Now manufacturing enterprises are turning to intelligent manufacturing, and the introduction of industrial robots is the choice of most people. Typical applications of industrial robots include welding, painting, assembly, collection and placement (e.g. packaging, palletizing and SMT), product inspection and testing; All work is completed with efficiency, durability, speed and accuracy. Industrial robotics technology is changing rapidly and making amazing advances over the years, from typical pick-and-place to high-precision collaborative robots.
On a factory floor, you won't see robots running or jumping like Boston Dynamics robots. But you'll see that they perform flawlessly, freeing workers from dangerous, boring, and repetitive tasks.
Recently, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology identified the four types of robots most relevant to the manufacturing industry as articulated robots, SCARA robots, Cartesian robots, and collaborative robots.
Firist. Articulated robot
Articulated robots are robots that have a jointed, two-link layout similar to our human arms. Articulated robots can be classified according to how many points of rotation they have, with some devices having up to seven degrees of freedom. The mechanical complexity of these units makes them relatively expensive and slightly slower than other types.
Articulated robots remain by far the largest type of robot, according to InteractAnalysis. Articulated robots accounted for 59.6 percent of global shipments in 2019 and are expected to account for 57.5 percent of the total market by 2023.
The advantage of articulated robots is that they can circumvent obstacles that would block other types of robots. These devices are perhaps the most common type in use today. They can be used for: take-and-place, dispensing, packing, parts and welding, etc.
Second. SCARA Robot
SCARA robots, horizontal multi-joint robotic arm robots, they can move along the x and y axes, but the arms are rigid in the direction of the Z axis and locked in place along the z axis. As a result, the SCARA robot has selective compliance, which has advantages in some assembly operations, such as inserting a round pin into a round hole.
SCARA robot, photo: ADTECH
SCARA's less freedom means fewer motors, simpler control calculations and control algorithms, and less computer power required. There are fewer axes between the base and the part to be built, which also means that the cumulative error is reduced.
An important consideration in factory floor robotics is how far a robot can work from a pedestal compared to the ground space occupied by the pedestal itself, and SCARA is very advantageous in this respect, where it usually takes up less space on the factory floor.
Although the SCARA machine is relatively limited, overall, it is a faster, cheaper, more accurate, and easier to control robot.
Third. Cartesian robots
Cartesian robot, also known as cartesian robot, it can move directly along three axes (length, width and height). Due to the inherent robustness of this construction, it can be used under the heaviest loads.
The difference between cartesian robots and SCARA robots is the ability to move on the z axis. Compared with the two, SCARA's response will be faster, the equipment will be relatively clean, its single seat installation seat requires a small footprint, so it can be a simpler, unobstructed installation way. On the other hand, SCARA would be more expensive than a traditional Cartesian robotic arm, and the control software would require an inverse kinematics mechanism for the linear tween of motion. Moreover, Cartesian robots can be used to pick up, assemble and even distribute materials such as adhesives.
Fourth. COBOT (Cooperative Robot)
collaborative robot (cobot for short) is a robot designed to have close interaction with humans in a co-working space. Until 2010, most industrial robots were designed to operate autonomously or with limited guidance, so they don't have to worry about close interaction with humans, and their actions don't have to worry about the safety of people around them, all of which are features that collaborative robots need to take into account.
As described by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), collaborative industrial robots (COBOTS) are designed to collaborate with humans to perform tasks in industry. According to IFR, this collaboration takes place at four levels:
Separate units: Humans and robots work nearby, but in separate physical workspaces. No human-computer interaction or synchronization.
Sequential collaboration: There are some intersections between human and robot workspaces. However, the action of one participant begins only after the action of the other participant is completed.
Cooperation: People and workers working together.
Responsive cooperation: Robots respond to human actions in real time.
These levels are shown below. The green area represents the robot's workspace and the yellow area represents the worker's workspace.
Sequential collaboration is the most advanced level commonly adopted in today's factories and needs to be implemented through machine vision and artificial intelligence. In addition, tangential branches of collaborative robots are robots used in surgical applications, such as the first robotic eye surgery performed in 2016. Perhaps the most famous of these is Intuitive Surgical's daVinci robotic surgical system, which, while seemingly fitting, was not defined as a cobotic by its developers. The robot's every move is controlled by the surgeon, but with a precision that no human hand can come close to.
With robotic control, surgeons can operate through smaller incisions, reducing invasive procedures and speeding patients' recovery.
Clearly, this level of precision and fine motor control can be found in countless applications in industrial environments. However, high-precision collaborative robots are currently too expensive for ordinary manufacturing plants to afford for the time being.