SATPC0035837 Tab 06 BNJ..pdf

Page 1 V2.0 3-15-2017

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER

RECOMMENDATION AND DETERMINATION TO SOLICIT FROM ONE SOURCE

OR BRAND NAME

PICK ONE

Sole Source:

☐I recommend that NASA, NASA Shared Services Center negotiate with Vendor only for . The total estimated cost of this effort is Enter Dollar amount and the estimated period of performance or lead-time for delivery is Date.

OR

Brand Name Justification:

☒I recommend that NASA, NASA Shared Services Center negotiate only with vendors who can provide the subject brand name from Kinova, Inc. for GEN3 Ultra Lightweight Robot. The total estimated cost of this effort is and the estimated period of performance or lead-time for delivery is 30 Days ARO .

This recommendation is for the acquisition of supplies or services determined to be reasonably available from only one source/only one manufacture. Competition is impractical for the following reasons (please answer the questions below):

1. What are the reasons for soliciting only the suggested source/suggested brand name? Please provide the unique characteristics of the items or services along with the supporting rationale and the market research performed to substantiate your reason for the suggested source/brand name.

The kinova arm offers 7 Degrees of Freedom compared to the standard 6 degrees offered by other companies, allowing greater control of arms or future tooling. It also provides the capability to utilize MSFC advanced manufacturing capabilities to outfit the arm with custom tooling. Kinova also is compatible with ROS/ROS2, which has become a growing standard for manipulator control and is currently used on the LRT for rover control. Unlike other arms, Kinova has direct connection to Matlab/Simulink, which means that a large number of EV43 tools and skillsets can be used for control and monitoring with far less learning curve. With all of these capabilities, Kinova was the lowest price from a non-China-based company.

2. What is the impact to the government if another vendor/brand is used? Include any dollar, schedule, or compatibility impacts if possible.

Another vendor would result in higher costs for the same services/hardware offered through Kinova. The Kinova arm provides both ROS2 and Matlab interfaces for control and the price includes a gripper arm attachment and 7 degrees of freedom (DOF) control. An arm provided by Universal Robotics provides only 5 DOF control, has no easy interface to Matlab and meet our requirements and, although it has greater payload capability, . The Ufactory equivalent 7 DOF arm

, but does not have ROS2 nor Matlab interface, which would require extra work to include into our systems. The Dobot equivalent arm is only 6 DOF and has neither ROS nor Matlab interface and

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: