Industrial Robot Applications

Time is your most valuable resource in modern manufacturing environments, and you need to make sure you use it effectively. That is where robotic automation may be able to help you. An industrial robot can handle a lot of tasks, so learn more about how a robot might be able to help you save time and money in the workplace. What are a few examples of the most common industrial robot applications? At GripShape, we can help you select the right gripper fingers no matter what your robot needs are.

Pick and Place

One of the most common applications of an industrial robot is pick-and-place where an object or workpiece is simply picked up from one location, transported by the robot and placed in an alternate location. These types of applications are very flexible and often require the use of vision systems to help with locating and determining the orientation of the part for picking.

Some of the most common pick and place applications are:

• Assembly
• Packaging
• Bin Picking
• Inspection

Speed and consistency are the main benefits when using an industrial robot for pick and place to increase output. Often times, the repetitive nature of pick and place tasks are prone to causing workplace injuries with traditional employees. Utilizing automation helps mitigate these risks and the task can be performed without interruption, 24 hours a day, 7 days per week.

Arc Welding

Arc welding has been a typical application of industrial robots for decades. One of the biggest reasons arc welding became a prevalent robot task is more consistent, higher quality welds while creating a faster, more efficient road to market. In addition, the workplace can be retooled for 24-hour service and eliminates the risks to the health of tradition arc welding employees.

The technology behind industrial arc welding robots is advancing to keep up with the demands of the industry. Robot manufacturers are making programming easier and with reduced costs, integration of welding robots is becoming more attractive to smaller manufacturing facilities.

Spot Welding

Spot welding is another common application of industrial robots. Spot welding is similar to arc welding in that a robot is responsible for joining two metal surfaces that contact one another, but the way the metal is joined is different using a spot welder. A large current flows through a single spot, melting the metal, therefore, creating a solid joining of the surfaces.

By creating small, isolated concentrations of heat, the base metals do not undergo any changes in physical properties that might otherwise cause the metal to become brittle or yield unexpectedly. For this reason along with it being a low cost process, spot welding is often used in the manufacturing of car bodies, metal cabinets and other general sheet metal work.  

Material Handling

Material handling robots are designed to work in conjunction with other robots, conveyors and feeders to consistently move parts or products at scale where they are needed. By fitting the robot with an appropriate end of arm tool, industrial robots can effectively solve a wide variety of material handling challenges.

Using robots to lift heavy, dangerous or tedious items that are often associated with material handling applications can eliminate injuries to employees, therefore, creating a safe work environment and increase moral. Productivity is increased, labor costs are decreased and businesses can easily scale their automation as they grow.

Machine Tending

Industrial robots have been adapted to automatically load and unload a workpiece from production machinery. This type of machine tending process can be implemented on a wide variety of manufacturing equipment, but is usually applied to CNC machine or injection molding applications.

More and more tasks are being completed by the robot used in the machine tending process. They are used to do inline inspections, open or close the doors on equipment and even press the start buttons for machine cycles to start. This allows for a very efficient automation system that can run 24-7, increasing the output and decreasing the cost of each component made.

GripShape for Custom Gripper Finger Design

If you want to get the most out of robotic automation, you need to work with an expert who can help get the right solution for your specific application. At GripShape, we have a tremendous amount of experience working with numerous robots gripper manufacturers and can quickly help with getting a set of gripper fingers that will work the first time. If you are looking for standard fingers, help with designing a custom set of fingers or just want to run your application by one of our experts don't hesitate to reach out to us today!