The giant of Denso's small robots

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

The giant of Denso's small robots

During the visit, the reporter noticed that 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 peculiar robot. It is understood that this series of products have optimized the planning of the robotic arm, reduced the size of the components and changed the equipment of the components, etc., and achieved the "world's smallest arm width" and "the world's highest speed" in similar products, and reduced the weight while insisting on rigidity, and improved the function of driving the robotic arm motor, and the series of products can meet the operation and application in harsh environments.

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

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 was also to carry out the reform of the automated production line on the production line, in order to protect people and other high-risk operating environments, in order to protect people, the idea of replacing people with machines to develop robots, of course, there are also factors such as production efficiency.

Since 1967, when we started to develop robots, we have performed a series of good performances in the development of DENSO robots: in 1970, we began to develop our own robots for use on production lines; In 1982, a medium-sized 4-axis horizontal multi-articulated robot was developed; In 1983, a medium-sized 6-axis vertical 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 HS/HM series of horizontal articulated robots and the VS series of vertical articulated robots were launched. In 2004, the VP series of vertical multi-articulated robots was launched; In 2005, the robot manipulator RC7M was launched; In 2011, the vertical multi-articulated robot VS series was launched; In 2012, the robot manipulator RC8 was launched.

Ryoji Nagashima believes that the sale of DENSO robots in 1991 was a watershed event 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 skills and advantages of DENSO robots, Ryoji Nagashima said that the biggest feature of DENSO robots - its controller is the smallest and most miniaturized, only the size of a main engine, and the thinnest is only more than 90 millimeters. For example, the latest RC8 controller is the smallest in the world in its class (6-axis robot / 3 kW output class), about the size of an A3 sheet of paper, and the volume is 4 times that of Denso's previous machines. According to the data, the current use of small robots in the industry, that is, the scale of the moving mass of less than 20 kilograms, in 2012 Denso's market share is 17%, in the small robot industry should be ranked first.

How does the miniaturization of robots help the customers who use them? Ryoji Nagashima replied that in the current factory, for example, in the manufacture or renovation of equipment, there is not much space left for equipment, and it is necessary 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 use of small robots is to assemble and inspect 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 of the moment, and it is impossible to continue/work stably like the robot. For example, Ryoji Nagashima said that the robots that do visual inspection inside the DENSO plant have no abort photography, and can work continuously for 20 million hours without errors, which is extremely stable compared to manual work.

The giant of Denso's small robots

Sections viewed

Contact

working hours