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Speed and Flexibility for Assembly

By Paul Heney | September 20, 2011

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FANUC Robotics America’s M-3iA is an intelligent, parallel-link robot designed to maximize speed and flexibility for assembly; it is a larger version of the company’s M-1iA delta-style robot. Available in a four- or six-axis model, the M-3iA offers the same parallel-link structure, and accommodates payloads to 6kg. In addition, it has the largest work envelope of any robot in its class at 1350mm x 500mm.

FANUC-Robot-M-3iA

“In an effort to minimize waste, product designers must determine how a product looks best and that means that the robot must be able to pick up a product that sits flat and put it down either at an angle or standing straight up,” said David Bruce, the company’s product manager. “Our latest M-3iA/6A robot has the flexibility and accuracy to perform coin stacking and other applications in the food industry that have traditionally been handled by manual operators.”

The M-3iA six-axis model has a three-axis wrist for complex assembly tasks. The extreme flexibility offered by the three-axis wrist enables the robot to pick up and insert parts at simple or compound angles, and twist parts into place, similar to the flexibility offered by a manual operator.

“The M-3iA’s unique design makes it possible to automate the assembly of a variety of applications that could not be done with traditional SCARA-type robots,” added Bruce. “We refer to our series of parallel-link robots as fists because they provide the accuracy and flexibility of a human hand.”

A four-axis M-3iA has a single-axis wrist for simple assembly and high-speed picking operations, offering speeds up to 4000 degrees per second. In addition, a hollow wrist allows hoses and cables to be routed internally, which minimizes wear and tear on the tooling cables.

FANUC Robotics
www.fanucrobotics.com

::Design World::


Filed Under: Assembly, Factory automation, Mechanical, Motion control • motor controls, Mechatronics

 

About The Author

Paul Heney

Paul J. Heney, the VP, Editorial Director for Design World magazine, has a BS in Engineering Science & Mechanics and minors in Technical Communications and Biomedical Engineering from Georgia Tech. He has written about fluid power, aerospace, robotics, medical, green engineering, and general manufacturing topics for nearly 25 years. He has won numerous regional and national awards for his writing from the American Society of Business Publication Editors.

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