Brand Name Justification.pdf

Brand Name Justification

The Performance of Human-Robot Interaction project requires one collaborative, industrial robot system for the development of test methods and metrics for the evaluation of the performance of performance of industrial robot systems in human-robot collaborative teams. In addition to supporting the achievement of NIST project goals, EL staff are partnering with researchers from other OUs and academia for the construction, verification, and validation of testbeds for digital twin metrology. These partnerships require the replication of capabilities and system designs, which includes equipment for direct technology transfer (specifically, existing hardware designs and experimental software). Both the NIST research and the collaborations between external research partners are necessary for the achievement of NIST's Advanced Manufacturing research goals.

These research partners leverage the Universal Robots UR3-e collaborative, industrial robot platform. Purchasing a different robotic system would require additional training and system development and integration, as direct knowledge transfer would not be possible. Additionally, extensive adjustments would be necessary to ensure consistency and compatibility between laboratories and external research partners. This would negatively impact NIST's ability to conduct cross-site research with our research partners, and would be detrimental to NIST research goals, project timelines, and dissemination of research results.

The program office identified two authorized distributors in the Washington DC region for Universal Robots products. Because warranty support is provided through the distributor of the robot, only authorized distributors of Universal Robots equipment are capable of interfacing with the manufacturer for maintenance, troubleshooting, and replacement parts.

Therefore, NIST intends to post a competitive bid to procure this requirement through an authorized distributor for Universal Robots products.