Sands Technology International
Robotics Consultancy
David Sands and team designed and commissioned multiple robot systems around the world including the first ever
DNA databaase comprising >4 tracked robot arms and 4 fixed position arms handling DNA samples..
With his previous companies ST Robotics (UK and USA) he designed and installed (again with team) many early high thruput
screening systems,
Having supplied systems to Astra-Zeneca, Merck, GlaxoSmithKlyne, Baxter, Bristol Meyers Squibb, Pfizer, Ely Lilly,
and major pharmaceutical companies around the world... The list goes on!
Other customers include Seagate, Lockheed Martin, NASA, NIH, Rockwell, CAT, Motorola, MIT, Universites around the world...
A High thruput screening system,
linear robots at Trawsfynydd nuclear power station.
Major Projects
ROBOTICS FOR LIFE SCIENCE LABORATORIES:
robots at Sanger Institute
NUCLEAR DECOMISSIONING:
David and team also created a number of linear robot systems for nuclear decommissioning.
Engineering designs were developed that would survive accidental exposure to radiation.
HIGH SPEED DATA LOGGING:
Including 1000 channel strain gauges measurement system used in the construction of the UK M25 ringroad motorway
High speed system for concrete impact testing,
taking a million readings per second via high speed ADCs drectly into a computer by Direct Memory Acess
ST ROBOTICS:
Formed in 2000 to produce and market bench top robot arms. Over 800 robots were delivered around the world.
ST developed the R17HS robot arm which is still the fastest benchtop robot arm in the world, 4 times faster than its nearest competitor.
All IP and manufacturing has moved to Australia
ST Robotics UK can supply and commission ST robot arms manufactured by ST Robotics Australia.
ST International continues to support the 100s of robots supplied around the world over the years.
If you have a problem with any robot supplied prior to 2025 I would be pleased to help
ROBOFORTH
Is a robot specific language based on the language Forth.
Forth is particularly suited to applications that communicate directly with hardware.
It is easily extended into any hardware application area especially robotics.
It has been developed over decades and is both extensive and easy to use by non-computer people like production engineers and
scientists who quickly find they can adapt it to their own applications.
For support email david@sandstechnology.com
In depth analysis of RoboForth and why it is so powerful
RoboForth and ST Robotics manuals:
download RobWin 7.1.21
This might get blocked by smartscreen - this is my s/w written in Microsoft MSF so its ok to bypass the smartscreen.
An example of a program using advanced features.
Why we use Forth
When computers first evolved they were used for calculations ie mathematical machines. So the intention of early software was to convert a mathematical expression into a computer operation. Ths start of it all was probably ForTran (Formula Translation) and every language since then including C and Python (and of course Basic) works by translating mathematical expressions.
Real life doesnt work like that. You dont go to a market stall and say please make apples=5 you say I want 5 apples (in Forth 5 apples !)
Forth was the first language to abandon the algebraic form and structure the code as close as possible to natural language and morover the way a computer actually works, one instruction at a time.
Basically it works like a dictionary. It has 'words' that do things. Like a conventional dictionary words are defined in terms of other words lower down in the dictionary. TELL SHOULDER 1000 MOVE where SHOULDER and MOVE are defined in the dictionary in terms of simpler words. These words can be typed into a command line making Forth ideal for working directly with hardware such as robots.
If you type thar line the robot will just do it. You dont have to write or program or compile anything just type the command and the robot will do it.
Of course the 3rd generation languages are taught and used everywhere and have so much 3rd party support and history they will never be replaced. 1000s of software engineers use them.
That vast 3rd party support doesnt exist for Forth but the structure and simplicity dramatically improves productivity, especially when developing new software controlled hardware like robots.
Feedback from users:
** I'm a Robotics and Artificial Intelligence Engineering graduate from the University of Hertfordshire and I recently worked with an ST Robotics R12 arm programmed in RoboForth as part of my degree. It's not a common experience for a graduate and I wanted to get in touch directly. I found RoboForth genuinely interesting to work with, particularly the way it interfaces directly with the hardware and how quickly you can build up meaningful robot behaviour from relatively simple stack-based operations. I came away with a real appreciation for why the language has lasted as long as it has.
** Professor at LeTourneau University: The students have enjoyed using the robots and some of them have spent many hours programming them. The students who like programming seem to enjoy Forth (it is different from anything they have seen before)
OTHER FORTH INTEREST
An analog computer in Forth
Solving the Tower of Hanoi with an ST Robotics robot arm
Homage to the R12 robot arm
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band active image
CONSULTANCY and TECHNICAL SUPPORT for robots or software.
(may be chargeable)
Contact Dr. David Sands,
Princeton +1 609 584 7522
Cambridge +44 1223 420288
Email david@sandstechnology.com