Robotics Partnership spearheads the next phase in Dexterous Teleoperation
Oct 24, 2022
Shadow Robot has been working in dexterity for the last 25 years. We have been building next-generation robot hands and systems with advanced dexterity to help solve challenging problems and provide a meaningful purpose for robotics. One of our products is the Teleoperation System, which will allow skilled workers to be removed from hazardous or dangerous work situations and still be able to complete their work remotely.
While working with the Value of Joint Experimentation in Digital Technologies for Manufacturing and Construction (VOJEXT) project, a new partnership between Extend Robotics and Shadow Robot was formed. With Shadow’s support, Extend Robotics was able to complete virtual reality (VR) experiments, adding new depth to the teleoperation experience and enhancing how it is used.
VOJEXT is a Horizon 2020 project which strives to provide a new generation of user-friendly frameworks for collaborative robotics for the needs of the manufacturing and construction industries.
Extend Robotics was selected as part of the project for Challenge 3 – Visualization of the point cloud in a VR headset. The aim was to improve the Shadow Robot Teleoperation system’s usability, allowing users to navigate environments through VR.
Ethan Fowler, TeleOp Technical Lead at Shadow Robot, has been one of our engineers supporting the collaboration. He explains “why we got involved in this partnership”:
“We found that one of the things that we lacked was depth perception… when you’re trying to do a remote task, being able to tell how far away things are and make the robot hand reach that position is extremely difficult.
Extend Robotics has done a lot of work in improving those technologies – their volumetric streaming is something that looks extremely promising.”
The two robotics companies believe their combined technology could greatly impact the manufacturing and construction industries. They also see it being of great value in industries where there is a need to handle hazardous materials like spent nuclear fuel rods, where a high degree of dexterity and precision is crucial.
Dr Chang Liu, founder and CEO of Extend Robotics, said:
“This partnership will take the industry of remote robotic operations to the next level.”
Below you can find a video produced by our friends at Extend Robotics. It will let you know more about the work we did together. Please follow this link to learn more about our Teleoperation system.