Class Robot Recommendation?

For a class at my university, we have been given the option between four different cobots to use over the course of the semester. They are as follows:

Kuka LBR iiwa - https://github.com/IFL-CAMP/iiwa_stack
Kuka KR Quantec - https://github.com/ros-industrial/kuka_experimental
Franka Emika Panda - https://github.com/frankaemika/franka_ros
YAskawa SDA10F (Motoman) - https://github.com/ros-industrial/motoman

My question is this, which cobot should my team select based on the following criteria?

Which one has the best/most-supported ROS stack and Gazebo integration?
Which one looks best to put on a resume as having experience with? (location is United States)?
Which one will be best for training and background if one day I want to build robots that perform domestic chores in the household?

I think I am between the Franka and the Kuka iiwa, but I don't know if I'm missing something.

Any and all opinion is appreciated. Thank you.

Asked by rational_galt on 2021-02-11 20:05:41 UTC

Comments

Just a quick note: an SDA10F, as cool as it is, is not something I would consider a cobot. It's also not marketed as such AFAIK.

Yaskawa does have PFL, but I'm not sure that's sufficient to make something "cobot-level", nor do I know whether that's available with SDA models. I suggest you ask them.

And another note: a KUKA KR Quantec (you don't specify which variant exactly), is also not a cobot.

A cobot needs special (software) support in the controller, and special design of the manipulator itself. It needs to comform to ISO 15066 for instance, and a bunch of other standards and regulations.

I haven't checked the complete Quantec portfolio, but AFAIK there is no variant in the range which would qualify as a proper cobot.

Asked by gvdhoorn on 2021-02-12 01:20:23 UTC

Wouldn't the question then become: cobots vs regular industrial robots?

Asked by gvdhoorn on 2021-02-12 01:24:33 UTC

Thanks. I renamed it to Class Robot Recommendation? Not getting alot of love from the community, however. Anything I could do to improve the post?

Asked by rational_galt on 2021-02-20 13:00:28 UTC

Answers

Not getting alot of love from the community, however. Anything I could do to improve the post?

The intersection visits_ros_answers ⋂ (uses_industrial_robots ⋂ uses_ros) is prety small. The question could be too far out of the comfort zone for many board members because of this.

Additionally, questions like:

Which one looks best to put on a resume as having experience with? (location is United States)?

will reduce the target audience even more, and are also rather hard to answer: is it better to have demonstrable experience with the 'new fangled' cobots, or with hard-core industrial robots which are still used everywhere?

Personally, I believe the only answerable one is this one:

Which one will be best for training and background if one day I want to build robots that perform domestic chores in the household?

Anything 'household' immediately rules out the non-cobots, unless you intend to install safety fences in your house.

That leaves the IIWA and the Panda.

The former is much more expensive than the latter, but I believe you already have those robots available anyway, so cost doesn't really factor in.

The IIWA is definitely "more professional". It'll arguably also be more difficult to program, compared to the Panda.

The Panda has a pretty nice ROS driver available (franka_ros), but it will require a real-time system. There are also quite some stacks available for the IIWA, but as there is no official support by KUKA, the landscape is more fragmented. IFL_CAMP made a quite nice one, but there are still some rough edges.

I'm not sure about all the other questions you ask. I don't use Gazebo with either of these robots.

Asked by gvdhoorn on 2021-02-20 13:12:26 UTC