Low-Cost robot design

Outcome of the Seminar Introduction to Scientific Working

By Thorsten Linder

15. April 2008

Overview of the presentation

The presentation matches:What is the meaning of low-cost robot

design?Why isn't it solved jet?Approaches to get low-cost

The presentation don’t matches:a philosopher's stone of low-costa design discussion

What is the meaning of low-cost robot design

low-cost is not exclusive low prices rising the efficiency/price ratio

is getting low-cost interdisciplinary theme

(e.g.: logics, technologies, …) designs to build beneficial,

effective and optimist products

Example from real life

1968: The NASA needed a pen which is usable in zero gravity

They used the “Fisher Space Pen”

The UDSSR used a pencil

What is the problem of low-cost robot design

many “blind alleys” don’t fit our definition don’t reduces the overall costs don’t solve the tasks …

old topic, but not well explored in robotic engineers tries always to reduce costs

and synchronous rising the functionality but there are no overall standard

procedures Acutely missing: a “golden rule” to create a

“low-cost robot” or “low-cost design”

Approaches to get a low-cost design

Reducing the price Lighter or cheaper

materials Optimized

development process Reduces the need of

special components

Example for optimizations

Reducing the price

Most expensive parts: Sensors Motors Energy supply

Reduce there cost reduce automatically the system cost Bad choices have direct impact on the efficiency Therefore, the choice is nontrivial

Approches for sensors replacing cost full sensor with cheap ones using model-based approximation, estimation and fusion of

multiple sensors/sensor-types E.g. Kalman filtering or Fussy-logic

Lighter or cheaper materials

Lighter or cheaper materials Weight of a robot ↔ actuator-force Force relates to the type of actuators and

there energy supply / efficiency Reduce the weight =

“smaller” motors “lighter” energy supply

These are often cheaper or they reduces the operating costs

E.g.: Using carbon or aluminum instead of steal Using LiPo-accumulators instead of plumb

cells

Optimized development process

Developing a robot needs time, resources and knowledge Interact with customers Analyze the system environment Design the hardware Build the machine Debug and maintain the system

Reduce the need of these resources → reduce the costs Some well-known techniques

Extreme Programming (XP) Rapid development tools Simulation software Construction kits

These techniques allow reducing the development-time and guides to some prototypes / product by time

Reduces the need of special components

Special components are no large-scale products Often high prices Complex handling

Shrinking the usage of these components guides to a low-cost design

Using well known or large-scale products shrinks costs The impact of the quality/efficiency will be reduce over the time

(Moor’s Law) Mass production makes it easy to get components E.g. CCD-cameras or Compensator-microphone

Nowadays it is some thing like a “hip” to use OEM- ware These practices reduce automatically the costs

Conclusion

Not finally solved jet wide open space for more research Not many robotic “low-cost design” papers

All practices have dis-/advantages The subset must not be mutually exclusive, e.g.

reducing the weight can rise the development time Using standard components can shrink the need of develop

recourses Making something “low-cost” needs a deep analysis of

the system needs isolate “hotspots” (of price or inefficient) adjust these hotspots to the ratio of efficiency and price

The End

Thank you for attention.

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