July 25, 2007 (Computerworld) Robots have turned a corner -- mobile robots used in commercial settings, that is.
"They went from being a hobby to being the real deal about 18 months ago," said Tony Diodato, co-founder of Cypress Computer Systems Inc. in Lapeer, Mich. "I believe the robot business will overwhelm our current business [selling building access controls] within the next year."
"In the past, people started with robots and then looked for a problem, but now they are starting with real problems and arriving at robot solutions," added Rob Stevens, vice president at Kiva Systems Inc., a maker of warehouse robots in Woburn, Mass. "We have seen that shift in just the last couple of years."
This market change has even been evident among users. "Those employees who were most vocal about saying they were able to walk faster than the robots are now the robots' biggest supporters and are always trying to find new ways to use them," said Doug Keeney, director of materials management at FirstHealth of the Carolinas' Moore Regional Hospital, a 385-bed facility in Pinehurst, N.C. "They're spending more time doing inventory or helping patients than walking the halls."
Technology convergence
Basically, campuswide Wi-Fi systems, inexpensive mobile computers, inexpensive sensors and mature software demonstrate that in the past couple of years, mobile robots have ceased being science-fair projects and have become commercial products. Just don't expect them to look, walk and talk like C-3PO in the Star Wars movies -- rolling and beeping like R2-D2 is more like it.
The FirstHealth robot system is based on the TUG delivery robot from Aethon Inc. in Pittsburgh. Peter Seiff, vice president at Aethon, said that the TUG uses dual off-the-shelf infrared and ultrasonic sensors, navigating by a custom map derived from a computer-aided design (CAD) map of the facility.
TUGs can be summoned through the facility's wireless network and interact with the elevator controls through wireless custom interfaces. They lease for about $1,500 per month, and Aethon has about 200 in use, he said.
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| TUG mobile robots from Aethon Inc. without various cargo-carrying attachments. |
If a TUG encounters an obstacle, the robot can go around it or plot another path. If it's stuck, it can use an onboard camera to take a picture of the situation and send it to the Aethon help desk in Pittsburgh. The agents there can remotely pilot it out of the situation or tell it to be patient, Seiff noted.
"The help desk is considered part of the product and is for the 1% of the time that the robot can't handle the situation -- and is better than adding millions [of dollars] worth of additional sensors," Seiff said.
At FirstHealth, the hospital's six TUGs have used the help desk about 25 times in two years, recalled David Dillehunt, vice president and CIO. The hospital originally acquired two TUGs two years ago to deliver locked medicine boxes to the nursing units.
"The pharmacy had four full-time staff equivalents performing courier functions, and [with robots], we were able to eliminate those positions," he recalled. "Once we realized that we could do that without disrupting service, we started looking for other opportunities to use the technology." FirstHealth has since added another pharmacy TUG and two more that deliver other supplies, and the hospital is considering using them to deliver food trays and lab specimens, he said.
RFID allows inventory double-duty
An additional benefit, Dillehunt added, is that Aethon was able to add radio-frequency identification antennas to the robots, so they can take inventory as they travel, recording the responses of medical devices that carry RFID labels. Because there are areas that the delivery robots never enter, a sixth unit has been programmed to patrol the rest of the facility.
Sometimes, less automation is better. Dillehunt said that the robots were originally programmed to call ahead to the powered doors that secured various areas, such as the pharmacy, so that the door would open up and let the robot through.
"We observed that someone would be able to tag along and walk through with the robot and break security," he recalled. "So we reprogrammed them to stand outside the door and call inside for someone to open it."
Diodato at Cypress Computer also sells courier mobile robots, using base systems from MobileRobots Inc. in Amherst, N.H. Jeanne Dietsch, CEO of MobileRobots, said the advantage of her machines is that they can be led through the operational area and learn it themselves using remote sensing -- many buyers don't have CAD files of their buildings, she noted. Units that find themselves blocked have a variety of options, including politely asking the obstruction to step aside.
Dietsch said she has sold about 3,000 robots in the past 12 years, and she expects commercial demand to double or triple this year. A basic robot starts at about $31,000 with its docking station and software.
"The delivery market is growing fastest for hospitals and factories," said Deitch. "Security applications are slower to catch on."
Diodato noted that security robots can patrol a building -- including data centers and server rooms -- and provide periodic reports, including the absence of fire extinguishers, burned-out lights, water on the floor and other mundane details that a security guard might not notice.
"But people are waving money at me for materials-handling robots, so I'll worry about patrol robots later," Diodato added.
Warehouse workers
While Aethon and MobileRobots differ on how to map a building, for some buildings -- like featureless warehouses -- mapping is pointless. Kiva Systems Inc. has come out with a system of autonomous robots that handle materials in warehouses, and "mapping" consists of gluing bar codes on the floor to act as reference points. Kiva's Stevens explained that most warehouse automation systems involve sophisticated conveyor belts, "but instead of organizing the building, we want to let the products organize themselves."
The result was the development of a series of low, wheeled robots that maneuver themselves under specially designed "pods" (shelf racks and pallets) that contain inventory, lift them off the ground just enough to carry them, and deliver them as required to the warehouse stockers.
A central server gives the units orders via Wi-Fi and provides clearance to enter specific floor areas. Each unit has its own IP address. The units have infrared sensors, and if they find themselves blocked, they will ask that someone come and clear a path or ask permission from the central server to take another route, Stevens explained.
Typically, larger CaseFetch units bring in cases, which are split so their contents are distributed among "stocking pods" by human stockers. When their contents are needed to fill an order, they are brought to the stockers by smaller ItemFetch units. Once an order is assembled, it is taken to the shipping area by an OrderFetch unit, he added.
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| A Kiva warehouse robot delivering a pod (shelf rack) of items to a stocker. |
Each stocker is served by five to 10 robots, and their productivity is enhanced by a factor of two or three, because they don't have to move around, Stevens estimated. As their power runs low, the robots ask permission to break away and go to a recharger.
A typical installation would cost about $3 million and would involve as many as 150 robots, Stevens said. Installation is a matter of days, he added. Kiva has one publicly announced customer -- Staples Inc. -- with 150 robots in one warehouse, and others are pending or unannounced, he said.
Vacuum cleaners and war machines
Of course, the big success story in the robot field is iRobot Corp. in Burlington, Mass., which has sold more than 2 million floor-cleaning units for home use -- but they lack the size, power and central control seen in commercial units. The military units made by iRobot and others are largely remote-controlled devices, Diodato added.
And then there's Japan, source of numerous news announcements concerning walking robots. Kevin Kalb, business development coordinator for the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) office in Chicago, said he knew of no sales of Japanese commercial mobile robots to the U.S. "The market is not at a point where there is a high demand," he said.
"People from JETRO came by about six months ago and were fairly impressed, but they hadn't realized that I was selling this to customers already," said Diodato. "They're building robots, which is great, but the key is the solution, not the robot. I have not encountered anyone who has purchased any mobile robots from Japan."
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| Seekur outdoor patrol robot being developed by MobileRobots Inc. |
The next hurdle for mobile robots will be outdoor navigation, said Dietsch, whose firm is readying its Seekur model, which she expects to release in another year. Instead of one onboard computer, it will have as many as five, with additional laser range finders plus Global Positioning System capability, she indicated.
"With enough intelligence on board, it can still operate safely if it loses the wireless signal," she said, adding that the base units will cost a little over $100,000.
Lamont Wood is a freelance writer in San Antonio.