"Offline robot programming platforms are increasingly being used during the COVID-19 outbreak. This article introduces four scenarios, key features, and benefits of offline programming."
Over the past year, a significant amount of evidence has emerged that robot automation and other advanced technologies are critical for companies to maintain and increase productivity in a tough and uncertain market environment affected by COVID-19. Robots with rich functions can help companies achieve greater accuracy and higher quality while improving efficiency.
While robot automation can speed up production, it can also lead to massive robot downtime if there is no reliable robot programming plan. In order to improve the uptime of robots (especially for those manufacturing enterprises that cannot interrupt production and can only write programs point by point on offline robots), offline robot programming platforms are increasingly used to adapt to complex system layouts.
Why program robots offline?
Using 3D models of robot units of work to visually show how the robot moves along the programming path, off-line programming can be done using proprietary software from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) or third-party software platforms.
Offline programming enables both experienced robot programmers and novice programmers to create, test, and adjust robot programs or jobs in a PC-based virtual programming environment prior to implementation on the factory floor. As the COVID-19 outbreak continues, many manufacturers find themselves in one or more of the following four situations:
1. Restrict access to the workshop
Because of health issues or regulatory requirements, companies must have social distancing measures in place, or policies for telecommuting or working from home when necessary. This results in limited access to robots on the factory floor, making it difficult to program/reprogram jobs.
2. Adapt to changing needs
The rise in demand for general-purpose products has factory personnel striving to achieve flexible production with high blending and small batches at a record pace. In order to cope with the rapid conversion required, there is a greater focus on intelligent technologies (such as offline programming software) to reduce programming downtime and optimize overall equipment efficiency (OEE).
3. Quickly add automation functions
Similar to scenario 2, manufacturing companies will need to integrate new robots or redeploy old ones in response to increased demand for products, especially those critical to the COVID-19 response. Either way, the use of off-line programming software has been suggested in order to achieve a smooth transition to the production of these basic products.
4. Test new methods
The easing of government restrictions has encouraged businesses to reopen and brought a new sense of urgency to restart production. As a result, the company's leadership has decided to meet the severe challenges through a creative and collaborative approach to robotic automation. Either redeploy existing robots or buy new ones. Robot automation is being introduced more into factories. Either way, new, more complex robot jobs can be set up through offline programming.
