The rising shortage of proficient manpower, coupled with ever-increasing wages and changes in the workforce regulatory framework have collectively contributed to a huge hike in demand for automation in the manufacturing industry. “We’re seeing increasingly complex robots being used for increasingly complex tasks,” says Neil Tardella, CEO, Energid Technologies. Any robotic system leveraged in the manufacturing industry requires a powerful solution to the three big problems: advanced robot control, robot simulation, and computer vision. To address these challenges smartly, efficiently, and flexibly, Energid Technologies has come up with its indigenous best-in-class robotics software, Actin, which is specialized in the control, simulation, and sensing of complex robotic systems. “This is where Actin shines,” Tardella adds.

Actin’s features that include a robust control framework and operating system for commercial, industrial, and mission-critical robots are deployed at the customer’s shop floor as a cross-platform application and extensible software toolkit. The software’s responsive programming enables faster time-to-market and reduced software development costs for enterprises. Empowered by real-time adaptive capabilities ensures compatibility where a single Actin program runs on a variety of robots from different vendors. By leveraging the Actin robot control software, enterprises can harness on adaptive accuracy, enabling robots to adjust their paths based on the perceived environment.

In addition, with the help of the Actin Simulation software, enterprises can anticipate potential problems that may arise in the operation and try to fix it by running in simulated and virtual environments. The simulation toolkit not only helps in designing and implementing robots, but also acts as a training tool for managers and supervisors as well as a visualization and marketing tool for the sales force. “With control that integrates vision and other sensors to drive reactive motions—instead of a robot stopping when a collision occurs, Actin gives dynamic online motion to avoid collisions before they occur,” asserts Tardella.

Actin can seamlessly integrate with any CAD system and it also has the ability to simulate with virtual cameras, stereo vision systems, range sensors, LIDAR, and other assets.

Instead of a robot stopping when a collision occurs, Actin gives dynamic online motion to avoid collisions before they occur

With the help of XML and XML-configurable C++ objects, the software enables customization for particular operations and environments.

In partnership with Universal Robots, a manufacturer of small flexible industrial robotic arms, Energid’s Actin toolkit provides detailed workspace simulation, which enables rapid iteration through work cell designs and evaluation of the placement of manufacturing components and robots. Apart from this, Actin also offers many powerful features that augment the utility of Universal Robots solutions, including integration with different external hardware and software components, intuitive high-level graphical programming interface, and the ability to load models from Energid’s online model database.

With its ingenious robotic solutions, Energid Technologies has been helping its clients realize hundreds of millions of dollars in cost savings and increased productivity. For instance, one of their customers, AREVA Corporation installed Energid’s Actin software to their robotic systems for servicing and inspection of nuclear power plants. “AREVA chose Actin for its advanced control capabilities, its ability to reason about 3D environments, and the fact that it is robot-agnostic,” explains Don Bigler, Senior Software Engineer at AREVA.

With numerous such success stories, Energid Technologies is at the forefront of a new robotics revolution. “Whether automating complex assembly lines, enabling robots in space, or powering lightweight robots for STEM education, we are pleased to see Actin evolve as a general purpose operating system for the next generation of robotics,” concludes Tardella.