What is Feixi's intention by joining DELTA in the name of collaboration?

1. Fei Xi’s surprise

2023 has just begun, and the news in the collaborative robot industry has begun to get lively. First, Jieka announced the launch of its IPO, then Yuejiang launched its listing guidance, and then the pan-collaborative and humanoid robot company UBTECH went public in Hong Kong.

These seem to indicate that some domestic collaborative robot companies will be the first to land on the shore, but have they made it?

On the other hand, Luoshi also announced that its collaborative robot obtained the first IEC medical certification in China, becoming the first robot company in China and the second in the world to obtain this medical certification. The second company mentioned here is actually KUKA's LBR MED version. Luoshi did not disclose which specific clauses of IEC 60601 it passed, but in any case, obtaining this certification not only shows Luoshi's determination in the medical field, but also shows that it has indeed made great efforts.

The latest performance announcement released by UR is even more interesting. In 2022, UR's annual revenue reached 326 million US dollars, an increase of 5%. These two data are quite interesting. The increase of 5% is not much, but compared with the ups and downs of most cooperative manufacturers, coupled with the influence of the general environment, maintaining growth has defeated most companies. The other is the annual revenue, 326 million US dollars, but it does not mention how many units were sold.

It seems to be emphasizing: What's the point of selling 5,000 or 10,000 units? Is your turnover higher than mine? Is your average price higher than mine? Is your profit higher than mine? "Your uncle is still your uncle!" Although it has encountered obstacles in the Chinese market, UR has still delivered a very good report card in the world. Come on, domestic collaborative robot companies are going overseas!

If the news about Jieka and Yuejiang gave people the feeling of "Finally~~", then Feixi's recent new product launch gave people the feeling of "What's going on?"

Before the press conference, I guessed that Feixi might release more down-to-earth products as an expansion. After all, Feixi is currently mainly focusing on seven-axis collaborative robots with high-end prices, and the application scenarios are still relatively limited. I wonder whether Feixi will be similar to other collaborative manufacturers and divide its products into different levels to correspond to different customers, such as a six-axis version, or a low-precision force sensor version, or even a version with a current loop.

Unexpectedly, the one Feixi released was DELTA!!

Feixi has quite artistic conception in naming its products. The seven-axis collaborative robot is called Fuxiao, and the English name of this DELTA is Moonlight. However, Feixi did not translate it as "moonlight", but used the more artistic conception "Xuanhui", which was taken from the Tang Dynasty poem "Several nights under the moon on the river tower, Xuanhui accompanies the quiet chanting".

Not long ago, I pointed out in an article that the current collaborative robot manufacturers are already facing the dilemma of a single product line, and will inevitably expand their product lineup through self-development or cooperation in the future. At that time, I was actually referring more to SCARA and small six-axis, because collaboration and these two categories may form a good complement, so I was very surprised that Feixi entered the DELTA market. Moreover, Feixi abandoned the most obvious feature and advantage of DELTA this time - speed, and entered the market in the name of collaboration!

Next, let’s analyze Feixi’s new product based on the limited information from the press conference. ( This is not an advertisement! With limited information, it’s normal to make mistakes. Please treat it rationally.)

2. Design Analysis

First, let’s look at the product definition. What was announced at the press conference was: This is the world’s first adaptive parallel robot.

Let's look at the explanation of terms in sections. Parallel robot: There is no need to say more. This is a three-degree-of-freedom parallel robot. Adaptive: I am not sure whether adaptable has any other special meaning. My understanding is - collaboration, so this is a collaborative DELTA.

If we follow this definition, I'm sorry, Feixi is not the world's first. As far as I know, the world's first should be Wyze.

Although both are collaborative robots, their technical route and positioning are completely different from Feixi's. Wyze uses a direct-drive motor, eliminating the need for joint force sensors, and its performance indicators are benchmarked against traditional DELTAs . That is, Wyze is positioned for high-beat performance plus the concept of collaborative human-machine safety, while Feixi emphasized the application of force control in the press conference. Perhaps this is why Feixi emphasized adaptive parallelism rather than collaborative parallelism. (Eh, that seems to be the case. So from the perspective of emphasizing adaptability, the world's first model seems to make sense. Yes, that must be the case~)

Then let's look at the structural design. First of all , the base. I really like Xuanhui's base design. It adopts a triangular design, and each of the three rounded corners has a marker light that is the same as Fuxiao. The overall design is very simple and generous.

I think this industrial design is very similar to the base concept of the DELTA that KUKA just released. It is also triangular in shape, and the base hoisting area is relatively small, which is conducive to the processing of the mounting plate and the bracket. Of course, a small hoisting area does not mean that the bracket can be made small. If it is high-speed movement, the bracket must be solid and not small, unless it is a DELTA like Xuanhui that is originally positioned as slow.

The difference is that the KUKA base is not a completed triangle, but more industrial style, a bit like Hot Wheels? The lights of Feixi show the overall sense of technology in the design. I have said before that when I first saw Feixi's electric control cabinet, I thought it was a big speaker, with a strong sense of technology.

In addition, unlike the one-piece casting base of KUKA, I suspect that Xuanhui put a layer of plastic on the base, that is, the inside is a skeleton, and the outside is covered with a shell to form a triangular shape, because in the video, it seems that the buckle line of the upper and lower covers of the plastic shell can be seen. This is just a guess about its structural form, which is a neutral description. Regardless of the manufacturing method, I think the design of the base continues the style of Fuxiao, which is very beautiful.

Then there is the drive module . There was no introduction to the module at the press conference, and the structure could not be seen, but it can be guessed based on Feixi's background and product definition. Generally, DELTA's drive module consists of a servo motor and a reducer, most of which are planetary reducers, a few use RV or harmonics, and Wyze directly uses direct drive motors. Since Xuanhui is a collaboration and Feixi has experience with Fuxiao, I guess it is likely to adopt the same structure as Fuxiao, that is, a 48V motor + harmonic + brake + dual encoder + force sensor design, so that force control can be achieved, and there is no backlash, high precision, and it can also get safety certification like Fuxiao.

Then there is the active arm . The active arm should be made of one-piece cast aluminum, which is a relatively mature practice in the market. The only thing I think is a little regrettable is that the design of the active arm is quite similar to the DELTA on the market, which is slightly different from the high-end feel of the base. It would be better if it could be more coordinated with the base design.

Then there are the follower arms and joints . According to the press conference, the follower arms are also made of aluminum alloy. I guess they are hollow aluminum alloy tubes, in order to reduce weight. Let me focus on the joints: Xuanhui did not use the more common ball joints on DELTA, but used Hook joints. The advantage is that they will not fall off, have higher precision, and are maintenance-free. The difficulty is that it is difficult to ensure that the six rods are of equal length during assembly.

We can see that Xuanhui's Hook hinge design is also quite intuitive. There are screws between the joint and the connecting rod. It is speculated that there is a standard tooling. Then the two ends of the driven rod are fixed in place, and the middle aluminum rod is connected by a clamping method. The six driven rods use the same tooling to ensure equal length.

Then there is the dynamic platform . Xuanhui uses a simple large hollow design, which allows customers to replace different tools according to their needs. I think Xuanhui's overall design style is simple throughout the entire design, but the difference is that the base tends to be minimalist technology style, while the main arm to the dynamic platform is more inclined to minimalist industrial style.

Finally, the control cabinet . The press conference did not mention the control cabinet. I guess it may be the same control cabinet as the Dawn, or it may be modified based on the Dawn, at least using the same cabinet.

I have an idea. If Xuanhui uses collaborative modules, the driver and the module are integrated. In this way, there are not many things in the control cabinet. In addition, a significant advantage of DELTA is that the space of the base itself will be relatively large. In this way, Xuanhui has a great opportunity to put the control part in the base and achieve no control cabinet. The integration that is difficult to achieve through serial collaboration can be easily achieved on DELTA, which is even more perfect.