Page 26 - Plastics News August 2019

FEATURES

AUTOMATION - PART 2
When to Consider Six-Axis Articulated-Arm Robots

Claude Bernard

xtraordinary versatility suits articulated-arm robots ARTICULATED-ARM FLEXIBILITY
Eto a wide variety of operations, from loading inserts
and unloading parts to decorating, assembly and testing. Probably the greatest strength of articulated-arm robots is
their versatility. The typical six-axis unit has an arm that
is similar, in many ways, to the human arm. It can rotate
around its base like the human limb rotates around the
shoulder. It can bend in the middle like a human elbow
and it has a wrist that can rotate and move the hand in
an up-and-down or side-to-side arc. Thus, an articulated-
arm robot can grip an object at almost any angle and at
almost any point within its reach.
This is probably why it is the most common design across
the general industrial landscape. Six-axis robots are used
for welding, painting, material handling, laser cutting,
gluing, assembly, quality testing, etc. And they can be
used for machine tending, including part removal from
injection molding machines.
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They also pair well with Cartesian robots. Many mounting URERW LQ DOPRVW DQ\ DSSOLFDWLRQ :LWK VRPH H[FHSWLRQV
options and improved speed and ease of programming add
which we will get to shortly, this means that programming
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an articulated-arm robot for part removal can be much
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or collaborative robots (cobots)? That’s a little like asking for injection molding. Even straight-line movement of an
which is better for cooking—a frying pan or a
spaghetti pot. You could scramble an egg in a
spaghetti pot and you could boil pasta in a frying
pan, but you probably wouldn’t like the results.
Each tool has its place in the kitchen. The trick
is to know which is best for your application.

Sepro sells more Cartesian units than articulated-
arm robots. Today, we offer plastics processors
a choice of all three major robot technologies,
as well as integrated automation solutions that
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working together to perform different functions.
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articulated-arm robots fit in an injection
molding plant.

Plastics News August 2019 26