Leamington Spa-based Mills CNC Automation is showcasing high-performance collaborative robot (cobot) technology from Doosan Robotics on stand G95 at Automechanika 2019 (being held 4 to 6 June at Birmingham NEC).
The cobots on display — the M1509 and M0617 — will be performing various pick-and-place and assembly operations to demonstrate their versatility, safety, speed and accuracy.
The M1509 has a payload capacity of 15kg and a reach radius of 0.9m, while the M0617 has a 6kg payload and a reach radius of 1.7m.
They feature six high-torque sensors on their six-axis articulated arms to detect the slightest impact.
This ensures that when running in collaborative mode alongside human operators, the cobots stop immediately — before any collisions can occur — removing the need for them to be caged in.
Recent research indicates that the global cobot market will grow rapidly in the next few years and be worth $4.28 billion by 2023.
A significant proportion of this growth will be fuelled by demand from the automotive sector, where cobots will be increasingly used for assembly tasks as well as production line ‘pick and place’ operations, glueing, testing and inspection, and machine tending, as well as packaging and palletising and other routine tasks.
Mills CNC’s technical director, Tony Dale, said: “Cobot technology is developing at a rapid pace. Improvements in the human/machine interface on the latest cobots make them easier to use, and advanced sensor technology means that they are inherently safe. The fast return on investment combined with the relatively low cost of cobot technology is helping to drive demand.”