SUPPLEMENT FEATURE ROBOTICS & MOTION CONTROL Tackling the great outdoors


The John Deere European Technology Innovation Centre, is utilising a Stäubli robot on the roof of its European ETIC. Due to the location, the robot is truly out in all weathers!


H


eadquartered in the US, John Deere is a global leader in the manufacture


of machinery for agriculture, forestry and construction as well as for garden care. Its European Technology Innovation Centre is in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Staff at the ETIC collaborate with John Deere factories on developing innovative technologies and taking them through to the production stage where they are integrated into machinery. The focus is on ‘precision farming’. Georg Kormann, manager advanced


engineering, leads a team that is working on the development of high precision


Stäubli high pressure unit takes this protection classification up a further notch - a useful option without which the outdoor deployment at John Deere would be far less likely to succeed. Before the robots are given their final coat of paint, the surfaces undergo a special treatment designed to increase corrosion resistance and resilience. Parts that are particularly vulnerable to the elements are made of stainless steel. The final coat of paint is of the highest quality to ensure that the robot can handle the toughest jobs. One other major plus points is the vertically aligned internal cabling. All connections are located under the robot base where they are protected from spray or, in the case of the John Deere machine, from rain and snow.


that are within the tolerance range of one millimetre. What could be better than to have the test runs performed by a precision robot, with the great advantage of reproducibility at any time?”


GPS receivers. What John Deere understands by ‘high precision’ goes far beyond the standards of the automotive industry, as Kormann explained, “With AutoTrac, we are currently able to steer farm equipment across the open fields with an accuracy of two centimetres. This works only with the special GPS receivers which we have developed in-house and which are all subject to the most stringent testing.” The technical inspection of the


receivers follows a complex procedure. The devices must undergo elaborate test runs in the open air at different speeds. In the past, the real life test drives this required proved to be extremely costly and took many hours to complete. Furthermore, the comparability of the measured results from these field tests was partially impaired by deviations in the parameters. In addition, there was yet another


problem that caused Kormann a real headache, “Referencing the low speed receivers calls for utmost precision, which must be higher than the accuracy of the devices themselves by a factor of ten. That means we need measurement techniques


S1 FEBRUARY 2015 | ROBOTICS & MOTION CONTROL 0


Top: the Stäubli TX200L HE works outdoors with absolute reliability, taking everything the weather can throw at it


Inset: additional features allow the radius of the test paths to be significantly widened


OUTDOOR ROBOTICS A great idea, but its implementation in practice seemed almost impossible after taking a closer look at the feasibility. Problem number one was the planned outdoor use of the robot. In order to have full GPS reception, it was clear from the outset that the robot would have to be installed on the roof of the ETIC building where it would be exposed to the weather conditions prevailing in all four seasons. Dennis Dispot, who was charged with


the implementation of the task as part of his university degree project at John Deere, said, “When we enquired of robot manufacturers if they could supply us with a six-axis all-weather model, we drew a blank except for Stäubli Robotics who were happy to rise to the challenge. The HE version of their fully enclosed six-axis Type TX200L should be able to cope with outdoor conditions, they told us. That sounded promising, and so we sat down together with Stäubli to work out the details of the project.” The six-axis models bearing the


additional designation HE (Humid Environment) have been specially modified for use in wet rooms. The fully encapsulated robot is designed to comply with protection class IP65. Use of the


A HIGHLY COMPLEX PROJECT Although the TX200L HE was genetically ideal for the project, there were still a number of outstanding issues. How was the robot to be hoisted onto the roof? What were the structural implications for the building itself? How were such matters as lightning protection, access control and security to be regulated? What additional modifications did the robot require? How was the problem of temperature fluctuation and condensation inside the robot arm to be dealt with? Dispot added, “Planning and


implementation of the project took a long time, but we knew that we could always count on the support of Stäubli. With the expert assistance of the Stäubli engineers, we managed to find answers to all the technical questions. For almost two years now, the TX200L HE has been tracking its way around our roof and fulfilling its test marathon with exemplary aplomb under the toughest climatic conditions imaginable.” Particularly gratifying is the global use


of the facility. All John Deere development centres around the world have access to the system and can use it to conduct their own tests. It is programmed offline on the Stäubli Robotics Suite which is integrated into the higher level software architecture. Kormann concluded, “The TX200L HE


manages continuous operation out in the open with exemplary precision and reliability. There can surely be no better testimony to the quality of a robot.”


Stäubli UK www.staubli.com/en/robotics T: 01952 671 917


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