[Introduction]The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics began with the torch relay, and it showed the world the breathtaking power of “black technology”. In addition to the first and underwater use of robots for torch relay, under strict epidemic prevention preparations, the multi-type robots used in and out of the Winter Olympics have become a highlight of this event. From cooking robots in smart restaurants, robotic arms that can make coffee cocktails, to logistics robots in media centers, disinfection robots and temperature measurement robots familiar to the public in public areas.

Image source: China News Service

The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics began with the torch relay, showing the world the breathtaking “black technology” strength. In addition to the first and underwater use of robots for torch relay, under strict epidemic prevention preparations, the multi-type robots used in and out of the Winter Olympics have become a highlight of this event. From cooking robots in smart restaurants, robotic arms that can make coffee cocktails, to logistics robots in media centers, disinfection robots and temperature measurement robots familiar to the public in public areas. The other side of the robots at the Winter Olympics is the concentrated expression of the expansion of collaborative mobile robots from typical industrial scenarios to wider fields, and there are many automation technologies and deployment considerations worthy of the industry’s attention.

Human-machine safe interaction, nine technical functions are fundamental

For food delivery, material delivery, guidance, disinfection, and waste removal, the collaborative mobile robots in the Winter Olympics mainly appear as service robots, which need to interact stably with participants and staff, and safety features are the most important for all robots that work with humans. One of the characteristics, especially in a highly dynamic environment like the Olympics.

To ensure a high level of safety, collaborative mobile robots need to meet several fundamental requirements. In terms of technology, the robot needs to realize emergency stop, area switching, personnel detection and overspeed detection. In terms of functions, it should achieve regional shielding, safety limit speed, safety protection parking, mobility and system emergency stop.

MiR AMR operates stably in Shenzhen Bao’an District Maternal and Child Health Hospital

Take the Mobile Industrial Robots (hereinafter referred to as: MiR) autonomous mobile robot (AMR: Autonomous Mobile Robots) technology, which has developed rapidly in recent years, as an example. As an intralogistics robot, it has a 360-degree field of view and is not immune to light.

It can accurately detect any obstacle in the height range of 0-1700 mm, and then protect the safety of surrounding people through the above four technologies and five safety functions.

The site is complex and changeable, and it is easy to operate without rails to achieve flexibility and adaptability

Collaborative mobile robots serving the Olympic Games face a very diverse venue and indoor environment. They not only need to complete the horizontal movement, but also need to move vertically, up and down different floors, to reach the designated area. This means that the robot must have the ability to actively recognize the environment and quickly become familiar with the route, so as to adapt to new tasks according to daily work changes.

MIR AMR can autonomously navigate elevator rides

Compared with traditional robots that rely on QR codes or rails to move, collaborative mobile robots with autonomous navigation capabilities are more flexible and advantageous. AMR is the representative of this technical requirement. The navigation and guidance ability determines the handling efficiency of transportation robots. Through the laser/visual navigation MiR AMR, positioning and navigation can be carried out through the natural environment in the working scene without adjusting or changing the physical environment of the site, and it is extremely flexible.

In addition, the simple operating system also means that the MiR AMR can quickly accept and adapt to new tasks without long downtime and is highly adaptable.

Hands, feet and eyes are used together, and the open compound makes the robot “in seconds” to become an all-rounder

The use of different types of robots in the Winter Olympics allows us to see many possibilities for the development of collaborative mobile robotics scenarios. As robots take on more subdivided functions, they will put forward higher requirements for flexibility and adaptability to their technologies.

By carrying the top module, MiR AMR can replace the staff to complete the disinfection of public areas

The flexibility of the robot can be considered from two aspects. One is openness, that is, the ability to cooperate with other technologies to expand its functional scope. MiR’s AMR can be equipped with dozens of top Modules, from simple transportation robots to disinfection robots, smart forklifts, etc. The top module is ready to use out of the box, greatly reducing deployment cost and time.

The second aspect is compound ability. By matching the collaborative robot arm and related fixtures, MiR AMR can form a composite mobile collaborative robot. The composite robot has both the ability of autonomous navigation of the AMR driving chassis, and the precise grasping, identification, loading and unloading functions of the collaborative robot arm, and can undertake more diverse and delicate tasks.

The use of robots in the Winter Olympics shows the industry the changing and unchanging technical trends of collaborative mobile robots, namely safety, flexibility and compounding. Zhang Yu, Sales Director of MiR Autonomous Mobile Robot China, believes that these three points are the major themes of robotics technology and function development. Taking MiR AMR as an example, in addition to typical manufacturing industrial scenarios, its safety, flexibility and composite functions allow robots to enter broader public services and commercial fields, including hospitals, nursing homes, universities, etc., and their functions are not limited.

At present, MiR has seven AMR products with different load classes, ranging from the lightest 100kg to the heaviest 1350kg. Combined with the MiRGo platform, MiR AMR can be matched with dozens of out-of-the-box top modules to flexibly meet diverse internal transportation automation needs.

The Links:   DMF-50260NFU-FW-23   G104SN02-V2