Answers Attributed to Brad Klippstein, Smart MechatroniX Product Manager, Bosch Rexroth
Regarding Sensor Manufacturers
Q: What are the challenges sensor manufacturers coming to you to solve?
A: They would like better performance of their systems (i.e. better cycle times, improved scrap rates) and also to solve automation issues that have been unachievable until now.
Q: If there’s an increase in demand for sensors, how is Bosch Rexroth helping customers meet those needs?
A: Our Smart Flex Effector provides a flexible, compensation solution that gives robots the ability to perform tasks that were not possible previously. Automating manual tasks is now possible by utilizing our technology.
Overall state of sensors in factory automation
Q: Are more manufacturers integrating sensors into their processes and if so, what are the typical use cases?
A: Manufacturers are integrating more sensors into their machines to gain valuable data on their equipment. They want to find better ways to monitor their robots and other motion devices to reduce downtime and prevent equipment malfunctions. Our Smart Flex Effector can help them do just that. The Smart Flex Effector provides a tactile sense of touch to the robot application, essentially emulating the abilities of a human hand. A digital twin of your robotic operation can be created from the multitudes of real-time data available from the device, providing complete process transparency.
Q: The Smart Flex Effector represents innovative, sensor-based technology through its six degrees of motion. Do you think this type of smart, sensor-based technology will continue to evolve? How so?
A: The goal of robotic automation is to have an accurate, repeatable process with a harmonized system that can be easily scaled. We want to eliminate variability while leveraging the power of IoT.
Used in complex handling applications, joining operations with micron-level tolerances, robotic teaching, performing in-process measuring, and providing movement flexibility that was until now unobtainable, the Smart Flex Effector solves a wide array of challenges that have troubled integrators for years.
Easy interfaces will allow technology like this to be quickly realized in complex cells and applications. By adding sensory capabilities to robotic automation, we move closer to a fully autonomous process. With many customers looking for a bullet-proof solution, the closer we can get to a flexible, reliable solution, the better we can serve our customers.
Q: What are some of the applications that sensors could be used for as evolution progresses into 2024?
A: Expansion of human capability
Human Senses
- Haptic control — Haptic feedback can provide physical ‘force feedback’ to a user, for example through vibration, or physically constraining movement of a manipulator, both of which are useful.
- Verbal commands — Robots can already see and touch at levels fast-approaching human capability, but that may soon expand to other human senses. Robots capable of hearing — and most importantly — understanding unscripted, spontaneous verbal commands are a possibility.
- Olfactory capabilities — Robots of the future could even be equipped with olfactory capabilities, enabling them to detect dangerous emissions or contamination long before they would ever register in a human nose.
Assembly Operations — Tactile sensing increases flexibility without sacrificing speed and accuracy; Tactile sensing allows robots to pick delicate and odd-shaped items like baked goods and fragile electronic wafers without sacrificing speed and accuracy.
Metrology — Improve quality, monitor process, and identify scrap. Limited additional cost, real-time data
Bosch Rexroth
www.boschrexroth.com/en/dc/
Filed Under: Factory automation, Assembly automation, SENSORS