The RoboHub’s magnetic levitation floor is a high-profile project residing within the University of Waterloo. During my Postdoctoral Fellow at Waterloo RoboHub, I worked, as a team leader and senior researcher, with a group of graduate students, technicians, and engineers to design, simulate, fabricate, and test one of the largest magnetic levitation platforms in the world. The technology used in Robohub maglev floor allows a realizable magnetic gap up to 50-60 mm , whereas, in most of the existing maglev systems, the achievable manipulation workspace is very limited (1-2 mm in each axis). The developed system has opened new avenues of research in the areas of collaborative robotics, flexible manufacturing, and autonomous systems.
The intended application of the Robohub maglev system is flexible manufacturing by which the maglev platform can be used as a flexible conveyor system. Nor are there any groups combining maglev and humanoid systems for flexible automation. In modern industrial production lines, many sections use conveyors or mobile vehicles for the transportation and positioning of key parts. The disadvantages of these conventional transportation methods include fixed motion pace and trajectory, and plenty of maintenance. The conventional equipment also has noise and vibration that cause problems to high precision manufacturing processes. Since the maglev provides benefits in frictionless and dustless motion, the system provides the highly promising potential for the flexible conveyor system in various industrial applications. The use of maglev robotic carriers could have a dramatic effect on automotive and high-tech manufacturing, especially for tasks requiring a cleanroom environment, such as those required in semiconductor fabrication, the pharmacological industry, for space applications, and for novel green transportation solutions. Both humanoid and upper torso robots can interact with the maglev transport vehicles safely, as collision avoidance sensors and low robot mass ensure the maglev vehicles will be significantly safer than traditional robotic arms. The new possibilities embodied in collaborative robotic manufacturing with maglev and humanoid robots represent a bold new direction with significant potential for improvements in efficiency and productivity. No such system currently exists in the world, and the possibility for rapidly reconfigurable manufacturing cells could lead to a revolution in industrial automation of precise manufacturing (e.g., semiconductor fabrication and small parts assembly lines). The proposed maglev robot system is a unique, custom system that will be designed according to the researchers’ specifications and purchased as a custom-built facility.
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The maglev system and entire electrical and mechanical components were designed, assembled, codded, and tested by the Maglev team.
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