Robotic Automation
within the Fanuc lineup, said Rob Totten, Fanuc Robotics applications engineer, including the R-2000, M-900, and R-1000 series robots.
“Gakushu means to learn in Japanese,” Totten said. “We mount a three-axis accelerometer to the end-effector, whether it be the welding electrodes, welding gun, material-handling gripper, or whatever is mounted to the face of the robot. And then the robot basically performs its process repetitively.”
“We’re actually using the accelerometer data to not only speed up but to improve the path.”
On the first pass, the robot records or memorizes the path, and then from that point it knows how fast it’s going to get, Totten said. “It looks at each individual move to make sure that it can achieve that particular speed. It applies the Learn- ing Technology incrementally to maintain the taught path be-
cause one of the major benefits, in addition to speed-up and vibration suppression, is that the path is maintained, requiring a minimal amount of time to set up. “Traditional methods of speeding up a robot typically include changing your program override speed or modifying acceleration parameters, which have direct impact on the path and the path quality,” Totten said. “So with Learning Vibration Control [LVC] or the learning robot we’re able, by incrementally increasing the speed up of the target program, to maintain the path while at the same time we’re smoothing the path, because we’re actually using the accelerometer data to not only speed up but to improve the path.” The robot goes through 18 or 19 cycles until learning is complete.
Robotic Couriers
The latest mobile robots from Adept Technology Inc. (Pleasanton, CA) combine courier/transporter type robots with a vision-equipped robotic arm for selecting and deliver- ing tools, packages and information within pharmaceutical, medical and laboratory operations. Adept’s Lynx and Mobile Handler autonomous indoor vehicles (AIV) are deployed in medical laboratories and semiconductor manufacturing clean rooms at customers including one of GlobalFoundries’ semi- conductor fabrication plants in Singapore. “Another variant is the Mobile Handler, which is a newer product,” said Rush LaSelle, Adept Technology vice president and general manager of the mobile business unit. “It’s more of a fully autonomous solution in that it has a manipulator on top, a robot that sits on the base with some vision and some sensory input to locate a tool, pick it, and then transport it to another location.
“This is an exciting aspect of the business, because I personally believe that mobile manipulation is really going to usher in a new wave of automation across a whole host of different industries,” LaSelle said. “It’s easy to start in places like healthcare, semiconductor high-value products, but as the technology curve evolves and costs drop, I think you’ll see it become more pervasive.”
Fast-Picking Robots
Aimed at high-speed pick-and-place applications, the TP80 fast picker robots from Stäubli Corp. (Duncan, SC, and Paris) deliver up to 200 picks per minute for high throughput and short cycle times. The four-axis TP80 fast picker robots typically compete with overhead-mount Delta
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ManufacturingEngineeringMedia.com | June 2013
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