These devices are today especially in demand in the national economy. An industrial robot, not very similar to its prototype in the book of K. Chapek “Rise of the Robots”, does not at all feed revolutionary ideas. On the contrary, he faithfully performs, and with great accuracy, both the main production processes (assembly, welding, painting) and auxiliary (loading and unloading, fixing the product during manufacture, moving).
The use of such "smart" machines contributes to the effective solution of three major production problems:
- increase labor productivity;
- improving working conditions for people;
- optimizing the use of human resources.
Industrial robots are the brainchild of large-scale production
Production robots became widespread at the end of the 20th century due to a significant increase in industrial production. Large series of products necessitated the intensity and quality of such work, the performance of which exceeds objective human capabilities. Instead of engaging many thousands of skilled workers, modern high-tech factories operate numerous highly efficient automatic lines operating in intermittent or continuous cycles.
The leaders in the development of such technologies, declaring the widespread use of industrial robots, are Japan, the USA, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. The two large groups are divided into modern industrial robots manufactured in the above countries. Their types are determined by belonging to two fundamentally different control methods:
- automatic manipulators;
- devices remotely controlled by a person.
What are they used for?
They started talking about the need for their creation at the beginning of the 20th century. However, at that time there was no elemental basis for the implementation of the plan. Today, following the dictates of the time, robotic machines are used in most of the most technologically advanced industries.
Unfortunately, the re-equipment of entire industries with such smart machines is hindered by a shortage of investments. Although the advantages of using them clearly exceed the initial cash costs, because they allow us to speak not only and not so much about automation, but about profound changes in the sphere of production and labor.
The use of industrial robots made it possible to more efficiently perform unbearable tasks in terms of complexity and accuracy of work: loading / unloading, stacking, sorting, and orientation of parts; moving workpieces from one robot to another, and finished products - to the warehouse; spot welding and seam welding; assembly of mechanical and electronic parts; cable laying; cutting blanks along a complex contour.
Manipulator as a component of industrial robot
Functionally, such a “smart” machine consists of a reprogrammable self-propelled guns (automatic control system) and a working fluid (movement system and mechanical manipulator). If the self-propelled gun is usually quite compact, visually hidden and does not immediately strike the eye, then the working fluid has such a characteristic appearance that an industrial robot is often called as follows: "robot manipulator".
By definition, a manipulator is a device that moves in the space of work surfaces and objects of labor. These devices consist of two types of links. The former provide a progressive movement. The second is angular displacement. Such standard links use either pneumatic or hydraulic (more powerful) drive for their movement.
The manipulator, created by analogy with the human hand, is equipped with a technological gripping device for working with parts. In various devices of this type, the capture was most often carried out by mechanical fingers. When working with flat surfaces, objects were captured using mechanical suction cups.
If the manipulator had to work simultaneously with many similar blanks, then the capture was carried out thanks to a special extensive design.
Instead of a gripping device, the manipulator is often equipped with mobile welding equipment, a special technological spray gun or just a screwdriver.
How the robot moves
Automatic robots usually adapt to two types of movement in space (although some of them can be called stationary). It depends on the conditions of a particular production. If it is necessary to ensure movement on a smooth surface, then it is realized using a directional monorail. If you want to work at different levels, use "walking" systems with pneumatic suction cups. The moving robot is perfectly oriented both in spatial and in angular coordinates. Modern positioning devices for such devices are unified, they consist of technological units and allow for highly accurate movement of workpieces weighing from 250 to 4000 kg.
Design
The use of the automated machines under consideration precisely in multidisciplinary industries led to a certain unification of their main constituent blocks. Modern industrial robotic manipulators have in their design:
- the bed used for fastening the detail-capturing device (grab) is a kind of “hand” that actually performs processing;
- grab with a guide (the latter determines the position of the "arm" in space);
- support devices that drive, convert and transmit energy in the form of torque on the axis (thanks to them, the industrial robot receives the potential for movement);
- a system for monitoring and managing the implementation of the programs assigned to it; receiving new programs; analysis of information received from sensors, and, accordingly, its transmission to supporting devices;
- a system for positioning the working part, measuring positions and movements along the manipulation axes.
Dawn of the creation of industrial robots
Let us return to the recent past and recall how the history of the creation of industrial automatic machines began. The first robots appeared in the USA in 1962, and they were produced by United Incorporated and Versatran. Although, to be precise, they previously released the Unimate industrial robot, created by the American engineer D. Devol, who patented his own self-propelled guns programmed with punch cards. This was an obvious technical breakthrough: “smart” cars remembered the coordinates of the points on their route and performed work according to the program.
The first industrial robot, Unimate, was equipped with a two-finger gripping device on a pneumatic actuator and a “hand” on a hydraulic actuator with five degrees of freedom. Its characteristics made it possible to move a 12-pound part with an accuracy of 1.25 mm.
Another Versatran robotic arm, created by the company of the same name, loaded and unloaded 1,200 bricks per hour into the kiln. He successfully replaced the work of people in an environment harmful to their health with high temperature. The idea of its creation was very successful, and the design is so reliable that individual machines of this brand continue to work in our time. And this despite the fact that their resource exceeded hundreds of thousands of hours.
Note that the device of industrial robots of the first generation in value terms assumed 75% of mechanics and 25% of electronics. The readjustment of such devices took time and caused equipment downtime. To repurpose them in order to carry out new work, the management program was replaced.
The second generation of robotic machines
It soon became clear: in spite of all the pluses, the machines of the first generation turned out to be imperfect ... The second generation assumed finer control of industrial robots - adaptive. The very first devices required streamlining the environment in which they worked. The latter circumstance often indicated high additional costs. This became critical for the development of mass production.
A new stage of progress was characterized by the development of many sensors. With their help, the robot received a quality called "sensation." He began to receive information about the external environment and, in accordance with it, choose the best option. For example, I gained skills that allow you to take a part and get around an obstacle with it. Such an action occurs due to microprocessor processing of the received information, which, further, introduced into the variables of the control programs, is actually guided by robots.
Types of basic production operations (welding, painting, assembly, various kinds of machining) are also subject to adaptation. That is, when each of them is performed, multivariance is initiated to improve the quality of any type of the above work.
Industrial manipulators are controlled mainly by software. The control function hardware is industrial PC / 104 or MicroPC mini-computers. Note that adaptive management is based on multivariate software. Moreover, the decision to select the type of program operation is made by the robot based on information about the environment described by the detectors.
A characteristic feature of the functioning of the second-generation robot is the preliminary presence of established operating modes, each of which is activated at certain indicators obtained from the external environment.
The third generation of robots
Third-generation automatic robots are able to independently generate a program of their actions, depending on the task and the circumstances of the environment. They do not have “cheat sheets”, that is, scheduled technological actions for certain variants of the external environment. They have the ability to independently optimally build the algorithm of their work, as well as quickly implement it in practice. The cost of electronics of such an industrial robot is tens of times higher than its mechanical part.
The latest robot, capturing the part thanks to the sensors, “knows” how well he did it. In addition, the gripping force itself (force feedback) is regulated depending on the fragility of the material of the part. Perhaps this is why the device of industrial robots of the new generation is called intelligent.
As you know, the “brain” of such a device is its control system. The most promising is the regulation carried out according to the methods of artificial intelligence.
Intelligence for these machines is set by application packages , programmable logic controllers, modeling tools. In production, industrial robots are combined into a network, ensuring the proper level of human-machine interaction. Tools have also been developed to predict the functioning of such devices in the future thanks to implemented software modeling, which allows you to choose the best options for action and configuration of the network connection.
World Leading Robot Companies
Today, the use of industrial robots is provided by leading companies, including Japanese (Fanuc, Kawasaki, Motoman, OTC Daihen, Panasonic), American (KC Robots, Triton Manufacturing, Kaman Corporation), German (Kuka).
What are these firms known in the world for? The assets of Fanuc are the fastest M-1iA delta robot to date (such machines are usually used for packaging), the most powerful of the serial robots is the M-2000iA, and ArcMate welding robots are recognized all over the world.
No less popular industrial robots in production, released by Kuka. These machines with German precision carry out processing, welding, assembly, packaging, palletizing, loading.
Also impressive is the range of the Japanese-American company Motoman (Yaskawa), operating in the US market: 175 models of industrial robots, as well as more than 40 integrated solutions. Industrial robots used in production in the USA are for the most part manufactured by this particular industry leading company.
Most of the other firms represented by us occupy their niche by manufacturing a narrower range of specialized devices. For example, Daihen and Panasonic produce welding robots.
Ways to organize automated production
If we talk about the organization of automated production, then at first a rigid linear principle was implemented. However, at a sufficiently high speed of the
production cycle, it has a significant drawback - downtime due to failures. Alternatively, rotor technology was invented. With this organization of production, the workpiece and the automated line itself (robots) move in a circle. Machines in this case can duplicate functions, and failures are virtually eliminated. However, in this case, speed is lost. An ideal process organization is a hybrid of the two above. It is called rotary conveyor.
Industrial robot as an element of flexible automatic production
Modern “smart” devices are quickly reconfigurable, highly productive and independently perform work using their equipment, processing materials and workpieces. Depending on the specifics of use, they can function both within the framework of a single program, and varying their work, i.e., choosing the desired one from a fixed number of provided programs.
Industrial robot is an integral part of flexible automated production (generally accepted abbreviation - HAP). The latter also includes:
- computer-aided design system;
- a complex of automated control of technological equipment of production;
- industrial robotic arms;
- automatically working production vehicles;
- devices for loading / unloading and placement;
- control systems for production processes;
- automatic production management.
More on the practice of using robots
The real industry applications are modern robots. Their types are various, and they provide high productivity of strategically important spheres of industry. In particular, in many respects the economy of modern Germany owes its growing potential to their application. What industries do these “iron workers” work in? In metalworking, they function in almost all processes: casting, welding, forging, providing the highest level of quality work.
Casting as an industry with extreme conditions for human labor (meaning high temperatures and pollution) is largely robotic. Kuka machines are mounted even in foundries.
The food industry also received equipment from Kuka for production purposes. “Food robots” (photos are presented in the article) mostly replace people in areas with special conditions. They are widespread in production machines that provide a microclimate in heated rooms with a temperature not exceeding 30 degrees Celsius. Stainless steel robots masterfully process meat, participate in the production of dairy products, and, of course, stack and pack products in an optimal way.
It is difficult to overestimate the contribution of such devices to the automotive industry. According to experts, the most powerful and productive machines today are precisely the Kukov robots. Photos of such devices carrying out the whole range of car assembly operations are impressive. At the same time, it’s really time to talk about automated production.
Plastic processing, plastic production, and manufacturing of complex shapes of parts from various materials are provided by robots in production in a really polluted environment that is harmful to human health.
Another major area of application for Kukov units is woodworking. Moreover, the described devices provide both the implementation of individual orders and the establishment of large-scale serial production at all stages - from primary processing and sawing to milling, drilling, grinding.
Prices
Currently, robots manufactured by Kuka and Fanuc are in demand on the Russian and CIS markets. Their prices range from 25,000 to 800,000 rubles. Such an impressive run-up is explained by the existence of various models: standard low-capacity (5-15 kg), special (solving special problems), specialized (working in a non-standard environment), large-capacity (up to 4000 tons).
conclusions
It should be recognized that the potential for using industrial robots is still not being fully utilized. At the same time, thanks to the efforts of specialists, modern technologies make it possible to realize ever more bold ideas.The need to increase the productivity of the world economy and maximize the share of intellectual human labor are powerful incentives for the development of more and more types and modifications of industrial robots.