Expert articles on industrial robotics for manufacturers, engineers and automation specialists. Covers robot selection, automation planning, ROI analysis, technical guides and the latest trends in smart manufacturing and Industry 4.0.
A larger working envelope may seem necessary when a robot cannot reach every process point. However, replacing the arm is not always the best solution. External axes for industrial robots can reposition the robot or workpiece and extend the usable production area. This approach can solve reach problems, but it also adds integration requirements. The … Read more
Industrial Robot Applications Depend on More Than the Robot Arm Using the same robot for different industrial robot applications can increase the value of an existing automation asset. However, a robot that can physically perform another motion may still require significant engineering before it can support a new process. An industrial robot is only one … Read more
Why Maximum Reach Is Not Enough to Design the Cell A robot can have enough nominal reach for an application and still be difficult to integrate because the robot mounting position places the arm in poor working postures. The critical question is not whether the tool can touch a point at the edge of the … Read more
Why Payload Alone Can Lead to the Wrong Robot A robot can appear to have enough payload for an application and still be the wrong choice. Robot wrist inertia is one reason: the wrist must control not only how much mass it carries but also how that mass is distributed around the wrist while the … Read more
Why Payload Capacity Can Give the Wrong Answer A robot can appear to have enough payload for an application and still be mechanically unsuitable. The missing variable is often the robot center of gravity: where the combined mass of the tool and workpiece acts relative to the robot wrist. Moving that mass farther from the … Read more
Downtime Has to Be Part of the Automation Decision The real question about automation downtime is not whether a robotic cell will ever stop. The question is how much production the plant can lose when it does. Operations also need to know how quickly the team can identify the cause and restore production. Automation can … Read more
A robotic cell can pass installation and still struggle in production. The most important post-installation robot challenges often appear only after operators begin running normal shifts, product variation enters the cell, minor faults occur, and maintenance teams have to recover the system without the integrator standing beside them. Installation proves that the equipment can operate; … Read more
Technical Feasibility Does Not Mean Operational Readiness The main question is rarely whether a robot can perform the task. The more important issue is whether the process automation readiness of the production line is high enough to support a stable, measurable, and economically defensible project. A robot can repeat programmed movements consistently, but it cannot … Read more
The Wrong Gripper Can Undermine an Otherwise Suitable Robot A robot can have suitable reach, capacity, and controls, yet the cell can still fail because robot gripper selection focused on the part drawing instead of the production process. The gripper must acquire the real part, tolerate expected variation, maintain control during motion, and release the … Read more
Why a Robot Can Repeat Perfectly and Still Miss the Process A robot can return to the same position on every cycle and still place the tool in the wrong location. That is the practical tension behind robot accuracy vs. repeatability. A machine may be highly consistent without reaching the intended physical target closely enough … Read more