Heb je ook soms het gevoel dat je leven één repetitieve reeks van gebeurtenissen is? Alhoewel de weg wijd voor je open lijkt te liggen, bevind je je keer op keer op hetzelfde pad. Je gaat van saaie maandag naar saaie maandag en eindigt de week keer op keer met dezelfde flauwe Tinderdate. Deze trein weet precies hoe jij je voelt.

Mechanisch ingenieur Christian Schürch introduceerde de _Robotic Loop_ op de Luga Trade Fair in Luzern om zijn nieuwe robotische arm te demonstreren. Zijn robots zijn indrukwekkend, maar toch hebben we vooral medelijden met de repetitieve, eindeloze tantaluskwelling van het kleine treintje.

Bekijk hieronder Schürchs tien uur durende video van zijn existentiële robotcrisis en laat je gedachtenmolen eens malen over elke slechte beslissing die je ooit gemaakt hebt. Fijne maandag.

Crash Compilation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZZCOa9Mhw4

Now some answers for questions I saw a lot:

The gripper stops over the train to detect its current position. It does that with a reed switch on the gripper, which closes when too close to the magnet attached to the train. Basically the robot moves along a circular path while continuously waiting for the switch to close. When that happens it interrupts its current movement (skip function) to evaluate it's current position and set the speed for its next movement. Maybe you could do that without stopping somehow, but since I don't really know what I'm doing, I'm already surprised that I got this far. I don't have any other sensors, so I rely on the tracks to stay at the place I want them to be.

It's completely unnecessary to move over the train like that, but I liked the challenge of doing it this way. I also think it looks better. It's also ridiculous and unnecessary to rotate the gripper 180° after placing a track. But again, because the speed of those rotations is still very fascinating to me, I wanted to have more of them. At first I always detected the train with the outer reed switch by just waiting at a predefined point. That was a loooot safer and better for my nerves. But yeah, the goal wasn't to be as efficient as possible.

Then. I realise now that I could probably do it with 3 tracks and I think I'll try that after the exhibition. Because I'm still learning what's possible by doing it, I wasn't sure if it can be done when I started programming the thing.

The robot being used is a FANUC M-2iA/3S and it belongs to my school. The only thing I constructed myself are the gripper fingers.

And finally, WHY???
For a school project, I had to make a toy train go in a circle.
Uhm I mean I had to make an "Eye-Catcher" out of this robot, which shows what it is capable of! That loop is one part of the application I came up with. 
I study mechanical engineering at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.

If you have more questions, just ask!

I do have a lot more videos, so I'll definitely upload some more stuff to here in the next few weeks. :)

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Robotic Loop - 10 minutes

Bekijk meer van Christian Schürchs werk op [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWQn9HmROKWqQagnVxk15MQ).

FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Een robotarm houdt dit treintje gevangen in een eeuwig maandaggevoel

FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Een robotarm houdt dit treintje gevangen in een eeuwig maandaggevoel

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