Case Study
Speeding introduction of groundbreaking robot
Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.
Sanyo Electric cut its design cycle in half by using NX I-deas to redesign a utility robot
In its efforts to dominate the home robot business, Sanyo Electric needed to redesign an existing model and get the new version to market as quickly as possible.
Robots communicate with visitors at events
Sanyo Electric is a major home appliance company that promotes its clean energy and multimedia businesses with the corporate slogan, “We love people and the earth.” Sanyo, with a history spanning 57 years, is a major player in the field of audio-visual and telecommunications devices, and boasts the greatest production of digital cameras in Japan. In addition, Sanyo Electric is well known for proprietary technologies in such areas as electronic devices like liquid crystal devices, rechargeable secondary batteries and solar cells with the highest replacement efficiency in the world.
Sanyo is putting a major effort into technologies that “people find enjoyable” in the multimedia field. The utility robot “Banryu,” which means dragon-guard, is symbolic of this effort. The new Banryu is a human-friendly robot targeted to the business sector for use at events. This utility robot, exclusively developed by Sanyo Electric, can communicate greetings and simple introductions utilizing its voice recognition and audio composition functions. LEDs on the robot's face and back illuminate when it is talking, helping provide visual expression. Banryu's friendly appearance, long dragon-like neck and its ability to walk and smoothly climb steps (using four legs) are attention getters designed to draw audiences at events. The robot can be controlled remotely through a local area network (LAN) via a personal digital assistant (PDA). In Banryu's head there is an integrated camera that enables the user to see the robot’s environment, allowing the robot to be inconspicuously controlled by mobile phone. Banryu takes advantage of technology for managing rechargeable secondary batteries, automatic machine technology, design and modification technology, communications technology like human interfaces and portable telephones, and the sort of proprietary technology that only a company like Sanyo can bring to bear on such a project.
A product of a joint development by Sanyo Electric and Tmsuk Co., Ltd., a specialty robotics manufacturer, the previous Banryu began shipping in spring 2003 and is already being used in ordinary households. Based on feedback from these applications, a variety of areas for improvement were presented to Sanyo Electric’s Robot Business Unit. The most important of these was the need for a more user-friendly design and a new appearance that would enable the robot to provide, for example, product explanations at promotional events and to introduce itself at meeting halls and sales sitesccordingly, Sanyo decided to exclusively develop a “New Banryu” by lengthening its neck so that people could communicate with it while looking at its face, and by giving it a mouth that moves as if it were munching on something.
3D adopted to speed development
The design phase for the previous Banryu had taken 10 months and management wanted a faster turnaround on the new model. On the previous Banryu project, the robot’s release had been delayed by rework, which was necessary because interferences were not detected until prototype production. “One problem that occurred over and over was that when the robot raised its legs, they banged into the most unexpected places,” explains Nobuyuki Osumi, senior staff, Robot Business Unit, Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. “We had to redo the design data five or six times when we were using 2D CAD.”
For the design of the New Banryu, the company chose to work exclusively in 3D using NX I-deas software from the NX product development portfolio. The choice of 3D was due in large part because there was again the high probability that various parts would interfere during the movement of the robot as it traveled up and down, right and left. Past experience had shown that the ability to do interference checking in software was critical for the development of robots that make such complicated movements and interference checking required the use of 3D models. The Robot Business Unit purchased approximately 20 seats of NX I-deas software.
Rework was eliminated
As a method of detecting interferences prior to production, the use of 3D design was a huge success. “It was possible to eliminate the reworking of the design after trial manufacture by carrying out interference checks beforehand with 3D data,” says Osumi. “On the New Banryu, rework was reduced to almost zero.”
The 3D approach was also valuable in developing the human interface. Since the New Banryu is a robot whose purpose is harmonious cooperation with human beings, it would be a problem if someone’s fingers got stuck in the gaps of the robot’s joints when it walked or someone’s hand got trapped when it lowered its head. NX I-deas was very helpful in designing the joints so that a child’s fingers cannot get caught in them, or are sufficiently large so that the fingers can be easily freed. Careful checks of the shape of Banryu’s joints were done while each part of the 3D model – with more than 500 points – was operated.
Another advantage of the 3D approach was more effective collaboration. Thanks to the free use of the functions of NX I-deas, it was possible for team members to engage in efficient and cooperative design wherein several members simultaneously advanced the design in the same collaborative space. Collaboration between industrial designers and mechanical designers was also improved on this project. What was particularly crucial in the case of the New Banryu was the task of reconciling the demand for an aesthetic design that was pleasing to children and the demand for a structural design that involved many movable parts, such as the joints of the neck, while adhering to strategic specifications. Industrial designers and the mechanical designers were able to communicate smoothly because both groups used NX I-deas.
Design time cut in half
By introducing 3D design, it was possible to reduce the design and development period for the New Banryu by half, to approximately five months, from the 10 months previously required with 2D design.
Sanyo Electric successfully introduced New Banryu in April, 2004, as planned. As Akira Toyoshima, general manager, Robot Business Unit, Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., enthusiastically put it, “The robot market is a field that has still not been fully established as a business and so no one knows yet what the best concept is or what design is the right answer. What is crucial is to put finished products on the market as soon as possible and then to make the best use of the reaction and response of the market in the next generation of products. Whether or not we can grasp unopened regions depends on the speed of design and NX I-deas will likely become an indispensable tool for us from here on.”
In the future, it is anticipated that robots will fulfill a variety of roles in such areas as factory patrols, supplementary care-giving in hospitals and facilities for the elderly, operations in the place of human beings in adverse environments and so on. With NX I-deas, Sanyo Electric is aiming at ensuring itself the top place worldwide in the utility robot market.
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Challenges:
- Become no. 1 in the utility robot business
- Redesign existing robot for greater user-friendliness
- Speed development of new model to capture market share
Keys To Success:
- Replace 2D design approach with NX® I-deas software
- Conduct industrial and mechanical design simultaneously by sharing NX I-deas models
- Perform interference checks onscreen
Results:
- Design period reduced by 50 percent compared to earlier robot done in 2D
- Rework eliminated due to complete interference checks during design phase
- Digital movement verification ensured safe robot-human interactions
Industry:
- Electronics & Semiconductor
Client's Primary Business:
Sanyo Electric is one of the world's leading home appliance companies.
Business Initiatives:
- New Product Development
Solutions/Services:
- NX
- NX I-deas
Client Location:
Sumoto City
Japan
"Since both the aesthetic designers and the structural designers engaged in team design based on 3D forms by using NX I-deas, they could reconcile their intentions smoothly and this aided in reducing the design period by one half."
Nobuyuki Osumi
Senior Staff, Robot Business Unit, Commercial Business Group, Commercial Technology Headquarters
Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.
"Analysis will become even more important when we reach the point where robots are used in adverse environments. The strength of NX I-deas, which is capable of consistently carrying out everything from conceptual design to detailed design and even analysis, will likely manifest themselves more and more from here on."
Akira Toyoshima
General Manager, Robot Business Unit, Commercial Business Group, Commercial Technology Headquarters
Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.
"It is precisely because this project involved the New Banryu – with its complex structure – that careful interference checks with NX I-deas were indispensable."
Jiro Ohishi
Senior Staff, Robot Business Unit, Commercial Business Group, Commercial Technology Headquarters
Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.