5 erros de prototipagem de robôs e algumas dicas para evitá-los

5 robot prototyping mistakes and some tips to avoid them

Robot Prototyping – Featured Image

Robots are highly complex, science-based machines that can replace human labor or perform jobs that we are not even capable of doing. Over the years, many different robotic systems have been developed to help load, measure and control many industrial sectors. Robot developers need to pick up the pace if they want to be competitive in the market. This is why rapid robot prototyping is a mandatory area that a good designer must know well to be successful. Here are some common robot prototyping mistakes that newbies make. And some advice to avoid them.

Here Wayken offers Functional Prototype CNC machining, urethane casting and rapid tooling are used to communicate your ideas and evaluate your product.

Excessive design

Designers are perfectionists and strive to make their inventions functional and visually appealing. They often forget and do this even with rapid prototypes. You design all the complex surface details of the robot body and the prototype creator scratches his hand and claims that it would take half a year to achieve the required level of detail and machine the parts from all the lightweight and durable composites mentioned by the designer.

Rapid prototypes need to be simplified as much as possible. If I had to make a comparison, I'd say the final design is a spear, while a Rapid Prototype is just a stick. You don't need to waste precious time designing all the aesthetic finishes when you can take a block of plastic or wood of the same weight and size, mount the electronics, and see if the thing moves as expected, even if it only lasts a few runs.

Get carried away by the prototype features

Modern robots often have a variety of functions and their final design is too complex to integrate all functions into the housing. Some designers find it necessary to integrate all the features of the final product into the prototype, thus wasting valuable weeks and even months adding this and that, correcting this area and improving this feature. The entire time the prototype sits in the production facility and the development process is paused while the designer spends a lot of time finding the perfect prototype.

Rapid robot prototypes don't have to be perfect. A single rapid prototype is used to test one or two features. For example, the weight a robotic hand can lift and the height it can reach. There is no reason to attach object detection cameras and clamping mechanisms to such a prototype. You can attach the weight to your hand with screws, whatever. However, after completing a simple, quick prototype and testing a few issues, you can make the final design clearer and better.

I forgot the default components

Robots are very complex because they represent a mixture of complex hardware and software. A robot's hand must have strong metal fingers, but it must also be able to grip with the minimum force necessary to not damage the part. Robot companies like to invent and patent new functional parts like computer vision units, control systems, etc. The more original the design, the better. However, with a rapid robot prototype, the opposite is true. The more time you spend making custom parts, the less time you will have for testing.

That's why it's important to never forget the standard components. You can make many different robot prototypes using simple servo motors, controllers, cameras, diodes, etc. Not only will you save time and money by making custom parts for robot prototype tools, but you can also add to or simplify your original design, reducing the price of the robot.

Use of unnecessary robotic tools

Many prototyping companies use a variety of tools to develop processing sequences, and what can I tell, they often use a standard set of these tools for most tasks. For example, prototype shops often use CNC machine tools. However, is it necessary to use CNC machining in all cases, or perhaps it would be easier to use a simple manual machine tool and skip the step where you need to write an NC program, load the tools into the system, etc.? The same goes for prototype designers. It may be enough to make a pencil sketch instead of creating a full, detailed CAD model of a prototype that is tested for a few days and then discarded.

Modern manufacturing and development tools are great, but you should always evaluate the need for their use. When doing rapid prototyping, always try to make the prototype from scratch with your own hands in the shortest possible time. Many robot prototype builders make cardboard packaging for proof-of-concept robot prototypes because it doesn't make sense to create long-lasting elements for such a short-lived model. You spend little time on a prototype, but it lasts for testing and that's it. You barely wasted any resources while milling all the parts of the robot arm.

Getting upset about failures

Creating a great design from scratch in a single iteration is a nearly impossible task. You would have to adjust the robot's motion control yourself for months using the principle of trial and error. As the robotics industry is still young, there are not enough design recommendations, which increases complexity. Although the experience in this sector is not great, the requirements are great. Especially with collaborative robots. Therefore, you will inevitably fail.

But its alright. The more you fail, the more perfect your design becomes and Rapid Prototypes are there to help you. Think of them as disposable cups for the actual robot you're building. Rapid robot prototypes help your imagination see the true reaction of physical objects to different situations and the way these situations are resolved. Even if you fail with rapid prototypes, you are guaranteed success with the real, finished robot.

Conteúdo relacionado

Back to blog

Leave a comment

Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.