OC Robotics receives Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation

OC Robotics has received a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category. OC Robotics is the leading commercial manufacturer of snake-arm robots in the world. Snake-arm robots are flexible robotic arms which have many joints so they can "follow their nose" into confined spaces.

The Queen’s Award for Enterprise is the most prestigious business accolade in the UK. OC Robotics is among an elite group of winners recognised for outstanding success in their field. Dr Rob Buckingham, Managing Director of OC Robotics, said “We are extremely proud to have been given this award. This achievement is a testimony to the dedication of our employees, the support of our customers and the expertise of our suppliers. The Queen’s Award recognises the hard work and innovation that has gone into making snake-arm robots a commercial reality.”

OC Robotics was founded by Rob Buckingham and Andrew Graham in 1997 and raised venture capital in 2001. Since then the company has grown from a 2-person start-up in a garage to a 17-strong company in 10,000 sq ft premises. OC Robotics has worked with some of the largest companies in the world across aerospace, defence, nuclear and other industries building snake-arm robots for a wide range of applications.

OC Robotics recently announced a contract with Ontario Power Generation (OPG) to design and build a snake-arm robot mounted on a mobile vehicle that will be used to inspect complex pipework and structures within CANDU reactors. The snake-arm will be 2m (7') in length and will have a rectangular cross-section measuring 25mm (1") in width and 50mm (2") in height. This is a breakthrough contract for OC Robotics as this is the first time they have been the prime contractor to a nuclear utilities company. OC Robotics won the contract by demonstrating previous nuclear experience and the ability to meet the stringent quality requirements including ISO9001. This contract is a huge achievement considering the company was bidding against some of the largest companies in the world. Dr Buckingham said “Our expectation is that this contract will increase awareness of our products throughout the nuclear sector. Nuclear power plant life extension is now a critical issue for global electricity supply and we aim to provide generic solutions to some challenging problems. Our technology is also relevant to nuclear decommissioning so we expect nuclear to be a growth sector for the company.”

In 2008 OC Robotics developed a snake-arm robot that is only 1/2" (12.5mm) in diameter. The arm is the smallest snake-arm robot to date and uncoils out of a portable, briefcase-sized box where it is stowed. The arm is 24" (610mm) in length, with longer arms under development, and was designed for the US Department of Defense who needed a way of inspecting and working inside confined or cluttered spaces. The first two devices of this type have been delivered to the US Department of Defense for operational evaluation.

In the aerospace sector, OC Robotics has been working with Airbus UK and KUKA for a number of years to develop aerospace robots to deliver end effector packages capable of inspection, drilling, sealing and swaging in confined spaces such as in a wing. Snake-arm robots enable the aerospace industry to reduce Health and Safety costs by allowing operators to conduct work from outside the confined spaces. There is also significant potential to increase production rates and reduce costs by simplifying and speeding up processes.

In September 2007, OC Robotics was visited by HRH The Duke of York in his capacity as UK's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment. His visit to OC Robotics formed part of a tour of several aerospace companies in the South West of England. Rob Buckingham commented “It was an honour to host His Royal Highness, especially considering we were only 11 people at the time and by far the smallest company in the tour. OC Robotics is standing tall in a flattening world”.

About snake-arm robots

The name ‘snake-arm’ gives a good description of how these robots look and move. They are slender, flexible manipulators which can follow a path into a confined space. A snake-arm robot is an extremely versatile robotic arm that can carry cameras and tools into environments which cannot otherwise be accessed.

The structure of a snake-arm robot is similar to a human spine in that it is comprised of a number of vertebrae. It is a tendon-driven arm with wires terminating at various points along the length of the arm – three at the end of every ‘segment’. The result is that the curvature and plane of curvature of each segment can be independently controlled (see downloadable diagram at http://www.ocrobotics.com/technology).

A motor is used to control the length of each wire independently. The control software calculates the necessary lengths of all the wires to produce the desired shape. While the operator uses a joystick to drive the tip, the computer does the maths to make the arm follow. This tip-following capability enables a snake-arm robot to avoid obstacles and “follow its nose” into complex structures. The operator can also control the arm in tool or world space, whilst continuing to avoid obstacles.

All OC Robotics snake-arm robots have a hollow bore that runs the length of the arm. This means that all services can be carried within the arm so that the external surface is smooth and continuous. It also means that the arm can be used as a steerable hose-pipe or a vacuum cleaner!

The technology is very scalable and OC Robotics has designed arms to be large and durable as well as small and compliant. Snake-arm robots can combine a significant payload with precise positioning and still snake into confined spaces.

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Recent projects

Ontario Power Generation:

OC Robotics is currently working with Ontario Power Generation (OPG) to design and build a snake-arm robot mounted on a mobile vehicle that will be used to inspect complex pipework and structures within CANDU reactors.

The snake-arm will be 2m (7') in length and will have a rectangular cross-section measuring 25mm (1") in width and 50mm (2") in height. In the first instance the snake-arm will be equipped with tip cameras for pipe inspection.

This is a breakthrough contract for OC Robotics as this is the first time they have been the prime contractor to a nuclear utilities company. OC Robotics won the contract by demonstrating previous nuclear experience and the ability to meet the stringent quality requirements including ISO9001. This contract is a huge achievement considering the company currently employs only 17 people and was bidding against some of the largest companies in the world.
[Image available]

US Department of Defense:

In 2008 OC Robotics developed a snake-arm robot that is only 1/2" (12.5mm) in diameter. The arm is the smallest snake-arm robot to date and uncoils out of a briefcase-sized box where it is stowed. The arm is 24" (610mm) in length, with longer arms under development, and was designed for the US Department of Defense who needed a way of inspecting and working inside confined or cluttered spaces - a capability not previously available.

The snake-arm is deployed out of a fully portable box weighing 10kg excluding internal batteries. Power is supplied via mains, external battery or internal battery. The device is joystick-controlled via a laptop. At the tip of the arm is a camera and tool. The first device of this type was recently delivered to the US Department of Defense for operational evaluation.

This technology also impacts on other industries where confined spaces must be routinely inspected. Having personnel working inside confined spaces incurs significant Health and Safety costs in industry, but snake-arm robots can enable personnel to conduct work remotely from outside the hazardous area. In many cases snake-arm robots also offer the potential to speed up processes, especially where space restrictions prevent employees from working efficiently. The scale of this device is also ideal for minimally invasive surgical applications including the rapidly emerging field of natural orifice surgery (often called NOTES).
[Photos available]

Airbus:

OC Robotics has been working with Airbus UK and KUKA for a number of years to develop aerospace robots to deliver end effector packages capable of inspection, drilling, sealing and swaging in confined spaces such as in a wing.

A snake-arm robot can be considered as an additional tool that the larger industrial robot can deliver or as an extension to the industrial robot. The image on the right shows the industrial robot providing the linear movement required for path-following with the snake-arm robot attached as a forearm at the industrial robot’s wrist.

OC Robotics has designed a prototype (below) which can demonstrate all the required tasks inside a mock-up of a rib bay (a section of a wing). The image shows a snake-arm robot mounted on a Kuka

The demonstrator snake-arm has 10 segments, is 1800mm in length and 90mm in diameter. The hollow bore is 15mm. The complete system has 27 degrees of freedom. This gives the arm the flexibility to ‘follow its nose’ into the rib bay.

The snake-arm is also equipped with a wrist and interface to attach different tools for tasks such as swaging, sealing and inspection inside the rib bay.

The snake-arm robot can follow a path into the wing-box, either by joystick control or from a pre-determined library of paths.

We have also been working on process tool development including inspection, fastening and sealant application. These are common tasks in the aerospace sector.
[Photos available]

Please contact:
Ros Conkie
Marketing Manager
contactus@ocrobotics.com
tel +44 (0)117 3144700
fax +44 (0)117 3144799
Address: Unit 5, Abbey Wood Business Park, Filton, Bristol, BS34 7JU, UK

This release was published on openPR.