Clearpath Robotics and Fresh Consulting Join Forces to Enhance Mobile Manipulation

Clearpath Robotics and Fresh Consulting have joined forces in an exciting collaboration, aiming to propel innovation in the robotics industry. Clearpath Robotics is a global leader in the development and deployment of innovative robotics solutions and has gained recognition for its advanced robotic platforms.

Fresh Consulting is a dynamic and forward-thinking firm specializing in design, technology and strategic consulting. With a team of multidisciplinary experts, Fresh Consulting takes pride in taking on complex projects and has built a reputation for delivering innovative solutions across a wide range of industries.

The partnership between the two aims to leverage each company’s strengths to create innovative robotic solutions. With Fresh’s design, engineering and consulting prowess and Clearpath’s robotic platforms, the two strive to release groundbreaking solutions that tackle challenges faced by the industry today.

Mobile manipulator built using Clearpath's Boxer robot

In an innovative collaboration, the two companies teamed up to develop a mobile manipulator with Clearpath’s Boxer robot. As the adoption of mobile manipulators continues to gain momentum in various industries, this finely engineered robotic system sets an excellent example of the unlimited possibilities in the field.

The project involved creating a customizable installation that replicates human movement within a physical space. To accurately simulate a variety of scenarios, Fresh determined that a robotic system with a high degree of precision in replicating movements would be the ideal solution. Fresh chose Clearpath’s Boxer robot as a base for their device.

Boxer is an indoor robotic platform that is designed to be easily programmable and enables effortless integration of additional hardware. This made Boxer the ideal base for the system at hand. The team leveraged the open ROS interface, allowing them to develop control and perception solutions, ultimately facilitating smooth navigation of the robot through complex environments.

The system involved 3D global positioning along with the goal to replicate ultra-precise “human” movement through the physical space with the robot. For the navigation stack, the team utilized wheel odometry, IMU and LiDAR data as well as an OptiTrack solution for repeatable localization. Finally, a Yaskawa arm was added to move the device under test to an exact location.

With the system’s exceptional programmability and precision, the team was able to conduct repeated simulations, assisting the client in calibrating their device and confidently advancing their product development.

Editor's note: This blog post was republished with permission from Clearpath's website.