Adept Quattro - world's fastest packaging robot.

Watch out Flexpicker, there’s a new quick draw robot in town. According to the latest press release from Adept Technology(NASDAQ: ADEP) their new Quattro s650 is the fastest packing robot ever built. Working at over 300 cycles per minute, this new bot sorts, stacks, and places product like a mad man. Check out the video from BotJunkie after the break.

The secret to Quattro’s success is its four arms, one more than Flexpicker, which allow it to move precisely under higher accelerations. It also has a higher load capacity (>2kg) and slightly better range of motion in all three dimensions. Hopefully we won’t see a race to increase arms on industrial robots they way we’ve seen blades added to razors (though the use of “quattro” implies a “cinque”). Still, there’s no doubt that Adept’s pursuit of increasing speed and accuracy isn’t going to stop and is likely to push its competitors towards the same end. Quattro is the fastest, but for how long?

I don’t know if it’s as cost efficient as other industrial robots, but Quattro sure looks impressive. Watch the way it sorts irregular shaped chocolates into a box at 1:05, or the pure speed it displays at 1:32 – this isn’t sped up, it’s in real time! As a competitive nod to Flexpicker, Quattro even takes on pancakes at 1:28.

If moving food around on conveyor belts doesn’t do it for you, the following video shows off Quattro’s metallic balls. With customary agility, the robot precisely moves steel spheres on a tray as it moves. Not a useful skill perhaps, but it’s a great demonstration. Make sure you watch around 1:06 to hear Quattro’s whip-like speed. And is it just me, or does the segment around 3:00 remind you of a certain android’s knife trick?

The automated workforce is no longer a science fiction dream, it’s a manufacturing reality. While bots like Flexpicker and Quattro can vie for the “fastest packaging machine in the world” award, the important thing is that they’ve already surpassed human agility and precision. I’m sure there are many such jobs that these bots can’t perform yet (chick sexing, musical instrument construction, etc)but just give them time. In the meantime, hats off to Adept for upping the ante in industrial robots. Quattro has the title for now, I can’t wait to see what the next challenger can do.

[photo and video credit: Adept Technologies, BotJunkie]

This was a triumph...

Over the last few months, there has been very little showing on industrial robots here at Singularity Hub. That is truly a terrible circumstance, as some of the best and most innovative robots are being put to task in the industrial setting. Well, consider this the start of that wrong righted and take a look at ABB Robotics’ FlexPicker. As the name suggests, this nimble bot can grab anything that is put in its path (via conveyer belt) and gently place it in its proper space. Now, this might not seem all that revolutionary: even tiny kids can play the Milton-Bradley game Perfection. Why not just stick them on the assembly line and forego the cost of the robot? But the FlexPicker is oh so much more than that.

This thing is even faster than that kid with ADHD who just can’t sit still. For payloads of less than 100 grams, like small plastic pieces or pills, the FlexPicker takes just three tenths of a second to perform its task. That means that that by the time you can take the fastest Porsche 911 from zero to sixty miles per hour (about 4 seconds), the FlexPicker can pick up and move 13 objects and be well on the way to number 14. Don’t believe it? Take a look at the video from BotJunkie:

If lightweight objects aren’t on the conveyer belt, slower models are capable of lifting up to 3 kilograms at a sluggish seven tenths of a second per cycle. The system works by analyzing images taken from a camera mounted on the robot. The software is capable of discerning shapes and identifying the position on the conveyer belt, which is then used to control which objects the arm grabs.

Not only can the FlexPicker boast superhuman speed that would make even The Flash sweat, it also gets an A+ in the hygiene department. The robot is fully washable by current standards, making it ideal for use in clean rooms or food packaging situations. While that might not sound too interesting, it means that the robot is just as versatile as it is cool. This isn’t a one-trick pony.

The FlexPicker is already infiltrating our manufacturing lines, picking and flexing its way to faster production methods and more efficient packaging efforts. And the writing has been on the wall for quite a while: the robot is replacing human hands on the factory floor. It’s a sad thought, especially in this economy, that people would be forced out of jobs to make way for a robot that doesn’t necessarily have to put food on the table for its family. That twinge of sympathy for the man who spent a myriad of years on an assembly line, learning every nuance and quirk of the assembly process, makes the FlexPicker and its brethren a bittersweet testimonial to human engineering and shrewd capitalism.

But however the industrial robot is viewed, be it efficient and cost effective or a mechanical embodiment of corporate greed, it is a triumph of accomplishment and a technological marvel. Robots like the FlexPicker have come and they are here to stay. And if that stunning realization doesn’t cheer you up, perhaps this video would. Aren’t those little pancakes just adorable?