A Career in Robotics?

A >one-page guide giving advice for those interested in a career in robotics has been issued by Harmonic Drive UK. The guide details the different routes that people can take to work in the sector, routes that depart from traditional robot manufacturing. Despite the engineering skills shortage, there are still many jobs available in various areas of the robotics industry.

The guide tackles the myth that you need a specific engineering degree to have a career in robotics. It talks about four lesser-known sectors where robots are used, such as robotic rigs used in Hollywood camera equipment for their accuracy, or robots used in the medical sector to perform remote surgery.

“Whether it's the overhead cameras used to broadcast sporting events from exciting new angles, or the deep-sea remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) that help oil and gas engineers repair leaks, robots are now everywhere,” explained Graham Mackrell, managing director of Harmonic Drive UK. “The biggest challenge the engineering industry faces is attracting the most talented and passionate people into the sector.

“It's our job as employers to raise awareness about the non-traditional roles that robots operate in. No matter the sector, it is vital that the right gears are used in these exciting new robotic applications. Gears must be compact and lightweight, without sacrificing torque output particularly as we see the growth of collaborative robots in smart factories, where space is often at a premium.

"Another example is the medical sector where, apart from accuracy and repeatability, robots that contain zero-backlash gearing systems are making remote surgeries a reality. My advice to professionals in the engineering industry looking for alternative careers is to consider the many wider applications of robots."

@HarmonicDriveUK #PAuto #Robotics @StoneJunctionPR

Customisable drives for precision applications.

SolutionKit® is a range of servo actuators, from Harmonic Drive, designed to be completely customisable for high precision applications. The new range offers all of the benefits of an off-the-shelf actuation system, without the typical product development drawbacks. SolutionKit® caters for the needs of users in specialist applications including aerospace, pharmaceuticals, food processing etc.

Product development costs continue to grow as the demand for more specialised equipment rises in extreme and niche applications where production batch sizes are shrinking. Standard, off-the-shelf products have traditionally served to bring down costs in the high volume sectors but, until now, this has been out of the reach for niche applications where usage characteristics can vary considerably.

The high salinity of marine and offshore applications can cause corrosion on metallic surfaces as well as water ingress, which can lead to drive failure from prolonged submersion. Designed to overcome these and other problems, SolutionKit® allows users to specify custom gears, motors, encoder feedback systems, output bearings, sensors, windings, protective coatings and ingress protection ratings up to IP68.

"Traditionally, every time a product is redeveloped or redesigned to customise it for a given application it needs to undergo revalidation and retesting to ensure it is safe and fit for purpose," explained Graham Mackrell, managing director of Harmonic Drive. This means original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can incur higher costs. It is for this reason we have made SolutionKit®; a completely modular system that uses preapproved components, which have already been tested.

"For example, mains power varies from 240V in public low voltage networks, 300-560V in high voltage industrial networks and 12V, 24V and 48V in vehicle batteries. To provide the required motor torque constant in these varying applications, we need to customise the windings specification to suit.

"In this scenario we used SolutionKit® to take our standard AlopexDrive® and customise it for military vehicle use in harsh desert environments. Here, protective coatings, ingress protection and vibration resistance, as well as a hollow shaft to allow services to pass through, are vital to the sustainable operation of the entire system."

• In addition to its modular customisability, SolutionKit® offers compatibility with nearly all proprietary encoder technologies being used by customers already. Technologies such as Sick's HIPERFACE, Siemen's DRIVE-CLiQ and Heidenhain's EnDat can all be specified with SolutionKit®.