The wait is over. Rethink Robotics introduced last week Sawyer for the Research and Education markets.
Equipped with both the ROS system and a SDK (Software Development Kit), Sawyer for research and education will pave the way to innovations in fields like machine learning, human-robot interaction, mechatronics and grasping, machine vision and manufacturing skills.
Sawyer for Research and Education
As official distributors for the Baxter robot, we have a first-hand experience with the Rethink Robotics’ collaborative robots for the research and education markets. Those robots add a real value to their users:
For students/teachers:
- Baxter and Sawyer are both safe platforms (partly thanks to the Series Elastic Actuators) while being affordable (given their high performances).
- The ROS open source middleware allows the users to easily access all the relevant robot parameters (position control, velocity, torque, camera access..), and also to connect the robot to other devices thanks to the embedded controller.
- Thanks to the collaborative robots Sawyer and Baxter, the students are able to develop programs with a real-life purpose using the SDK ROS.
For researchers:
- Collaborative robots have the opportunity to provide an answer for societal challenges as ageing workforce, new way of manufacturing or human-robot interaction.
- Thanks to these platforms, which are open source, easy to program and to deploy, the researchers can work on concrete projects with end-users.
Sawyer open source ROS SDK in a nutshell..
Sawyer for Manufacturing comes with Intera software, a user friendly interface that will allow its user to quickly operate the robot. This is a big leap forward, as the Sawyer robot will be quickly deployed in the production line!
Sawyer for Research and Education has been equipped with a SDK (pour Software Development Kit) , a set of software development tools that allows the creation of applications.
- With the ROS SDK, the user will be able to access all the sensors/actuators parameters, and also to create an interaction between Sawyer and other ROS compatible devices.
- The Sawyer robot will be able to communicate with any ROS compatible device.
- Thanks to the ROS SDK, developers will be able to create their own applications for Sawyer.
Technical specifications for the Sawyer robot
Sawyer Robot:
- Weight (without pedestal): 19 kg (42 lbs.)
- Degrees of Freedom: 7
- Maximum Reach: 1260 mm
- Payload: 4 kg (8.8 lbs.)
- Task Repeatability: 0.1 mm
- Embedded Vision: Cognex camera in wrist, wide view camera in head
A First Look at the ROS SDK Sawyer for Research and Education