Powermat Technologies unveiled its full-featured wireless charging solution designed to charge and optimize charging efficiency for fleets of various types of service robots, including photovoltaic-powered robots, used for commercial cleaning, delivery, warehouse operations, medical operations, and more.
One of the biggest challenges of utilizing autonomous service robots today is that charging them requires a direct connection with a charging station using pins or conductive charging. Despite most AMR’s advanced autonomous capabilities, robots with self-charging capabilities still have trouble docking properly so they don’t charge as expected, which harms operational efficiency and can result in additional expenses for human intervention and maintenance.
Powermat’s new wireless charging platform for AMRs and other commercial robots eliminates the need for direct contact with pogo-pins entirely, providing operators with 90 percent charging efficiency while enabling flexible charging capabilities. Robots can charge in proximity to their charging station without the need for accurate alignment or direct contact.
Designed for more than just power, Powermat’s turnkey reference design for SmartInductive based wireless charging and battery management tailored for robotics also provides connectivity features that combine power and in-band data transfer. This enables seamless communication between each robot in the fleet and at docking stations, which is required for identification and authentication, software upgrades, and more. Powermat’s solution for commercial robotics features a software-based interface to enable analytics, fleet management, and other AI-powered data capabilities.
“For organizations to get the most return on their investment in autonomous solutions, service robots should always be able to complete their task autonomously and recharge quickly without human intervention. That’s where Powermat comes in,” said Elad Dubzinski, CEO at Powermat. “By enabling flexible and efficient wireless charging for commercial robotics, Powermat’s platform essentially offers the last missing piece of the puzzle to enable full robot autonomy. This innovation will help accelerate the global adoption of robots and AMRs, which provide efficiency, safety and cost-saving benefits across industries.”
Powermat’s wireless charging technology for commercial robotics supports power transfer over a distance of up to 150mm between receiver and transmitter (Z) and can easily integrate with both existing robots and future products in development. By leveraging a hybrid approach to wireless power, Powermat’s platform for commercial robotics bridges the gap between magnetic induction and resonance and provides higher power levels over longer distances, more spatial freedom, and data transfer over the wireless power link.
