Fanuc Corporation, Oshino-mura, Minamitsuru-gun, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan

[Airicist]

Ultra Fast Pick & Place Robot - FANUC's New Three-Axis Delta Robot Packs Small Batteries

Published on Feb 7, 2014

Battery pick & place

New to the FANUC family of M-1iA delta-style robots, the FANUC M-1iA/1H is a three-axis parallel-link robot that offers a 1kg payload and is designed for super high-speed pick and place applications.

This demonstration showcases first hand how quickly this robot is able to pick and package small products. The robot meticulously picks small batteries flowing down a conveyor and places them into their packaging tray at a rigorous pace.

Other robots in FANUC's family of M-1iA delta class include a six-axis model with a three-axis wrist, and a four-axis model with a single-axis wrist. The M-1iA/1H robot seen here has a non-rotating wrist, and is ideal for packagers that require fast and accurate part picking without the need to rotate the parts. Its new wrist offers a hollow design for simplification of end-of-arm-tool dress-out.

At 12kg this robot is very lightweight, and as with all of FANUC's delta-style robots it is easy to integrate into production lines. And of course, the M-1iA/1H operates with FANUC's latest integrated intelligent functions such as iRVision, Force Sensing and Robot Link.

[Airicist]

Flexible Part Feeding with Graco's G-Flex™ 1500 Feeder and FANUC Robots

Published on Feb 14, 2014

Founded in 1926 Graco is a leading global manufacturer of fluid handling systems and components.

This video features Graco's latest flexible parts feeding solution -- The Graco G-Flex™ 1500 Feeder. This uniquely designed system from Graco delivers feeding for a wide range of part sizes and shapes in a stand-alone, easy-to-integrate package. The G-Flex comes pre-configured to meet most applications and requires minimal interface -- Simply connect power and one PLC input.

This system uses FANUC's LR Mate Series robot for part handling. FANUC robots provide the speed, precision and reliability required for handling these small parts. The system also utilizes FANUC iRVision to locate parts on the fly. These vision-guided FANUC robots allow the system the distinctive ability to feed different components in multiple sizes and geometries. Additionally, the G-Flex has an extremely high tolerance for parts that are contaminated, including machining chips or oily parts.

Once G-Flex is set up, an operator can load nearly any small to medium size part into the large hopper. Parts are dispensed on-demand to the feeder table that recirculates parts into the FANUC Robot's field of view. This feeder table is run through a programmable platform that shakes automatically, continually feeding almost any shaped item. Integrated controls on the G-Flex allow for fully adjustable vibration magnitude, giving the operator control over part speed and movement. Active feedback from table to controller automatically adjusts vibration frequency as more or less weight is added to the table. Through teaching, the FANUC robot is able to locate and recognize exactly how to implement each assembly part.

Graco's G-Flex™ 1500 Feeder system, along with the use of FANUC robots for small to medium part handling make this unit a flexible, efficient assembly process for numerous applications. To learn more about this innovative feeder solution from Graco, please visit www.graco.com/g-flex.

[Airicist]

Bottle Opener Machining with Dual FANUC ROBODRILLs & FANUC LR Mate 200iD Robot

Published on Feb 21, 2014

Bottle Opener Machining

This video demonstrates machining of metal bottle openers using a fully integrated and fully automated machining solution from FANUC America.

The system seen here features two high precision FANUC ROBODRILL Small Machining Centers, the fast and compact FANUC LR Mate 200iD Robot, and FANUC's high performance Series 31iB CNC, all operating together to provide the highest level of efficiency and quality of parts. The system features robot to ROBODRILL interface, resulting in a FANUC controlled configuration that reduces wiring by 50% when compared to conventional PLC cell control.

The process starts with the LR Mate 200iD Robot picking a raw part from a tray with its custom end of arm tooling. The robot waits for the ROBODRILL on the left to finish the first machining process involved. The robot has auxiliary axis servo control of the ROBODRILL access doors, enabling it to actually anticipate door opening. The first ROBODRILL's door opens and the robot reaches in to grab a partially finished part. After grabbing it, the LR Mate rotates its gripper, loads the raw part and the first machining process beings. ROBODRILL precisely mills the part with its high speed DDR milling table. ROBODRILL is tightly integrated with the FANUC robot. Status monitoring and operation of the robot can all be seen on the ROBODRILL's CNC screen.

Once finished, the first ROBODRILL's door opens, and the robot unloads our partially finished part and loads a raw part. The robot utilizes its full range of motion by flipping 180 degrees to re-orient the part in its gripper via a re-grip station. The robot flips back to its original position, reaches into the second ROBODRILL to grab a finished part, and rotates its gripper to load our partially finished part. Here, our bottle opener will finish its machining process. Upon completion, the LR Mate reaches in, unloads our finished part, loads a partially finished part, and places our finished bottled opener into a chute and out of the system.

FANUC America has engineered the ROBODRILL machining center to address all machining needs for its class. Combined with the use of a FANUC Robot for machine load/unload and FANUC standard CNC installed, this system truly has it all -- A one source solution for complete automation.

[Airicist]

Innovative Boring Mill System Uses FANUC Robot to Load Heavy Parts - Courtesy of Weldon Solutions

Published on Feb 28, 2014

Boring Mill loading: FANUC Machine Tending Robots

FANUC Authorized Integrator Weldon Solutions is a leader in developing robotically automated machine tending systems for a variety of applications. This video highlights an automated boring mill system engineered by Weldon Solutions that uses a FANUC R-2000iB/165F Robot to load and unload heavy cast housings.

First, the FANUC R-2000iB robot locates a part on the inbound pallet using FANUC's iRVision 3D Area Sensor, and picks the part with its magnetic gripper. The new FANUC 3D Area Sensor is an easy to use vision tool that provides full 3D maps in one quick vision shot. The robot places the part on a re-grip station, where a fixed iRVision camera verifies the part and determines its orientation. The robot re-adjusts the part based on its orientation, so that the part is properly aligned with the boring mill load position. FANUC iRVision is crucial in determining this offset for robot pick-up and bore mill loading.

The robot moves to the bore mill, removes a bored part from the mill, and moves it to a vacuum nozzle for chip removal. The robot then loads the part from the pallet onto the bore mill fixture. Once loaded, the robot places the finished part onto an outbound pallet. This process repeats until either the inbound pallet is empty or the outbound pallet is full.

Flat boards are used to separate alternating layers of parts on the inbound and outbound pallets. If the FANUC 3D Area Sensor sees a board on the inbound pallet, the robot uses its magnetic gripper to pick up a vacuum gripper located on the workcell's Safety Fence. The robot then uses the vacuum gripper to move the board from the inbound pallet to the board pallet, and hangs the vacuum gripper back on its "hooks".

Machine tending with articulated robotic solutions provides a number of advantages when compared to traditional gantries. To learn how you can take advantage of the increased productivity and savings provided by a custom-built machining workcell using FANUC Robots, please visit http://www.weldonsolutions.com.

[Airicist]

Easy-to-use Robotic Pick & Place Packing Station: Combi Ergobot® - Courtesy of MCRI

Published on Apr 4, 2014

MCRI Ergobot®

FANUC Authorized Integrator Motion Controls Robotics in partnership with Combi Packaging Systems offers this extremely intuitive and easy-to-use robotic pick and place packing system. This unique system fully automates case packing operations that may require verifying lot or serialization numbers or varying pack counts, creating retail-ready packages and automating tasks that are difficult or unsafe for humans. An intuitive user interface makes the Ergobot system easy to start up, shutdown, apply product changeover, and allows "Single TouchTM" robot cycle recovery.

The proven Ergobot system may use FANUC's new and improved long-arm LR Mate 200iD/7L robot, M10iB or M20iB robot depending on product being packed. These intelligent robots from FANUC provide maximum flexibility and throughput, and can be used when hand packing is unavailable or impractical. The Combi Ergobot is available as a new system and is fully upgradeable for companies with an existing manual Ergopack machine.

The robot cell offers adjustable tooling and integrated robotic vision that can accommodate a variety of product sizes and package configurations by adapting to multiple pick positions. The Ergobot can incorporate multiple end of arm tools with manual or automatic tool change. Single, or multiple robot configurations are available to suit required case packing rates. Automatic case erection and case sealing are standard features.

[Airicist]

Automated Blister Sealing System with Three FANUC Robots for Load/Unload -- Clear Automation

Published on May 9, 2014

FANUC America Authorized Integrator Clear Automation specializes in flexible and fixed automation equipment from single work cells to complete production lines for assembly, inspection, labeling, laser marking, dispensing and packaging. The system seen here was excellently designed and built to blister seal cosmetics products at 120 parts per minute by utilizing highly reliable robotic automation from FANUC America to load raw parts and unload the finished products.

The system starts as a series of blisters are placed onto the cosmetics part containers eight-at-a-time. Sensors check for presence of the blisters. The cosmetics, which are rapidly carried into the system on a Flexlink conveyor, are picked four-at-a-time by the first of three FANUC LR Mate Series robots. The products are placed onto an indexing conveyor where they are moved to a second FANUC LR Mate robot. This efficient robot picks the products eight-at-a-time and places them into the recently blistered containers.

Further down this main conveyor, cards are placed onto the blisters. Again, sensors are used at this station to detect the presence of the cards. The cards are heat sealed to the blisters and the barcode of each card is quickly scanned and verified. A third, ceiling-mounted FANUC LR Mate robot picks all eight products with its vacuum grippers, and places them in front of individual sensors that detect for the product in each finished package. Empty packs are sent down a reject chute, while good products are placed on an exit conveyer out of the system. This completely automated system from FANUC America Authorized Integrator Clear Automation helped to drastically eliminate mistakes and increase throughput.

[Airicist]

New FANUC Robot Palletizes Heavy Bags Using Robotic Vision & Robot Safeguarding Software

Published on Jun 13, 2014

FANUC America is proud to announce the addition of the new FANUC R-1000iA/80H robot to FANUC's series of R-1000iA robots. The five-axis FANUC R-1000iA/80H robot features an 80kg payload and a very strong wrist, making it ideal for heavy bag palletizing and case handling. This palletizing application is an excellent demonstration of this robot's features and capabilities. It starts with the robot rapidly depalletizing heavy bags onto a conveyor. Once all of the bags in the first layer have been depalletized, the robot uses FANUC iRVision to locate the bags on the pallet, and proceeds to palletize the layer of bags back onto the pallet, and the process repeats. The R-1000iA/80H robot in this system palletizes 31 bags/minute, which is the fastest for an industrial robot. Along with this new robot's strength and speed comes a compact design that makes it an excellent solution for applications where a robot is required to work in a tight workspace. Using the FANUC R-1oooiA/80H Robot can add energy efficiency to an operation as well, as this robot is more energy efficient than robots with larger payloads. Manufacturers using fewer or smaller work cells requiring less conveyance equipment, sensors and tooling will realize an additional energy advantage provided by smaller automation systems. This equates to a greener facility using less energy. In addition to vision software the robot in this system also uses FANUC's Dual Check Safety or DCS Speed and Position Check Software. DCS safety rated robot software allows robot safety features to be programmed within the robot itself, streamlining the design of the robot cell and saving significant time, money and floor space.

[Airicist]

Robotic Axle Painting with FANUC P-50iB Paint Robots - Compass Automation

Published on Jul 11, 2014

Robotic axle painting: fanucamerica.com/industrial-solutions/manufacturing-applications/painting-robots

FANUC America's complete range of painting robots and software solutions help manufacturers improve their paint processes. This case study example from Compass Automation shows just how utilizing FANUC paint robots can add value to a painting process.

[Airicist]

Robotic Machine Tool Loading System with FANUC Robot - Automated Cells & Equipment

Published on Jul 18, 2014

Robotic Machining

FANUC America Authorized Integrator Automated Cells & Equipment engineer uniquely designed automated machine tending solutions that incorporate FANUC robots for machine tool load and unload. ACE's MT Series Automated Machine Tenders use simple, drawer-based operation, capable of loading parts into and out of a workspace for virtually any machine tool and in multiple machine tool configurations. In this robotic machine tending application, the versatile FANUC M-20iA robot services two CNC dual spindle lathes. The system includes a total of four drawers provided for storage of raw and finished parts. The drawers are bi-directional, promoting easy access for both the operator and the robot.
AutoDoors are provided for quick machine entry and incorporate hurricane boxes for part blow-off and residual chip removal. A blow off nozzle is integrated within the end of arm tooling, for part and chuck cleaning within the machine tool.
After the part is processed in the hurricane box, it is then transported to the automated part washer. The FANUC M-20iA robot manipulates the part within both the wash and dry cycles for optimal part cleaning and drying. All cleaning fluids are recycled and filtered minimizing both consumable and energy usage. After the part has been cleaned and dried, it is then returned to the part drawer and a new part is picked up for processing.
To learn more about the flexible MT Series Automated Machine Tender from FANUC Authorized Integrator Automated Cells & Equipment, please visit https://www.autocells.com.

[Airicist]

FANUC Robot Uses 3D Vision System to Rapidly Bin Pick Plastic Bottles

Published on Aug 29, 2014

This high-speed bin picking demonstration from FANUC America shows just how easy, fast and practical a robotic system can be for random bin picking.

The system starts with FANUC’s iRVision 3D Area Sensor, which uses 3D vision to locate these random plastic bottles in the storage container. This high-speed 3D vision sensor is able to provide a detailed 3D map of the bottles in one quick vision shot. The FANUC 3D Area Sensor is not only fast, it’s very easy to use, allowing bin picking setup through the iPendant in a matter of minutes.

Another technology featured in this system is FANUC’s iRVision Interference Avoidance feature, which prevents to robot and tooling from coming into contact with the storage container. All of the bottles are placed in a consistent orientation on the outgoing conveyor – This, made possible through use of FANUC iRVision 2D, which quickly detects the orientation of each bottle on the fly, before the robot places it onto the conveyor.

The robot used in this system is FANUC’s high speed M-20iA robot. This extremely versatile six-axis robot features an 1,811 mm reach, a 20 kg payload, and a hollow wrist that offers multiple functions and eliminates cable management issues. Once the M-20iA robot is finished picking all of the bottles from the first bin, it picks the empty bin and places it under the conveyor, swapping it with the full bin, and the cycle repeats.