UR10e collaborative robot arm-lets manufacturers automate arc welding, handling even small batch runs not feasible for traditional automation. Shaun Bruce, Robotic and Automation Area Lead at Processed Metal Innovators (PMI) in Bloomers, WI, programmed the BotX Welder in just half an hour.
"Most of our shop personnel probably would not consider themselves to be programmers of any sort," said Mike Gillin, Operations Manager and certified welder at MT Solar in Montana that deployed Vectis Automation's Cobot Welder, powered by Universal Robots. "But just about everybody out of curiosity has gone by and taken a turn. The nice thing is you do not have to be a welder necessarily-that part is already figured out for you."
Universal Robots will feature new offerings for metal fabricators including Hirebotics' new Cobot Welder and Vectis Automation's Heavy-Duty Water-Cooled Cobot Welding Tool and Cobot Hardfacing Tool. The new offerings are all integrated with e-Series, Universal Robots' flagship line of cobots.
Hirebotics' Cobot Welder is a complete, user-friendly cobot welding system that enables automated welding deployments. "The Cobot Welder is a leap forward in easy-to-use welding automation that combines industrial grade robot welding functionality with consumer level ease-of-use at a phenomenal price point. FABTECH attendees will experience hands-on how easy it is to teach new parts and welds using the simple Cobot Welder cellphone application that runs on Hirebotics' Cloud-based Beacon software platform," said a company spokesperson.
Heavy-duty welds are now possible to perform with cobots due to the Water-Cooled Heavy-Duty Cycle version of Vectis Automation's Cobot Welding Tool. The welder will be showcased on Vectis' new 48" x 48" XL cart, which fits power supply, wire feeder and chiller. The Cobot Welding Tool is designed to be a portable, safe, versatile and user-friendly solution. Vectis' Let's Weld Together intuitive programming interface is accessible directly through the UR cobot's own teach pendant. The Cobot Welding Tool showcased at FABTECH will feature new MultiPass Software Feature and ArcPilot Through-The-Arc Seam Tracking. The solution is now not only compatible with Miller welding equipment but can be also be integrated with Lincoln and Fronius welding equipment.
Vectis Automation also becomes the first Universal Robots partner in North America to use a UR cobot for hardfacing, the metalworking process where harder or tougher material is applied to a base metal. At Vectis' own FABTECH booth B17054, the company will show new UR cobot powered plasma cutting featuring Vectis' Cobot Cutting Tool with Hypertherm PowerMax cutting equipment.
Universal Robots' ActiNav, a new system showcased at the UR booth, combines intelligent vision and real-time autonomous motion control with Universal Robots' cobots. "Before ActiNav, solutions for unstructured picking and placing of parts into machines were solely focused on the vision aspect, often requiring additional programming to bridge the gap from pick to place-especially if the place is not just dropping into a box but accurately inserting parts into fixtures for further processing. ActiNav changes all that, combining real-time autonomous motion control, Universal Robots cobots, vision and sensor systems in one seamless Application Kit that solves the random bin picking challenge in machine tending applications."
At FABTECH, ActiNav will pick metal parts randomly jumbled in bins and correctly insert them into a machine. Powering ActiNav is the new enhanced version of UR's UR10e cobot featuring 25% more payload capacity with the ability to lift 12.5 kg (27.55 lbs), providing customers with new deployment capabilities.
For more information contact:
Universal Robots USA
5430 Data Court, Suite 300
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
844-462-6268
ur.na@universal-robots.com
www.universal-robots.com
FABTECH Booth 17012