Corporate Buyers Guide

.Robots can be dangerous. A robot moves through an arch like path and will try to move anything that is in his way. For this reason, safety fences and other safety devices are a requirement and must meet safety standards*. All personnel that regularly come near a robot location must be trained to the standard.

Manufacturers of robotic systems have safety equipment and safety training as part of their product offerings.

Today’s robots are fast. The motors driving the axes have come a long way, in terms of speed and position accuracy. The ability to lift large weights allows the robot to move more than one item at a time. Given the correct robot capacity and gripper (end effector) a robot can be designed to handle any required capacities.

Robots work in all climates and environments.  Welding robots and painting robots are specifically designed to do these jobs. On the other side, robots handle microchip disks in class 1 clean rooms and mix dangerous chemicals in industrial labs.

The most common robot is the Articulated Arm, 5 or 6 axis models. The applications are: material handling, (un)palletizing, machine tending, welding, painting, assembling and more. The next popular type is the SCARA, 4 axis robot. These are high speed assembly and packaging robots. They have high positioning accuracy and repeatability. The maximum capacity is around 15 kg. SCARA robots often have vision guidance.

The software has become more user friendly. Programming can be done with a lap top or manually with a teach pendant, a hand held device. The robot is manually guided through all the required motions which is then loaded into the memory.

Another important point is the reliability. Today’s robots have a mean time between failures MTBF of 60,000 hours.

* ANSI/RIA/ASTM 10218-1-2007 is becoming the new international safety standard

Electric trucks are the fastest growing style of lift truck models, even though they are more expensive than internal combustion trucks. Lift trucks with electric drive include order pickers and narrow isle trucks. The hand trucks come in three styles; Rider, Lift trucks and walk behind (walkies).

Today’s electric trucks use high voltage batteries, typically 36 and 48 volt. This is converted into AC for smooth travel and lift. The higher voltages give more travel and lift speed, but does not affect the load capacity of the truck.

Electric trucks require a battery charge station. If the truck is in constant use, a second battery may be needed to keep the truck running for two shift work and a third extra battery, for three shifts (a battery needs 8 hour charging plus 8 hour cool down before it is ready for use) Because of their weight, special battery hoists are needed to remove and install the batteries in the trucks.

To simplify the whole battery charging system, fast charge batteries and chargers are available. This way, batteries can retain their charge with short charging cycles at lunch plus other idle periods. This method does have its limitations.. The up front cost for the battery and chargers are high and so are the changes to the facility electrical system to handle the high current levels..

A potential answer for a power system is the fuel cell. The hydrogen fuel cell has been around for some time and, it seems that producing and safely distributing H2 is the main technical challenge. Fuel cells for electric hand trucks are available today. They are more expensive than batteries, but there is no handling and charging cost. Fuel cells don’t weigh as much as batteries. This does not affect the center of gravity and counterweight in hand trucks. It does require a change in the structure of forklift trucks.