AUTOMATION
The 35-CRiA’s color is appealing. But going fenceless
and avoiding rerouting factory flow to accommodate barri- ers are features that make the cobot even more attractive. “Customers are really seeing an advantage in the fence-
less technology,” Maxwell said. Safety is a top concern for FANUC and other makers
of collaborative robots. Despite the CR-35iA’s 7-axis arm, the company said the cobot has no pinch points, making it virtually harmless. “We’ve gone to great lengths to avoid pinch points on
the robot itself,” Maxwell said. “It’s very comprehensive in being safe around people.” A major safety concern with a robot the size of the CR-
35iA is getting trapped between it and a wall, or another obstacle. Using FANUC’s dual-channel force-sensing tech- nology, the robot is designed to stop gently upon impact, avoiding injury, and comes with a push-to-escape function.
The 35-CRiA’s push-to- escape function allows an operator to safely work with the cobot on tasks like palletizing without being trapped.
senses a force using its integrated force-sensing technol- ogy, it will stop immediately. An operator has several op- tions for restarting, all lightning fast. In one scenario, after a 100 millisecond delay, the cobot will resume its action when it senses the force has been removed. It can also be re-started through pushbuttons on the robot arm itself.
Automation for you and me ABB Robotics Inc., part of the Zurich, Switzerland- based ABB Group, also threw its hat into the collaborative ring in 2015 with a dual-arm tabletop cobot the firm calls YuMi, for “you and me.” ABB began developing YuMi in 2006, at the beginning of the smartphone revolution. The choice to enter the market in 2015 was strategic. As the company explains, demand for smartphones and other small consumer electronics has skyrocketed, while product lifecycle has decreased. At the
“Let’s say the 35-CRiA is stacking boxes and you get
your hand stuck between the box it’s setting down and the stack it’s already made,” Maxwell explains. “With the push- to-escape function, you can push on the robot and the robot will move away from you in the direction that you push it. That way, you can get out of the obstruction and re-start the robot right from where it left off.” Maxwell emphasizes that collisions between the CR-
35iA and humans are rare, but if they do happen the cobot doesn’t miss a beat in getting back to its task. If the robot
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same time, the demand for more rewarding jobs, higher pay and increased quality of life for workers has manufacturers facing a dilemma: how to keep up with demand while facing a shortage of workers. ABB is happy to provide a solution. “Manufacturers are saying, ‘We have a problem. It’s not
that we don’t want people to do this application; It’s that they don’t want to do this application.’ Automation can im- prove the lifestyle for everyone and provide an economic solution as well,” said Phil Crowther, Small Robots Product Manager, ABB Robotics Inc.
Spring 2016
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