Robotic system meets or exceeds all required goals and objectives. Flexible system handles three styles of casket lid halves and allows multiple part styles to be run simultaneously. Robotic system easily achieves required 80-second total cycle time (of which approximately 68 seconds is CNC routing).
Project Challenges
- Handle three styles of casket lid halves, approx. 41" L x 27" W x 8" H weighing 13.6 kg (30 lbs) from cooling racks, to/from a CNC router, and then pack lids into boxes.
- Allow multiple part styles to be run at the same time, using additional staging/buffer racks to separate the part types for packaging. Parts will be oriented “hump up” at the infeed rack but must be “hump down” for the CNC router and when they are packed into boxes.
- Elevation of parts in racks will be between the range of 6"-44" from the floor to the bottom of the part (8 parts per rack). Elevation of the buffer racks will range from 6" to 82" from the floor (16 parts per rack x 4 racks).
- The stack (nesting) offset of the part in the box is 0.75" L x 2" H. Each box contains two stacks of eight parts. Four boxes of parts make up one load. No slip sheets or separators are required between parts in the box.
- Accommodate automatic feed of cooling racks into and out of the cell and provide special precautions to guard against personnel entering the cell while it is in operation.
- Achieve cycle time of 80 seconds (of which about 68 seconds is CNC routing).
Motoman Robotics Solution
Motoman Robotics provided a custom HP165-100 solution, including:
- HP165-100 extended-reach robot with NX100 controller.
- Robot base riser.
- Custom end-of-arm tool – mechanical gripper.
- Part re-grip stand.
- Customer supplied powered multi-directional infeed/outfeed conveyor.
- Customer supplied cooling and buffer/staging racks.
- Cell guarding package that meets ANSI/RIA R15.06-1999 safety standard, including: 2.44-m (8') high woven-wire perimeter safety fence; one access gate with positive-break safety switch; one conveyor pass-through opening, protected by three-sided enclosures, to limit the operator’s reach into the cell; and remote-mounted emergency stop (E-stop) button. Two conveyor pass-through openings are equipped with “muting” light curtains that allow part racks to enter/exit the cell but prevent personnel from entering while the cell is operating.
Fixtures/Tooling Details
Motoman Robotics provided custom end-of-arm tooling for this project. The multifunction mechanical gripper can handle all three part styles without changeover. It handles parts one at a time through the process sequence. Gripper includes part present, gripper open and gripper closed sensors. Motoman also provided a custom regrip stand that allows the robot to invert parts for proper orientation throughout the processing sequence. This stand is equipped with a photo-reflective sensor to detect part presence.
Ref: ACS-073