September 2, 2009

Harvard's SDM Hand – Worldwide Exclusive License

Barrett Technology, Inc. announced today the conclusion of a license
agreement with Harvard University under which it has acquired
exclusive rights to a novel polymer-based robotic-hand technology,
known in the literature as the SDM Hand. This robotic grasper was
developed by Robert D. Howe, Gordon McKay Professor of Engineering at Harvard University's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Aaron Dollar, a former member of Dr. Howe's lab and currently an Assistant Professor at Yale's School of Engineering and Applied Science. The robotic hand has fingers with flexible joints, which allow it to easily conform to objects and grip them solidly without exerting excessive force. These special joints also enable the hand to grasp objects that vary widely in size, shape and mass, and to overcome positioning errors, in which the object is not optimally placed for being grasped. Also, the hand is robust and capable of withstanding large impacts without damage.

Barrett expects the first production units to be available by 2011.

About Harvard University's Office of Technology Development
The Harvard Office of Technology Development (OTD) is responsible for all activities pertaining to the evaluation, patenting and licensing of new inventions and discoveries made at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School. OTD also serves to further the development of Harvard technologies through the establishment of sponsored research collaborations with industry. OTD's mission is to promote the public good by fostering innovation and translating new inventions made at Harvard into useful products available and beneficial to society.

About Barrett Technology, Inc.
Barrett Technology, Inc. is the technology leader in manufacturing high-performance robotic manipulators for emerging applications requiring superior versatility. For more information, contact Bill Townsend at wt@barrett.com

August 20, 2009

Time Magazine Rates WAM Arms as #1 Robot in Japan

Barrett makes Time Magazine's Top-10 List of robots in Japan, taking top spot.

Daisuke, please make room for your new team mates. A pair of Barrett WAMs are shown at play. One pitches a fast ball. The second WAM swings and bats the ball out of the park (lab area). According to Barrett CEO, Bill Townsend: "Japan is the quintessential home of the robot and the place to watch for emerging robot technology. There are more robot manufacturers in Japan than any other country on the planet, so it is particularly extraordinary that a pair of Barrett's WAMs made the Top-10 List, let alone the top spot. Of course, we owe most of this success to the genius of Professors Ishikawa-sensei and Namiki-sensei of the University of Tokyo. They have shown what can be done with the combination of WAM/Puck technology and ultra-high-speed machine vision."

May 13, 2009

Barrett posts record high sales in 1st Quarter of 2009

Led by sales of the Puck-enabled WAM arm, Barrett posts record high
sales in the 1st Quarter of 2009. According to Barrett CEO Bill Townsend, "We are pleased with this milestone in the face of a very tough economy. It's the best that Barrett has done in 83 quarters of business. I think our team has good reason to be proud of this accomplishment."

March 25, 2009

Scientific American Recognizes Robot Learning by WAM Arm and BarrettHand

We are proud that Barrett is recognized by Scientific American in not one, but two, separate WAM applications of robot learning. According to Barrett CEO William Townsend, "The full capacity of the WAM arm is realized in applications where researchers are developing machine learning and need the system to understand what forces/torques it is applying and not just where it is. The WAM gives a glimpse of how robotics will be done in the future, from medical applications to manufacturing." The article focuses on installations in Alex Stoytchev's lab at Iowa State University and at Intel Research in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. To read the complete article, click here.

March 16, 2009

The WAM Arm Opens CeBIT'09 Show

Mouseover for video controls

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Intel CEO Craig Barrett look on as the WAM physically interacts with Arnold Schwarzenegger to open CeBIT'09. Barrett Technology customer Intel used its advanced electric-field proximity sensor on the BarrettHand to guide the arm-hand behavior during the ceremony. Their sophisticated system also has a camera in the palm. CeBIT is the largest information and telecommunications technology show in the world, and the Barrett Technology's WAM arm and BarrettHand represent the spirit of that show.

Photo Courtesy of Brad Hood, Intel Research Seattle
Video Courtesy of CeBIT'09

February 23, 2009

Barrett More Than Doubles its Shipments of WAMs in 2008 and
Cuts Warranty Costs

Barrett posts a record year in 2008, more than doubling the pace of new WAM installations. According to CEO Townsend, "our customers have been pleased with the new WAM-arm systems. In 2008 we noticed more customers purchasing full systems [with BarrettHand or Gimbals] and pairs of systems for a range of applications from product development to neural research." Based on the durability of these systems in the field, Barrett also cut the price of its extended-service contracts by half in 2008.

November 13 , 2008

WAM Increases Barrett’s Global Footprint

Spurred by the broad popularity of the WAM robotic arm, Barrett has now installed its equipment in 20 countries around the globe with new installations in China, Korea, and South Africa. Production at Barrett has been further streamlined in response to this rising demand. According to Barrett CEO, Townsend, “We are pleased that customers have begun to really take advantage of the capabilities that are unique to the WAM. And, we are dedicated to continue building our reputation for responsive application support and service during this period of expansion.”

March 1 , 2008

Barrett Reaches Record Sales Propelled by WAM Arms
and Puck Technology

Powered by its revolutionary "Puck" servodrive technology, Barrett breaks its all-time sales record on strong WAM-arm shipments in 2007.  "We have been pleased with our steady growth and profitability since introducing the Puck in our WAM systems about 4 years ago." according to Barrett CEO and founder, Bill Townsend. "The first customers were top research institutions around the globe purchasing the systems to explore new levels of performance and human interactivity. Now we are getting traction in emerging applications among manufacturers where conventional-robot versatility falls short. We're also participating in medical surgery [via partner Nasdaq:MAKO] with several hundred successful partial-knee-implant surgeries, where the doctor and the robot share the cutting tool. Patients benefit from the best of seasoned human intuition and machine precision."

February 1 , 2008

Engineering Opportunities at Barrett

Barrett's steady growth has created recent openings for key engineering positions in power electronics and controls. Barrett is indebted to its customers who we feel will be well served by the continued strengthening our engineering team. For further information, click here.

 

September 25, 2007

Yoky Matsuoka Wins $1/2-Million MacArthur Award

Barrett Alum, Yoky Matsuoka, Recognized for Leadership in Advanced Robotics

US National television news covered the founder of the field of neurorobotics, Prof. Yoky Matsuoka, last night as she received the prestigious John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Genius Award. Yoky Matsuoka joined Barrett to lead the engineering team during the company's formative years in the 1990s, contributing to some of its most important technical achievements. Barrett's year-over-year growth today is due in large part to the enormous energy Yoky put into Barrett and its products. Yoky has continued to be a close friend ever since. Her persistent vision and encouragement have guided Barrett to its leadership role in advanced human-interactive robotics. According to Barrett founder, Bill Townsend: "the MacArthur Foundation could not have chosen a more deserving award recipient. In addition to the intelligence, drive, and creativity presumed of a MacArthur Fellow, Yoky is also a terrific mother, professor, advisor, role model, loyal friend, and person of deep professional integrity. Congratulations, Yoky!"

June 11, 2007

Barrett Wins Competitive NSF Grant

Highest Performance ServoElectronics Module is also World's Tiniest
and Most Efficient

Barrett has won a competitive grant from the National Science Foundation to commercialize its Ultra-Miniature Puck Brushless ServoElectronics Module. The "Puck" project has been multi-year project at Barrett to develop the world's smallest and most power efficient high-performance servomotor controller.

Barrett has been shipping Pucks™ in all of its robotic WAM™ arms for 2 years now with excellent results. The unique Puck-enabled features of its robotic arm are: 1. Absence of any controller cabinet (internal or external to the arm) improving reliability and portability. 2. Incredibly low power consumption (an order of magnitude less than any other arm in its class) for safety, portability, and the environment. 3. Ultra-high brushless-servo performance enabling application such as force-field enabled medical surgery.

With the huge success of its own use of the Puck in its WAM arm, Barrett is openly soliciting feedback from potential end users who seek ultra-power-efficiency and tiny size. Nearly all industrial precision machines rely on brushless servomotors that must be housed in a large separate "controller cabinet." While the Puck is not available outside Barrett's WAM™ arm today, NSF funding over the next 3 years will enable Barrett to develop features to make this module universally adaptable to a wide range of brushless-servomotor applications.

The hermetically sealed Puck is based on an innovation that makes a servo amplifier so power efficient that the size can be collapsed dramatically. The present PUCk (powerful universal controller) is black and shaped like a hockey puck, but is only 1/10th the volume. The new Puck will be even smaller and handle from 1 horsepower (700 watts) of motor power at the high end down to the tiniest brushless motors made. The Puck innovation also integrates precise rotor-position sensing and has its own 32-bit CPU, eliminating most of the wiring normally associated with brushless applications.

March 16, 2007

History Channel Unveils WAM Arm's Core Technology

History Channel's Modern Marvels

Barrett Technology, Inc.'s robotic WAM™ arm and the striking technology that drives it will be examined on the History Channel's Modern Marvels series on the evening of Wednesday, May 16, 2007. The show, called "It Came from Outer Space," explores key technologies funded by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

A portion of the show highlights Barrett's struggle to design the robotic arm that achieved the title of "most advanced robotic arm" in the special Millennium Edition of the Guinness Book of World Records. The program also unveils the most striking breakthrough in Barrett's history: "Puck™" motor technology, funded since 2000 under additional competitive awards from the US National Science Foundation and the US Department of Energy.

The History Channel is rated 3rd among 147 media brands, is a leading cable television network featuring compelling original, non-fiction specials and series that bring history to life in a powerful and entertaining manner. The Guinness Book of World Records is one of the most popular annual publications of all time.

January 25, 2007

WAM™ Code Gets Even Better

Prof. Rui Cortesão Integrates Task-Based Dynamic Model

Robot touch-control designer, Rui Cortesão, visits Barrett Technology from Portugal for three months this winter raising the touch performance of the WAM™ to a new level. Unique in robotics, the Whole-Arm Manipulator (WAM™) enables intrinsic touch sensitivity over the whole arm-- just like people. Harnessing this capability for real tasks though requires an enhanced control system, and that is where Cortesão's contributions fit in.

According to Cortesão : "Why did I come? I was compelled to come to Barrett. The WAM™ is the ultimate machine for breaking new ground in touch control. Other robot arms have far too much joint friction and other issues for intrinsic touch control. Fortunately, the tendon drives in the WAM's limbs are like mine: light and virtually frictionless. After I purchased a WAM™ for my university last year, I emailed Bill to propose my visit."

Townsend responds: "It seemed like an unusual request. Initially I was concerned about the logistics, but Rui's proposal was convincing. Now he seems like part of the family. It's been an exciting two months so far with simultaneous progress on WAMs™ here and in Europe. We are seeing and feeling dramatic results."

Rui Cortesão leads his research group at the University of Coimbra. He finished his Masters and PhD degrees in robotics under Prof. Gerd Hirzinger (head of the Robotics Institute at Germany's Space Agency, DLR) and completed his post-doctoral work in robotics under Prof. Oussama Khatib (Professor of Computer Science) at Stanford University. He regularly publishes papers in top robotics conferences and journals.