---
title: "IONA System and ORA Software for Robot Monitoring and Control"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-03223e"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-03223e"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03223e.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03223e.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "NATIONAL PHYSICAL LABORATORY"
published: "2022-03-15"
---

# IONA System and ORA Software for Robot Monitoring and Control

Buyer: NATIONAL PHYSICAL LABORATORY  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-03223e

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## Summary

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is inviting tenders for the procurement of the IONA System and ORA Software for Robot Monitoring and Control, with a total contract value of £294,000. This procurement falls under the category of goods, specifically related to software packages and information systems. The procurement method is classified as limited, with award procedures executed without prior publication of a call for competition. The contract has been awarded, and the delivery is to be completed in Teddington, UK. The contract was signed on 15 March 2022.

This procurement presents significant opportunities for suppliers specialising in advanced manufacturing technologies and automation solutions. Businesses that provide innovative robotics, sensing technologies, and data analytics solutions may find this tender particularly advantageous. Given that INSPHERE Ltd, the sole supplier for this contract, is a UK-based manufacturer, other companies with similar capabilities can position themselves to compete in future contracts in this growing sector, which is geared towards enhancing productivity and efficiency in smart factory operations.

## Notice

IONA system and ORA software platform under the Strength in Places Funding innovation programme governed by UKRI Innovate UK. The equipment will support the Advanced Machinery and Productivity Institute (AMPI) project which aims to drive innovation for the UK's advanced machinery manufacturers, and create the new machines and engineers needed to manufacture tomorrow's technologies. IONA provides an integrated approach to generate previously unavailable manufacturing process data via a network of sensors. This generates data and manufacturing insight to increase automation performance and the ORA software platform provides the data analytics required to improve the efficiency of smart factories, enabling low cost, flexible robots to be deployed on more challenging or variable applications whilst preventing costly, unplanned downtime in regular industrial automation applications.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

We propose to procure an IONA system and ORA software platform under the Strength in Places Funding innovation programme governed by UKRI Innovate UK. The equipment will support the Advanced Machinery and Productivity Institute (AMPI) project which aims to drive innovation for the UK's advanced machinery manufacturers, and create the new machines and engineers needed to manufacture tomorrow's technologies IONA provides an integrated approach to generate previously unavailable manufacturing process data via a network of sensors. This generates data and manufacturing insight to increase automation performance and the ORA software platform provides the data analytics required to improve the efficiency of smart factories, enabling low cost, flexible robots to be deployed on more challenging or variable applications whilst preventing costly, unplanned downtime in regular industrial automation applications.

### Procurement Information

INSPHERE Ltd is the manufacturer of the IONA system and developer of the ORA software platform. This procurement contains a requirement to procure equipment, software, and services from a UK-based instrument manufacturer. To our understanding INSPHERE are the only company within the UK to manufacture a system to this specification. We require the capability to simultaneously measure multiple targets in six degrees of freedom. We require a system to improve robot positional accuracy by measure and correct methodology, stream data such as robot positions to an external system, and a method to visualise robot path accuracy by comparison of programmed paths versus actual. The system must be expandable to increase/add additional work area and be moveable between areas and robotic systems. This would mean that the proposed system must not be a permanent fixture or limited in use to the installed cell or to the connected robotic system. We require a system that: * Measures and tracks multiple targets, and gather position and pose data of live robot equipment * Can measure multiple bodies simultaneously in six degrees of freedom and provide multiple viewing angles to overcome line of sight issues * Continuously streams live data of these multiple targets as an open protocol (e.g., non-proprietary formats) * Updates robot path in real-time with provided software of this proposed solution (e.g., capable of move - measure - correct methodology) * Has the ability for the system to be expanded (e.g., with additional cameras/sensors) to increase/add to the tracking volume of the system and moved to another robot cell * Is commercially available and supported, with standardised warranty and SMA * Can operate at a frequency of 3Hz and to an accuracy of 250um * Must have passive targets (I.e., non-powered) * Can operate without the need for a visible flash or visible light source * Has the ability to compare measured data to robot nominal programmes and highlight differences without third party software * Has automated correction of robot program without third party software * Is capable of MQTT data output protocol * Supports native robot language communications (e.g. RAPID, KRL,etc) * Does not require stable sensor/instrument mounting during operation. The above will deliver a system whereby: * The data captured from the tracking system will used to update the robot to achieve higher accuracy * Software provided can compare a planned robot path with the actual robot path to visualise accuracy * The addition of more sensors/cameras/trackers can be used to expand the work area to cover a wider range of the workshop * Cost goes up if third party software required and bespoke integration needed to make it work for the application, this also impacts the robustness and support

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/007076-2022 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Goods |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 15 Mar 2022 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 15 Mar 2022 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £294,000 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Not specified |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | NATIONAL PHYSICAL LABORATORY |
| Locality | TEDDINGTON |
| Post town | Twickenham |
| Postcode | TW11 0LW |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLI London |
| ITL 2 | TLI7 Outer London - West and North West |
| ITL 3 | TLI75 Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames |
| Local authority | Richmond upon Thames |
| Electoral ward | Teddington |
| Westminster constituency | Twickenham |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | INSPHERE |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 48 - Software package and information systems

### Codes

- 48000000 - Software package and information systems

## Release History

- 15 Mar 2022 at 22:45 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/007076-2022

## Notice URLs

- http://www.npl.co.uk

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-03223e. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-03223e.json.