Cobot-based "progressive automation" solution

In terms of international definition, collaborative robots are mainly divided into two categories, one is to meet the ISO10218 of industrial robot specifications, and select industrial robots with inherent safety planning, protective methods and identification; There is also a type of collaborative robots that are not planned according to the safety specifications of industrial robots, but meet the corresponding occupational safety specifications.

At present, the industry is discussing more collaborative robots, which mainly refer to robots that can share the operating space with people and complete the mission together in industrial scenarios.

Industrial robots began to land in the 70s of the 20th century, and were used in industrial scenes, after 20 years of development, in 1995, the robot center of General Motors commissioned professors from Northwest University to develop a collaborative robot project, and put forward the concept of collaborative robots. More than 20 years have passed, and China's collaborative robots are moving from concept to reality.

In the first decade of the 21st century, the international traditional industrial robot giants and the star enterprises of collaborative robots, KUKA, UR, Rethink, ABB, and FANUC have successively developed and released their collaborative robot products.

In the ISO10218-1 industrial robot specification released in 2011, several collaborative applications are also mentioned, including the explanation of materials by humans and robots, the safety interface, the suspension of robots, how to ensure the safety of people when people and robots share the operating space, and drag and teach.

Several skills to complete human-robot collaboration are also mentioned in the specification, such as: safety-level monitoring abort, manual traction, speed and zone isolation, power and force limiting. In fact, there is no safe robot in the industrial sense, as long as it is used safely. According to ISO10218 and the latest ISO15066 cobot specifications, more emphasis is placed on the safety of the system.

The four characteristics of collaborative robots are safety, efficiency, ease of use, and sensitivity, which can meet the needs of current production and assist users to improve the central competitiveness of the factory, that is, automation, intelligence, and flexibility, but this does not mean that collaborative robots can be competent for all application scenarios. Therefore, it is particularly important to select suitable application scenarios and give full play to the characteristics of collaborative robots under this foundation.

At this stage, collaborative robots and traditional industrial robots are a complementary relationship, and "collaboration" is also an important trend in the future development of industrial robots.

Three years ago, Elite, which has 16 years of skill accumulation in the field of robot control, fully entered the collaborative robot track and applied the existing skills through the productization of collaborative robots. Cai Songlin, Director of Application and Product of Elite Robotics, has been focusing on the need for collaborative robot skills for future customers. Whether it is to improve the product quality or the user-side product iteration, this logic is followed.

In Cai Songlin's view, the four characteristics of collaborative robots have given birth to many new categories that traditional industrial robots cannot enter (such as composite robots), and at the same time, in some traditional robot battlefields (such as transfer, assembly), collaborative robots lightweight, safe and friendly, sensitive layout of the differentiated advantages also have the ability to replace traditional plans.

Suitable occasions for collaborative robots

Cai Songlin believes that to evaluate the adaptability of collaborative robots in factories, we should first comment from two dimensions.

First of all, the current production status is analyzed by the user's needs in combination with their own conditions.

Product features: Is the production type of the factory more varieties and less batches? For example, in the car parts and electronics occupations, the product life cycle is getting shorter and shorter, and the production line is frequently switched, and the production methods and production tools are more flexible in this situation.

Factory automation ability: large factories generally have automation parts, but the automation team of small and medium-sized enterprises is not strong, and generally only equipment protection engineers. Therefore, when introducing automation equipment, the ease of use and low learning threshold determine whether the skills can be quickly practiced.

Production line features: What degree of automation has been reached? For example, if some of the processes on the production line have been standardized and automated, and the policy at that time was to connect these processes in series, then it is appropriate to consider collaborative robots. Perhaps for workstations that are labor-intensive and have a high degree of repetitive work, single-station automation can be achieved through collaborative robots.

Industrial trends: For most enterprises, the industrial trend is increasingly flashing the demand for flexibility, digitalization and intelligence, so the openness of collaborative robots can support the requirements of factories for product traceability and robot monitoring.

Secondly, after evaluating the current production status, if the robot is expected to be introduced, then it is necessary to consider the process of completing automation. Cai Songlin showed that "Progressive Automation" based on collaborative robots will become a more sensitive and efficient form of automation promotion than one-step full automation.

In the process of visiting customers, Elite observed that the customers who tend to choose fully automated production lines are often those who do not have a high level of automation. "They see the advantages of friends and peers through the completion of automation, one is to reduce personnel, the other is to improve product quality, so they are eager to improve the automation level of their own factories, often expect to quickly cross the automation process, through the imitation method directly to the purpose of full automation."

"We don't think this approach is advisable." After visiting a number of factories, Cai Songlin said: "At the top of the list, full automation has invested a lot in hardware, manpower and time; Second, the full automation of the process directly across the center is very dangerous, and often the project cannot reach the expected policy after a year or two. ”

Therefore, Elite believes that customers with the above needs are not the most suitable users to choose collaborative robots. "We advocate that customers use the form of gradual automation to complete the skills and business risks can be controlled, step by step."

Cai Songlin further pointed out that this form can allow customers to deepen their understanding of the characteristics of collaborative robotic arms in the process of advancement, and at the same time improve the application ability of the automation team, laying a good foundation for further implementation of automation in the future.

"In this way, the equipment utilization rate of collaborative robots is higher, and with the deepening of users' understanding of the product, it can complete 'one machine for multiple purposes', especially suitable for enterprises with a low initial degree of automation in factories, or enterprises that plan to improve existing production forms through robot substitution." Cai Songlin said.

For example, a customer in Jiangsu Province mainly supplies remote controls and wire controllers for electrical manufacturers and white goods manufacturers, and the first station for them to introduce collaborative robots is to use collaborative robotic arms to do board loading and unloading in the PCB board transfer and assembly line, and the customer's factory has a lot of automation equipment, including welding, PCB board insertion, board splitting, testing, and back-end screwing and assembly.

"The customer's process equipment has been very standardized, although the product life cycle is short, often iterative, but the process changes are small, so the customer expects to reuse the existing automation equipment." After evaluating the performance of the practice, the customer found that the opportunity for improvement lay in the large number of labor stations available for transshipment operations.

In the end, the customer used collaborative robots to make a standardized operation station, which can sensitively move the machine to the corresponding manual position according to the needs of the production line, replace the workers to perform material transfer and complete the reduction.

The battle of "gradual automation".

In the process of gradual automation, factories often encounter three types of challenges.

Response 1: The production line has been finalized, and the space requirements are high;

Response 2: How to be compatible with existing devices after the robot is imported, and whether the old equipment can only be screened when the new equipment is imported;

Response 3: Can it adapt to the demand for more scalable production capacity?

In this regard, collaborative robots can provide an ideal solution.

For the top category, the cobot chooses an integrated lightweight joint plan, compact structure, high load-to-weight ratio, low device requirements and no need for safety fences, which can help users save space and firmware investment.

Elite cobots support any viewpoint device (formal mounting, side mounting and even hoisting), and each single joint of the six-joint robot can rotate ± 360° without dead center, so it is especially suitable for the sensitive layout in the existing production line, and users have fewer restrictions when planning the robot's orientation and operation space.

Regarding the second type of response, the customer requires that the new equipment have good compatibility with the existing equipment, and the cobot can meet the user's expectations through communication.

The communication interface of Elite robot is open, with various standardized data input and output and bus interfaces. Customers can choose their own methods from the two planning concepts of the station: first, the robot is the center as the master control, and the other equipment is used as an integrated unit to cooperate with the collaborative robot to complete the automation; Second, collaborative robots act as fulfillment mechanisms.

For example, some car integrators prefer this kind of method - PLC is the main one, the PLC is responsible for controlling the entire production line (including conveyor belt and equipment interaction), and the collaborative robot is used as a job station to fulfill the unit planning.

In the case of Elite robot used for reducer assembly, the entire station is the operation of the whole line, the reducer is a standard product, the entire production line is controlled by PLC (including cameras and sensors), and the robotic arm is used as a unit module for loading and unloading operations.

Cai Songlin explained: "There are various types of reducers, and orders fluctuate greatly, so the push-pull operation station based on collaborative robot planning can be moved to the corresponding position according to the capacity demand of the production line, complete the rapid layout, and meet the flexible production needs." ”

The third type of challenge comes from the scalability of production capacity, which requires higher efficiency of production line switching.

In traditional occupations, such as white power occupations, some factories need to switch production lines more than 10 times a day (because some factories have a large number of OEM orders with different standards). The dragging and teaching and fast mobility of the collaborative robotic arm can ensure that the robotic arm can switch missions faster than traditional industrial robots, which has a greater advantage in this type of application.

So far, Elite collaborative robot products have blossomed in many aspects, which has further reduced the edge cost of product line expansion. In Cai Songlin's view: "Whether it is a collaborative robot or an industrial robot, it is ultimately necessary to serve users and assist them in completing their value." Elite will continue to concentrate on the collaborative robot track and help more factories complete flexible production. ”

Cobot-based "progressive automation" solution

Cobot-based "progressive automation" solution

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