Teknic partners with RIT on robotic projects

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A. Sue Weisler

Teknic Inc. and Rochester Institute of Technology’s electrical engineering department announced their university-corporate partnership at the end of the fall semester to develop advanced humanoid autonomous robotics technology.

The next generation of humanoid robots may walk the halls at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Teknic Inc. and Rochester Institute of Technology’s electrical engineering department announced their university-corporate partnership at the end of the fall semester to develop advanced humanoid autonomous robotics technology. Engineering staff from Teknic, a Rochester-based manufacturer of motion control components, are working with students and faculty from MABL—the Multi-Agent BioRobotics Laboratory—in RIT’s Kate Gleason College of Engineering on the TigerBot, a humanoid, autonomous robot designed and built by student-engineers in the college.

A multi-year project, the focus of the TigerBot development series is to build a near-human scale robot using advanced sensor and motor technologies, and to demonstrate the technology using the TigerBot as a robotic tour guide during RIT open houses for prospective students. The latter emphasis could show K-12 student-visitors various aspects of engineering through demonstration, said Ferat Sahin, director of the laboratory and faculty adviser to the project teams.

“It has been my long lasting dream that we would have a humanoid giving the tours to our prospective students during open house,” he said. “There is nothing more valuable than showing prospective students what they can do if they join RIT. I believe this multi-year project will make the whole RIT campus proud when it is completed. We are very thankful to our sponsor Teknic.”

Today’s robots are being built with increasing dexterity and the ability to adapt to situations beyond programmed, industrial applications. These advances are being addressed through projects such as TigerBot.

RIT’s TigerBot mimics some human movements with synchronized arms and legs and range-of-motion at its shoulders and hips. Wireless technology and sensors help it move and turn, avoid obstacles and recover from a forward or backward fall. It also has improved mechanical and electrical systems including inverse kinematics—the algorithm needed to move and orient the robot with the proper angles of its joints.

Since 2012, senior student-engineers have designed four humanoid robots, all just under 3-feet-tall as a means to understand robotic technology design and to test ideas for a successful humanoid implementation. The group, consisting of students from the engineering college’s electrical and microelectronic engineering departments, is looking to build a human-scale robot leveraging the new working relationship with Teknic.

“Integration of Teknic’s all-in-one brushless servo system, called ClearPath, will be used to provide locomotion of all primary joints of the latest humanoid TigerBot,” said Abe Amirana, Teknic’s director. ClearPath motors provide closed-loop positioning performance, are more compact in size, reduce overall cabling and wiring and improve overall electrical efficiency.

“There’s a significant amount of design work these students have to accomplish in a short semester, and Teknic is pleased to provide industrial, original-equipment-manufacturer components to help them meet their goals and objectives. Because ClearPath integrates a digital drive, high resolution optical encoder and motion controller all within a brushless servo motor, engineers and machine designers are relieved of this engineering effort and can subsequently focus on other critical aspects of the project.”

About Teknic Inc: Headquartered in Rochester, NY, Teknic, Inc. is a high-tech manufacturer of motion control components for OEM machine builders. These components include digital, DSP-based servo drives and controllers, brushless servo motors and their new line of ClearPath motors which integrate all subcomponents within a brushless servo motor package. All engineering and manufacturing assembly is performed in the Greater Rochester area, making Teknic one of the few companies to still produce brushless motors within the U.S.

Related Story: The TigerBot was featured in the September 2012 edition of Servo Magazine