The Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is seeking responses to a Sources Sought Notice for the procurement of robotic arms and associated equipment. The requirement includes four collaborative robotic arms with a 600 mm reach, a mountable smart camera, various grippers, and a professional license for RoboDK software, all intended to facilitate the precise measurement of complex permittivity standards up to 330 GHz. This initiative is crucial for enhancing NIST's capabilities in on-wafer traceability and measurement practices. Interested vendors should submit their responses, including company details and relevant experience, to the primary contact, Cielo Ibarra, at cielo.ibarra@nist.gov, by the deadline of December 17, 2025, for any inquiries regarding the notice.

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Questions and answers.docx

This document outlines technical specifications for instrumentation requirements, likely in response to a government Request for Proposal (RFP) for a scientific or engineering project. Key requirements include using Keysight instrumentation, accommodating die sizes of 5x5 mm and 10x10 mm, and supporting a maximum current and voltage of 100 V and 100 mA, respectively. A critical noise floor of less than 1 pA for probes is specified, with an acknowledgment of potential noise from heated chucks. Additionally, the system must incorporate true Kelvin capability, indicating a need for precise measurements. These details provide a clear technical framework for vendors to address in their proposals.

NIST-SS26-CHIPS-39

**PLEASE NOTE THIS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY**

Title:  **Robotic arms with end-effectors, linear stage, software, and programming**

**BACKGROUND**

NIST requires four (4) Collaborative robotic arms with 600 mm reach with teaching pendants and electronic stops, one (1) Mountable smart camera, two (2) Parallel grippers, two (2) Electronic vacuum grippers, one (1) Soft gripper, and one (1) professional license of RoboDK. All equipment must include a 1-year warranty with maintenance. The robotic arms will be used to pick and place coupons used for the manufacturing of complex permittivity standards to 330 GHz. The objective of the requirement is to enable traceable complex permittivity to 330 GHz and provide known permittivity measurements for on-wafer traceability for S-parameters, Power, and Phase. This requirement supports the NIST CHIPS program to develop and disseminate NIST best practices and algorithms for complex permittivity and on-wafer measurement.

The required work provides robotic arms for picking and placing fused silica coupons for thickness and permittivity measurements. The objective is to deliver four (4) Collaborative robotic arms with 600 mm reach with teaching pendants and electronic stops, one (1) Mountable smart camera, two (2) Parallel grippers, two (2) Electronic vacuum grippers, one (1) Soft gripper, and one (1) professional license of RoboDK.

The minimum requirements are as follows:

Line Item 0001:

Description:  Collaborative robotic arm with 600 mm reach, teaching pendant, and electronic stop

Quantity:  4

1. Technical Specifications
   1. Teaching pendant
   2. Weight 15 kg
   3. Degrees of freedom 6
   4. Maximum load more than 3 kg
   5. Reach more than 600 mm
   6. Repeatability *±*0.02 mm
   7. Electronic stop
   8. Control box
   9. Power input 110V

Line Item 0002:

Description:  Mountable smart camera

Quantity:  1

1. Technical Specifications
   1. Mounting plate for camera to EOAT
   2. Cable for camera
   3. Dimensions 71 mm x 43 mm x 35.6 mm
   4. Working range 70 mm to 1500 mm
   5. Frame rate 30 FPS
   6. Resolution 1,280 px x 1,024 px
   7. Weight 200 g
   8. Light source LED
   9. Power 24 V

Line Item 0003:

Description:  Parallel gripper

Quantity:  2

1. Technical Specifications
   1. Adapter plate including screws
   2. Cable for 6th axis M8 4 pin to connect gripper
   3. SCHUNK EGP 40-N-N-B or comparable
   4. Weight 320 g
   5. Maximum load 700 g
   6. Power 24 V

Line Item 0004:

Description:  Electronic vacuum gripper

Quantity:  2

1. Technical Specifications
   1. Adapter plate including screws
   2. Cable for 6th axis M8 4 pin to connect gripper
   3. Pneumatic adapter
   4. Schmalz CobotPump or comparable
   5. 10 replaceable suction cups size 6
   6. Weight 225 g
   7. Maximum load 700 g
   8. Power 24 V

Line Item 0005:

Description:  Soft gripper

Quantity: 1

1. Technical Specifications
   1. Weight 143 g
   2. Maximum load 200 g

1. 1. Two fingers

Line Item 0006:

Description:  RoboDK software

Quantity:  1

1. Technical Specifications
   1. **1 installation of RoboDK**

**HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS NOTICE**

In responding to this notice, please DO NOT PROVIDE PROPRIETARY INFORMATION. Please include only the following information, readable in either Microsoft Word 365, Microsoft Excel 365, or .pdf format, in the response.  Submit the response by email to the Primary Point of Contact and, if specified, to the Secondary Point of Contact listed at the bottom of this notice as soon as possible, and preferably before the closing date and time of this notice.

•           Provide the complete name of your company, address, name of contact for follow-up questions, their email, their phone number and, if your company has an active registration in https://sam.gov, your company’s Unique Entity ID (UEI).

•           Details about what your company is capable of providing that meets or exceeds NIST’s minimum requirements and its past experience with design and manufacture of magneto-resistive sensors. Any relevant past performance.

•           Identify any aspects of the description of the requirements in the BACKGROUND section above that could be viewed as unduly restrictive or create unnecessary barriers that adversely affect your firm’s ability to fully participate in a procurement for such services and explain why.  Please offer suggestions for how the requirements could be organized or structured to encourage the participation of small businesses.

•           For the NAICS code

o          Indicate whether your company is (a) a small business or (b) other than small business.  See the Table of Small Business Size Standards and the associated .pdf download file for small business size standards and additional information.

o          If you believe the NAICS and/or Product Service Code code listed in this notice is not the best NAICS code for the type of product addressed in this notice, identify an alternative NAICS/PSC code that you believe would be more appropriate for the planned procurement.

•           If your firm has existing Federal Supply Schedule contract(s) or other contracts for products or services against which the Department may be able to place orders, identify the contract number(s) and other relevant information.

•           Describe your firm’s experience (as a prime, subcontractor, or consultant) providing the products or services described in Background section.

•           Provide any other information that you believe would be valuable for the Government to know as part of its market research for this requirement.

•           Please let us know if you would like to engage to get a better understanding of the requirement or need additional information about the Government’s requirement for the products or services described in the Background section.

**QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS NOTICE**

Questions regarding this notice may be submitted via email to the Primary Point of Contact listed in this notice. Questions should be submitted so that they are received by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on December 17, 2025.  Questions will be anonymized and answered via sources sought notice amendment following the question submission deadline.

**IMPORTANT NOTES**

The information received in response to this notice will be reviewed and considered so that the NIST may appropriately solicit for its requirements in the near future.

This notice should not be construed as a commitment by the NIST to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract.

This notice is not a request for a quotation. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotations.

No award will be made as a result of this notice.

NIST is not responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice.

NIST reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and appropriate.

Thank you for taking the time to submit a response to this request.

Robotic Arms

NIST-SS26-CHIPS-39

**PLEASE NOTE THIS A SOURCES SOUGHT NOTICE ONLY**

Title:  **Robotic arms with end-effectors, linear stage, software, and programming**

**BACKGROUND**

NIST requires four (4) Collaborative robotic arms with 600 mm reach with teaching pendants and electronic stops, one (1) Mountable smart camera, two (2) Parallel grippers, two (2) Electronic vacuum grippers, one (1) Soft gripper, and one (1) professional license of RoboDK. All equipment must include a 1-year warranty with maintenance. The robotic arms will be used to pick and place coupons used for the manufacturing of complex permittivity standards to 330 GHz. The objective of the requirement is to enable traceable complex permittivity to 330 GHz and provide known permittivity measurements for on-wafer traceability for S-parameters, Power, and Phase. This requirement supports the NIST CHIPS program to develop and disseminate NIST best practices and algorithms for complex permittivity and on-wafer measurement.

The required work provides robotic arms for picking and placing fused silica coupons for thickness and permittivity measurements. The objective is to deliver four (4) Collaborative robotic arms with 600 mm reach with teaching pendants and electronic stops, one (1) Mountable smart camera, two (2) Parallel grippers, two (2) Electronic vacuum grippers, one (1) Soft gripper, and one (1) professional license of RoboDK.

The minimum requirements are as follows:

Line Item 0001:

Description:  Collaborative robotic arm with 600 mm reach, teaching pendant, and electronic stop

Quantity:  4

1. Technical Specifications
   1. Teaching pendant
   2. Weight 15 kg
   3. Degrees of freedom 6
   4. Maximum load more than 3 kg
   5. Reach more than 600 mm
   6. Repeatability *±*0.02 mm
   7. Electronic stop
   8. Control box
   9. Power input 110V

Line Item 0002:

Description:  Mountable smart camera

Quantity:  1

1. Technical Specifications
   1. Mounting plate for camera to EOAT
   2. Cable for camera
   3. Dimensions 71 mm x 43 mm x 35.6 mm
   4. Working range 70 mm to 1500 mm
   5. Frame rate 30 FPS
   6. Resolution 1,280 px x 1,024 px
   7. Weight 200 g
   8. Light source LED
   9. Power 24 V

Line Item 0003:

Description:  Parallel gripper

Quantity:  2

1. Technical Specifications
   1. Adapter plate including screws
   2. Cable for 6th axis M8 4 pin to connect gripper
   3. SCHUNK EGP 40-N-N-B or comparable
   4. Weight 320 g
   5. Maximum load 700 g
   6. Power 24 V

Line Item 0004:

Description:  Electronic vacuum gripper

Quantity:  2

1. Technical Specifications
   1. Adapter plate including screws
   2. Cable for 6th axis M8 4 pin to connect gripper
   3. Pneumatic adapter
   4. Schmalz CobotPump or comparable
   5. 10 replaceable suction cups size 6
   6. Weight 225 g
   7. Maximum load 700 g
   8. Power 24 V

Line Item 0005:

Description:  Soft gripper

Quantity: 1

1. Technical Specifications
   1. Weight 143 g
   2. Maximum load 200 g

1. 1. Two fingers

Line Item 0006:

Description:  RoboDK software

Quantity:  1

1. Technical Specifications
   1. **1 installation of RoboDK**

**HOW TO RESPOND TO THIS NOTICE**

In responding to this notice, please DO NOT PROVIDE PROPRIETARY INFORMATION. Please include only the following information, readable in either Microsoft Word 365, Microsoft Excel 365, or .pdf format, in the response.  Submit the response by email to the Primary Point of Contact and, if specified, to the Secondary Point of Contact listed at the bottom of this notice as soon as possible, and preferably before the closing date and time of this notice.

•           Provide the complete name of your company, address, name of contact for follow-up questions, their email, their phone number and, if your company has an active registration in https://sam.gov, your company’s Unique Entity ID (UEI).

•           Details about what your company is capable of providing that meets or exceeds NIST’s minimum requirements and its past experience with robotic arms. Any relevant past performance.

•           Identify any aspects of the description of the requirements in the BACKGROUND section above that could be viewed as unduly restrictive or create unnecessary barriers that adversely affect your firm’s ability to fully participate in a procurement for such services and explain why.  Please offer suggestions for how the requirements could be organized or structured to encourage the participation of small businesses.

•           For the NAICS code

o          Indicate whether your company is (a) a small business or (b) other than small business.  See the Table of Small Business Size Standards and the associated .pdf download file for small business size standards and additional information.

o          If you believe the NAICS and/or Product Service Code code listed in this notice is not the best NAICS code for the type of product addressed in this notice, identify an alternative NAICS/PSC code that you believe would be more appropriate for the planned procurement.

•           If your firm has existing Federal Supply Schedule contract(s) or other contracts for products or services against which the Department may be able to place orders, identify the contract number(s) and other relevant information.

•           Describe your firm’s experience (as a prime, subcontractor, or consultant) providing the products or services described in Background section.

•           Provide any other information that you believe would be valuable for the Government to know as part of its market research for this requirement.

•           Please let us know if you would like to engage to get a better understanding of the requirement or need additional information about the Government’s requirement for the products or services described in the Background section.

**QUESTIONS REGARDING THIS NOTICE**

Questions regarding this notice may be submitted via email to the Primary Point of Contact listed in this notice. Questions should be submitted so that they are received by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on December 17, 2025.  Questions will be anonymized and answered via sources sought notice amendment following the question submission deadline.

**IMPORTANT NOTES**

The information received in response to this notice will be reviewed and considered so that the NIST may appropriately solicit for its requirements in the near future.

This notice should not be construed as a commitment by the NIST to issue a solicitation or ultimately award a contract.

This notice is not a request for a quotation. Responses will not be considered as proposals or quotations.

No award will be made as a result of this notice.

NIST is not responsible for any costs incurred by the respondents to this notice.

NIST reserves the right to use information provided by respondents for any purpose deemed necessary and appropriate.

Thank you for taking the time to submit a response to this request.

Robotic Arms

Contract Opportunity Analysis

Solicitation Documents

Related Contract Opportunities

Project Timeline

Agency Information

Point of Contact

Place of Performance

Official Sources