In this TechXchange with Machine Design, Gokul NA, co-founder of CynLr, demonstrates the vision-guided robotic system his company has developed with a view to its long-term goal of achieving universal assembly lines.
Based in Bangalore, India, CynLr is five-year-old startup that focuses on simplifying automation and optimizing manufacturing processes through its visual robot platform.
Framing the Problem
NA explained that traditional manufacturing setups are limited by their tailored to specific product lines. CynLr hopes to address this global challenge through product-agnostic robotic assembly lines, starting with a focus part-mating and assembly automation.
CynLr's visual object intelligence enables a robotic assembly that can easily repurposed to produce different outputs, and at little additional capital cost. Instead of trying to improve the vision system’s recognition algorithm, the intention was to figure out, using only a basic level of recognition, how a robot arm could be manipulated to improve its ability to recognize objects.
NA likened the adaptive movement CynLr’s engineers achieved to the human torso. “We are leveraging the technology that's already available,” he said. “Robotic arms have been there for 40 years. They’ve made it precise and reliable to work for five years inside a factory, in all those harsh environments. And what we are trying to do is to use all those capabilities to bring in the basic capability that a human upper torso has so that you can do any kind of flexible tasks.
Robot Arm Form Factors
-
Called CyRo, the semi-humanoid robot form factor is comprised of a camera on top of a robotic arm (which simulates a human trunk), in addition to two other arms that are independent from the trunk and can move freely.
-
“You have 18 degrees of freedom, and including the camera, you have 21 degrees of freedom,” said NA. “And with that you will be able to do any rigid object manipulation on top of a tabletop. And when the same system is mounted onto an AMR (autonomous mobile robot), which provides a mobile alternative to a human form factor.”
Standardize Production: Produce Different Parts on the Same Assembly Line
-
NA said that the CynLr’s biggest goal is to usher in “universal factories,” whereby one assembly line or a factory line could produce more than one part on the same line. “Just because you have built your IC engine, it should not cost you the same amount to repurpose the factory line for EV parts; you should be able to use the same line for both,” he said.
Watch additional parts of this interview series with Gokul NA:
