{"id":578877,"date":"2024-04-28T08:30:18","date_gmt":"2024-04-28T12:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.therobotreport.com\/?p=578877"},"modified":"2024-04-28T08:31:59","modified_gmt":"2024-04-28T12:31:59","slug":"forcen-closes-funding-to-develop-superhuman-robotic-manipulation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therobotreport.com\/forcen-closes-funding-to-develop-superhuman-robotic-manipulation\/","title":{"rendered":"Forcen closes funding to develop ‘superhuman’ robotic manipulation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Forcen

Forcen says its technology will help robotic manipulation advance as vision has. Source: Forcen<\/p><\/div>\n

Forcen last week said it has closed a funding round of CAD $8.35 million ($6.1 million U.S.). The Toronto-based company plans to use the investment to scale up production to support more customers and to continue developing its force\/torque sensing technology and edge intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been focused on delivering custom solutions showcasing our world-first technology with world-class quality \u2026 and we\u2019re excited for our customers to announce the robots they\u2019ve been working on with our technology,\u201d stated Robert Brooks, founder and CEO of Forcen. \u201cProviding custom solutions has limited the number of customers we take on, but now we\u2019re working to change that.”<\/p>\n

Founded in 2015, Forcen said its goal is to enable businesses to easily deploy “(super)human” robotic manipulation<\/a> in complex and unstructured applications. The company<\/a> added that its technology is already moving into production with customers in surgical<\/a>, logistics<\/a>, humanoid<\/a>, and space<\/a> robotics.<\/p>\n

Forcen offers two paths to robot manipulation<\/h2>\n

Forcen said its new customizable offering and off-the-shelf development kits will accelerate development for current customers and help new ones adopt its technology.<\/p>\n

The rapidly customizable offering will use generative design and standard subassemblies, noted the company<\/a>. This will allow customers to select the size, sensing <\/span>range\/sensitivity, overload protection, mounting bolt pattern, and connector type\/location.<\/span><\/p>\n

By fulfilling orders <\/span>in as little as four to six weeks, Forcen claimed that it can replace the traditional lengthy catalog of sensors, so customers can get exactly what they need for their unique applications.<\/p>\n

The company will launch its off-the-shelf development kits later this year. They will cover three degree-of-freedom (DoF) and 6 DoF force\/torque sensors<\/a>, as well as Forcen’s cross-roller, bearing-free 3 DoF joint torque sensor and 3 DoF gripper finger.<\/p>\n

\"Forcen's

Off-the-shelf development kits will support different degrees of freedom. Source: Forcen<\/p><\/div>\n

Force\/torque sensors designed for complex applications<\/h2>\n

Complex and less-structured robotics applications are challenging for conventional force\/torque sensing technologies because of the risk of repeated impact\/overload, wide temperature ranges\/changes, and extreme constraints on size and weight, explained Forcen. These applications are becoming increasingly common in surgical, logistics, agricultural<\/a>\/food, and underwater<\/a> robotics.<\/p>\n

Forcen added that its “full-stack” sensing systems are designed for such applications using three core proprietary technologies:<\/p>\n