Answers_to_Questions_for_Solicitation__1333ND19QNB73041_FINAL_(002).pdf

The purpose of amendment 0001 is to respond to question submitted. Listed below are the Government responses to the questions received:

1. The solicitation says that drawings are available for the automotive parts. Can you please provide these?

The drawings for the types of parts we intend to use can be found at the following website under the “Task Board #1” and “Task Board #2” sections (note: we do not intend to use the connectors or flexible parts that are part of the above 2 task boards):

https://www.nist.gov/el/intelligent-systems-division-73500/robotic-grasping-and-manipulation-assembly/assembly

2. The solicitation says end-effector, such as a parallel gripper. Is the gripper required to be a parallel gripper?

No, the gripper is not required to be a parallel griper.

3. The solicitation lists 10 seconds per part as a requirement. What parameters define a completed task? Is there a defined travel distance with the part? Is there a defined “assembly” operation?

The “less than 10 seconds per part” requirement is defined from the time that the work cell’s control system receives/transmits a command to “find” a part to pick from the bin of parts to the time that the robot has picked up and assembled the part onto the ASSEMBLY OBJECT and is ready to pick up another part from the bin.

There is no defined part travel distance, but we expect the bin of parts and the assembly object to be relatively close to each other within the robot arm’s work volume.

For most of the parts described in the answer to Question 1, the assembly task is a variation of a peg-in-hole or hole-on-peg task.

4. Will failure to submit any of the optional CLIN’s result in disqualification?

Offerors are requested to submit a price for each optional CLIN’s.

5. For CLIN 1, the solicitation says there is a minimum payload of 5kg and 10kg. Does this mean the minimum is 10kg, and therefore a 5kg payload robot is unacceptable? Is there a defined COG where the payload should be considered (some robots define payload so that the rating decreases immediately as the COG moves away from the wrist)? Is there a maximum payload?

A ROBOT ARM that can carry a payload that weighs between 5 kg and 10 kg and move that payload anywhere in the arm’s work volume is acceptable. That is, the ROBOT ARM must be able to handle the payload whether it is at the maximum reach of the arm or close to the base of the arm. I.e., yes, a robot with a 5 kg payload is acceptable.

There is no defined COG where the payload should be considered as long as the assembly tasks can be accomplished.

There is no maximum payload required, but since the overall weight of the ROBOT ARM cannot exceed 50 kg, the arm’s payload will naturally have some upper limit.

6. A robot with a maximum reach of 700mm is acceptable, correct?

Yes.

7. For CLIN 2, are there any additional constraints/requirements? Is there a minimum or maximum length from the wrist? Is there a max weight? Is there a required stroke?

No, there are no additional constraints/requirements, minimum or maximum lengths from the wrist, max weight, or required stroke. However, the offeror should consider all of these (and other) characteristics in order to meet the requirements for all of the other CLIN’s. E.g., if a ROBOT ARM (CLIN 1) with a maximum payload of 5 kg is proposed and the proposed TOOL (CLIN 2) also weighs 5 kg, then the ROBOT ARM will not be “capable of picking up and assembling several types of typical small automotive PARTS.”

8. Under CLIN 3, it states preference will be given to sensors with hand-eye calibration procedure.

How is hand-eye calibration procedure defined? Does this mean calibrated in conjunction with the FreeDrive of the robot? Can you provide an example of a product which satisfies this?

Hand-eye calibration is the process of determining the position and orientation of the 3D SENSOR’s coordinate frame in the ROBOT ARM’s coordinate system (whether the 3D SENSOR is mounted in a fixed location relative to the robot or on the ROBOT ARM itself).

Therefore, there are many ways to achieve this.

An example of a 3D SENSOR that satisfies this is the ENSENSO N30 (mention of this particular sensor does not mean that NIST recommends this particular sensor or that this sensor is the best one for this application) which comes with the following hand-eye calibration procedure:

https://www.ensenso.com/manual/howto_handeyecalibration.htm

9. CLIN 4 states the vision system must have sufficient accuracy. Is there a spec to define sufficient?

The requirement for CLIN 4 states “The VISION SOFTWARE must be able to determine PART position and orientation (i.e., pose) with sufficient accuracy in order to allow the ROBOT ARM to successfully accomplish its task in the WORK CELL.” The term “sufficient accuracy” is left up to the offeror to determine since the 3D SENSOR and VISION SOFTWARE need to be able to find, segment, localize, etc. the part and provide the ROBOT ARM with a “good enough” position and orientation (pose) for the part in order for the TOOL to pick up the part and then assemble it.

10. Do you have the drawings for the above items?

Please see the response to question 1.