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Performance
of 50 Completed ATP Projects
Status
Report - Number 2
NIST SP 950-2
Chapter
6 - Manufacturing
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HelpMate
Robotics, Inc.
(formerly Transitions Research Corporation)
Robot Navigation Technology
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| Robots
are frequently seen as exotic, make-believe objects in science fiction
movies. They walk, talk, crack jokes, and worry about whether they
are human or have souls. Real robots are much more mundane, but they
are becoming increasingly useful in industry. They do work too tedious
or dangerous for humans, enduring tedium without erring and danger
without harm. They paint cars in factories without needing protective
masks. They transport radioactive materials in power plants without
suffering from radiation. |
COMPOSITE
PERFORMANCE SCORE
(Based on a four star rating.)
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| Drugs are
loaded on the HelpMate robot by a hospital pharmacist for delivery
to staff in one of the hospital's wards. |
Using Robot Technology
for Deliveries in Hospitals
Robots are also delivering medicines in hospitals faster and more reliably
than humans can. “Do you really see hospitals and nursing homes starting
to use that kind of technology?” an interviewer asked Paul Hoffman
of Discover magazine after he demonstrated robot technology on CBS Good
Morning America in May 1996. Replied Hoffman: “They do. This company,
HelpMate Robotics in Danbury, is already using it in hospitals, right
now.”
Improved Navigation
Capabilities
HelpMate Robotics, using ATP funds, has indeed developed the navigational
technology needed to create mobile robots that can scurry around a hospital
or other industrial environment. And with other funding, it has built
them. This advance, set on the technical foundations laid by robotics
pioneer and company CEO Joseph Engelberger, has helped to expand the use
of mobile robots throughout the country.
These robots do some
of the ambulatory work traditionally done by humans. To work well, the
robots must have dependable vision systems that can use light from many
different sources and recognize light-shading differences. They have to
be trainable (programmable). They must make quasi-intelligent decisions
— “Go around the gurney with the patient on it.” And they
have to be able to report to their human supervisor and ask for help when
encountering problems they cannot handle — “There is no one
here to sign for the parts.”
Specifically, HelpMate
researchers successfully developed an improved light direction and range
(LIDAR) scanner. LIDAR is a device in the eyes of the robot that senses
light, calculates direction, and determines the range to objects in its
path. This is a clear advance over previous technology, which used sonar
to detect shapes. Researchers also developed navigation capabilities based
on new sensing systems and ways of combining data from different sensors.
These capabilities permit the control of robots in quasi-structured environments
— places with predefined components such as doorways, light fixtures,
windows, and elevators that are fixed in place and definable from photos
or engineering drawings — and among objects that are not predefined,
such as a patient on a gurney and human workers moving about the space.
HelpMate in Hospitals
Most of the ATP-funded technology has been embedded in the hospital version
of the HelpMate robot. More than 150 HelpMate robots have been rented
by scores of hospitals in Europe, Japan, Canada, and the United States.
Purchased outright, the robots cost about $110,000. Most are rented for
$4 to $6 an hour. If a robot is used 100 hours a week, the annual rental
fee is about $25,000.
Marketing Agreements
for Distribution Abroad
Company officials say that ATP funding enabled HelpMate to achieve its
research and development results much sooner than it would otherwise have
been able to do. The award also helped it develop strategic marketing
arrangements abroad. The company has signed an agreement for Otis Elevator
to distribute HelpMate hospital robots exclusively in Europe. It has also
developed marketing arrangements with other parties in Europe and Japan.
HelpMate raised $6
million through an initial public stock offering in 1996 and used the
money to build production and sales capabilities. A second offering of
$5 million did not go through, and the company had to downsize temporarily.
New funding, however, has been committed, which should enable rebuilding
of staff and marketing, as well as further work on a home-service version
of the robot. In addition, the population of HelpMate robots in the field
continues to serve well and will back up the company’s renewed sales
effort.
Benefits From Robots
Hospitals using HelpMate robots are benefiting. HelpMate Robots are delivering
medicines, supplies, prepared food, x-ray images, and other material in
about 100 hospitals in the United States and Canada. They have lowered
the cost and improved the quality of these delivery services. One hospital
pharmacy director, for example, reported net annual savings of around
$10,000 per robot per year. In addition, the robots made the deliveries
faster than humans did. There are about 150 HelpMate robots in these hospitals,
according to company officials. If the savings for each robot to the hospital
is $5,000 to $10,000 per year, then these hospitals are already realizing
an annual savings of $750,000 to $1.5 million. The cost savings at the
100 hospitals alone over 10 years would be in the millions. These are
savings above the rental cost of the robots. As more hospitals, factories
and other facilities adopt these robots, cost savings will multiply.
In addition to these
cost savings, benefits accrue to hospitals, physicians and patients through
improved delivery service. Not only is robot delivery faster than human
delivery, but it is also frequently more reliable, according to hospital
officials, because of fewer delivery mistakes.
Robots to Serve the
Elderly and Infirm
The analysis above is only for robots already employed in hospitals. For
in-home nursing services, the use of robots could generate much larger
savings. HelpMate plans to expand the use of the ATP-funded technology
by developing robots that can assist infirm and elderly persons at home.
But for this application, the company must first solve additional technical
problems. These robots must have highly functional arms, improved vision,
more sophisticated programming, and some speech recognition capabilities.
The company has estimated that, if successful, this development could
substantially reduce health care costs by eliminating some of the need
to hospitalize or hire home help for the frail elderly.
Other Potential Uses
Two industrial applications currently being explored are in computer chip
fabrication and clinical laboratory work. In clinical labs, vials containing
substances, such as the human immunodeficiency virus, that are highly
dangerous to human workers could be moved from one workstation to another
by robot. In a chip fabrication plant, robots could move supplies to the
fabrication line in response to specific orders from operators. For these
applications to be realized, capital will have to be raised to support
the additional engineering required to tailor robots to the specific needs
of each environment. Lab robots, for example, will need to be built to
work without bumping into delicate research instruments and materials,
and chip-plant robots must be engineered to operate so cleanly they do
not contaminate the superclean rooms where chips are fabricated.
In addition to these
applications, company officials say, the ATP-funded technology is expected
to be used for mobile robots in all kinds of factories and has potential
applications in warehouses, maintenance facilities, mail distribution
centers, and shopping malls (for delivery, maintenance, and cleaning services).
As in hospitals, the use of robots in these environments is expected to
lower costs substantially and improve service.
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Project
Highlights
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PROJECT:
To develop the technology for intelligent, autonomous mobile robots,
or robot carts, that can find their way around a factory, hospital,
or similar place by sensing and avoiding obstacles and taking alternative
routes if a path is blocked. Such robots could reduce costs for
delivering materials and supplies in many different environments.
Duration: 6/15/1992 — 3/31/1994
ATP Number: 91-01-0034
FUNDING (in
thousands):
| ATP |
$699
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44%
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| Company |
875
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56%
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| Total |
$1,574
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ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
The company achieved the target navigation capabilities, including
successful development of a specialized LIDAR (light direction and
range) scanner. Evidence of progress includes the following:
- the company
incorporated the new navigation capabilities into its original
HelpMate robot and is now producing and selling the upgraded version;
- HelpMate
raised $6 million through an initial public stock offering in
1996, and used it to build production and sales capabilities.
(A second offering did not go through, and the company temporarily
downsized in 1997. New funding commitments are expected to rebuild
staff and marketing.);
- the upgraded
HelpMate robot was named one of 36 finalists in the Discover magazine
competition for technology of the year for 1996;
- CEO Joseph
Engelberger, the principal investigator for the ATP project, received
the Japan Prize in “systems engineering for an artifactual
environment” in 1997 from the Science and Technology Foundation
of Japan;
- the company
and Otis Elevator entered into an alliance in which Otis is to
be the exclusive distributor of HelpMate hospital robots in Europe.
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COMMERCIALIZATION
STATUS:
Robots incorporating the new navigational technology have been rented
or sold to about 100 hospitals in the United States and Canada,
and the company has entered marketing arrangements with parties
in Europe and Japan.
OUTLOOK:
Since the robots are already in use commercially, the outlook for
the technology is excellent, despite a temporary downsizing at HelpMate.
The company now plans to expand the use of the technology by developing
robots that can provide assistance in the home to infirm and elderly
persons, a venture that potentially could save billions of dollars
by eliminating some need for hospitalization or professional help
in the home. Opportunities exist for applying these mobile robots
in factories, warehouses, and many other environments. Thus, the
potential for future utilization of the technology is high.
Composite
Performance Score:
COMPANY:
HelpMate Robotics, Inc.
(formerly Transitions Research Corporation)
Shelter Rock Lane
Danbury, CT 06810-8159
Contact:
J.F. Engelberger
Phone: (203) 798-8988
Number of employees: 27 at project start, 14 at the end of
1997
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Return to Table
of Contents or go to next section.
Date created: April
2002
Last updated:
April 12, 2005
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