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Customized production, smaller lot sizes, increasing part diversity - rigid production systems are increasingly reaching their limits. The requirement now: automation solutions that are both flexible and smart.
Dana Clauer: This age of increasing customization, or of derivatives or variants, is giving rise to ever-increasing diversity. The rigid material flow systems that we knew only a short while ago are now having to be converted into flexible ones. And mobile robots are perfect for that.”
For instance, automatic guided vehicles, or AGVs for short, are an indispensable part of the production halls at Audi. They supply employees on the assembly line with built-in components or follow targeted routes to flexible assembly stations, like at the e-motor production plant in Györ, Hungary.
From the firm of Stäubli, It’s a revolution in mobile robotics. The “Helmo” is already being used in a factory in Allschwill, Switzerland.
Benjamin Heri: “An AGV system is basically only suitable for logistics tasks. If you bring Helmo in as well, you can use him as a logistics system and also as a helper during assembly. With Helmo, there are countless possibilities and potential fields of application”.
And that’s all thanks to the combination of a mobile platform and a robot arm. In the production of electrical connectors, the mobile robot autonomously carries out pick-and-place applications at different workplaces. It can drive and navigate through the factory completely autonomously. Helmo can either complete tasks fully automatically or collaborate with humans. Numerous safety features make this mobile robot a full member of the team.
Benjamin Heri: “Helmo is a very safe system, it’s autonomous. For example, if someone walks in front of Helmo, the system says: “I have a problem and have to stop now.” Then it gets stopped immediately”.
Helmo is assigned tasks either from the SAP system or directly from his human colleagues. Once trained, the mobile robot system can take over almost any manual activity on assembly lines even today. And his full potential is far from exhausted.
Benjamin Heri: “Helmo will be made a bit faster. We want to achieve that using a double gripper. Next, we want to interlink several machines with Helmo. Plus: he will still get logistics jobs where he transports workpieces from A to B, taking the strain off the workers.”
The very latest trends and innovations for mobile robotics and the future of the autonomous factory are all being presented at automatica in Munich.