#GRABIT ADHESIVE CODE#
Grabit wanted to use its own control system to oversee the whole machine, they needed deep access to low level internal control code and the control package needed to be small enough to fit into a tight space in the design.įollowing some adjustments to the off-the-shelf Shibaura Machine robot, the equipment was still not stabilizing fast enough. “Despite being an official partner for Shibaura Machine, TM Robotics could also provide the careful and attentive sales, service and support of a much smaller company.” “As a start-up, we needed a robot provider that could support us through the entire process, not simply sell us the product and leave,” explained Miller. This was the moment when TM Robotics, Shibaura Machine’s American and European distributor, really proved its worth on the project. Combined with the further financial pressure of low labour rates in many manufacturing countries, Grabit needed a cost-effective robot. This prior understanding of industrial robots enabled us to fine tune our requirements before approaching any manufacturers.”įinding a customizable robot at a competitive price point proved difficult, but manufacturing in the footwear and apparel industry is driven by costs.
![grabit adhesive grabit adhesive](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/WSAAAOSwlINcSZ2Y/s-l300.jpg)
“Two members of our team already had extensive experience in robot design, and both had been involved in the development of several SCARA robots. “Choosing the wrong robot could have a detrimental effect on the entire design of the system,” explained Greg Miller, president and CEO of Grabit.
![grabit adhesive grabit adhesive](https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-4kgsw20zr0/images/stencil/500x659/products/9600/9859/21GB79__54077.1534816014.jpg)
Having seen a Shibaura Machine robot arm used to mount one of its grippers by a customer-a Japanese circuit board manufacturer-Grabit was intrigued to see how the robot manufacturer’s machines could be used as a larger part of Stackit’s development. The creation of Stackit began in summer 2015, but before the manufacturing process could begin, the company needed to decide on the right robot to mount the revolutionary electroadhesive gripper on. Using Stackit, Nike can manufacture 600 pairs of shoes in just one eight-hour shift. made an investment in the company and later became one of the first customers to buy its materials handling robot system, Stackit. When charged correctly, the electrodes create an electric field that adheres to nearly any surface, allowing the robot gripper to pick up the part that is being handled.įollowing Grabit’s inception in 2013, Nike Inc. The process uses a flat pad of electrodes to generate positive and negative charges on the surface. The concept of electroroadhesion was discovered at SRI International, by Grabit’s co-founder and chief technology and products officer, Dr. Instead, the start-up harnesses static electricity-referred to as electroroadhesion-to handle materials in a way no robot has before. However, Grabit’s technology allows a machine to do this in as little as 50 seconds.ĭespite its evocative name, Grabit’s material handling invention does not mimic the human grabbing motion present in many robots. For a human worker, arranging the pieces of material can take up to 20 minutes. Assembling a pair of Nikes requires as many as 40 pieces of material to be stacked and heated to create the upper-the flexible part that sits on top of your foot. Material handling is one of the most labour-intensive and expensive aspects of manufacturing, and when dealing with an array of different materials, the process is impossible to automate.
![grabit adhesive grabit adhesive](https://images.ffx.co.uk/tools/grab_se2_set_8.jpg)
Hatched in the heart of Silicon Valley, in Sunnyvale, Calif., robotics start-up Grabit is harnessing static electricity, machine learning and automation from Shibaura Machine partner, TM Robotics, to do just that. But, imagine if you could harness the same static cling to handle a material as fragile as an egg, as flimsy as soft fabric-or to assemble the uppers of Nike trainers at 20 times the pace of a human worker. Case Study: Grasping Static Electricity for Revolutionary Roboticsĭemonstrating static electricity by using a charged balloon to levitate your hair is a classic science experiment. Nike-backed start-up automates the impossible.