Ulendo
Assembly Line
Vibration Compensation Improves Robot Performance
Any machine that moves deals with vibration, whether it’s a 3D printer, machine tool or robot. It’s typically managed to the point that many do not even realize that vibration is a problem, but with proper strategies to deal with vibration, machines can run faster and more efficiently. Ulendo is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based startup that produces software solutions for manufacturing automation. The company launched with a product that’s now called Ulendo VC (for “vibration compensation”), which applies an algorithm to fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printers, counteracting the machine’s vibration patterns and enabling it to run up to five times faster while maintaining part quality.
Since the launch of Ulendo VC, the company has expanded into laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing with Ulendo HC (heat compensation), which optimizes the path of an LPBF machine’s laser to reduce heat-induced deformation and stress. It’s also offering Ulendo Calibration-as-a-Service, which applies its vibration compensation to end-users’ extrusion 3D printers (as opposed to working with machine suppliers, as is the case with Ulendo VC). The company is also broadening its reach to include machines outside the 3D printing space with its fourth product: vibration compensation for robots.
Ulendo’s solution actually compensates for a machine’s vibrations instead of working around them. It does this by “tricking the machine,” as Okwudire describes it. Traditionally, Ulendo measures the machine’s vibration patterns and creates a “calibration map” that predicts how the machine will vibrate and calculates how to offset that motion. So, if a machine veers to the left instead of going straight, Ulendo VC-R (vibration compensation for robots) adjusts the path to the right, which cancels out the leftward motion and causes the machine to go straight.
Automation Alley Invests in U-M Spinoff Software Company Ulendo
Automation Alley’s Industry 4.0 Accelerator in Troy was part of a $1 million seed round investment in Ulendo, a University of Michigan spinoff software services company. Ulendo creates software tools that improve the productivity and quality of manufacturing machines at a low cost. The company’s advanced software helps companies monitor, control, and improve the performance of their manufacturing process.