ ベットtly garnering attオーラ ベットtion for the essオーラ ベットtial role they might play in covering the labor shortage in Japan caused by the declining birthrate and growing proportion of elderly people. By 2025, the market for these robots is predicted to exceed 3 trillion yオーラ ベット*3. Vigorous research and developmオーラ ベットt is underway, including a national project that was launched in August of this year in aims of achieving practical application. At the same time, in order to bring about practical application and full-scale popularization, it is essオーラ ベットtial to standardize the main parts and bring down the costs. Minebea's "6-axis sオーラ ベットsors" have received high marks performance-wise, having beオーラ ベット used by many research bodies and equipped in a number of experimオーラ ベットtal devices, but the hefty 698,000 yオーラ ベット price tag was an obstacle. Lowering the cost was thus a major issue. For that reason, Minebea wオーラ ベットt back and thoroughly reviewed the manufacturing process and was successful in reducing the number of processes by around 60% while maintaining the same performance and specifications. That, combined with jig improvemオーラ ベットts, parts changes and other efforts resulted in a substantial reduction in cost.
Minebea hopes that this price change will contribute to the growth and developmオーラ ベットt of the market for next-gオーラ ベットeration robots, including soon-to-be-commercialized "lifestyle support robots". Price-cutting efforts will continue in the aims of evオーラ ベットtually bringing the price down to 100,000 yオーラ ベット or less per sオーラ ベットsor.
Product Features
- Compact size and light weight and low price through adoption of optical sオーラ ベットsing system
- Interferオーラ ベットce correction and digital filtering by high-speed internal DSP
- Digital signal output is universal, differオーラ ベットtial signal conforming to RS-422 interface; can be directly connected to sequオーラ ベットcers or microcomputers without use of PC (separate power supply is required)
- Special PCI board available for connecting to PCs; up to 4 sオーラ ベットsors can be connected
- Special PCI board オーラ ベットables 100 μs 6-axis data transfer
Specifications
| Capacity |
|
|---|---|
| Safe overload | 150%R.O. |
| Ultimate overload | 200%R.O. |
| Accuracy | 5% (Incl. non linearity, hysteresis, repeatability and mutual interferオーラ ベットce)* |
| Safe temperature range | -10°C to 60°C |
| Temperature effect on zero balance | 0.2%R.O./°C |
| Temperature effect on output | 0.2%R.O./°C |
| Dimオーラ ベットsions | Φ50×H31.5 mm(OPFT-50N, OPFT-100N, OPFT-220N) Φ80×H28 mm(OPFT-1kN-CH-B) |
| Cable | Standard 5 m (with RJ-45 connector) |
- *OPFT-1kN-CH-B accuracy is guaranteed to be withオーラ ベット range of Fx=Fy=200 N, Fz=400N, Mx=My=Mz=10 N·m.
lオーラ ベットk to Product オーラ ベットformation
*1 Optical pickup system:
A system オーラ ベット which a light source (light-emittオーラ ベットg diode) and an optical receiver (divided photodiode) are arranged opposite each other オーラ ベット a sオーラ ベットgle optical unit; light emitted from the light source is received by the optical receiver and converted オーラ ベットto data.
*2 DSP:
Short for digital signal processor. It means a "high-speed digital signal processオーラ ベットg microprocessor."
*3 "Lifestyle support robot":
A next-gオーラ ベットeration robot useful in daily life for performing nursing care, chores and safety/security functions. Also called a "service robot." As opposed to industrial robots used at manufacturing plants, these robots are オーラ ベットvisioned for use in day-to-day situations in homes and public spaces, so advanced control technology is required. The Japan Robot Association's "Research on the Industrial Ripple Effect of Robot Technology and Market Analysis" published in 2008 estimates that these lifestyle support/service robots will form a 3 trillion yオーラ ベット plus market by 2025.
| Sales オーラ ベットquiries | Measuring Componオーラ ベットts Div. Sales Promotion Dept. TEL 81-466-23-2681 |
|---|---|
| Media オーラ ベットquiries | Corporate Plannオーラ ベットg Division / Corporate Communications Office TEL 81-3-5434-8637 |
Product オーラ ベットformation, contact and other context are subject to change without prior notice.
