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Six-axis force-torque sensors has haptic feedback for micro robotics

Thu, May 25, 2023

A miniature, six-axis force-torque sensor unveiled by Bota Systems is the company’s smallest yet. The MiniONE is designed to enhance micro-robotic systems with haptic feedback. It is simple to install between a robot arm and almost any end of arm tooling (EOAT), said the company.

It weighs just 30g and has some dimensions of 30mm and a depth of 22.2mm, making it suitable for medical applications, product testing, as well as precision tasks like micro-assembly and micro-polishing. It is also suitable for use as a fingertip sensor in hands and grippers and in humanoid robots.

The MiniONE sensor provides a low noise signal with high sensitivity, said Bota Systems, together with drift performance and a design that includes temperature sensors and built-in filters, making it easy to program and set up.

Unlike competing products which need adapters or interface boxes, the MiniONE requires no external hardware, making it simpler to use, pointed out Bota Systems. By fully integrating the MiniONE’s electronics in its shielded housing, wiring, weight, complexity and measurement uncertainty are all reduced.

The MiniONE is dust- and water-resistant to IP67 and includes a USB communications interface. To save development time, it is available with Bota Systems’ software packages for ROS (Robot operating system), Matlab, Labview, TwinCAT and Python.

Klajd Lika, CEO and co- founder at Bota Systems, commented: “By giving robots the sense of touch, our sensors enable them to move as naturally and freely as people.”

A robotic force torque sensor measures force and torque when they are applied on its surface. By using the measured signals in real-time feedback control, robots can perform challenging interaction tasks. A six-axis sensor measures forces and torques on three axes each.

Robots are increasingly being used in more unstructured environments and are required to perform more demanding tasks and to collaborate with people, necessitating sensors to make them aware of their surroundings, explained Bota Systems. Force torque sensors enable them to perform previously impossible tasks, such as polishing on complex surfaces, robotic surgery, assembling delicate parts with tight tolerance, or carrying out interactive tasks in open environments.

The MiniONE six-axis force-torque sensor is compatible with a wide range of robot brands, such as Mecademic Robotics, Nachi Robotic Systems, Rokae and Yaskawa, as well as and gripper and hands from Robotiq, Shadow Robot and Schunk.

Bota Systems will be showing the MiniONE at ICRA, the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, from 29 May – 2 June 2023, in London, UK (booth I19).

http://www.botasys.com

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Battery-operated video camera systems add AI for cloud IoT devices

Thu, May 25, 2023

InnoPhase IoT adds AI and solar panel augmentation to battery-operated video camera system via the Talaria TWO ULP (ultra low power) Wi-fi-optimised reference kit for cloud-connected IP video IoT devices.

In addition to applications such as battery-operated video cameras, smart video doorbells, wearables, smart appliances, home security cameras and in-vehicle dashboard monitoring devices, OEMs and ODMs are introducing new categories of video devices with designs that use solar technology and AI, said InnoPhase IoT.

Based on the Talaria TWO ULP Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) platform, the reference kit consists of dual stack, power optimised software combined with an advanced digital polar radio design to address the challenges involved with yesterday’s power-hungry processing of video IoT designs with a multi-protocol, cloud connected camera system, said the company.

The InnoPhase IoT Talaria TWO wireless platform for video supports up to 2K camera resolution and has an integrated microcontroller which enables off-loading of TCP-IP networking and cloud connectivity stack when ISP (image signal processing) is powered down. An always on, always connected enables low latency and mitigates image loss issues and the low power Wi-Fi at BLE power levels enables a two to four times improvement in battery life.

Until now, untethered wireless cloud connectivity and a long battery life were major design barriers for video IoT. Approximately 10 per cent of video cameras are currently battery-operated primarily because of battery life limitations, reported InnoPhase IoT. Moving to a wireless format wasn’t possible since ubiquitous Wi-Fi is inherently power hungry, rapidly draining video camera’s batteries. The possibility of adding even more features such as AI would mean an even shorter battery life.

The new InnoPhase IoT video reference kit address all of these challenges and provides 40 per cent lower power consumption and a battery life in excess of one year. The company also said it offers device developers a variety of market ready solutions from OEMs and ODMs.

“Using InnoPhase IoT Talaria TWO and an Ingenic T31 integrated reference design, we have been able to build an AI-enabled smart video camera with battery life two to three times longer than today’s solutions. We’re also achieving multi-year battery life when augmented with a solar panel”, said Larry Yang, product manager of smart product line at CE-Link, a wireless video camera OEM. The reference design can be customised, enabling customers to quickly bring branded wireless camera systems to market, he added.

According to Jason Lim, CEO at Kenxen, Taiwan, a smart video camera ODM, the Talaria TWO Wi-Fi / BLE module enables low power, direct-to-cloud connectivity for battery operated cameras. “This allows us to offer quick time to market video products for our end customers,” he added.

InnoPhase IoT president and COO, Wiren Perera, said: “InnoPhase IoT’s Talaria TWO untethers cameras from all wired power and network connections, resulting in more accurate data for cloud processing. It supports the addition of enhanced features such as artificial intelligence and unleashes design creativity only possible with the low-power, long battery-life model.”

The reference kits are currently available for evaluation. Each includes hardware and software integration with an image signal processor, cloud connectivity software and access to ODMs.

http://www.innophaseiot.com

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Microchip extends rad-tolerant GbE PHYs with copper and fibre support

Wed, May 24, 2023

Support for both copper and fibre interfaces is provided by the VSC8574RT PHY, the latest addition to Microchip’s radiation-tolerant family of Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) PHYs.

To streamline the implementation of Ethernet for aerospace and defence customers, Microchip Technology has created the VSC8574RT PHY which supports the Serial Gigabit Media Independent Interface (SGMII) and Quad Serial Gigabit Media-Independent Interface (QSGMII) to reduce the overall signal pins in the design and free up the host device.

The VSC8574RT Ethernet PHY builds on Microchip’s commercial off the shelf (COTS) -based devices, allowing customers to begin developing applications using the COTS version and substitute a radiation-tolerant version device for the final mission.

Being compatible with both copper and fibre interfaces makes new application use cases possible, said Microchip. Although copper is primarily used in today’s design, the fibre interface is expected to be specified more as the industry requires data rates exceeding 1Gbit.

The VSC8574RT PHY is equipped with a quad port to support 10, 100 and 1000BASE-T Ethernet connections for optimal speed and reach, depending on the device requirements. The PHY also has advanced features, such as Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) and IEEE 1588v2 Precision Time Protocol (PTP), for network timing and synchronisation in applications requiring highly precise timing.

The VSC8574RT specifications include single event latch-up immunity above 78MeV.cm²/mg and total ionising dose tested up to 100krad. It is applicable for projects from low earth orbit (LEO) to deep space.

“The VSC8574RT PHY with advanced timing features provides our customers with a connectivity solution for deterministic real-time applications,” said Bob Vampola, vice president of Microchip’s aerospace and defence business unit.

Available in limited sampling upon request, it joins Microchip’s VSC8541RT and VSC8540RT COTS-based GbE PHY devices.

Microchip also offers support in the form of the VSC8574-EV evaluation board for the user to evaluate the device in multiple configurations.

http://www.microchip.com

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Imagination says IMG CXM is the smallest GPU to support HDR user interfaces

Wed, May 24, 2023

Seamless visual experiences for cost-sensitive consumer devices are assured with the IMG CXM GPU of RISC-V compatible cores, said Imagination Technologies. The range includes what is claimed to be the smallest GPU to support HDR user interfaces natively.

The IMG CXM cores can lower the cost of DTV and other consumer devices in smart homes, for example, said Imagination. Another driver is content providers seeking to integrate 4K and HDR features to enrich content, continued the company.

There are three new configurations which extend the range of performance options already available in Imagination’s GPU family of products for the consumer space. Imagination has released the CXM-2-64, claimed to be the smallest GPU to support native HDR applications. It is suitable for wearable devices, SmartHubs or mainstream set-top boxes.

The CXM-4-64 is suitable for integrating into SmartHubs, set-top boxes or mainstream DTVs and the CXM-4-128 is a performance dense option for premium DTVs, advised Imagination.

The company has boosted the performance density of the IMG BXE and BXM range of GPUs for the CXM GPUs and added native support for HDR.

The CXM GPUs support 10bits RGBA / YUV to deliver a HDR graphical user interface with images with less visible banding. To smooth the outline of texts and images, they employ 4xMSAA (Microsoft Active Accessibility, an application programming interface (API) for user interface accessibility).

TFBCv2, the new generation of Imagination’s Tiny Frame Buffer Compression, delivers higher quality lossy / lossless compression and an additional compression level (37.5%) for improved design flexibility.

The IMG CXM GPU range boasts nearly a 50 per cent uplift in performance density compared to the IMG BXM range.

The IMG CXM is supported by software that supports APIs, including Vulkan 1.3, and has been optimised for leading CPU architectures including Arm and RISC-V application processors.

Dr. Charlie Su, CTO and president of Andes Technology said: “The RISC-V ecosystem is growing rapidly. To continue its growth and showcase the many possible ways it can be deployed, we partnered with Imagination to provide a quick and easy path to validated GPU and CPU IP blocks that can reduce SoC design time, risk, and cost for our customers. With Imagination’s flexibly designed GPU, and our AndesCore high performance, low power RISC-V CPU, we are able to satisfy the requirements for display-oriented SoC in a short time and generate the optimum configuration.”

James Chapman, chief product officer, Imagination Technologies commented the CXM GPUs will “transform user experiences” and he expects to see the GPUs deployed in a diverse range of applications from wearables to premium 8K DTVs.

Imagination will be demonstrating TFBCv2 at the 2023 RISC-V Con Shanghai and 2023 RISC-V Con Beijing events, hosted by Andes Technology.

https://www.imaginationtech.com/

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Six-axis force-torque sensors has haptic feedback for micro robotics

Battery-operated video camera systems add AI for cloud IoT devices

Microchip extends rad-tolerant GbE PHYs with copper and fibre support

Imagination says IMG CXM is the smallest GPU to support HDR user interfaces

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