Robots for palletizing and other packaging and assembly jobs
.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