Latest / The Robotics Podcast with Fexingo: Autonomous Systems, Industrial Robots, and Hardware
Why Robot Arms Still Can't Thread a Needle
In Episode 43, Lucas and Luna explore one of the most deceptively difficult tasks in robotics: threading a needle. While a human can do it in seconds, a robot arm struggles with the combination of tight tolerances, flexible thread, and force feedback. Lucas breaks down the physics: the needle hole is typically 0.5 to 1 millimeter in diameter, and the thread is a flexible, non-rigid object that buckles under compression. Vision systems can locate the eye, but guiding the thread through requires millisecond-level force sensing and trajectory adjustment that current industrial arms lack. Luna…
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