>A Canadian company has developed a gearless, high-torque rotary actuator which, it claims, out-performs traditional gear-based actuators in many ways, while potentially being much cheaper. Genesis Robotics has invested C$28m (US$20.4m / £15.8m) in developing its LiveDrive technology, which it is aiming principally at robotics applications – it believes that the backlash-free technology could revolutionise the design of robotic arms, and halve their costs. The company adds that the lightweight, direct-drive actuators could have many other applications, ranging from prosthetics to vehicles. According to Genesis, its actuator is three times faster and more powerful than conventional actuators, 100 times more precise, and has a torque-to-inertia ratio 22 times higher than that of a strain-wave actuator. Other remarkable characteristics include the ability to hit a speed of 200 rpm within a quarter of a revolution, and to change direction instantly when required. The technology could also be adapted to produce linear actuators.
The actuator technology made its European debut at the recent Hannover Fair. A team of up to 44 people have been working on the technology in “stealth mode” for the past two-and-a-half years, before revealing the development a few weeks ago. Genesis has spent around $1m applying for eight patents covering the technology, and has already received five “notices of allowance”.
The 269mm-diameter and 16mm-thick ring-shaped actuator on show in Hannover weighs 5.1kg and can deliver a peak torque of 120Nm (54Nm continuous). It has a top speed of 400 rpm (limited by the performance of its bearings), and is claimed to have a repeatability of 0.2 arc-seconds, and a torque-to-inertia ratio of 2.2kNm/kgm2. The actuators can be stacked together to achieve higher ratings, and could be scaled to different sizes. They can be used with existing controllers.
The actuator is the brainchild of Genesis’ founder and chief technology officer, James Klassen. There are three key aspects to the design. The first is an “amplifying” technique that is claimed to almost double the force of the permanent magnets used in the devices. The force is said to be so powerful that it would collapse a conventional motor. So, the second development was to design a rigid structure to withstand these forces. The third discovery was a way to dissipate the high levels of heat that a motor of this power generates.
Because the actuators do not need gears, belts or pulleys, they can stop or change direction extremely quickly – thus improving safely. The mechanical components needed for traditional robotic actuators create backlash, compliance and high inertia – all of which reduce safety, according to Genesis.
At Hannover, Genesis was focusing on potential uses for its technology in robots. The company argues that conventional robotic actuators – which represent about 30% of the total cost of a robot – have several drawbacks. They are relatively slow, which limits their productivity. Their backlash affects precision, while their relatively high inertias hamper rapid safety stops. High back-drive friction, combined with the high inertia, can make gear drives susceptible to damage during impacts – either accidental or intentional.
Jason Roberts
The elimination of backlash in the new actuators should avoid jerky movements, and because of their simplicity – there is only one moving part – they are expected to be reliable and easy to manufacture. According to Klassen, they are also “difficult to damage”. The actuators do not contain much copper, thus cutting their costs. Genesis reckons that they could halve the cost of developing a robot.
“Traditional gearbox and drive belt actuators are holding back the entire robotics industry,” Klassen argues. “Existing direct-drive actuators are too heavy to use in robotics,” he adds. “Combined, our three discoveries achieve a level of torque-to-weight that is significantly higher than any other direct-drive motor on the market. We believe this will change the entire industry by allowing the LiveDrive to be used directly in the joints of robots.”
Klassen’s vision for the new technology goes beyond using the actuators in industrial robots. “Imagine a world where rehab involves putting on an exoskeleton and programming it to do your physio exercises, or where healthcare, military and factory workers can have robots assist them with the heavy-lifting required to do their jobs,” he suggests. LiveDrive makes this possible, as the technology makes it safe for humans and robots to interact.”
CEO, Mike Hilton, expects the new actuator technology to disrupt the robotics market. “We worked to address the limitations of traditional robotics to usher a new era, which will improve the lives of workers and revolutionise entire industries,” he says. “Robots today present safety and productivity concerns for both workers and employers. Our actuators enable robots to stop instantly. This, along with the numerous other benefits of LiveDrive, opens up new possibilities for faster, safer, more versatile robots that improve the human experience.”
Ryder Adams
That's bullshit, but I believe it
John Roberts
This technology can finally make powerful exoskeletons possible. I've been keeping a very close eye on this company for months. I'm certain this isn't vaporware
>This technology can finally make powerful exoskeletons possible. What does power consumption look like? The issue with exoskeletons isn't so much that they don't exist, it's that you either need an umbilical or some kind of generator to do anything rigorous for more than a few hours.
Anthony Robinson
Future of Robotics!
A MechE breakthrough!
Hudson Martinez
I've tried looking for any links on the energy efficiency. All I get is vague claims that it's more efficient than motors with gear boxes. It's only been a month since the company debuted their prototype so I think we will have to wait to know the all the facts about the performance.
Adam Cooper
Vague claims typically aren't a good sign but it makes perfect sense that omitting any kind of gearing would improve efficiency so I'll take their word for it. I'm definitely interested in seeing how it turns out.
Zachary Foster
Electric motors that don't need reduction gears have been out for a while now.
Grayson Phillips
Seems pretty cool, more interested to see what Boston dynamics does with this over industrial uses.
Charles Garcia
Read the article. They never had the performance to replace traditional actuators until now.
Juan Lee
Nobody has linked an article. Or explained what it actually is and how it actually works.
Basically, we've just got some ads here claiming it's the best thing ever.
Sebastian Martin
>it crushes cans but not an egg
what did they mean by this?
Dylan Cox
And it only comes in a donut form factor.
Gabriel Lewis
that variable stiffness thing looks like it would be good for simulating external forces in VR
why does she have the mcdonalds logo on her head
Chase Williams
Their specs are ok, they could potentially get high torque to weight ratios, but they have yet to demonstrate that. >why does she have the mcdonalds logo on her head OH MY GOD, you're right.
Jason Miller
Yep
Kayden Sullivan
strong enough to crush a can, gentle enough to handle an egg
Brandon Watson
what's an actuator?
Jonathan Lopez
It's a thing that actualizes quantum potentials. The invention of a true gearless actuator would enable the development of things like the replicator and transporter from Star Trek.
Eli Johnson
She's one of babidis disciples
Alexander Taylor
>no live demonstration >secret invention >lofty promises
That has all the red flags of a hoax, or a scam. It reeks of EM-drive and giant, manned robots named “Method-2”.
I'd like too to see everything open source, free for all to see blueprints and fuck industrial R&D secrecy It's not like they could live off by selling these things anyway, right lol
Christian Gonzalez
Just give a live demonstration infront of an audience!
If cannot do that, you have no credibility.
Levi Hall
>it makes perfect sense that omitting any kind of gearing would improve efficiency Veeky Forums is dumbfuck central
sentiments like this are commonplace
you guys are sad and not worth saving.
Dylan Cox
>reducing losses from fiction won't improve efficiency There's a reason cars don't have the same horsepower at the wheels as they do at the crank.
Jaxon Jenkins
So put an engine at every wheel and call yourself elon dicksucker welfare queen.
you don't know shit about shit.
Matthew Powell
Then you have massive unsprung weight in each wheel which is terrible for handling characteristics and ride quality.
Levi Cooper
That's cuz her name is Margay.
Easton Lee
lel!
Look at that guy! Look at him an laugh!
Brody Powell
They recently went to the Hannover messe trade show to demo their tech
Elon already makes a regular AWD electric meme machine and there's no way I can compete with him in that market segment.
Owen Wilson
Isn't that one of the reasons gearless electric cars like Tesla's are more efficient than cars with gasoline engines with gears?
Lincoln Harris
The Tesla still has a gearbox, it's just a single speed which does omit some of the other parts you'd see in a transmission like the lay shaft and obviously all the other gears which would slightly improve efficiency.
Anthony Fisher
but is it reasonably cheap?
precision and speed mean fuck all, if it costs $35,000 and needs $8,000 FPGA to control it
Joshua Moore
>40 replies >Still no one explains how it works
You faggots are terrible salesmen.
John Cook
Pay for the membership faggot, and you'll know.
Nicholas Williams
Apparently,it has the potential to be half the price conventional actuators, with a lower operating cost.
Nathan Morris
Yeah it doesn't say, faggot.
Aaron Nguyen
>The company argues that conventional robotic actuators – which represent about 30% of the total cost of a robot >Genesis reckons that they could halve the cost of developing a robot. So not only are they free, they actually will give you money to put the actuator in your robot...
This smells like a big load of horse shit.
Benjamin Rogers
nah, its called dominating the market share. you get the actuator for free, but you pay for the maintenance and support. thats where the real money is.
they are trying to set themselves as the "standard" for actuators.
Gavin Cooper
I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or you're just dumb. If actuators only account for 30% of the cost, then making them free would only reduce the cost by 30%, not 50%...
Noah Hill
there are plenty of instances where a company operated at a loss for a few years just to establish market share or set themselves as the industry standard. you are the dumb one here fag.
Zachary Bennett
Oh, OK, you're being sarcastic.
Ryder Scott
are you seriously claiming that new companies try to make a profit their first few years?
Leo Stewart
You're beating a dead horse
Jaxon Murphy
>Genesis has spent around $1m applying for eight patents covering the technology,
Well fucking fuck you too. Now nobody can use the technology. Imagine if somebody patented "cars" and nobody except one company could make cars. What if somebody patented electricity? Light bulbs, the wheel, clothes, computers.
You can't just patent every fucking thing.
Noah Bennett
refute my statement.
do you or do you not think that it is a standard practice for new companies to operate at a loss and/or offer their product at some discount for the first few years of the companies inception?
Logan Reyes
Other companies can use it you stupid fuck they just have to pay a licensing fee.
Adrian Rivera
So funny! Epic! Le upboat.
Jordan Price
You literally can just patent every fucking thing
Aaron Morales
You don't know that. Veeky Forums is not a business board.
Evan Wood
I think you're horribly confused about what patents are and why we have them.
Christian Allen
exoskeletons are pretty useless compared to more relevant items
Bentley Hill
Yeah. Watch he overview video, he literally goes over the money in the robotics industry and claims that they will soon dominate the industry and significantly increase it's size.
Liam Clark
capitalism my friend, so many things have been stagnated by patents in the last ~250 years
Julian Price
Would this be considered T-800 or T-900 level tech?
so how do patents work in burgerstan? nobody but them can build and sell it?
Juan Reyes
So it's like a brushless motor?
Btw I don't trust companies that don't explain shit about their technology.
Easton Smith
We need to abolish patents, then. There would be no downsides for 99% of people. Infact, most people would benefit from the sure in unconstrained technology.
Robert Davis
>sure
*surge goddamnit.
Ryan Bailey
Lots of people own patents. You would be basically stealing their property, so of course they want to defend them.
Jose Morgan
People that argue against patents are retarded.
Sure, it doesn't always get it right but patents exist for a reason. If you invest money into R&D, then someone steals your idea, there would be literally no incentive to develop anything new.
Mason Wright
The torque to weight ratio of this thing is ~24 Nm/kg peak and 11 Nm/kg continuous.
The actuators on MIT's robocheetah mass 2.1 kg and can produce about 120 Nm peak, giving a torque to weight ratio of 58 Nm/kg.
H54-200 dynamixel servos, which you can buy commercially, mass 0.855 kg and can produce 44.7 Nm torque continuous for a torque to weight of 52 Nm/kg
The torque to weight ratio isn't all that great.
Christopher Miller
Boy you need to get out more. what a dumbass
Daniel Morgan
>Imagine if somebody patented "cars" and nobody except one company could make cars.
>Reminder that incumbent car companies patented 'cars' and Mr. Ford had to fight them in court to start his car company.
Elijah Brown
>commies Reeee
Christopher Hernandez
Non-US patent attorney reporting in NB: TINLA and IANYL
>Found one of the patents Strictly speaking this is a patent application. Nte the word "pending" in legal status. A grant is probably some way off. I see they have had one non-final rejection.
>google.com/patents/US20170047793 Google's patent searches are pretty good and user friendly. Strangely they have two systems and your link is to the old which even more strangely is the one that figures in most search engines. I would rather recommend this one: patents.google.com/patent/US20170047793A1/en
More searching shows they have a lot of applications pending but only one international application that I could find.
>so how do patents work in burgerstan? nobody but them can build and sell it? In the US a granted patent means exclusivity. There might be expressed licenses though. Infringe and you have to report for anything up to but not including sudoku.
In much of the rest of the world a granted patent covers only commercial and opertional use. So use for teching, research and experimenttaion is allowed.
>Btw I don't trust companies that don't explain shit about their technology. If the application does not disclose the invention sufficient for a person skilled in the art to work the invention the patent would be invalid. This would be grounds for post grant invalidity proceedings.
I do that as part of my work.
Jonathan Rogers
I think its done by reversing the leads on a 3 phase motor to change direction of magnetic field / rotation.
Elijah Bennett
Patents last 20 years.
Elijah Harris
Patents do have some value.
Imagine you spend $50m on creating some new fancy tech, only for some other company to steal your invention. Unlike you they wouldn't have to make back that $50m development cost so they could sell it cheaper.
Patents exist for this reason. It's also why they're limited to 20 years.
Besides if they want to make more money they should sell licenses to their tech. Selling licenses -> higher production volume -> bigger spread of development cost -> cheaper tech -> more products sold
Joseph Thomas
>A team of up to 44 people >44
this is how you know this is just fake news.
Charles Evans
the fuck are arc-secs?
Bentley Adams
>incumbent car companies patented 'cars' That's nothing! Despite the fact that cranks were known since the Roman Empire, they were repeatedly patented in the early modern period.
James Watson, who greatly improved the steam engine, had to work around a patent on connecting cranks to steam engines, and invented a silly crank with superfluous gears to do so: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_and_planet_gear
Logan Johnson
Most of the efficiency in Teslas comes from the fact electric motors are just highly efficient. A high quality combustion engine with high octane fuel will peak at about 25% efficiency, where as electric motors are about 80-98% efficent
Brandon Hernandez
Teslas are not really gearless. Rather, they have a fixed-ratio transmission because of the electric motor's excellent low-end torque, rather than a conventional variable-ratio transmission for internal combustion engines with good performance only in a relatively narrow RPM range.
Henry Rivera
>A high quality combustion engine with high octane fuel will peak at about 25% efficiency Ferrari and Mercedes newest F1 engines are around 50% efficient. Mazda claims similar numbers with their Skyactiv 2 HCCI engines, although these aren't in any production cars yet.
Owen Gomez
The units smaller than individual degrees
Blake Jenkins
I agree my good friend :^) as a matter o fact, could you join me in a marvelous, free, helicopter ride? I'm sure it will be to die for!
Julian Phillips
interesting, a dc motor super magnet (re branded as a gear less actuator),Im pretty sure the idea has been around: the diagram reminded me of youtu.be/QGytW_C6hR8?t=4m48s in a micro scale to work on their dc motors, its no wonder to have high torque to inertia ratio as well as shear acceleration, almost as if it was instantaneous! almost as if it wire a dc magnet!
Dylan Green
Are they selling stocks?
Jace Roberts
>Now nobody can use the technology.
I can use it. So can you. So can China. Patents a shit.
Mason Miller
>Btw I don't trust companies that don't explain shit about their technology.
Me too. I'm still waiting for a tour of a Tyson foods chicken farm (that will never happen).
Angel Roberts
>versatle
when they learn to spell maybe they'll be able to learn enough physics to know this can't work
Alexander Allen
>around 50% efficient With an exhaust temperature of a conservative 1000 C it means the combustion engine must be close to melting point.
James Cooper
thanks bro
can ideas really be owned?
Oliver Perez
there's a guy that owns a patent on using wifi as in connecting your laptop to a router using wifi
Ian Foster
>limited to 20 years. >a whole generation's monopoly >limit >limit increases faster than they go out of date >limit
it's pure and simple a racket and deserves no respect
