Drives & Controls Magazine February 2023

TECHNOLOGY n 17 www.drivesncontrols.com February 2023 ONROBOT, the Danish specialist in add-on technologies for cobots (collaborative robots), has launched a flagship platform which it describes as “the industry’s first automated platform for building, running, monitoring, and re-deploying collaborative applications”. Called D:Ploy, it automates the process of getting robot applications up and running, allowing complete applications to be deployed and redeployed on factory floors in a few simple steps, with no programming – all in a few hours. It is designed to address the shortage of skilled robotics engineers and integrators and could help smaller manufacturers to break through existing barriers to automate their operations. The platform works with many leading robot brands – including ABB, Denso, Doosan, Epson, Fanuc, Kawasaki, Kuka, Omron, TM, Universal Robots and Yaskawa – and can be applied to a wide range of applications. OnRobot says it will help speed up robotic adoption in the largely untapped SME market. At launch, the new platform supports palletising, CNC machine- tending, packaging, and pick-and-place operations. Other applications will be added later. “The D:Ploy platform and its ability to truly democratise automation has been OnRobot’s goal from the beginning, and we have been laying the groundwork for years,” explains the company’s CEO, Enrico Krog Iversen. “We offer the industry’s broadest range of tools and application solutions for every leading robot brand – all based on our ‘one system, zero complexity’ philosophy. Now that the building blocks are in place, we can finally launch the first version of D:Ploy, which will be a market enabler across the industry.” The new platform automates many of the manual steps needed to build and run applications. It discovers most of the installed hardware automatically, and generates robot movements based on obstacles and cell boundaries. Program logic, signals, event handling, and robot movements are all created automatically for the entire application, based on a few inputs such as workpiece attributes and pick positions. OnRobot claims that the system will cut the time needed to deploy palletising applications from 40 hours to just four – a 90% saving. Just as critically, when production requirements change, the system can be de-deployed quickly to suit new products or workpieces. Simon Potzkai, a robotics sales engineer at the German systems integrator Alexander Bürkle, who has been a beta tester for the new system, reports that it “simplifies the task of building and integrating a robotic cell with an innovative approach that doesn’t require any type of programming. With the current shortage of engineers, that’s a huge advantage for integrators. “By making it easier and faster for us to deploy automation,” he adds, “we can serve more customers and help them more quickly realise the advantages of automation. That’s a win-win for everyone.” Alan Vallis, training and development manager at the UK OnRobot distributor, LG Motion, predicts that D:Ploy “will make automation accessible for companies who may be a bit reluctant, whether it is related to cost or in-house skills and competences.” https://onrobot.com/en/solutions/dploy A PAIR OF ROBOTICS robotics companies based in the US and Austria have joined forces to develop an end-of-arm tool that allows robots to apply masking tape for painting applications, especially in the aerospace industry. Alabama-based Aerobotix and Linz-based FerRobotics say that their ATK (active taping kit) tool allows a robot to use varying force when applying adhesive tape, resulting in smooth masking on parts that can vary in shape. The tool – which allows control of parameters such as contact force, cutting and tape consumption – can also lay down perfectly straight lines of tape. The automated masking process is predicted to revolutionise aerospace painting. “Customers have been asking Aerobotix to automate the masking process for years,” explains Chris Kolb, the company’s vice- president of sales. “The response was always ‘wouldn’t that be great,’ but the technology required to do it correctly just wasn’t available yet. The ACT device lets the robot “feel” the part and instantly adjust the force it uses to apply the tape. We needed this sensitivity to put masking tape down correctly and not damage high-value parts.” The project to develop the technology, funded by the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), began when the companies had spare capacity during the Covid pandemic. “We jokingly call it our pandemic baby,” says Kent Pfeifer, Aerobotix’ process engineering manager, who led the US team. “Both of our companies had some extra bandwidth during the pandemic disruptions, and because AFRL had some funding to back us, we just went for it. “We are running all types of masking tapes through the ATK and, so far, they’re all working great,” he adds. “What we didn’t realise going into this is that having the robot put down the first tape lines saves the painters a ton of time and errors, as they then don’t have to measure or use templates to get the tape lines accurate. The savings, in time and costs, exceed our expectations.” “The ATK offers the highest process quality from one source, and with a design that’s compact and light,” adds Dr Ronald Naderer, founder and CEO of FerRobotics. He says that the ATK tool is “extremely durable and is designed to apply various kinds of tapes on any part or surface with exact repeatability and without bubbles or wrinkles.” Robot tool has precision painting application taped Platform automates robot set-up, slashing times by up to 90% OnRobot's new D:Ploy platform automatically discovers most of the installed hardware in a cell and generates the required robot motion based on the obstacles and cell boundaries in the workspace. Photo: Business Wire