Doerfer Companies and Universal Robotics Partner for New Medical Device Automation Technology

The Doerfer Companies is partnering with Universal Robotics of Nashville, Tenn., to integrate Universal’s intelligence and 3-D software platforms with Doerfer’s custom automation solutions for flexible-piece part feeding to industrial automation assembly platforms for medical devices. The technology is designed to allow automated assembly platforms to receive raw materials without the need for traditional feeding hardware such as vibratory, centrifugal or tray feeders, according to a joint release from the companies.

For its part of the project, Universal Robotics will use its signature technology, Neocortex, which the company claims is a new form of artificial intelligence that uses sensor information to learn. It was co-developed over seven years by NASA and Vanderbilt University, and was funded by U.S. Department of Defense. According to Universal Robotics, Neocortex discovers patterns in chaotic environments that are relevant to an assigned task. From this, it provides operational insight or enables flexible machine control to perform tasks that are unsafe or difficult for humans.

Because Neocortex’s learning requires observation and interaction with the physical world, Universal created a 3-D, vision-guidance software product called Spatial Vision Robotics that provides Neocortex with information about its surroundings using off-the-shelf 3-D sensors.

Doerfer Companies (which has locations in South Carolina, Tennessee, Iowa, Illinois and Singapore) designs and manufactures factory automation systems for healthcare manufacturing, as well as the automotive, aerospace/defense, consumer and nuclear industries.

Universal Robotics, a software engineering company, creates state-of-the-art machine intelligence with multi-dimensional sensing and motion control.