Machine Tending Robotic System
Interactive Design, Inc.Posted 08/26/2009
Robotic Machine Tending
Case study for lawn mower blades:
Even one robot can be a very cost effective system for small- and medium-size companies. Here, a maker of replacement lawn mower blades installed a robot for machine tending and achieved “big company” success on a “small company” budget.
Business situation:
1. High amount of manual labor required to load and unload large variety of different machines involved in the manufacturing of a lawn mower blade.
2. Management goal to increase the efficiency of manufacturing operations by reducing labor content.
3. Competitive pressure to keep the business from going to overseas countries.
Automation requirements:
1. Replace manual loading and unloading of in-process lawn mower blades into each unique machine.
2. When process is complete at each machine, use machine vision to inspect the blade to specifications.
Interactive Design Solution:
1. Conveyor to gravity feed pucks containing multiple lawn mower blades to a robot.
2. Robot with custom end of arm tool capable of holding two lawn mower blades, one blade to be placed into the machine, the other blade that is to be removed from the machine.
3. Machine vision cameras to locate blades to be picked by the robot and for inspection of completed blades.
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