Citation
(2009), "Mini features", Industrial Robot, Vol. 36 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ir.2009.04936aaf.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2009, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Mini features
Article Type: Mini features From: Industrial Robot: An International Journal, Volume 36, Issue 1
KMT Robotic Solutions launches new small footprint robotic routeing system
KMT Robotic Solutions has launched the RoboTrim® FT-502 (Figure 1), a new small footprint robotic routing system. Whilst offering a very compact footprint that takes up less space in the plant, the RoboTrim FT-502 still provides manufacturers with the flexibility they need to trim a wide variety of parts, including thermoformed, blow-moulded, rotationally moulded and composite products.
The latest addition to KMT’s range of cost-effective, turnkey robotic router trimming systems, the RoboTrim FT-502 system provides increased productivity compared to traditional five axis CNC systems. Like the larger models in the range, the RoboTrim FT-502 is an enclosed robotic router trimming system with manual front doors with a single-base system structure that simplifies installation and built-in fork lift pockets that enable the unit to be moved around easily.
It features a wall-mounted, six-axis AccuTrim® R-44 robot, its R-30iA robot controller and a FANUC iPendant colour teach pendant. Parts up to 915 × 1,525 mm in size can be placed on the stationary fixture table in the centre of the system’s steel enclosure. The manual front access doors (equipped with safety interlocks) enable operators to easily load and unload parts, while the system’s steel enclosure and built-in safety devices ensure safety for the operator by separating them from the trimming area. In addition, Cycle Start, E-Stop and robot start buttons are mounted onto a pedestal so they can be easily accessed by the operator.
The wall-mounted AccuTrim R-44 robot, equipped at the end with a 2.3 kW fan cooled routing spindle, trims parts on the stationary fixture table in the centre of the cell. The system’s standard software tools include KMT’s RouterWare application software for convenient part programming, FANUC’s Collision Guard software to protect the robot and fixture in the event of a collision and KMT’s Remote Administration feature to connect to KMT service technicians via a phone line or Ethernet connection.
Additional optional mechanical and software features can also be added to suit the specific requirements of a customer’s production environment. The additional mechanical options include automatic front doors and an automatic tool changer. Software options include the TrimPro® CAD-to-Path programming software and the CamPro® CAM-to-Robot programming software.
As well as being the best way to implement robotic routing applications, the CamPro system meets a preference among customers who previously used CNC trimming systems, allowing the RoboTrim FT-502 to implement robotic routing applications using tool paths generated in CAM software.
Utilising an off-line programming tool such as CamPro increases productivity by separating a great majority of the programming time required from the actual machine. Off-line generated programs based on part data can result in more accurate programs than can be achieved with teach pendant-based programming. The graphical simulation capability of CamPro also allows for the robot program to be checked off-line, identifying interference situations before they occur on the actual equipment.
All of this saves programmer’s time and results in more parts being made per hour so that robotic routing systems from KMT Robotic Solutions can trim parts with up to 50 per cent higher throughput than traditional five axis CNC systems, whilst offering enhanced trimming flexibility and cost savings through increased productivity, uptime and safety.
The new RT-502 is part of KMT’s range of cost-effective, turnkey robotic router trimming systems designed for use on polymeric parts produced by thermoformers, plastics moulders and composite manufacturers for a wide range of industries including white goods, electrical appliance, automotive, bathroom equipment, consumer goods, marine craft and boatbuilding. The routing systems are also suitable for use in the aluminium industry.
Automatic direct wiring of standard components (ADS)
For more and more companies, the rationalization of manufacturing products is an important and extremely effective process. Based on clear parameters like the size of the company, its products, investment capability, and engineering resources, the BJB experts, a leading manufacturer of lighting and domestic appliance products, team up with robot manufacturer Adept Technology, Inc. to develop future-orientated technical solutions for manufacturing. The partnership resulted in the development of the extremely efficient BJB Wiring System ADS.BASIC designed for the production of small- and medium-sized lighting products. The modular system is efficient, flexible and easy to use and requires a space of only 28 m2. The Adept Viper s1700 six-axis robots (Figure 2) shorten cycle times and the comparatively low-investment amortizes over just a few months.
The BJB Wiring System ADS.BASIC, available since 2007, offers a maximum flexibility in luminaire finishing. It consists of a loading and unloading station as well as a wiring and test station. The two work trays are able to handle different luminaires. Only the installation and removal of the luminaire housing is done manually. Once the luminaire housing – equipped with components – is fixed on the work tray, all further operations proceed automatically.
Wiring station
The work tray is located in the waiting area and provides a luminaire housing equipped with components. It is forwarded through the indexing table into the working envelope of the six-axis Adept Viper s1700 robot. Simultaneously the already wired luminaire from the previous run is discharged.
The conducting wire is “endlessly” carried from a cable silo, which contains up to 15 km wire, to the installing tool. After the work tray is positioned, the beginning of the wire is stripped by the high precision, multi-functional installing tool, stripped from the integrated strip appliance and then positioned into the gripper. The robot then proceeds to the first contact position and the stripped beginning of the conducting wire is put into the first clamping point. The gripper opens and the robot follows the predefined course for each luminaire type with the first installing tool.
Throughout the procedure the conducting wire is presented to the robot matching the robots’ speed. At the same time, the installing tool crosses one or more cable clips, which keeps the wire in position. As soon as the robot has reached the second contact position, the wire is cut and automatically stripped at the installing tool from the integrated strip.
The feeding unit is pneumatically lifted and the end of the wire is put into the second clamp point. After the next wire has been automatically stripped, the feeding unit is lowered to the home position, the beginning of the next wire is pushed into the gripper and is picked there for the next wiring procedure. This procedure is repeated until all conducting wires are installed. The finished luminaire is conveyed by the work tray to the test station and testing for 100 per cent accuracy according to EN 60598 is performed. The result of this luminaire testing is displayed to the operating personnel and stored on a database for later analysis.
Narrow wiring sword
Narrow luminaires, for example luminaires of T5 design, often require an exceptionally slim wiring sword, in order to reach components that are otherwise difficult to access. An additional wiring sword for vertical wiring is also available. The pushing of the conductor wire, synchronously to the robot speed, is achieved with a drive motor in connection with a non-slip wire feeding. The servo motor is controlled via a DeviceNet amplifier by the Adept SmartController™ CX robot controller.
Robots with V + real-time-multitasking operating system
The new product extension of the Adept Viper series by the six-axis robot Viper s1700 now handles applications with a payload of up to 20 kg and a reach of 1,717 mm. The new robot weighs 280 kg and is ideal for material handling, packaging, machine tending and conveyor tracking with vision guidance. It is controlled by the high-performance robot and vision controller Adept SmartController CX, which also works together with all other Adept robots.
The integration into fieldbus systems like DeviceNet or Profibus DP is possible without any problems. The maximum effective speed is 8,400 mm/s and the repeatability is ±0.060 mm. The controller offers 12 digital inputs and eight digital outputs. The programming software Adept DeskTop allows the programming of the robot system via each PC at no additional cost. The attached absolute encoder makes for an easy calibration so that the reference run is not necessary. The servo update rate of 8 kHz allows for an excellent path following. High-efficiency motors deliver high performance with more torque per amp, while the solid design ensures high reliability and long durability. The vision guidance AdeptSight is optionally available. If requested, multiple robot solutions can be operated by one common control unit.
High-performance robot control
The high-performance Adept SmartController CX controller was specially designed for robot and vision guidance applications. It controls the Viper and Cobra robot series, the Python linear modules as well as the SmartServo Kits and even 3rd party Kinematic Modules mechanisms. Its distributed processing architecture improves performance by freeing up 30 per cent of the processor’s resources. The control unit can operate up to 24 independent axis and thus also can address complex solutions with multi robots based on a common control unit. Additionally, it supports applications with conveyor tracking. The SmartController CX features several high-speed communication interfaces, including Fast Ethernet, SmartServo and a kit of serial interfaces for future expansions. The SmartServo is based on an IEEE 1394 interface, also called Firewire, which is the backbone of the latest controls generation. The SmartController CX platform offers unmatched scalability and is programmed with the efficient programming language V+.
Information:
KMT Robotic Solutions www.kmtgroup.com
Six-axis Robot Adept Viper s1700 www.adept.de
BJB Wiring System ADS.BASIC www.bjb.co