Research team has 'wright stuff' in technology race

By Zhu Lixin in Hefei (China Daily) Updated: 2014-08-07 07:14

Robot industry gets down to nuts and bolts

Chen said: "From a pragmatic angle, we think the @Home championship is of more importance, as the technology applied in this section is closer to the industrialization of service robots." Chen told China Daily that the competition is actually the world's largest, most systematic and rigorous standard test of service and assistance robotics.

"Many countries are now exerting efforts in the research and development of intelligent service and assistance robots, which is also expected to play an important role in upgrading China's manufacturing sector," Chen said.

The USTC launched the Kejia project at the end of 2008 after some prudent reflection and investigation, and made the debut of Kejia at the 2009 RoboCup.

The team now has one professor, four assistant professors and about 30 students, ranging from undergraduates to doctoral candidates, but only Chen and six of the students were sent to the competition this year.

"In our lab, if you wave to the robot, it will come to you. Tell it what you want, like a drink, Kejia will bring you exactly what you ordered among several options," said Chen.

With the technological problems overcome, the research team is now thinking about how to meet the market need and secure a good market share.

To finish the final task at the @Home competition, the WrightEagle team designed a program that made two robots, each equipped with only one arm, open a tight bottle cap in cooperation, which "amazed the audience by the great stability and precision".

The team is now considering equip Kejia with two arms and to make it finish such a task independently. The technology is expected to be applied, for example, in the manufacturing industry, which needs highly efficient universal robots to install screws for industrial products.