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ROBOTS | TECHNOLOGY


robot that is bought for one job and is redundant as soon as that job is finished is rather out of date. And it’s an argument that traditional robot makers are fighting. “Manufacturers really need to understand the facts before they jump on the cobot bandwagon, as this investment may not be as low-risk as it first appears,” says Nigel Smith, CEO of TM Robotics, which sells Toshiba automation systems in the UK. “The robotics industry does not acknowledge cobots as a separate entity,” Smith points out, “but instead defines industrial safety standards for when humans work collaboratively with robots on the same production floor. This is an important distinc- tion, as new robotics implementers may assume that any cobot is automatically safe for use next to humans, when, in fact, this can only be determined by thorough risk assessment. Some plant managers may be also surprised to discover that they need expensive fencing if risk wasn’t appropriately forecasted initially.” Improvements in safety technology are now allowing industrial robots to be used in collabora- tive operations, providing many of the same benefits that a cobot brings, along with increased speed and accuracy, says Smith. “Of course, this


The Sepro Yaskawa 6X-140, one of several six-axis, articulated arm robots for automotive and industrial applications now offered by Sepro


collaboration can only be implemented after the appropriate risk assessment — but that is no different than when choosing a cobot. Almost any robot is capable of collaborative operation with the appropriate safety mechanisms in place. Remember, it’s the applica- tion that defines the ability for human and machine to collaborate.”


Staying informed Cobot or robot, it is the task of their manufactur- ers to better inform the marketplace that automa- tion can enhance their productivity and efficiency, while remaining competitive, Smith says. “For the plastics and injection moulding market, investing in automation certainly doesn’t automatically lead to the depletion of a human workforce. Instead, robots should be seen as a means to do more with the equipment plastics manufacturers currently have.” He provides this example: “In the past, most end users opted for a classic Cartesian X-Y gantry-style robot to unload parts


IW: Where do robots fit into smart manufacturing? J-M R: For years, thanks to Euromap and SPI communication protocols, robots have been communicating with, and connected to, other ma- chines like moulding machines, insert feeders and other peripheral equip- ment, vision systems, and even other robots. They have to be in order to do their job.


But connectivity alone is not


enough. In recent years, Sepro engineers have been developing ways to integrate our Visual robot controls with the controls that operate injection-moulding machines. Working with IMM partners, they created several different levels of integration to suit a variety of needs and objectives. IW: What is in the Sepro pipeline? J-M R: We are working on continuing to implement Open 4.0, Sepro’s long-term, company-wide commit- ment to delivering openness, trans- parency, simplicity and choice


www.injectionworld.com


through intelligent next-generation robots and controls. For the last several years, we have been collabo- rating with the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. They have been helping us open our minds not only to what a robot control needs to be, but also to think about what such a control could be. In the next 12 months, we will roll out the next generation robot controls, which will be more like smartphones than industrial machine controls, with functionality that lets users do more and do it more easily. Some of the first elements were previewed at Fakuma 2017 and will be on display at NPE 2018. These include OptiCycle, a control plug-in developed with a key customer that automates cycle optimization, and Live Support, an app that links customers and their robots with troubleshooting assistance. Both are intended to function with the Sepro Visual control platform on new and existing robots.


April 2018 | INJECTION WORLD 21


Left: Working hand in hand… (Universal Robots)


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