Collaborative robots, a new type of industrial robot that removes barriers to human-machine collaboration and frees robots from guardrails or cages altogether, have opened a new era in the development of industrial robots with their groundbreaking product performance and wide range of applications.
Collaborative robots stand out because of their ability to perform in areas of work that were previously done entirely by humans. Thanks to the inherent safety of collaborative robots, such as the application of force feedback and collision detection, the safety of people working side-by-side with collaborative robots will be ensured. So what are the common application scenarios for collaborative robots?
1. Pick and Place
For workers, manual pick and place should be one of today's repetitive tasks. The tedious operation can easily lead to worker errors, and the highly repetitive physical movements can easily lead to physical strain and injury. Starting with pick and place tasks using collaborative robots is a good start to reduce the repetitive work of workers. The pick-and-place task involves picking up a workpiece and placing it in another location. This operation can be used in actual production to pick up items from pallets or conveyors for packaging or sorting. Picking from a conveyor also requires advanced vision system support. Collaborative robots in the pick-and-place category require an end-effector to grip the object, either a fixture or a vacuum suction cup device.
2、Equipment caretaking
Equipment care requires workers to stand for long periods of time in front of a CNC machine, injection molding machine, or other similar equipment to keep an eye on the machine's operational needs, such as changing tools or replenishing raw materials. This process can be time-consuming and tedious for operators. In this case, using a collaborative robot not only frees up the employee, but one collaborative robot can maintain multiple machines, increasing productivity. Collaborative robots in the caretaker category require device-specific I/O docking hardware. This hardware prompts the robot when to move to the next cycle of production or when it needs to replenish raw materials.
3. Packaging and palletizing
Product packaging and palletizing is a subcategory of the pick and place category. Products need to be properly prepared for shipping before they leave the factory floor, including shrink-wrapping, case assembly and loading, case finishing, and placing pallets ready for shipment. This type of work is highly repetitive and contains some small loads that are well suited for replacing manual work with collaborative robots. Rapid product changeover is key to the business of volume production companies with a mix of high and low production volumes. This application requires the use of conveyor tracking to synchronize robot and conveyor movement. For products with inconsistent shapes, the application also requires the incorporation of a vision system.
4、Processing operations
Machining operations are any process that requires the use of tools to manipulate a workpiece. Collaborative robots are commonly used for gluing and handling, distribution and welding processes. Each of these machining tasks requires the use of tools to repeatedly complete a fixed path. These tasks require a significant time investment in training if new employees are used to achieve the finished product. With collaborative robots, however, they can be replicated to other robots by completing the programming on one robot. Collaborative robots also solve the problem of accuracy and repetitive operations completed by workers. Traditional welding robot systems usually require operators with very good knowledge of robot programming and welding.
The advantage of collaborative robot systems, however, is that simplified programming, which can be achieved simply by means of location and orientation recording or traditional CAD/CAM programming, simplifies robot programming and allows workers with only welding experience to program collaborative robots. The use of Polyscope's interface can help maintain a stable TCP speed, ensuring that the robot can be fed at a constant speed. This situation varies depending on the type of stationary torch, sealant, glue, or solder paste, and the robot's applied ender actuator.
5、Finishing operations
Manual finishing operations must be performed with hand tools and are often laborious. The vibration from the tools can also cause injuries to the operator. Collaborative robots can provide the strength, repeatability, and degree of finish machining required. The types of finishing that robots can perform include polishing, grinding, and deburring. The robot can be taught to perform the appropriate actions by manual demonstration of computer programming. The force control system that collaborative robots have makes the robots more durable. Finishing of parts of different sizes can be achieved through end-effectors or built-in force sensing devices.
6. Quality inspection
Finally, collaborative robots can also perform quality inspections of parts. This process typically involves a full inspection of the finished part, a high-resolution photo inspection of the precision machined part and a comparison of the part with the CAD model for confirmation. Attaching multiple high-resolution cameras to a collaborative robot can automate the quality inspection process and provide fast results. Using a collaborative robot for inspection results in high-quality inspection and more accurate production batches. Installation of end-effectors with high-resolution cameras, vision systems, and software are required to complete the inspection.
