Robotic Arms

Closed Pre-Solicitation Posted

A newer solicitation was posted. See the latest solicitation from .

Solicitation number
NIST-SS26-CHIPS-39
Agency
National Institute of Standards and Technology Department of Commerce
Responses due
Set-aside
No set-aside

Opportunity facts

NAICS code
Not on record
PSC
Not on record
Place of performance
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States
Points of contact

Notice details come from SAM.gov. Updated .

About this opportunity

Written by GovTribe AI ·

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking sources for the procurement of robotic equipment and associated software to support its CHIPS program initiatives. This Sources Sought Notice (NIST-SS26-CHIPS-39) solicits four collaborative robotic arms with 600 mm reach, teaching pendants, electronic stops, a mountable smart camera, multiple gripper types (parallel, electronic vacuum, and soft), and a professional RoboDK software license. The equipment will be used for picking and placing fused silica coupons in manufacturing complex permittivity standards up to 330 GHz, with the objective of enabling traceable measurements for on-wafer S-parameter, power, and phase traceability. All equipment must include a one-year warranty with maintenance support. The notice was posted on December 8, 2025, with a response deadline of December 26, 2025. A Questions and Answers document is available, indicating that technical clarifications regarding instrumentation specifications and measurement capabilities may be addressed during the pre-solicitation phase.

This Sources Sought Notice does not utilize a set-aside designation, meaning the procurement is open to all eligible vendors. The notice does not disclose an incumbent contractor or award value estimate at this pre-solicitation stage. The specific quantities required include four robotic arms, one smart camera with defined technical specifications (1,280 x resolution, 30 FPS frame rate, 70 mm to 1,500 mm working range), two parallel grippers, two electronic vacuum grippers, and one soft gripper. The robotic arms must meet minimum technical specifications including six degrees of freedom, a maximum load capacity exceeding 3 kg, reach exceeding 600 mm, and repeatability of 0.02 mm, with 110V power input to the control box. This pre-solicitation phase serves to gauge market interest and refine requirements before the formal solicitation is issued.

Notice text

2 versions

As posted on SAM.gov.

Update #2 · Latest ·

NIST-SS26-CHIPS-39

PLEASE NOTE THIS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY

Title:  Robotic arms with end-effectors, linear stage, software, and programming

BACKGROUND

NIST requires four (4) Collaborative robotic arms with 600 mm reach with teaching pendants and electronic stops, one (1) Mountable smart camera, two (2) Parallel grippers, two (2) Electronic vacuum grippers, one (1) Soft gripper, and one (1) professional license of RoboDK. All equipment must include a 1-year warranty with maintenance. The robotic arms will be used to pick and place coupons used for the manufacturing of complex permittivity standards to 330 GHz. The objective of the requirement is to enable traceable complex permittivity to 330 GHz and provide known permittivity measurements for on-wafer traceability for S-parameters, Power, and Phase. This requirement supports the NIST CHIPS program to develop and disseminate NIST best practices and algorithms for complex permittivity and on-wafer measurement.

The required work provides robotic arms for picking and placing fused silica coupons for thickness and permittivity measurements. The objective is to deliver four (4) Collaborative robotic arms with 600 mm reach with teaching pendants and electronic stops, one (1) Mountable smart camera, two (2) Parallel grippers, two (2) Electronic vacuum grippers, one (1) Soft gripper, and one (1) professional license of RoboDK.

The minimum requirements are as follows:

Line Item 0001:

Description:  Collaborative robotic arm with 600 mm reach, teaching pendant, and electronic stop

Quantity:  4

  1. Technical Specifications
    1. Teaching pendant
    2. Weight 15 kg
    3. Degrees of freedom 6
    4. Maximum load more than 3 kg
    5. Reach more than 600 mm
    6. Repeatability ±0.02 mm
    7. Electronic stop
    8. Control box
    9. Power input 110V

Line Item 0002:

Description:  Mountable smart camera

Quantity:  1

  1. Technical Specifications
    1. Mounting plate for camera to EOAT
    2. Cable for camera
    3. Dimensions 71 mm x 43 mm x 35.6 mm
    4. Working range 70 mm to 1500 mm
    5. Frame rate 30 FPS
    6. Resolution 1,280 px x 1,024 px
    7. Weight 200 g
    8. Light source LED
    9. Power 24 V

Line Item 0003:

Description:  Parallel gripper

Quantity:  2

  1. Technical Specifications
    1. Adapter plate including screws
    2. Cable for 6th axis M8 4 pin to connect gripper
    3. SCHUNK EGP 40-N-N-B or comparable
    4. Weight 320 g
    5. Maximum load 700 g
    6. Power 24 V

Line Item 0004:

Description:  Electronic vacuum gripper

Quantity:  2

  1. Technical Specifications
    1. Adapter plate including screws
    2. Cable for 6th axis M8 4 pin to connect gripper
    3. Pneumatic adapter
    4. Schmalz CobotPump or comparable
    5. 10 replaceable suction cups size 6
    6. Weight 225 g
    7. Maximum load 700 g
    8. Power 24 V

Line Item 0005:

Description:  Soft gripper

Quantity: 1

  1. Technical Specifications
    1. Weight 143 g
    2. Maximum load 200 g
    1. Two fingers

Line Item 0006:

Description:  RoboDK software

Quantity:  1

  1. Technical Specifications
    1. 1 installation of RoboDK

HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS NOTICE

In responding to this notice, please DO NOT PROVIDE PROPRIETARY INFORMATION. Please include only the following information, readable in either Microsoft Word 365, Microsoft Excel 365, or .pdf format, in the response.  Submit the response by email to the Primary Point of Contact and, if specified, to the Secondary Point of Contact listed at the bottom of this notice as soon as possible, and preferably before the closing date and time of this notice.

•           Provide the complete name of your company, address, name of contact for follow-up questions, their email, their phone number and, if your company has an active registration in https://sam.gov, your company’s Unique Entity ID (UEI).

•           Details about what your company is capable of providing that meets or exceeds NIST’s minimum requirements and its past experience with robotic arms. Any relevant past performance.

•           Identify any aspects of the description of the requirements in the BACKGROUND section above that could be viewed as unduly restrictive or create unnecessary barriers that adversely affect your firm’s ability to fully participate in a procurement for such services and explain why.  Please offer suggestions for how the requirements could be organized or structured to encourage the participation of small businesses.

•           For the NAICS code

o          Indicate whether your company is (a) a small business or (b) other than small business.  See the Table of Small Business Size Standards and the associated .pdf download file for small business size standards and additional information.

o          If you believe the NAICS and/or Product Service Code code listed in this notice is not the best NAICS code for the type of product addressed in this notice, identify an alternative NAICS/PSC code that you believe would be more appropriate for the planned procurement.

•           If your firm has existing Federal Supply Schedule contract(s) or other contracts for products or services against which the Department may be able to place orders, identify the contract number(s) and other relevant information.

•           Describe your firm’s experience (as a prime, subcontractor, or consultant) providing the products or services described in Background section.

•           Provide any other information that you believe would be valuable for the Government to know as part of its market research for this requirement.

•           Please let us know if you would like to engage to get a better understanding of the requirement or need additional information about the Government’s requirement for the products or services described in the Background section.

QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS NOTICE

Questions regarding this notice may be submitted via email to the Primary Point of Contact listed in this notice. Questions should be submitted so that they are received by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on December 17, 2025.  Questions will be anonymized and answered via sources sought notice amendment following the question submission deadline.

IMPORTANT NOTES

The information received in response to this notice will be reviewed and considered so that the NIST may appropriately solicit for its requirements in the near future. 

This notice should not be construed as a commitment by the NIST to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. 

This notice is not a request for a quotation. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotations.

No award will be made as a result of this notice. 

NIST is not responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice.

NIST reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and appropriate.

Thank you for taking the time to submit a response to this request.

Update #1 ·

NIST-SS26-CHIPS-39

PLEASE NOTE THIS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY

Title:  Robotic arms with end-effectors, linear stage, software, and programming

BACKGROUND

NIST requires four (4) Collaborative robotic arms with 600 mm reach with teaching pendants and electronic stops, one (1) Mountable smart camera, two (2) Parallel grippers, two (2) Electronic vacuum grippers, one (1) Soft gripper, and one (1) professional license of RoboDK. All equipment must include a 1-year warranty with maintenance. The robotic arms will be used to pick and place coupons used for the manufacturing of complex permittivity standards to 330 GHz. The objective of the requirement is to enable traceable complex permittivity to 330 GHz and provide known permittivity measurements for on-wafer traceability for S-parameters, Power, and Phase. This requirement supports the NIST CHIPS program to develop and disseminate NIST best practices and algorithms for complex permittivity and on-wafer measurement.

The required work provides robotic arms for picking and placing fused silica coupons for thickness and permittivity measurements. The objective is to deliver four (4) Collaborative robotic arms with 600 mm reach with teaching pendants and electronic stops, one (1) Mountable smart camera, two (2) Parallel grippers, two (2) Electronic vacuum grippers, one (1) Soft gripper, and one (1) professional license of RoboDK.

The minimum requirements are as follows:

Line Item 0001:

Description:  Collaborative robotic arm with 600 mm reach, teaching pendant, and electronic stop

Quantity:  4

  1. Technical Specifications
    1. Teaching pendant
    2. Weight 15 kg
    3. Degrees of freedom 6
    4. Maximum load more than 3 kg
    5. Reach more than 600 mm
    6. Repeatability ±0.02 mm
    7. Electronic stop
    8. Control box
    9. Power input 110V

Line Item 0002:

Description:  Mountable smart camera

Quantity:  1

  1. Technical Specifications
    1. Mounting plate for camera to EOAT
    2. Cable for camera
    3. Dimensions 71 mm x 43 mm x 35.6 mm
    4. Working range 70 mm to 1500 mm
    5. Frame rate 30 FPS
    6. Resolution 1,280 px x 1,024 px
    7. Weight 200 g
    8. Light source LED
    9. Power 24 V

Line Item 0003:

Description:  Parallel gripper

Quantity:  2

  1. Technical Specifications
    1. Adapter plate including screws
    2. Cable for 6th axis M8 4 pin to connect gripper
    3. SCHUNK EGP 40-N-N-B or comparable
    4. Weight 320 g
    5. Maximum load 700 g
    6. Power 24 V

Line Item 0004:

Description:  Electronic vacuum gripper

Quantity:  2

  1. Technical Specifications
    1. Adapter plate including screws
    2. Cable for 6th axis M8 4 pin to connect gripper
    3. Pneumatic adapter
    4. Schmalz CobotPump or comparable
    5. 10 replaceable suction cups size 6
    6. Weight 225 g
    7. Maximum load 700 g
    8. Power 24 V

Line Item 0005:

Description:  Soft gripper

Quantity: 1

  1. Technical Specifications
    1. Weight 143 g
    2. Maximum load 200 g
    1. Two fingers

Line Item 0006:

Description:  RoboDK software

Quantity:  1

  1. Technical Specifications
    1. 1 installation of RoboDK

HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS NOTICE

In responding to this notice, please DO NOT PROVIDE PROPRIETARY INFORMATION. Please include only the following information, readable in either Microsoft Word 365, Microsoft Excel 365, or .pdf format, in the response.  Submit the response by email to the Primary Point of Contact and, if specified, to the Secondary Point of Contact listed at the bottom of this notice as soon as possible, and preferably before the closing date and time of this notice.

•           Provide the complete name of your company, address, name of contact for follow-up questions, their email, their phone number and, if your company has an active registration in https://sam.gov, your company’s Unique Entity ID (UEI).

•           Details about what your company is capable of providing that meets or exceeds NIST’s minimum requirements and its past experience with design and manufacture of magneto-resistive sensors. Any relevant past performance.

•           Identify any aspects of the description of the requirements in the BACKGROUND section above that could be viewed as unduly restrictive or create unnecessary barriers that adversely affect your firm’s ability to fully participate in a procurement for such services and explain why.  Please offer suggestions for how the requirements could be organized or structured to encourage the participation of small businesses.

•           For the NAICS code

o          Indicate whether your company is (a) a small business or (b) other than small business.  See the Table of Small Business Size Standards and the associated .pdf download file for small business size standards and additional information.

o          If you believe the NAICS and/or Product Service Code code listed in this notice is not the best NAICS code for the type of product addressed in this notice, identify an alternative NAICS/PSC code that you believe would be more appropriate for the planned procurement.

•           If your firm has existing Federal Supply Schedule contract(s) or other contracts for products or services against which the Department may be able to place orders, identify the contract number(s) and other relevant information.

•           Describe your firm’s experience (as a prime, subcontractor, or consultant) providing the products or services described in Background section.

•           Provide any other information that you believe would be valuable for the Government to know as part of its market research for this requirement.

•           Please let us know if you would like to engage to get a better understanding of the requirement or need additional information about the Government’s requirement for the products or services described in the Background section.

QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS NOTICE

Questions regarding this notice may be submitted via email to the Primary Point of Contact listed in this notice. Questions should be submitted so that they are received by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on December 17, 2025.  Questions will be anonymized and answered via sources sought notice amendment following the question submission deadline.

IMPORTANT NOTES

The information received in response to this notice will be reviewed and considered so that the NIST may appropriately solicit for its requirements in the near future. 

This notice should not be construed as a commitment by the NIST to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract. 

This notice is not a request for a quotation. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotations.

No award will be made as a result of this notice. 

NIST is not responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice.

NIST reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and appropriate.

Thank you for taking the time to submit a response to this request.

Attachments

File Type Posted
Questions and answers.docx DOCX document

Notice history

Notice Type Posted
Robotic Arms Latest solicitation Solicitation
Robotic Arms This notice · Original Pre-Solicitation

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