Denso attended the 15th China International Industry Fair with its small robots

At the 15th China International Industry Fair held in Shanghai, DENSO, a global manufacturer of automotive parts, showcased its innovative technologies such as the "New VS Series," a high-speed and easy-to-use small industrial robot (also known as a robot).

Denso attended the 15th China International Industry Fair with its small robots

Denso attended the 15th China International Industry Fair with its small robots

During the viewing process, the reporter noticed that in line with the theme of "digital and green" of this exhibition, the small high-speed robot "new VS series" exhibited by Denso, its fast, accurate and flexible action attracted many people to stop and watch, and the reporter of this newspaper was also deeply attracted by this almost magical robot. It is understood that this series of products by optimizing the design of the robotic arm, reducing the size of the components and changing the equipment of the components, etc., in the same kind of products to achieve the "world's smallest arm width" and "the world's highest speed", and maintain rigidity while reducing weight, improve the function of driving the robotic arm motor, the series of products can be satisfied with the operation and application in harsh environments.

In order to learn more about DENSO robots, through harmony, our reporter interviewed Yoshiharu Nagashima, executive director and director of the control system business department of DENSO DENSOWAVE Co., Ltd.

According to Ryoji Nagashima, Denso has been engaged in robotics since 1967, and its original intention in making robots was to work in local areas where people could not do it in a risky environment. That is to say, at the beginning, it is also to carry out the reform of the automated production line on the production line, in order to protect people and other high-risk working environments, in order to protect people, use machines to replace people's ideas to develop and develop robots, of course, there are also factors such as production efficiency.

Since the beginning of the development of robots in 1967, a series of good manifestations have been staged in the development process of DENSO robots: in 1970, we began to develop robots for production lines; In 1982, a medium-sized 4-axis horizontal multi-articulated robot was developed; In 1983, a medium-sized 6-axis straight multi-articulated robot was developed; In 1985, the company officially began to introduce assembly robots within the company; In 1991, the robot manipulator RC3 was launched and began to be sold to the outside world; In 1998, the robot manipulator RC5 was launched; In 2001, DENSO established DENSOWAVE, a company specializing in the development and production of robots. In 2002, the horizontal multi-articulated robot HS/HM series was launched, and the straight multi-articulated robot VS series was launched; In 2004, the VP series of straight multi-articulated robots was launched; In 2005, the robot manipulator RC7M was launched; In 2011, the VS-series of straight multi-articulated robots was launched; In 2012, the robot manipulator RC8 was launched.

Ryoji Nagashima believes that the sale of DENSO robots to the outside world in 1991 was a watershed for DENSO robots, which also marked the beginning of DENSO robots to occupy a place in the world market. Since then, the development level of DENSO robots has been slowing down and the sales business has been developing year by year. It is known that there are more than 70,000 DENSO robots in use around the world, of which 17,000 are used in DENSO's own factories.

Speaking of the core technology and advantages of DENSO robots, Ryoji Nagashima said that the biggest feature of DENSO robots - its controller is the most miniaturized and miniaturized, as long as the size of a host, the thinnest is only more than 90 mm. For example, the latest RC8 controller is the smallest in its class (6-axis robot/3 kW output), about the size of an A3 sheet of paper, and 4% of the size of Denso's previous machines. According to the data, Denso's market share in 2012 was 17% of the small robots used in the industry at that time, that is, the range of moving weight of less than 20 kilograms, which should be the top in the small robot industry.

How does the miniaturization of robots help the customers who use them? Ryoji Nagashima replied that in the factory, for example, in the production or transformation of equipment, there is not much space left for equipment, and there is a need to miniaturize the entire set of equipment, but its function cannot be reduced. In this case, a compact controller such as Denso is required. In addition, Ryoji Nagashima emphasized that RC8 has improved the overall computing method, and it is also equipped with ORiN2, an underlying software that supports third parties, which can control other connected machines through this software, which is convenient for customers to use.

Speed, accuracy, energy saving, and miniaturization can be said to be the biggest characteristics and advantages of small robots. For example, in the automotive industry, the mainstream application methods of small robots are the assembly and visual inspection of small parts, as well as the conversion and transfer of small workpieces between processing equipment, such as the assembly of automotive sensors and incineration coils. During the appearance inspection, the robot will carry an industrial control camera to carry out external positioning, which generally takes about 0.5 seconds, while the most skilled worker needs about 1 second, and it is impossible to continue/work stably like a robot. For example, Ryoji Nagashima said that the robots that do exterior inspection inside the Denso plant do not stop taking pictures, and can work continuously for 20 million hours without showing errors, which is extremely stable compared to manual work.

Denso attended the 15th China International Industry Fair with its small robots

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