We previously explained on our Robotiq blog how Universal Robots and Robotiq Adaptive Grippers are a good fit:
- Both products target agile manufacturing where changeovers and new product introduction are frequent.
- The electrical and mechanical interfaces are compatible.
- And just as important, both companies have resellers in common to put the different parts together and provide complete solutions.
This article is an illustration of the synergy between the two products. It shows an integration of vision, robot and servo gripper done by our partner Axis New England for robotic part sorting.
Axis New England was asked by a large end user how the Universal Robot could be used to do automatic part sorting in the context where they have 25+ different part geometries. The engineers at Axis put together the following:
The video below shows the results using some dummy parts (these are not the end user's parts).
Ryan Weaver, the Application Engineer at Axis New England who put together the application, shared his insight with us:
With respect to the vision aspect, the UR behaves very similarly to most other robots. The main advantage of the UR comes when you are teaching the individual positions as it is much easier and more intuitive to do than with other robots.
The UR is also unique due to the inherent safety designed into the collaborative robot. Not having fencing around the robot would make it much easier and affordable to deploy for that specific customer.
I do have to say however, that the robot ties in very nicely with the Robotiq controller over Modbus TCP once you get the registers up and working. I address over just 3 registers in Modbus: one for activation/go, one for position and one for speed/force.
This is another example showing how Universal Robots and Robotiq electric grippers can provide flexibility and friendliness for the end user dealing with high-mix, low-volume production.
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