FANUC Robotics Industrial Robots Demonstrate High-Speed, Vision-Guided Part Handling at 2006 Automation Technology Expo

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich., Jan. 30, 2006 – FANUC Robotics America, Inc. will demonstrate the speed and flexibility of its M-420iA and M-6iB/2HS material handling robots equipped with FANUC’s V-500iA/2DV vision software and line tracking during the 2006 Automation Technology Expo (ATX), at the Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, Cal., Jan. 31 – Feb. 2, booth #4411.

At the show, the M-420iA robot will use FANUC’s V-500iA/2DV vision software to highlight the advantages of using visual line tracking to pick three randomly located parts from a moving conveyor. Visual line tracking provides the flexibility to handle multiple products on the same automation line, eliminating the need for costly fixtures, and reducing changeover time. The M-6iB/2HS robot will use line tracking to pick parts one at a time at high speeds, and place each part into a chute. The parts will drop from the chute back onto the conveyor at random locations and orientations.

“FANUC Robotics continues to address the need for greater flexibility and speed,” said L.P. Musunur, manager of palletizing and packaging at FANUC Robotics. “To meet that need, there’s a growing trend towards equipping robots with vision systems. Vision significantly reduces the cost of fixturing and collating, and increases our customer’s ability to change to a new product quickly. In fact, over the last year, many of our orders have specified vision.”

M-6iB/6S series

FANUC Robotics recently introduced the M-6iB/6S Solution Arm robot. The Solution Arm is the latest member of the popular M-6iB/6S robot series, which offers several model variations and enhanced performance options to meet the needs of customers with high speed, light weight applications for assembly, part transfer, picking and packing.

“FANUC Robotics’ unique Solution Arm offers a revolutionary method of solving the routing of air lines and electrical connections to the end-of-arm-tool,” said Nishant Jhaveri, FANUC Robotics’ material handling product manager. “Many companies find that broken air lines and electrical connections are the number one source of downtime in their plants, and this robot solves that problem.”

The variations and enhancements to the M-6iB/6S series raise the bar for high-speed motion. “While competing articulated robots may be able to achieve these rates for short-duration bursts, the High Duty variation of the M-6iB/6S allows it to maintain high speeds for extended periods,” said Jhaveri.

“We’ve demonstrated that the six-axis M-6iB/6S is a better alternative to commonly used high-speed SCARA and Cartesian robots. The speed combined with flexibility makes the M-6iB/6S a great value,” said Jhaveri.

The M-6iB/2HS is a 2kg high-speed variant optimized for applications that require extremely rapid pick and place operations, such as picking, packing or part transfer. This model variation features revised motors and drive trains for “best in class” speed.

The M-6iB/6S Solution Arm and M-6iB/2HS Solution Arm variants feature a hollow wrist and pre-engineered EOAT cabling. Key features and benefits:

• Reduced time and cost of EOAT dress-out
• Improved EOAT cabling service life

The M-420iA robot

The M-420iA is a four-axis, modular construction, electric servo-driven robot with a 40 kg payload and a remote control unit. The M-420iA is designed for a variety of high-speed manufacturing applications including picking, packing, palletizing, material handling, machine load/unload and parts transfer. FANUC Robotics also offers the M-421iA, a two-axis variant of the M-420iA. The waist and wrist axes have been removed, making the M-421iA faster and able to handle payloads as high as 50 kg.

The M-420iA and M-421iA offer the fastest motion speeds in their class, which results in reduced cycle time and improved productivity. The demonstration will highlight the robots’ high speeds, increased flexibility, and cell control compared to typical packaging machinery.

“These robots can reach speeds significantly faster than previous-generation packaging robots,” said Musunur.

The M-420iA's small footprint also allows it to easily replace small end-of-the-line palletizers in high-production changeover industries like pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and medical devices with flexibility unmatched by non-robotic machinery.

With the four-axis M-420iA, up to two motors for servo conveyors or servo hand operations can be connected to the FANUC standard servo amplifier with no additional hardware. The two-axis M-421iA can have four additional motors. Integrating the additional auxiliary servomotors can help simplify the cell by utilizing one controller to run the complete cell. It will also help to reduce system costs by eliminating the need for extra servo control hardware/software.

The M-420iA and M-421iA robots use the latest R-J3iB robot controller, a proven, reliable and efficient solution for intelligent robot motion control. The R-J3iB’s process capabilities and open architecture features improve application and motion performance while simplifying system integration.

FANUC Robotics America, Inc. designs, engineers and manufactures industrial robots and robotic systems for a wide range of applications including arc and spot welding, material handling (machine tending, picking, packing, palletizing), material removal, assembly, paint finishing and dispensing. The company also provides application-specific software, controls, vision products, and complete aftermarket support. After 23 years of success, FANUC Robotics maintains its position as the leading robotics company in the Americas. A subsidiary of FANUC LTD in Japan, the company has facilities in Chicago; Los Angeles; Charlotte, N.C.; Cincinnati and Toledo, Ohio; Toronto; Montreal; Aguascalientes, Mexico; and Sao Paulo, Brazil. Over 150,000 FANUC robots are installed worldwide. Contact FANUC Robotics at www.fanucrobotics.com or by calling 800-47-ROBOT.

Media Contact:
Cathy Powell, Sr. Marketing Analyst
FANUC Robotics America, Inc.
3900 W. Hamlin Rd.
Rochester Hills, MI 48309
Phone: (248) 377-7570
cathy.powell@fanucrobotics.com


This release was published on openPR.