TECHNOLOGY | ROBOTS


advantages in the age of Brexit, noting that the British plastics industry is heavily reliant on EU labour. “New strategies to avoid a labour shortage [may] need to be implemented,” he says. “Tradi- tional industrial robots are ideal for high volume, mass production settings. However, for those injection moulders who require greater flexibility and who specialise in short production runs, the associated programming costs and required expertise can quickly become prohibitive. This is where cobots come into their own.” ROI is dependent on how much of a human


Above: Rethink Robotics has a user-friendly approach


Rethink recently updated its Intera software


platform to Intera 5.2. This provides critical data insights to manufacturers in real time, including key performance indicators (KPIs) such as cycle time, part count, speed and force. “In combination with the easily trainable Sawyer robot, Intera gives manufacturers the ability to create, modify and monitor tasks quickly, while receiving important production metrics directly on the robot, increasing overall visibility on the floor,” says the company. Universal Robots is another cobot champion. Mark Gray, its UK Sales Manager, points to their


worker’s processes can be taken on by the cobot. “However, reports suggest that a cobot can be worth anything from half a worker up to as many as two extra pairs of hands,” Gray says. “Cobots work very well where there are simple programmable tasks. And in uncertain times they provide a valuable extra pair of hands in the injection moulding shop.


“Don’t be fooled into thinking it’s a choice between the two options. Many production sites employ both options and achieve their productivity gains by matching the right robot to right use case.” After all, it’s not as if “traditional” robot technol- ogy has stood still all these years. The concept of a


Sepro CEO sees growing complexity


Injection World recently got some time with Jean-Michel Renaudeau, CEO of Sepro Group, one of the world’s largest independent suppliers of robotics for the injection moulding industry. Injection World: What trends do you see in robots and automation for plastics injection moulding? Jean-Michel Renaudeau: As plastics processors ask robots to do increas- ingly complex tasks, their interest in five- and six-axis robots has been growing. With controls like Sepro’s Visual 3, programming and operation of six-axis articulated-arm robots have become much easier. The dexterity and 360-degree reach of these units can make them very flexible and adaptable to many different situations, including not only part removal, but also pre-mould and post-mould operations. Sepro offers two different lines of six-axis robots: the technologi-


20 INJECTION WORLD | April 2018


Jean-Michel Renaudeau, CEO of Sepro Group


cal Sepro Stäubli range for IMMs from 200 to 13,000 kN of clamp, and the more economical universal Sepro Yaskawa series for machines up to 50,000 kN. The Sepro Yaskawa range was extended last year to include units for moulding presses as small as 200 kN, so that these robots now can be sized for virtually any application on any machine. IW: What’s happening with Cartesian robots? J-M R: Cartesian robots continue to be


the most common robot design used in injection moulding, in part because they tend to be less costly than six-axis units. They are also generally easier to program and operate. However, as I said, applications are getting more complicated and robots are being asked to do more than part removal. That’s one reason for the increased interest in five-axis robots, which are essentially 3-axis Cartesian units with 2-axis servo wrists. They offer top-entry speed for shorter cycle times while also providing flexibility inside and outside the mould that is comparable to an articulated-arm robot. Five-axis robots can perform many


of the complex part-manipulation tasks historically assigned to six-axis articulated arm units. The 2-axis servo wrist also make programming simpler, since it can adjust more easily to different moulds and different mould- ing machines.


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