February 2021

n TECHNOLOGY February 2021 www.drivesncontrols.com 18 ABB HAS LAUNCHED a free programming tool for its IRB 1100 industrial robots that allows first- time users to implement robotic automation without needing specialist programming skills or knowledge of the Rapid programming code. The new Wizard Easy Programming software follows last year’s launch of a version for ABB’s YuMi single- arm collaborative robot. Based on simple graphical blocks, the software makes it easy for non-specialists to automate their applications. The blocks represent actions such as “move to location”, “pick up an object” and “repeat movements”, making it easy to define a series of processes for the robot to perform. The tool includes error- handling functions to avoid problems such as collisions. ABB says that, using the software, a robot can be up and running within minutes. The required blocks are dragged- and-dropped on the screen of a FlexPendant programming device, with the user able to see the results immediately. The linked blocks can form complete programs for applications such as assembly or machine tending, without needing any knowledge of robot programming languages. The free software will be preloaded on the FlexPendant for every new IRB 1100. It will be offered for other ABB industrial robots in the future. “There is a growing demand from industry for robots that can be programmed easily for a wide range of tasks,” explains Antti Matinlauri, ABB Robotics’ head of product management. “People have become accustomed to the easy user interfaces in smartphones and other consumer technology. Our Wizard Easy Programming tool uses this concept to take the effort out of programming industrial robots and brings us a step closer to enabling anyone and everyone to use robotics.” For users needing more specialised functions, new blocks can be created to perform specific tasks using ABB’s Skill Creator software which turns standard Rapid programming routines intoWizard blocks. The custom blocks, known as skills, can, for example, be used to control specialised grippers or vision applications. https://developercenter. robotstudio.com Free tool allows users with no programming skills to set up industrial robots p Magnomatics , the Sheffield-based magnetic gearing pioneer has received a £363,460 government grant to work on theWinder project aimed at de-risking technologies for large direct-drive generators for offshore wind turbines. As part of the project, Magnomatics’ Pseudo Direct Drive (PDD) has been installed in a 500kWgenerator, and is being dynamometer-tested at the ORE Catapult to gain a better understanding of the behaviour of pole piece rotors (PPRs) under wind turbine loads. The cylindrical PPRs consist of multiple axial steel pole pieces in a non-magnetic composite structure. After the tests, Magnomatics plans to develop computer-basedmodelling software to help design robust PPRs. www.magnomatics.com p The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) has released a collection of best practices and online tools to guide managers and buyers through the process of procuring the components and resources needed for IIoT systems. The IIC RFP Toolkit consists of six modules, including a wizard for creating andmanaging RFPs (Requests for Proposals), developed by the IIC members including technology users, vendors and consultants. The Toolkit is freely available from the IIC’s Resource Hub – a central repository for IIC community resources. www.iiconsortium.org p GrAI Matter Labs , a pioneer of brain-inspired ultra-low latency computing, has announced an AI system-on-chip that, it says, will drive a significant step in responsiveness for visual inference capabilities in robots, industrial automation, AR/VR and surveillance products. The GrAI VIP Vision Inference Processor (VIP) uses an event-based dataflow computing technology to achieve an inference latency said to be up to 100 times better than competing systems. GrAI’s CEO Ingolf Held predicts that the VIP“will deliver significant performance improvements to industrial automation and revolutionise systems such as pick- and-place robots, cobots, and warehouse robots”. www.graimatterlabs.ai p Phoenix Contact is offering a connector system for Single Pair Ethernet (SPE) with a consistent pin connector pattern and protection levels from IP20 to IP67. Users can connect field devices with M8 connectors to IP20 patch cables without extra adapters. The IP20 connectors have the smallest pin connector pattern of the IEC 63171 standards and provide industrial-grade latching. The IP20 connectors (IEC 63171-2) and M8 versions (IEC 63171-5) are designed for automated assembly and are suitable for reflow soldering. There are also patch cables in various lengths with IP20 protection, and for M8 withmale and female contacts, allowing easy cable extensions in the field. www.phoenixcontact.co.uk The free software tool makes it easy to program industrial robots via a handheld device SICKHAS ANNOUNCED an intelligent add-on for its EDS/EDM35 motor feedback system that allows condition monitoring of servodrives down to individual machine axes. The sHub sensor hub has an integrated acceleration sensor and is said to pave the way to digitalised drive technologies and increasingly intelligent servodrive systems. The hub transmits information via Hiperface DSL about vibrations and the temperature of the servomotor windings, as well as the position and speed of the drive. This will help users to detect malfunctions and breakdown risks sooner, to resolve them faster, or to avoid them completely. Faults such as bearing damage or imbalances can be detected in real time and eliminated before downtime occurs. Sick says this is especially important for dynamic and safety- related systems designed for 100% machine availability. This reliability is supported by combining the hub with safety-certified (PL d, SIL2) EDS/EDM35 encoders. The sensor hub can be integrated with motor and motion controls via Hiperface DSL. The synchronous detection of position and vibration data is said to improve the accuracy of predicting when components will fail. The hub will also allow machine-builders to develop their own service plans – predictive maintenance, for instance. Smart sensors enhance servomotor condition monitoring capabilities