Isochronic: Super fast thanks to first new kinematics since 1985
As is well known, Switzerland can only survive as a high-wage country by means of innovations at the highest level. This also applies to robotics. A small robotics cluster has established itself on Lake Geneva, a particularly expensive but also beautiful region by Swiss standards. The young industrial company Isochronic AG from Denges/ VD belongs to this cluster. It recently became somewhat better known as a finalist for the Innovation Award of the Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB). Its first "international" appearance - and that's where it caught my eye - may have been at the Dresden Robotic Festival 2021. This as a covert advertisement for the festival, since a visit to the new edition in September 2022 will certainly be worthwhile.
Repositioning is a standard task of robotics
"Pick and place", i.e. the grasping and repositioning of objects, has always been a standard operation of industrial robots in environments such as food production, the pharmaceutical industry or even electronics. Conventional robots do this by picking up one object at a time in serial order. The fastest robots today are the Delta robots.
Delta robots are too slow
Success usually comes to those who identify a real problem. Isochronic has identified the relative slowness of Delta robots as such. Delta robots can do up to 90-100 picks/minute, but what is this for much larger production volumes. Today, multiple rows of Delta robots are then required. This presents a challenge logistically. Fast growing companies also have a permanent space problem.
Simultaneous movements instead of sequential is the solution
Dr. Melvin Haas, German founder with RWTH background, sees the solution to this problem in the (multiple) simultaneous ("isochronous") movement of the relevant parts. The Isochronic robot no longer has just one arm with a single pick head, but a wide main beam on which several pairs of rails are mounted. On these rails, several picking heads can then be active at the same time and move in opposite directions without any risk of collision. In addition, the entire main beam can also be rotated horizontally thanks to rotating suspensions. These two innovations enable the new type of robot to be active at two points simultaneously. Even a single such isochronous industrial robot is significantly more powerful than conventional robots. And since the new robots only have to move small masses in the main transfer direction, only low energy and operating costs can be expected. The compact size of the systems also helps save space, so that existing factory buildings can be used more efficiently.
According to Isochronic's founder and CEO Melvin Haas, there have been no new industrial robot kinematics since the invention of Delta robots in 1985. This, in turn, meant that all available controllers could not be used without major adaptation. This is because today's standard controllers cannot control picks while a place is happening elsewhere. Therefore, the control system was expanded. Due to his personal close relationship with Beckhoff, Haas decided to rely on hardware components from the Westphalians from the very beginning of the development. The example of the previously unchanged kinematics alone shows that this is already a real innovation.
Not an off-the-shelf robot
It is obvious that such a complex system as Isochronic's cannot be unpacked and used immediately like many a cobot. We are talking about Swiss precision, as known from the watch industry, among others. The company therefore sees itself more as a component developer, i.e. it supplies to system integrators with an interest in new technologies. Against this background, the company is open to inquiries and partnerships with larger OEMs or integrators who themselves have a high level of technological competence.
Perspectives
Isochronic is currently gaining experience with initial pilot customers and may also explore further new avenues. Since the kinematics' mode of operation is not fixed to a specific size, there is, for example, flexibility with regard to the type of drive. Instead of linear motors, a belt drive also seems conceivable. It will probably be another 2-3 years before a larger number of customers can be served with a standard product.
What seems particularly interesting is that the new kinematics make completely new machine concepts possible. Today, throughput and distance are opposites. The fundamental rule is suspended by the parallelization concept. The areas of application conceivable later can go far beyond today's "packaging" target group. Interesting seems a possible use in recycling plants (the capacity of the belts could be significantly increased) or even the unloading of container ships. New, larger cranes could accommodate several containers at once. Interested parties should not miss the presentation of the first robot cells at AUTOMATICA!
automatica
Isochronic exhibits at automatica: Booth 315 in Hall B5.
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The author of this blog is significantly involved in the AI/robotics project Opdra. He advises on almost all issues related to robotics incl funding/subsidies. More about him can be found here.