Requirements.pdf

REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENT

Title: Mobile Manipulator System

Requesting Lab: Engineering Laboratory

Background:

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) works on the development of quantitative standard test and evaluation methods for mobile manipulators in manufacturing environments. Prior to standards development, NIST develops the test protocol, executes the test methods, and provides results to the standards development community comprised of industry, academia, and government.

The NIST Mobility Performance of Robotic Systems project, within the Engineering Laboratory (EL) at NIST, developed one of the first mobile manipulator prototypes, which served as the foundation for subsequent prototype development. Since then, the industry has begun to market and sell integrated mobile manipulator systems. Acquiring a new integrated robot is crucial for conducting experiments and developing a technologically relevant metrology framework to establish the "reproducibility" of NIST-developed apparatuses, test procedures, and the validation of standard test methods. Additionally, to remain globally competitive, it is essential to develop standardized test methods that ensure proper benchmarking of robot capabilities.

An advanced, versatile, reconfigurable open-source mobile manipulator capable of navigating in both indoor and outdoor environments will ground NIST’s quantitative test and standards development. NIST will be researching novel metrics, test apparatuses, integration of sensors, and test procedures to evaluate the autonomous onboard sensing, simultaneous localization and mapping, multi-robot collaboration capabilities. In addition, this requirement will provide for enhanced communications with stakeholders, including the general public during tours, using hands-on demonstrations of state-of-the-science remote robot capabilities within relevant test apparatuses in our Mobile Manipulator Testbed.

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this requirement is to obtain a state-of-the-art integrated mobile manipulator for indoor and outdoor applications to be used for the development of performance metrics for new mobile manipulator applications.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

The Contractor shall provide a Mobile Manipulator System that meets all technical specifications identified below. All items must be new. Used or remanufactured equipment will not be considered for award. Experimental, prototype, or custom items will not be considered.

The use of “gray market” components are not authorized for sale in the U.S. by the Contractor is not acceptable. All line items shall be shipped in the original manufacturer’s packaging and include all original documentation and software, when applicable.

Line Item 0001: Mobile Manipulator System Quantity: One (1)

• Required Technical Specifications: Fully integrated manipulator, where the manipulator:

o Is physically integrated with the mobile base by the manufacturer.

o Has a single power management system. I.E., the manipulator and the mobile base have a shared battery(s).

o Provides a control system where user(s) can move the manipulator and the mobile base in the same application.

o Can manipulate payloads 12 kg or greater o Has 6 degrees of freedom o Weight (total) less than 45 kg o 1.2 m reach or more

• The mobile manipulator provides hardware and software interfaces to add onboard Inertial Measurement Unit IMU and cameras.

o The mobile manipulator shall have hardware and software interface to integrate user-added onboard sensors o The contractor shall provide updates to the software on the robot and controller and provide electronic manuals as applicable.

• The mobile base should be able to navigate different terrains (i.e. soil, industrial floors), not just flat floors, containing the following specifications:

o At least 15° inclined/declined slope o 10 cm threshold o 10 cm gap o 2 cm-depth 15cm x 15cm crack o Payload support: at least 150 kg o At least 5 hours of autonomous operation

• Omnidirectional kinematics

• Ready-to-use control application, capable of following functions without writing raw codes (C, python, etc.), capable of:

o Generating a map o Navigating from point A to B in a map, and docking o Moving the manipulator arm to the 6-dof point o Activating the manipulator EOATs task

• Linux-based controller operating system for research and development. Integrated API (Representational State Transfer (REST), Robot Operating System (ROS), etc) to monitor/control the manipulator and the base via user-developed external controller.

• Controller can be synchronized using Network Time Protocol (NTP) or Precision Time Protocol (PTP)

• ROS based robot management system

• Localization: Ability to integrate novel robot localization and navigation algorithms, capable of simultaneous Localization and Mapping

• Environmentally ruggedized for indoor and outdoor operations

• GPS (for outdoor tests)

• WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity

• Ethernet, USB, and HDMI ports

• Safety scanning and response for navigation and 360 obstacle avoidance

The robot shall be fully autonomous in a 2D environment out of the box, following limited system setup, account setup, and network setup activities. There shall be no physical device or sensor setup prior to 2D autonomous activity capability out of the box. Parts and sensors shall be installed prior to shipment.

Shipping and Delivery:

Delivery shall be FOB destination and shall occur within the vendor’s standard commercial lead time, but no later than 16 weeks after contractor receipt of order.

FOB Destination means: The contractor shall pack and mark the shipment in conformance with carrier requirements, deliver the shipment in good order and condition to the point of delivery specified in the purchase order, be responsible for any loss of and/or damage to the goods occurring before receipt and acceptance of the shipment by the consignee at the delivery point specified in the purchase order; and pay all charges to the specified point of delivery.

The contractor shall deliver all Line Items to the NIST Shipping and Receiving address identified below. The delivery will then be directed to the equipment’s final destination, also identified below.

NIST Shipping & Receiving 100 Bureau Drive Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001

NIST Final Equipment Destination:

100 Bureau Drive Building 202, Loading Dock Gaithersburg, MD 20899-0001

Warranty: The contractor shall warrant the entire system in accordance with the contractor’s or original equipment manufacturers’ (OEM) standard commercial item warranty, to include at minimum, One year manufacturer’s warranty on all parts, components and software.

Training: The contractor shall provide training on the system after delivery and receipt by the government. A minimum of five NIST personnel shall be trained on operations, maintenance, troubleshooting and safety of the robot. The contractor shall mutually coordinate a training date and time with the NIST Contracting Officer’s Representative (COR) and the NIST technical Subject Matter Expert (SME) within 10 business days after delivery.

Inspection and Acceptance:

In addition to the inspection and acceptance terms articulated in 52.212-4, the Government reserves the right to perform such performance tests and evaluations as defined below to verify specified system performance. Such tests and evaluations, if performed, shall be conducted within the environment that the system is to be operated. The Contractor has the right to be present during the tests and evaluations, if performed, at the Contractor’s expense.

The scope of general inspection includes:

1. Structural, mechanical, and electrical evaluation of product

2. An operational evaluation of the Mobile Manipulator System

3. Evaluation of the system’s performance and software interfacing

A visual inspection of the equipment will be performed by the COR or SME to identify surface defects or any form of indication that any equipment was damaged during transport to NIST. The Government shall have sole discretion to require repair or replacement of damaged and/or nonconforming supplies at no cost to the Government. The Government at any time prior to acceptance may reject the equipment due to defects and/or nonconformance. The vendor is responsible for latent defects discovered any time after final inspection. However, the extent of its liability shall be prorated over the useful life of the equipment.

The Government will test, inspect, and accept or reject the equipment within 10 days of the receipt of the equipment unless otherwise indicated above. The Government reserves the right to conduct quality assurance testing to confirm that a given instrument(s) meets the manufacturer’s and/or the Government’s performance specifications. The equipment shall meet all manufacturer’s specifications and/or the Government’s performance specifications identified in the most recent operations and maintenance manual for each piece of equipment and/or in this document.