These four-legged dog-like robots can sit, shake hands and roll over. They also can perform 360-degree camera scans, handle 30-degree grades and climb stairs for hours at a time. Ford Motor Company paid tribute to these robot dogs this past Wednesday, 26 August, which happened to be World Dog Day.
That’s because they are
actually 30-kilogram quadruped robots with distinctly dog-like mobility.
They’re part of a Ford manufacturing pilot programme designed to save time,
reduce cost and increase efficiency.
Fluffy, the name given by
the robot’s handler Paula Wiebelhaus, is one of the two models Ford is leasing
from Boston Dynamics, known for creating sophisticated mobile robots. The other
Ford robot is named Spot after the product’s actual name.
The robots, which Ford is
piloting at its Van Dyke Transmission Plant, are bright yellow and easily
recognisable. Equipped with five cameras, the robots can travel up to 5 km/h on
a battery lasting nearly two hours and will be used to scan the plant floor and
assist engineers in updating the original Computer Aided Design which is utilised
when we’re getting ready to retool our plants.
“We design and build the
plant. After that, over the years, changes are made that rarely get
documented,” says Mark Goderis, Ford’s digital engineering manager. “By having
the robots scan our facility, we can see what it actually looks like now and
build a new engineering model. That digital model is then used when we need to
retool the plant for new products.”
Without Fluffy, the update
would be far more tedious.
“We used to use a tripod,
and we would walk around the facility stopping at different locations, each
time standing around for five minutes waiting for the laser to scan,” Goderis
recalls. “Scanning one plant could take two weeks. With Fluffy’s help, we are
able to do it in half the time.”
The old way also was
expensive – it cost nearly $300,000 to scan one facility. If this pilot works,
Ford’s manufacturing team could scan all its plants for a fraction of the cost.
These cutting-edge technologies help save the company money and retool
facilities faster, ultimately helping bring new vehicles to market sooner.
In time, Goderis says, the
intent is to be able to operate the robots remotely, programming them for plant
missions and receiving reports immediately from anywhere in the country. For
now, the robots can be programmed to follow a specific path and can be operated
from up to 50 meters away with the out-of-the-box tablet application.
The key to Fluffy and Spot’s
success is their agility, says Wiebelhaus, who controls her robot through a
gaming-like device that allows her to remotely see the camera view. Should an
issue occur, Wiebelhaus’ control device features a safe stop that stops it from
colliding with anything.
The robots have three
operational gaits – a walk for stable ground, an amble for uneven terrain and a
special speed for stairs. They can change positions from a crouch to a stretch,
which allows them to be deployed to difficult-to-reach areas within the plant.
They can handle tough terrain, from grates to steps to 30-degree inclines. If
they fall, they can right themselves. They maintain a safe, set distance from
objects to prevent collisions.
At times, Fluffy sits on its
robotic haunches and rides on the back of a small, round Autonomous Mobile Robot,
known informally as Scouter. Scouter glides smoothly up and down the aisles of
the plant, allowing Fluffy to conserve battery power until it’s time to get to
work. Scouter can autonomously navigate facilities while scanning and capturing
3-D point clouds to generate a CAD of the facility. If an area is too tight for
Scouter, Fluffy comes to the rescue.
“There are areas in the
plant that you might not want to walk into because they might be tough to manoeuvre,”
says Wiebelhaus. “It’s easier and safer to send Fluffy back there.”
Although Fluffy is perfectly
capable of rolling over, Wiebelhaus doesn’t see dog shows in his future.
“Fluffy is an amazing
manufacturing tool,” said Weibelhaus. “Yes, it’s interesting and new, but
Fluffy should really be valued for his work and tenacity. He can do so much
more than dance and roll over. We want to push him to the limits in the
manufacturing plant and see what value he has for the company.”
