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Motion control solution developed for robots

A Danaher Motion product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team May 4, 2007

The Khepera III robot is designed for robotic demonstrations and experiments in training future engineers and designers.

Portescap, a Danaher Motion company, in partnership with its distributor partner, Delta Line Europe, has developed a miniature motion control solution for Swiss-based K Team's next generation Khepera III robots.

K Team is a leading Swiss manufacturer of educational robots.

The Khepera III robot is designed for robotic demonstrations and experiments in training future engineers and designers on subjects ranging from artificial intelligence to real-time programming and controls.

For this particular application, K Team was seeking a high-performance miniature motion control solution.

Because the Khepera III robot is battery operated, K Team was looking for a coreless DC motor that was no larger than 16mm in diameter and 46mm long, with a current consumption of less than 15mA, low noise and high positional accuracy.

Portescap was able to provide the solution with a 16mm coreless brush DC motor with integrated encoders and a spur gearbox that satisfied each of the application demands, helping the Khepera III to provide previously unattained performance in the area of miniature robots.

"Based on recent research focused on the humanoid robot market, we are seeing estimates that the total market potential of such robots in applications ranging from educational usage to artificial intelligence will be at US $50 billion USD by 2020, compared to US $0.5 billion USD in 2005".

"And we fully expect that miniature motors and controls will serve an increasingly critical function in this market", says Udayan Senapati, Portescap Product Line Manager.

"Today we may see anywhere between five and 30 motors being used to give motion to various robot functions, and depending on the complexity of motion required of the robot, those numbers may be much higher in the near future".

"With our renewed emphasis on the development of high power density miniature motors in the 8 -16mm range, Portescap is ideally positioned to serve the demanding needs of this market", he says.

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