Industrial Robots and different types of them.
Have you ever imagined that you could sit in your home and operate heavy end machinery such as lathes, CNC etc which are situated miles away in some remote factory .This imagination has turned into reality with the advent of “industrial robots”.Industrial robots are programmable mechanical devices used in place of a person to perform dangerous or repetitive tasks with high degree of accuracy.These robots can be used in wide range of industries such as manufacturing, textile , rubber and plastic industry, automotive industry , electronics industry etc. Typical application of these robots are assembly of parts , disassembly , product inspection and testing , paints , welding etc.
Different types of industrial robots
The first robots were manufactured around early 1950's.The first company to produce robots was a US based firm known as Unimation. The mere purpose of this robot was to transfer object from one point to another point within a distance of 10 feet.Since then robots have been used in various industries and have acquired wide range of functions.Therefore robots can be classified on the basis of Movement,Degree of freedom, Functions they perform etc.Based on configuration the robots can be classified as follows
1.CARTESIAN ROBOTS
These robots are also called as Linear robots.They have rectangular configuration.These robots have 3 prismatic joints(prismatic joints can be imagined as linear joints) to deliver linear motions by sliding on 3 perpendicular axis X,Y,Z.These means that they move in a straight line rather than rotating .The joints of robots are right angles to each other.The linear movement of Cartesian robots gives a cube-shaped workspace that can be used in pick and place applications.They are also used to operate CNC machines, 3D printing and are used in loading and unloading operations.These robots are highly flexible and customizable such that even customers can determine the stoke length , speed precision of robots because most of the parts arrives separately and are assembled by machine builders.The major disadvantage of these robots is that they have limited movement in only one direction.
A Cartesian robot with one rotary joint is known as Cylindrical robots.Thus they offer horizontal and linear movement along with rotary movement about vertical axis.Their applications are similar to that of Cartesian robots except that they have a rotary joint for rotating applications
2 . SCARA
SCARA(Selective compliance assembly robot arm) are much more dynamic than Cartesian and cylindrical robots which have lot of limitation in what they can do. SCARA robots are much more like all in one robots because they can move faster and have easier integration than other robots.These robots are equipped with X,Y,Z (linear) and a rotary motion which give rise to an donut-shaped work envelope.Applications of these robots include Assembly application,packaging, and loading and unloading operations.
3.ARTICULATED ROBOTS(6-AXIS ROBOTS)
Ever imagined a robot which could fetch you water , prepare your breakfast , make your bed ready??— Articulated robots is your answer. These robots are ALL-ROUNDERS in configurations and operate in a similar way as our our human arm does.The mechanical configuration is similar to that of a human arm .The arm is connected to the base with a twisting joints . The arm can contain rotary joints connecting links ranging from 2 joints to 10 joints , each joint provides additional degree of freedom.These robots are commonly used in industries as their design offers maximum flexibility.Application of these robots include welding,foundry,forging,steel cutting,glass handling , automotive assembly
4.DELTA
These are quite fascinating and unique looking robots.They consists of parallel joint linkages(mechanism having only one surface contact).Each joint can be controlled directly by the end-effector thus increasing the speed of operation .They have a dome-shaped work envelope .These robots are not commonly seen in the industries because they are expensive and have many design limitations.These robots are generally used for fast pick-and-place or product transfer applications.They are used in pharmaceutical industry , electronic industry , aerospace industry .
CONCLUSION
As industrial robots become integral part of our industries and business it becomes very important to understand their types,advantages,disadvantages and their unique selling point.Industrialist often consider load, speed, orientation ,duty cycle before selecting a robot. It is high time that industries try to understand the importance of automation and try to bring the technological advances needed for it.
