Speaker 0 00:00:00 Is your robot based on 50 year old technology.
Speaker 2 00:00:10 Hello everyone. And welcome to the robot industry podcast. We're glad you're here and thank you for subscribing I'm Jim Beretta and our guest for this podcast is Brian Powell with over 30 years of experience in factory automation. Brian is well versed in robotics machine vision and product development. In his current role with Brook's automation, he's responsible for sales of robotic and control automation to a diverse group of OEMs across laboratory automation, medical device, and electronics industry. Prior to Brooks, Brian held sales and program management positions with precise automation, XYX international adept technology and RVs. I now part of Siemens Matic sensors, he earned a bachelor's degree in computer engineering from California state university and an MBA honors from St. Mary's college of California. Hey, welcome to the podcast, Brian.
Speaker 0 00:01:05 Great to join you, Jim. Happy to be here.
Speaker 2 00:01:07 Brian, can you tell our audience a bit about where precise automation has come from in the early business focus?
Speaker 0 00:01:13 Absolutely. There's actually a, a long, uh, CV, if you will, behind precise automation, it really starts with adept technology back in the late seventies with, uh, Brian Carlisle and Bruce Shao, both of whom are RIA award winners. They have been in the robot industry for decades, uh, innovators for quite some time, and as they were going through their careers, uh, working for innovation, working and starting adept when they left adept, uh, they decided they weren't yet done with the robotics industry. So they started a small company called precise automation. Uh, the focus behind precise automation was to try and bring, you know, new ideas and innovative technologies to, uh, the robotics industry. And, uh, about 10 years ago, uh, one of the things that, uh, we happened to stumble on was a opportunity to put a robot into laboratory automation. And of course, one of the things that was really important to our customers in laboratory automation was, uh, robots that were easy to use, could be used on a lab bench, but that were safe. And that, you know, weren't scary cuz obviously, uh, you know, microbiologists and uh, you know, chemists, uh, they, they didn't necessarily want to, uh, have a big, scary industrial robot around. And so we, we actually started down this path of making a, uh, easy to use small robot and, uh, as it turns out, uh, because of the way that we engineered it, uh, it ended up being also a collaborative robot because we wanted it to be low force.
Speaker 2 00:02:54 And so what type of cobots do you design and build?
Speaker 0 00:02:57 So precise automation started with ACAA robot at first and then recently, uh, we were purchased by Brook's automation and being part of Brook's automation has allowed us to expand and we are now making a very unique, uh, Cartesian, uh, co uh, collaborative robots. First one of its kind, uh, we are continuing to make our Scarra robots. And then in addition, we have a very unique, uh, it says six axis robot, but it's really this interesting, uh, melding of ACAA kinematic with a six axis kinematic. Um, all of them are, uh, you know, forced limited, which is, uh, you know, obviously very different than say using an industrial robot with, uh, say LIDAR or, you know, some sort of light curtain.
Speaker 2 00:03:44 So you must feel like a kid in a candy store, uh, being part of Brooks. So, and what are the things did that mean for precise?
Speaker 0 00:03:51 Oh gosh. Uh, yeah, I it's been fantastic for us. Uh, you know, it at, at precise, um, you know, at the time of the acquisition, we were, you know, a little over 20 people and a little over, uh, 20 million in revenue. So everybody was so busy, um, that, you know, in order for us to expand, uh, we really needed to find a good partner and, you know, Brooks worked out really well because, you know, most people probably haven't heard of Brooks unless they're in the semiconductor industry. Most people probably hadn't have heard of, uh, precise automation unless they, uh, were working in the life science or laboratory automation business. And we both wanted to expand outside of those two areas and to diversify. And so for us, we were looking for a partner that would help us, you know, grow in terms of, uh, you know, marketing and support.
Speaker 0 00:04:40 Um, and Brooks has been fantastic from that perspective. We now have global customer support. We have, uh, an operational base here in Livermore, California with, uh, 43,000 square feet brand new, uh, facility. Uh, we're, we're actually making our robots for ourselves, whereas we used to be making them through contract manufacturing. And then of course we've gone from 20 people to, well over 40, I believe the count now is 45 or 46, so we've doubled in just a year. Um, and then of course the, the big one for us is, uh, they've been tremendously helpful with us, uh, in expanding our marketing effort. We're going to, uh, a lot more trade shows, uh, now, uh, doing all sorts of interesting things with optimization on the web and exposure on the web, and then we're even getting into advertising. So, um, you know, it to say that we're growing would be an understatement, uh, you know, doubling just within one year, your people and, you know, also growing in terms of revenue and, you know, support, it's all been fantastic.
Speaker 2 00:05:41 Well, that's very exciting for you. I was gonna ask about how the acquisition has expanded your market focus. Has that changed the bullseye at all?
Speaker 0 00:05:50 Uh, to some degree, yeah, we're still very keenly interested in, uh, supporting our life science and our, uh, laboratory automation customers. Um, but the expansion beyond that is going to be into electronics, manufacturing, uh, material handling, as in, uh, you know, loading up machine tools, that sort of thing, and, and packaging, um, we're even having some success, uh, oddly enough, in agriculture.
Speaker 2 00:06:17 Well, the name of this podcast is actually the story of cobots drugs, eyeglasses, and tomatoes. So that's kind of where that hook comes from, is it,
Speaker 0 00:06:25 It is absolutely. Um, you know, it's, it's really interesting. Um, you know, I, I, having grown up in the robot industry, so to speak professionally, uh, you know, it, it used to be that, uh, it was really concentrated on, you know, the automotive industry and, and supporting the auto automotive industry, whether it was an, you know, helping people build an alternator or helping them build a, uh, radio. Um, but within the last 10 to 15 years, things have really expanded. Um, and, and I, I would be, you know, happy to say and proud to say that we have helped expand the use of robots in, uh, the life sciences. Um, you know, we actually do some very interesting things, supporting drug manufacturers. Um, Mo many of our, uh, systems integrators are, uh, helping the, uh, the drug companies make it through really a, a, a deep canyon of, uh, a lack of labor.
Speaker 0 00:07:23 And so from that perspective, our robots are actually greatly needed by companies like Roche, Genentech, uh, GlaxoSmith Kline, there's, there's a long list of those companies that are all, you know, still need to do the basic research that they do to be able to make drugs. Um, one of the most interesting ones is, um, there's a, one of our systems integrators JAG in Switzerland. They've managed to, uh, put one of our robots on a mobile platform and they're taking samples from cold storage and delivering them throughout a building, uh, to various labs. Um, so it's that kind of innovation that we're going to be bringing to, uh, all sorts of other industries, as, as an example, eyeglasses, uh, we have a customer flex link. Uh, they have been integrating our Cartesian robots into, uh, solutions in the, uh, manufacturing of your eyeglasses. One of the biggest, uh, manufacturers of eyeglasses actually in north America is Costco.
Speaker 0 00:08:24 Believe it or not, they have huge facilities where they have, uh, essentially blanks, which are, uh, you know, uh, uh, pieces of your optical glass that have to be grounded down and made into a lens. And so our robots are being used to, uh, transfer these, uh, uh, carriers with, uh, eyeglasses in them from, you know, one, one conveyor to another. So it's a really interesting application, but the, the most interesting one as we, uh, as, as I alluded to, is that we're actually working in, uh, agriculture. And, um, there is a company called app harvest. They do vertical farming, which means that it's indoors in a greenhouse. And what's really amazing is they're using our robot with some very specialized vision and they are picking tomatoes and they use all sorts of different vision technologies to be able to tell whether or not the tomato is, is ripe and, um, and, and being able to find the tomato and then being able to, uh, sort it out based on size. So it's really impressive. You can actually find it on YouTube.
Speaker 2 00:09:29 No, I'll take a look for that. I think it's really, really exciting. And so you've, you've got eyeglasses, you've got tomatoes, you've got drug discovery and pharmaceutical, any other sectors that you're, uh, operating in or pointing towards?
Speaker 0 00:09:40 Absolutely. Uh, we've had some success in, uh, electronics testing, uh, many times, uh, there's this entire, uh, SMT surface Mount technology, electronics manufacturing line, and then it gets down to the end and they need to do some sort of functional test or maybe in circuit test. Um, and a lot of those things are being loaded by a person and being curated by a person who has to keep track of what passed and what didn't. Uh, we found that, uh, our, our scare robot that, um, uh, can be put onto a rail can service these types of testers. Um, and just to give you an idea that these testers can take 5, 10, 15 minutes to test. And so, uh, similarly in 3d printing, you know, there's these very long cycle times. And so our robots are actually perfect for ganging up a, a bunch of these tools and stacking them in front of our, our tall Z axis robots and allowing them to service, uh, you know, more than one. Um, you can imagine that, uh, if, if a person has to sit there and, uh, you know, walk between testers and has to keep track of, you know, what's, what's just been finished, uh, sometimes errors are made and, you know, that's one thing that obviously robots don't do is, uh, they don't make a mistake unless of course, a person programs them to make a mistake.
Speaker 2 00:11:02 Thank you for that. And let's talk a little bit about safety because I mean, safety's at the core of, of your product offering.
Speaker 0 00:11:08 Absolutely. Um, you know, it's interesting, it's really fairly simple physics, uh, you know, force equals mass times acceleration. And so what we try and do is we just, we just try and look at it maybe differently. Uh, you know, most, uh, collaborative robots are actually six axis robots, which means that they have to hold themselves up. Part of what we were trying to do was to be able to take the mass and get it out of the robot. And interestingly enough, by using ACAA kinematic, but by putting the Z axis first, uh, we've been able to remove a, a huge amount of, uh, mass that would normally be out on the end of the robot with a ball spline, to be able to do the Z and to do theta. And so with that mass being removed, what's really interesting is, is that you end up having, you know, you're able to use smaller motors, smaller gear ratios. And when you use smaller gear ratios effectively, you get this much higher signal to noise ratio in terms of probations in the system. And so effectively we've turned the robot into its own sensor. So by, by having less force, which is, you know, essentially generated by having less mass and having less mass having, you know, uh, smaller gear ratios means that we are actually far more sensitive and we can be a force limited robot without special, uh, you know, uh, sensors like, uh, you know, force, uh, force gauge, or a capacitive sensor.
Speaker 2 00:12:37 Tell me about dynamic feed forward.
Speaker 0 00:12:40 Uh, yes, dynamic feed forward dynamic feed forward is an algorithm, uh, and it's, it's actually how we turn our robot into its own sensor. Um, and what I mean by that is that, um, dynamic feed forward is this, uh, very complex algorithm, uh, probably the easiest way to describe it is, you know, think of a bunch of, uh, uh, differential equations that describe, uh, you know, how the robot, uh, is put together in terms of its mass and its center of gravity and how fast it can move and think about all the calculations that would allow you to know where that robot is going in real time. That's what dynamic feed forward allows us to do. Now, we've built very specialized controls that allow us to do this and just, uh, you know, milliseconds. And so what that means is that we're able to track the amount of power, and we're also able to, uh, track our position, um, in real time. But more importantly, we can actually predict where it's supposed to be. So rather than being a reactive technology, um, we're, we're actually a predictive technology.
Speaker 2 00:13:47 Very interesting. And let's get back to some of the trends that you're seeing in robots and automation.
Speaker 0 00:13:53 Well, one of those big trends obviously is, uh, the addition of mobile robots to so many different manufacturing environments. But I, I think what we'll see is the use of mobile robots in, uh, high mix, low volume manufacturing environments. We're, we're already seeing them, uh, you know, being used in, uh, in life science lab automation applications, but, you know, even more so we're seeing them in, uh, you know, specialty electronics, manufacturing. Uh, we're seeing them in, in odd places. Uh, I guess I say odd, but it they've been used in, uh, material handling and warehousing for quite some time. And as, uh, that tech technology, uh, you know, begins to, uh, mature. I think what we're gonna see is a, a, a, a big change in the types of environments that you'll see robots used in. Um, I think there's also, uh, a big use of artificial intelligence, but I, I, I think that's really a misover, uh, I think artificial intelligence is many times, uh, simply machine learning and not really truly AI, but regardless, um, you know, whether it's being, uh, touted correctly.
Speaker 0 00:15:06 Uh, I think building intelligence into robots, uh, along with things like vision and other sensors, it's going to add a lot of value to robots in the automation industry. It'll also add to, uh, the markets where they're going to be used. Um, you know, we, we are now seeing, uh, you know, interest in robots from, uh, markets where you, uh, typically have never seen a robot, uh, you know, try fast food restaurants and, uh, you know, other other industries like the agriculture industry, which are now starting to accept, uh, you know, automation and, and specifically robots for, uh, essentially the replacement of people, because labor's so difficult to find.
Speaker 2 00:15:48 Brian, can you tell us a little bit about the precise flex robots and the brand name?
Speaker 0 00:15:55 Yeah, precise flex actually has been our brand name since 2008 when we, uh, first brought out our collaborative robots. Um, and as it turns out, uh, the, the family includes Cartesian cobots, uh, precise, flex Scarra cobots, and also precise flex six access cobots.
Speaker 2 00:16:15 And do you see Brooks using precise flex in as a, as a semiconductor material handling solution?
Speaker 0 00:16:23 Yeah, actually that's a good question. Um, we are actually exploring some interesting ideas with, uh, you know, semiconductor customers, not so much in clean room applications, but in backend handling, uh, applications for things like jet trays. And there are some, there are some common areas where we could work together with the precise flex brand.
Speaker 2 00:16:44 Thank you for that answer. So, Brian, when you're not educating the world about collaborative robots, what do you like to do personally?
Speaker 0 00:16:51 I I'm, uh, avid hiker, uh, living in California. I have access to, uh, the Sierras. And so I, I get to do that a fair bit. Um, I also like hanging out with my wife. Who's a wine and, and, uh, fine food enthusiast. Uh, following her around usually is, uh, pretty exciting. I also, I, I love bike riding, whether it's on the mountain bike or a road bike, and then, uh, living here in California, I have access to the, uh, Sacramento, uh, Delta. Uh, so I do a lot of water skiing and paddle boarding.
Speaker 2 00:17:22 Nice. And, uh, thanks for coming on the podcast and how do people get a hold of you? Like what's the best way for, uh, people to reach out
Speaker 0 00:17:28 The best way to find me they're more than, uh, uh, more than welcome to, uh, hook up with me on LinkedIn. Uh, if they want to get in touch with me directly, they're welcome to send me an email. It's really simple. It's Brian dot Powell, brooks.com. It's Brian with an I, um, and I, I would also encourage anybody who, uh, has an interest in our technology to visit our website, www.brooks.com and just, uh, click on the collaborative robot link. And you'll, uh, you'll get a chance to see all of our technology and be able to download data sheets and see videos.
Speaker 2 00:18:02 Brian, thanks again for coming on. I appreciate it. And it was good to catch up with you.
Speaker 0 00:18:06 Thanks so much, Jim really enjoyed this.
Speaker 2 00:18:08 Our sponsor for this episode is Airhart automation systems Airhart builds and commissions turnkey solutions for their worldwide clients. With over 80 years of precision manufacturing, they understand the complex world of robotics, automated manufacturing and project management, delivering world class custom automation on time and on budget contact one of their sales engineers to see what Airhart can build for
[email protected] Airhart is spelled E H R H a R D T. And I'd like, thank and acknowledge a three they're the association for advancing automation. They are the leading automation trade association for robotics, vision and imaging motion control and motors, and the industrial artificial intelligence technologies visit automate.org to learn more. And I'd like to thank our partner painted robot painted robot builds and integrates digital solutions. There a web development firm that offers SEO, digital social marketing, and can set up and connect CRM and other E R P tools to unify marketing sales and operations. And you can find
[email protected]. And if you'd like to get in touch with us at the robot industry podcast, you can find me Jim Beretta on LinkedIn. Hey, we'll see you next time. Thanks for listening. Be safe out there. Today's podcast was produced by customer attraction, industrial marketing, and I like to recognize my nephew, Chris gray for the music Jeffrey Breer for audio production, my partner, Janet, our partner's a three painted robot and our sponsor Airhart automation systems.
