Bp-Automation

We are Western Canada's one-stop shop for customers seeking solutions to manufacturing problems, labour requirements, production capacity and quality control. We offer diverse skills and services from prototype development to automated machine fabrication and control.

[bpautomation-blog]

Robots Perform the Unhealthy Work in Ship-building

When one considers the robot industry evolution and the possibilities of using robots in shipbuilding, one cannot help but wonder whether robots will eventually replace workers as the labor force a totally automated ship factory. This, however, is far from being the case. All things considered, robots are only numerically controlled machines and are still totally dependent on the people who operate them. The idea of using robots is primarily to enable control of welding quality and speed up production. However, a positive result arising from the use of robots is the improved working environment. It is comparatively inexpensive and easier to equip the relatively large robot application areas with fume and arc light protection, than manual welding areas. By making use of robots for dirty and unhealthy welding practices, human resources can be released for more qualified work such as supervising the robot However, the job of a robot operator is not for anyone. It demands discipline and precision, combined with lengthy experience in welding. The operator must, in addition to operating the robot, be able to change the wire, dean the nozzles, check the deviations in the welding joint gap and supervise the welding process. Education of the robot operator is therefore very important at the BP-Automation.

[bpautomation-blog]

Critical Industrial Robot Characteristics

When selecting a small industrial robotfor micro-assembly, it Is important to keep In mind that each assembly operation is unique. Micro-assembly has a highly product driven approach. i.e. the process needs to be designed after the application which means that it might be very hard to use the same system for different applications. Flexibility is therefore of key importance. Flexibility can incorporate many things. In this case. the most important factors are the number of degrees of freedom, i.e. how can the robot move, the size of the workspace, the control and mounting of grippers/manipulators. the speed and acceleration etc. Another key factor is the accuracy of the robot. The accuracy of robots is normally specified as the repeatability. The repeatability is the ability of the robot to reach a predefined position over and over again. The absolute accuracy on the other hand is the accuracy with which the root. can reach a destination in the workspace previously undefined, for example when moving to a position seen by a vision system. For most traditional (pick-and-place) applications soon in production facilities, he robot moves to a previously defined position. In these cases the repeatedly is the limiting factor for the success of the robot. When designing specific assembly process, the working area of tie robot is of critical importance. Depending on the robots construction. it will have several positions in the workspace that it cannot reach, i.e. singularities. Some processes will require manipulation or movement through these zones. There are plenty of other factors to consider, for example the load capacity and the weight of the robot. In the case, these are minor concerns since the robot will be placed on the granite plane and will be able to use almost all of its working space. As we are dealing with microproducts, the load capacity of less importance. This shows an overview of different parameters to take in to account when selecting a small robot for micro-assembly.