Dobot launched its new robot aimed at the education market this week at Bett UK, a global education technology conference at ExCeL London. The DOBOT Magician E6 is a 6-axis collaborative robot that has a payload capacity of 500g, or 1.1 lb. and a 450 mm, or 17 in. radius.
It can accurately simulate real world automation to bring relevant hands-on education to young learners and advanced students, the Shenzhen, China-based company said. With the launch of the Magician E6, Dobot said it will make available new course materials designed around the new robot.
Dobot cobot used as part of research project
Following the launch of the Magician E6, Dr. Vishuu Mohan presented his agri-tech project SCARLETT (Scalable Robotic Harvesting of Lettuce).
Dr. Vishuu Mohan is an associate professor in robotics at the School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering and Director of Employability at the University of Essex.
His work on robotics is being applied through numerous industrial projects in the areas of agri-food, manufacturing, and healthcare robotics.
The SCARLETT project reimagines automotive assembly lines with lettuce replacing the cars on a farmland, to use robotic arms to transplant lettuce from small floating rafts to large floats.
Then, pick and place lettuce from the large floats into the pool. After that, transfer fully grown lettuce from pool to flume. Finally, cut the root of the lettuce and place it onto conveyor belt for packing.
Dr. Mohan has selected the DOBOT CR10 for the project, citing its advantages in repeatability, working radius, software, cost, collaboratively with SafeSkin, and the support from the Dobot.
Mohan's team was able to quickly integrate cameras onto the CR10 and use artificial neuro network to enable robot learning of human elbow and hand movement to achieve reaching accuracy of 1.2 mm with a standard deviation of 2.3 mm.
With the smooth progression of SCARLETT, partially contributed by the reliable performance of the CR10, Dr. Mohan's team will explore more smart farms using Dobot robots, including a strawberry picking research project using MG400 robots on AMRs.
Other Dobot demos at Bett UK
In addition to launching the new cobot, Dobot also showcased a number of its other systems, including:
- MG400 Training System - The MG400 Training System is equipped with a vision, PLC controller, conveyor belt and emergency stop modules to help students learn about industrial automation through physical simulations.
- Assembly Line Sorting - 2 DOBOT Magician robots and a mini conveyor belt are used to simulate sorting at an industrial assembly line. One Magician grabs objects and put them onto the start of the conveyor belt, while the other Magician at the other side uses its sensor to detect the color of incoming objects and sort them accordingly off the conveyor belt.
- SIM Card Bin Picking - A DOBOT CR3 is equipped with a vision system to identify the position and orientation of the sim cards, and to accurately pick them out and place into an orderly tray. The CR3 is the smallest robot model in the DOBOT CR series. It is widely used in manufacturing processes and can also be used for education and research purposes.
- Smart City Simulation - A DOBOT Magician Lite is combined with the DOBOT Magician Go to carry out trash sorting and unmanned supermarket tasks in a simulated smart city environment. The DOBOT Magician Lite is a robotic arm for K12 education. It has a variety of sensors and accessories to allow students to design numerous automation workflow. The DOBOT Magician Go is a mobile platform made for AI+STEAM education. It has omnidirectional Mecanum wheels for incredible mobility, and 2 vision sensors to AI capabilities.
Dobot at Hannover Messe
Dobot will be at Hannover Messe from April 17th to 21st, where we will unveil a brand new collaborative robot for industrial use. They will be located at booth #H6-F60.