The company I work for supplies Ocado with a material for use in all of their warehouses and it's been an adventure watching them grow exponentially from their origins to now. Innovative is an understatement when it comes to their approach to automation and engineering.
Looks like they're using a timing-belt at the tread of the tires. That's brilliant. Looks like it routed in a way that's easy to replace. It longer than the wheels so should last longer. The belt is also how power gets to the wheel. And finally they're probably buying plenty of belts to make it economical to buy custom high-grip belts. (assuming some conveyor company doesn't have something off the shelf)
Had not heard of Ocado's 3d printed robots, what an amazing example. On efficiency improvements, light weight means can run longer/father on same energy, and any wear on parts will be decreased. The organic structures are brilliant, particularly if optimizing for forces and stresses of the application. Designing "organic structures" would a good topic for a future Slant: "design series" video, particularly as relates to mass producing such components.
"Evolution over time creates optimized structures" Some time ago I wrote genetic algorithms to optimize 3D structures. It's crazy the kind of structures it came up with that somehow worked.
I object to the existence of the word "light-weighting." ( "Unmanufacturable" isn't much better.) Otherwise, this is pretty cool. Although as someone who works in grocery delivery, I suspect most of their electricity cost is still the reefers. Keeping things cold is massively energy intensive and is why my company decided not to buy EVs - with the reefer running, they just don't have enough battery life when the temperature hits +25. (Or -25, you can't let things freeze, either.) My guess is the real value in reducing the weight of the robots is in extending the duty cycle, rather than in reducing the actual dollar cost of electricity. If the 3d printed robot is using less power to move, then the battery will last longer, and that means you need less robots overall to maintain operations. And *that* would make the warehouse a lot cheaper to set up.
Longer duty cycles, and less wear on components are likely the real advantages. BTW: "lightweighting" is a common engineering term in aerospace industry. It tends to be at core of any cost or constraint decisions.
@@AerialWaviatorwhen it comes to cost, making things lighter is ALWAYS more expensive, so it's not a cost reducer, hence why they opted to literally build them from scratch. It's cheaper to make a whole robot from nothing than it is to make an existing machine lighter. Heavier is ALWAYS cheaper than hiring an entire robotics engineering team to build you a lightweight robot, it has nothing to do with cost saving on the machine end, they're saving money in the long run by patenting and selling their design to other companies.
@@AerialWaviator I don't care if it's a common term, I still object to it existing. :p Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to chase some kids off my lawn.
If anything can convince people that 3D printing is the way to go into the future, then this robot and your clear explanation should make more understand.
@@slant3d I am sure it will; we need to give old-style thinking time to "rethink." ;-) I'm developing a n open-sourced 3D-printable toy called #Stemfie3D. I have designed thousands of parts that anyone can download and print. It is an example that 3D-printable toys will give traditional toy manufacturers a run for their money.
I use MJF parts a lot for jigs, fixtures or production parts that are hidden. I can see a company using this as real production process only if the aesthetics are not important and they produce those parts with their own MJF printers instead of outsourcing.
I really enjoy this line of videos. I use 3D printing for real parts and development work. Its cheap and easy to fix issues. Spool it up in Fusion then print. CF12 nylon is my friend!
This video is an obvious exception - but many, if not most of their videos show the inside of their farm. Any time you see what appears to be "stock 3D printer farm footage" - you're actually seeing their farm / factory.
I honestly thought you generated a click bait image for your thumbnail. I am pleasantly surprised it’s an actual robot!
I know right
I love these short videos featuring real world 3D printing success stories. They're educational and inspirational.
Thanks. Glad you like them
@dang3304 sorry but just about everything in that comment is incorrect
The company I work for supplies Ocado with a material for use in all of their warehouses and it's been an adventure watching them grow exponentially from their origins to now. Innovative is an understatement when it comes to their approach to automation and engineering.
Looks like they're using a timing-belt at the tread of the tires. That's brilliant. Looks like it routed in a way that's easy to replace. It longer than the wheels so should last longer. The belt is also how power gets to the wheel. And finally they're probably buying plenty of belts to make it economical to buy custom high-grip belts. (assuming some conveyor company doesn't have something off the shelf)
I met one of the team working on their first gen robots in 2017, this looks like another planet, delighted to see. Cheers!
Had not heard of Ocado's 3d printed robots, what an amazing example. On efficiency improvements, light weight means can run longer/father on same energy, and any wear on parts will be decreased.
The organic structures are brilliant, particularly if optimizing for forces and stresses of the application.
Designing "organic structures" would a good topic for a future Slant: "design series" video, particularly as relates to mass producing such components.
"Evolution over time creates optimized structures"
Some time ago I wrote genetic algorithms to optimize 3D structures. It's crazy the kind of structures it came up with that somehow worked.
I object to the existence of the word "light-weighting." ( "Unmanufacturable" isn't much better.) Otherwise, this is pretty cool.
Although as someone who works in grocery delivery, I suspect most of their electricity cost is still the reefers. Keeping things cold is massively energy intensive and is why my company decided not to buy EVs - with the reefer running, they just don't have enough battery life when the temperature hits +25. (Or -25, you can't let things freeze, either.)
My guess is the real value in reducing the weight of the robots is in extending the duty cycle, rather than in reducing the actual dollar cost of electricity. If the 3d printed robot is using less power to move, then the battery will last longer, and that means you need less robots overall to maintain operations. And *that* would make the warehouse a lot cheaper to set up.
Reducing the weight of the robots (which run on top of the grid) also reduces the structural demands upon the grid itself.
Longer duty cycles, and less wear on components are likely the real advantages.
BTW: "lightweighting" is a common engineering term in aerospace industry. It tends to be at core of any cost or constraint decisions.
@@AerialWaviatorwhen it comes to cost, making things lighter is ALWAYS more expensive, so it's not a cost reducer, hence why they opted to literally build them from scratch. It's cheaper to make a whole robot from nothing than it is to make an existing machine lighter. Heavier is ALWAYS cheaper than hiring an entire robotics engineering team to build you a lightweight robot, it has nothing to do with cost saving on the machine end, they're saving money in the long run by patenting and selling their design to other companies.
@@AerialWaviator I don't care if it's a common term, I still object to it existing. :p Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to chase some kids off my lawn.
If anything can convince people that 3D printing is the way to go into the future, then this robot and your clear explanation should make more understand.
Hopefully
@@slant3d I am sure it will; we need to give old-style thinking time to "rethink." ;-) I'm developing a n open-sourced 3D-printable toy called #Stemfie3D. I have designed thousands of parts that anyone can download and print. It is an example that 3D-printable toys will give traditional toy manufacturers a run for their money.
absolutely fantastic application for this technology
3d printed and robotics are a match made in heaven
Certainly is
Looks like a borg cube!
A bit
I use MJF parts a lot for jigs, fixtures or production parts that are hidden. I can see a company using this as real production process only if the aesthetics are not important and they produce those parts with their own MJF printers instead of outsourcing.
I really enjoy this line of videos. I use 3D printing for real parts and development work. Its cheap and easy to fix issues. Spool it up in Fusion then print. CF12 nylon is my friend!
3D Printing is still wildly underutilized
An ex-colleague of mine is in-charge of the 3D printing dept there. I almost got a job myself with them.
Until he/she recognized you? 😂 Just joking
0:00 what an appearance!!
Snap!
when will we see more vids from inside your farms/factories ??
This video is an obvious exception - but many, if not most of their videos show the inside of their farm. Any time you see what appears to be "stock 3D printer farm footage" - you're actually seeing their farm / factory.
@logicalfundy Every time.
2:22 the parts are "optimised for 3D printing"? Are you sure about that?
There warehouses seem to catch on fire a lot though.
Also Borg.
Man didn't evolve. A super-intelligent, creative genius of a designer made us. God!
Resistance is futile.
scrolling down for this, not disappointed.
It's #Gridfinity upside down.
Wow!
It is really cool
Evolution did not create our bones. God did.