Mobile Equipment Archives - AUTOMATION INSIGHTS

The 5 Most Common Types of Fixed Industrial Robots

The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) defines five types of fixed industrial robots: Cartesian/Gantry, SCARA, Articulated, Parallel/Delta and Cylindrical (mobile robots are not included in the “fixed” robot category). These types are generally classified by their mechanical structure, which dictates the ways they can move.

Based on the current market situation and trends, we have modified this list by removing Cylindrical robots and adding Power & Force Limited Collaborative robots. Cylindrical robots have a small, declining share of the market and some industry analysts predict that they will be completely replaced by SCARA robots, which can cover similar applications at higher speed and performance. On the other hand, use of collaborative robots has grown rapidly since their first commercial sale by Universal Robots in 2008. This is why collaborative robots are on our list and cylindrical/spherical robots are not.

Therefore, our list of the top five industrial robot types includes:

- Articulated
- Cartesian/Gantry
- Parallel/Delta
- SCARA
- Power & Force Limited Collaborative robots

These five common types of robots have emerged to address different applications, though there is now some overlap in the applications they serve. And range of industries where they are used is now very wide. The IFR’s 2021 report ranks electronics/electrical, automotive, metal & machinery, plastic and chemical products and food as the industries most commonly using fixed industrial robots. And the top applications identified in the report are material/parts handling and machine loading/unloading, welding, assembling, cleanrooms, dispensing/painting and processing/machining.

Articulated robots

Articulated robots most closely resemble a human arm and have multiple rotary joints–the most common versions have six axes. These can be large, powerful robots, capable of moving heavy loads precisely at moderate speeds. Smaller versions are available for precise movement of lighter loads. These robots have the largest market share (≈60%) and are growing between 5–10% per year.

Articulated robots are used across many industries and applications. Automotive has the biggest user base, but they are also used in other industries such as packaging, metalworking, plastics and electronics. Applications include material & parts handling (including machine loading & unloading, picking & placing and palletizing), assembling (ranging from small to large parts), welding, painting, and processing (machining, grinding, polishing).

SCARA robots

A SCARA robot is a “Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm,” also known as a “Selective Compliance Articulated Robot Arm.” They are compliant in the X-Y direction but rigid in the Z direction. These robots are fairly common, with around 15% market share and a 5-10% per year growth rate.

SCARA robots are most often applied in the Life Sciences, Semiconductor and Electronics industries. They are used in applications requiring high speed and high accuracy such as assembling, handling or picking & placing of lightweight parts, but also in 3D printing and dispensing.

Cartesian/Gantry robots

Cartesian robots, also known as gantry or linear robots, move along multiple linear axes. Since these axes are very rigid, they can precisely move heavy payloads, though this also means they require a lot of space. They have about 15% market share and a 5-10% per year growth rate.

Cartesian robots are often used in handling, loading/unloading, sorting & storing and picking & placing applications, but also in welding, assembling and machining. Industries using these robots include automotive, packaging, food & beverage, aerospace, heavy engineering and semiconductor.

Delta/Parallel robots

Delta robots (also known as parallel robots) are lightweight, high-speed robots, usually for fast handling of small and lightweight products or parts. They have a unique configuration with three or four lightweight arms arranged in parallelograms. These robots have 5% market share and a 3–5% growth rate.

They are often used in food or small part handling and/or packaging. Typical applications are assembling, picking & placing and packaging. Industries include food & beverage, cosmetics, packaging, electronics/ semiconductor, consumer goods, pharmaceutical and medical.

Power & Force Limiting Collaborative robots

We add the term “Power & Force Limiting” to our Collaborative robot category because the standards actually define four collaborative robot application modes, and we want to focus on this, the most well-known mode. Click here to read a blog on the different collaborative modes. Power & Force Limiting robots include models from Universal Robots, the FANUC CR green robots and the YuMi from ABB. Collaborative robots have become popular due to their ease of use, flexibility and “built-in” safety and ability to be used in close proximity to humans. They are most often an articulated robot with special features to limit power and force exerted by the axes to allow close, safe operation near humans or other machines. Larger, faster and stronger robots can also be used in collaborative applications with the addition of safety sensors and special programming.

Power & Force Limiting Collaborative robots have about 5% market share and sales are growing rapidly at 20%+ per year. They are a big success with small and mid-size enterprises, but also with more traditional robot users in a very broad range of industries including automotive and electronics. Typical applications include machine loading/unloading, assembling, handling, dispensing, picking & placing, palletizing, and welding.

Summary

The robot market is one of the most rapidly growing segments of the industrial automation industry. The need for more automation and robots is driven by factors such as supply chain issues, changing workforce, cost pressures, digitalization and mass customization (highly flexible manufacturing). A broad range of robot types, capabilities and price points have emerged to address these factors and satisfy the needs of applications and industries ranging from automotive to food & beverage to life sciences.

Note: Market share and growth rate estimates in this blog are based on public data published by the International Federation of Robotics, Loup Ventures, NIST and Interact Analysis.

Add Automation to Gain Safety and Control in Manufacturing

Industry automation not only has a positive effect on the improvement of production processes, it also significantly improves employee safety. New technologies can minimize the need for employees to work in dangerous situations by replacing them all together or by working cooperatively alongside them.

Overcoming fears of automation
Many workers fear technological progress due to the generally accepted view that robots will replace people in their workplaces. But their fears are conjecture. According to a study published in 2017 by scientists at the Universities of Oxford and Yale, AI experts predict a 50% chance of AI outperforming humans at all tasks within 45 years. But, instead of replacing all workers, there is a stronger chance AI will eliminate dangerous manual labor and evolve other roles. Following are a few examples.

- Automation in palletizing systems
  Before automation-based solutions entered factories, laborers had to do most work by hand. A work system based on the strength of the human body, however, does not bring good results. Workers tire quickly, causing a decrease in their productivity. And with time, health problems related to regularly carrying heavy daily loads also begin to appear. Until recently, employees of the palletizing departments struggled with these problems. But today, robots are carrying out the work of moving, stacking, and transporting products on pallets.

- Automation forging processes
  Also, until recently, forging processes in the metallurgical industry were performed with the help of human workers. There are still factories today in which blacksmiths are responsible for putting the hot metal element under the hammer to form the final shape of the product. Such a device hits with a force of several dozen tons, several times a minute. Being at the hammer is therefore extremely dangerous and may cause permanent damage to the worker’s health. Elevated temperatures in the workplace can also have negative effects on the body.
  
  At most businesses, forging processes are now fully automated. Robots specially prepared for such work feed the elements to the automatic hammer with their grippers. And sensory solutions help make the job safer by detecting the presence of people or undesirable elements within the working machine. The quality control of manufactured products is also extremely important and more easily controlled with an automated system.

- Automation in welding processes
  Welding processes are another dangerous activity in which automation is starting to play a key role. During welding work, toxic fumes are released from the gas lagging, which the welder regularly inhales. This can result in serious poisoning or chronic respiratory diseases. Welding also produces sparks which can lead to severe burns and worker blindness.
  
  Again, automation makes the process safer. High-class welding machines exist on the market that can work continuously, under human control. With such solutions, it is necessary to use appropriate protection systems to protect employees against possible contact with machines during work. Automation in this situation eliminates a dangerous role, and creates a new, safer, and, some would say, better work role.

Skillful design of automation systems
While factory automation eliminates some threats to workers, others often arise, creating the need for strict design plans prepared by specialists in this field. It is necessary to prepare the automation system in such a way that it not only ensures safety, it does so without reducing productivity or creating downtime which can cause the employee to bypass security systems. The systems blocking the working space of the machine should not interfere with the worker and the worker should not interfere with the system. Where possible, instead of a mechanical lock, an optical curtain at the feeding point should be used to stop the machine’s operation if a foreign object breaks the curtain’s beam of the light. Mechanical locks blocking access to the working space should be in places where it is not necessary to open the door frequently.

Successful human-machine collaboration
When designing automation systems in production companies, it is also necessary to remember that often a human is working alongside the robot. In palletizing systems, for example, a person is responsible for preparing the place for packing and cleaning the working area. For the work to go smoothly, it may be worth creating two positions next to each other. Mechanisms on the market today allow you to control the work of robots at a given position, assigning them to the workspace. Special security scanners prevent the robots from moving to positions where someone is working.

Mobile Equipment Manufacturers: Is It Time to Make the Switch to Inductive Position Sensors?

Manufacturers of mobile equipment are tasked with the never-ending pursuit of making their machines more productive while adhering to the latest safety regulations, and all at less cost. To help achieve these goals, machines today use electronic control modules to process inputs and provide outputs that ultimately control the machine functions. Yet with all the changes in recent years, one component left over from that earlier era remains in regular use — the mechanical switch. Switches offered a variety of levers, rollers, and wands for actuation, and many were sealed for an IP67 rating for outdoor use, but they came with an array of problems, including damaged levers, contact corrosion, arcing concerns, dirt or grain dust ingress, and other environmental hazards. Still, overall they were an acceptable and inexpensive way to receive position feedback for on/off functions.

Today, mechanical switches can still be found on machines used for boom presence, turret location, and other discrete functions. But are they the right product for today’s machines?

The original design parameters may have required the switch to drive the load directly, and therefore a rating of 10A@240V might be a good design choice for the relay/diode logic circuits of the past. But a newly designed machine may be switching mere milliamps through the switch into the control module. Does the legacy switch have the proper contact plating material for the load today? Switches use rare metals such as rhodium, palladium, platinum, gold, and silver in attempts to keep the contact resistance low and to protect those contacts from corrosion. Consequently, as China pursues Nonroad Stage IV standards, these metals, some also used in catalytic converters, have sharply increased in price, leading to substantial cost increases to switch manufacturers and ultimately switch users.

A better approach to position feedback for today’s mobile machines is the inductive position sensor. Inductive sensors offer a sealed, non-contact alternative to mechanical switches. Sensing ferrous and non-ferrous metals without physical contact, they eliminate many of the field problems of the past, and non-metallic substances such as water, dirt, and grain dust, do not affect the operation. These qualities make the sensor very suitable for the harsh conditions found in agricultural and construction environments.

Inductive proximity sensors come in a variety of form factors:

Threaded cylindrical – With zinc-plated brass or stainless-steel housings, the threaded barrel styles are popular for their ease of mounting and gap adjustment.

Low profile rectangular – These “flatpack” style sensors are great under seats for operator presence.

Block designs – The compact, cubed package is ideal for larger sensing ranges.

Large cylindrical – These large “pancake” style sensors are great for detecting suspension movements and other applications requiring extreme ranges.

Inductive position sensors are more than just a discrete product used for detecting linkage, operator presence, or turret stops; They can also perform the duties of a speed sensor by counting teeth (or holes) to determine the RPM of a rotating shaft. Other models offer analog outputs to provide a continuous feedback signal based on the linear location of a metal linkage or lever. Safety rated outputs, high temperatures, and hazardous area options are some of the many product variants available with this electromagnetic technology.
So, perhaps it’s time to review that legacy switch and consider an inductive sensor?
To learn how an inductive position sensor performs its magic, please take a look at an earlier blog:

Basic Operating Principle of an Inductive Proximity Sensor