Floorbotics — Laser Scanning for Robotic Vacuum Design
With the help of GKS Inspection Services,
a robotic software and harware development company was able to create a
sleek new model vacuum.
Floorbotics (Austin, TX) is a robotic software and hardware development company with offices in Australia, the U.S., Japan and Europe. Its founders are experts in the fields of robotics and cleaning systems.
Floorbotics was showcasing its vacuum at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show. While the "brain" which runs and guides the vacuum was highly sophisticated, the housing was not, and new housing needed to be created quickly. The external shape and navigational system provide for maximum cleaning coverage with the ability to maneuver in restricted areas. Height is minimal so the Floorbot can reach under furniture.
Floorbotics owner/creator Duncan Ashworth partnered with a Taiwanese company making low-end robotic floor cleaners with outstanding looks. The plastic Taiwanese vacuum casing had a polished appearance, but a rudimentary guidance system. Ashworth retrofitted his sophisticated mechanics to the Taiwanese prototype by drilling holes in the plastic, building up some areas with wood and assembling the parts together. The results functioned well, but looked unprofessional. He needed to quickly create an attractive casing with the correct dimensions so there would be time for testing before the show. Ashworth also needed to update a third-party worm gear that he had modified. The worm gear mates with a planetary gear assembly used in the robot’s drive motors.
The company that would create the rapid prototype, Protogenic (Westminster, CO), recommended GKS Inspection Services (Minneapolis, MN), a division of Laser Design, Inc., to Ashworth. "GKS responded faster than anyone else to my queries, their Web site was very informative and they knew their business," said Ashworth.
Instead of reverting to the CAD model to create the new housing, Ashworth could start with a casing that already fit correctly, have GKS scan the parts with their non-contact Laser Design scanner and obtain flawless results. The laser scanner projects a line of laser light onto surfaces while cameras triangulate the distance and profile of the line, measuring fine details and freeform geometry. Scanned objects can be replicated very quickly. GKS scanned the makeshift plastic and wood casing in less than a day. The STL files were completed in under a week and sent to Progenic for rapid prototyping.
Although the time and money saved were criteria for Ashworth's decision to use GKS, "quality turned out to be the most valuable aspect GKS provided. The solid models I sent to GKS for scanning were hand made. The original STL files revealed imperfections. GKS smoothed out rough surfaces and created a near-ideal STL file. The resulting prototype fit was absolutely perfect," says Ashworth. Ashworth is just as pleased with the worm gear STL file. "Scanning the worm gear was more complicated than the previous part but after it was created, it fit perfectly."
"GKS gave me seamless data that I didn’t have to tweak," said Ashworth. "They went beyond simply scanning the parts; they also cleaned up the STL files and worked with the fabricator to make sure the files were of sufficient resolution to produce a good mold. I would certainly use GKS again. Their work exceeded my expectations."
For more information on GKS Inspection Services, visit www.gks3d.com. To learn more about Floorbotics and to see the vacuum in action, visit www.floorbotics.com.
Floorbotics was showcasing its vacuum at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show. While the "brain" which runs and guides the vacuum was highly sophisticated, the housing was not, and new housing needed to be created quickly. The external shape and navigational system provide for maximum cleaning coverage with the ability to maneuver in restricted areas. Height is minimal so the Floorbot can reach under furniture.
Floorbotics owner/creator Duncan Ashworth partnered with a Taiwanese company making low-end robotic floor cleaners with outstanding looks. The plastic Taiwanese vacuum casing had a polished appearance, but a rudimentary guidance system. Ashworth retrofitted his sophisticated mechanics to the Taiwanese prototype by drilling holes in the plastic, building up some areas with wood and assembling the parts together. The results functioned well, but looked unprofessional. He needed to quickly create an attractive casing with the correct dimensions so there would be time for testing before the show. Ashworth also needed to update a third-party worm gear that he had modified. The worm gear mates with a planetary gear assembly used in the robot’s drive motors.
The company that would create the rapid prototype, Protogenic (Westminster, CO), recommended GKS Inspection Services (Minneapolis, MN), a division of Laser Design, Inc., to Ashworth. "GKS responded faster than anyone else to my queries, their Web site was very informative and they knew their business," said Ashworth.
Instead of reverting to the CAD model to create the new housing, Ashworth could start with a casing that already fit correctly, have GKS scan the parts with their non-contact Laser Design scanner and obtain flawless results. The laser scanner projects a line of laser light onto surfaces while cameras triangulate the distance and profile of the line, measuring fine details and freeform geometry. Scanned objects can be replicated very quickly. GKS scanned the makeshift plastic and wood casing in less than a day. The STL files were completed in under a week and sent to Progenic for rapid prototyping.
Although the time and money saved were criteria for Ashworth's decision to use GKS, "quality turned out to be the most valuable aspect GKS provided. The solid models I sent to GKS for scanning were hand made. The original STL files revealed imperfections. GKS smoothed out rough surfaces and created a near-ideal STL file. The resulting prototype fit was absolutely perfect," says Ashworth. Ashworth is just as pleased with the worm gear STL file. "Scanning the worm gear was more complicated than the previous part but after it was created, it fit perfectly."
"GKS gave me seamless data that I didn’t have to tweak," said Ashworth. "They went beyond simply scanning the parts; they also cleaned up the STL files and worked with the fabricator to make sure the files were of sufficient resolution to produce a good mold. I would certainly use GKS again. Their work exceeded my expectations."
For more information on GKS Inspection Services, visit www.gks3d.com. To learn more about Floorbotics and to see the vacuum in action, visit www.floorbotics.com.
