FANUC America is proud to present the 2017 System of the Year Award to RND Automation & Engineering for their custom robotic workcell developed for assembly, testing and packaging of thermal insulators. Using a total of six robots from FANUC’s diverse robotics product range, combined with over 20 years of experience and expertise, RND was able to accomplish producing approximately 15 parts every 30 seconds.
The overall system consists of two phases: In the first phase - the assembly process - 11 total stations and 4 FANUC robots are used. First, two FANUC M-1iA Delta-style robots use FANUC iRVision to locate and pick parts from feeders. FANUC iRVision allows for future product changes via a flex feeder as opposed to a hard tooled bowl feeder. The parts are inspected using a laser to check their length, then transported through the process in boats. Parts are then mechanically coupled using a hydraulic forming head. Dual machine vision cameras inspect the ends of the parts after forming. A FANUC LR Mate 200iD robot then moves the boats to deposition stations, where paste is deposited on rotating parts, and then checked by vision. The parts are then heated in order to set the paste. A FANUC M-10iA robot picks the boat of parts from the conveyor, deposits the boat itself onto a return conveyor, and then delivers the parts to a rack. Using vision, the robot determines the location of the racks, and then builds a new layer.
Phase two of the process - the inspection and packaging phase - consists of one FANUC LR Mate and one FANUC M-10iA robot. Parts are picked from the racks by the FANUC M-10iA robot and delivered to boats. 2D matrix readers identify each boat uniquely. The parts are then thermally tested. After thermal testing the parts enter the laser marking station. Finally, once the parts are marked, they emerge and are bulk packed into boxes on a conveyor by a FANUC LR Mate 200iD/7L long arm robot. Through the use of custom automation from RND Automation & Engineering, this system delivers maximum part quality and repeatability with minimum scrap and rejected parts. To learn more about FANUC America Authorized System Integrator RND Automation & Engineering, please visit www.rndautomati....