PAL Robotics’ mission is to enhance people’s quality of life through service robotics and automation technologies. They design and manufacture highly integrated and reliable solutions for service industries and research institutions worldwide.
PAL Robotics started in 2004, when a small group of engineers built the first fully autonomous humanoid biped robot in Europe. Since the beginning, they have developed state-of-the-art robots specially designed to solve their customers’ needs. Today, PAL Robotics are known for their humanoid robots REEM-C, TALOS, TIAGo and ARI, as well as the retail and manufacturing solutions, TIAGoBase and StockBot.
They sell their robotic platforms worldwide and all platforms are designed and manufactured in Barcelona. PAL Robotics is one of the founding members of the EU Robotics association, they have also been involved in numerous collaborative projects.
Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
PAL Robotics: PAL Robotics´ research has led to the creation of several biped and wheeled humanoid robots. Today we are focused on:
- ● independent mobile robots for logistics – our TIAGo Base robot;
- retail robots for improving retail operations – our StockBot robot;
- ● bi pedal legged robots for Research & Development – our TALOS and REEM-C robots;
- ● mobile manipulators for assistive and industrial applications – our TIAGo robot;
- ● social humanoid robotics for interaction with people and use in public spaces. – our ARI robot.
Additionally, we have been involved in numerous international research projects in different industries such as manufacturing, retail, Artificial intelligence and healthcare.
E.E: What’s the news for 2020 about new products?
PAL Robotics: With the direct consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in healthcare, as well as the indirect consequences, such as social distancing, organisations are increasingly turning to automated solutions and robots to meet their changing needs. PAL Robotics has a number of robotic solutions that can help in hospitals and healthcare, as well as other environments during the pandemic and beyond.
Our robots including ARI, TIAGo and TIAGo Base have the capacity to support hospitals in a number of ways. The potential services they can bring includes: food delivery, telepresence, medical dispatching, disinfection of areas and human temperature checking.
Our ARI robot tackles at least two main problems that hospitals and institutions are facing: the lack of optimization in first hospital care, in particular where medical professionals are exposed to potentially ill patients with not enough protection or resources and also quarantine of users which may have a negative impact on mental health. ARI offers continued social interactions and adherence to treatment regimes without fear of spreading infection. It’s also possible to add a thermal camera to ARI’s head to detect temperatures.
Our TIAGo Base robot operates as TIAGo Delivery – a solution that is used for food deliveries in hospitals and hotels. TIAGo Delivery carries objects such as medication and samples or food around in hospitals and similar environments.
Our TIAGo Base robot operates as ADR – Autonomous Disinfection Robot – the disinfection robot is an autonomous solution that performs disinfection in hospitals. ADR autonomously navigates in an environment finding the best route for ensuring the disinfection of the whole space with its UV-C lights. It goes into contaminated areas instead of cleaning staff, protecting them from possible sources of infection. This disinfection method is much faster than traditional methods.
E.E: What are the ranges of traded products?
PAL Robotics: ARI is our latest humanoid platform specifically designed for Human-Robot-Interaction and front-desk activities. ARI is expressive, easily integrable and able to provide dynamic information to customers and employees.
REEM-C is a full-size biped humanoid robot that has been designed to be a research platform. It’s flexible, reliable, open, standard and upgradable. An advanced robot to boost research areas like navigation, Human-Robot-Interaction, vision or Artificial Intelligence
TALOS is PAL Robotics’ most advanced humanoid robot and is used in the research of dynamic motion, navigation, and manipulation. It can walk over uneven terrain and control interaction forces exchanged with the environment, for instance during drilling or riveting tasks, by exploiting the torque sensors integrated in every joint.
TIAGo is customizable and is, therefore, able to support a wide variety of extensions such as arms or wrists to aid in research for artificial intelligence and Human-Robot-Interaction. TIAGo’s abilities open many possibilities for applications in complex industrial scenarios and a standard research platform for manipulation, perception and autonomous navigation.
TIAGo Base robot is an Autonomous Mobile Robot (AMR) that automates indoor deliveries in industry and in business. TIAGo Base works autonomously to enhance logistics, cut down costs, and boost efficiency and productivity. The robot adapts to changes, avoiding obstacles and people and is customizable to meet customer requirements
StockBot is an autonomous robot that automates daily inventory taking in retail stores and warehouses without supervision. The robot combines RFID technology, vision cameras and autonomous navigation to speed up stocktaking and has proved to overcome conventional handheld readers.
E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?
Commercial and industrial robots are becoming more and more widespread today and used to perform jobs which are dirty, dangerous, or dull for humans. The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating this process of development in robotics.
Aside from this, Research and Development in robotics is ongoing, not only in robotics organisations but also in collaborative projects between various organisations. PAL Robotics takes part in many research projects on a European level. Particularly, for example, in developing robotics to support older people in Ambient Assisted Living, and in development of more sophisticated robotics for Factories of the Future and to work in collaboration with humans in industry. Examples of these projects are EnrichMe and Co4Robots.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
PAL Robotics: With the direct consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, organisations are increasingly turning to automated solutions including robots to meet their changing needs – this automation can be used for example in areas including hotels and hospitality, hospitals, and industry, to reduce face to face interactions between staff, staff and customers, or staff and patients.
With the COVID-19 pandemic what is also clear is the real need for robotic solutions with interaction – robotics with AI that can physically interact with, for example patients.
Aside from COVID-19, with general advances in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) technology, this will allow robots to take part in more sophisticated social interactions in public spaces, and we’ll see more robots used in places such as hotels, public buildings, shopping malls, airports and at events and exhibitions in the near future.
The current situation has speeded up the adoption of robotics technology, for their increased added value in terms of productivity and also in terms of safety of workers.
E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?
PAL Robotics: PAL Robotics has a number of robotic solutions ready to help in healthcare, however TIAGo Delivery is the first robot to be officially launched in hospitals. The TIAGo Delivery robot, which will soon be deployed in hospitals, following a winning proposal submitted to the European DIH-Hero project. The robot will deliver objects, from food, to medication, blood and medical samples, and surgical supplies. The first robots in this project will operate in hospitals in Barcelona, where the robot will be deployed next month.
TIAGo Delivery is equipped, among others, with Accerion’s positioning sensors and is being deployed following the acceptance of a joint proposal from the project partners to DIH Hero in response to their open Call, ‘Fighting COVID-19 2020 for healthcare robotics.’ TIAGo Delivery is an existing solution; the robot is one of several solutions designed by PAL Robotics that can be easily integrated on top of the TIAGo Base robot. TIAGo Delivery is able to transport items around hospitals and has an even better accuracy in its positioning thanks to the cutting-edge sensors by Accerion, which have been added to the robot.
