Chris Sumner, VP FANUC Europe:
Robotics with motion control has transformed the manufacturing industry, increasing production speed, output quality and precision. However, the complexities involved in the specific manufacturing processes has necessitated robotics manufacturers to develop ever lighter, less obtrusive and more efficient robots.
Industry today demands an ever greater reach ability; while at the same time delivering intricate precision. Where robots were first developed for large output; a shift towards quality assured output on a consistent basis has led robotics manufacturers to focus on developing robots that are light, consistent and reliable. Let’s look at some of the industries that have become revolutionised by automation with robotics and motion control.
Electrode manufacturing has benefited from advances in robotics and motion control increasing efficiencies within the machining centre process. Our work with BM Injection Ltd, a company manufacturing electrodes in-house, is a great illustration of this. The installation of a Robodrill removed hand fettling operations, reducing the component cycle. Its 14 years’ of service is testament to the reliability and increased performance of the Robodrill, continually working on a double shifts basis, increasing outputs and at the same time keeping costs to a minimum.
Our Robodrills have also transformed the automotive pumps manufacturing process. Our work with Concentric, a leading manufacturer of oil pumps, has resulted in increased productivity and manufacturing output. By installing Robodrills without compromising on speed, Concentric has seen significant improvements in the capacity of metal cutting operations.
Within the food sector, robots can be used to automate a host of vital inspection, positioning and orientation tasks, while code reading capabilities can play a key role in helping food companies meet product traceability requirements.
The flexibility and intelligence of a robot, coupled with the benefit of vision enables high-level functions, such as picking, inspection, bar code and data matrix recognition and line tracking to be achieved. It offers an automated solution that is able to mimic the hand-eye coordination of a human and can accurately pick random products off a conveyor.
Adding ‘sight’ to a robot can expand its potential in all of these areas. We currently offer two types of vision solution; bespoke plug and play, and an end-to-end offering tailored to specific requirements.
FANUC’s iRVision product is perfect for use in food and packaging applications, an integrated vision solution option for robots featuring both software and hardware components. Coming as an optional software module of the R-30iB controller, the iRVision package includes iRVision 2D, iRVision 2.5D, iRVision 3D, iRVision 3DL (laser) and iRVision 3D area sensor – together with a range of associated hardware components. Cameras can be high-resolution, low-resolution, or colour depending on the application requirements.
Integrating vision into the control package allows food companies to incorporate features such as visual line tracking into their robotic setups without the need for external PCs. A common requirement in the food industry, visual line tracking involves a camera looking at products moving along a conveyor belt. The vision system identifies the position of an object and passes this information to a robot further down the conveyor, which can then pick the product. One robot looks after the camera and line tracking capability, passing the data on to the other robots. This solution enables less hardware to be specified.
Alternatively, RVision offers a cost-effective end-to-end vision solution. The integrated controller removes the requirement for third-party software needed to run or programme the vision system, minimising additional integration costs. The controller is set up via a handheld pendant that acts as the interface between the operator and the controller, offering impressive graphics capabilities which makes it easy to set up vision applications. 3D graphics allows users to see line tracking system parameters in 3D which helps to visualise the application.
Our training courses for vision novices gives support to complicated vision applications, and our vision experts can advise on system set up and lighting requirements.
Reliability of equipment, durability and return on investment are huge factors to consider and with the affordable pricing of robots and their longevity, can easily improve processing efficiencies and ensure they have the right tooling for the output and payload required. Of the 5,000 robots built by FANUC per month, many are stock items and available for quick delivery to help manufacturers fulfil the demands of retailers. To put minds at rest relating to service and upkeep over a long life span, we provide a 25 year parts availability guarantee, including obsolescence avoidance solutions.
