High Payload Capacity: With a 3 kg payload capacity, this robot can pick & place various types of workpieces at vary high speeds.

Large Motion Range: The robot’s large motion range (1,300 mm diameter and 500, Z-stroke) broadens its range of applications in food manufacturing and solar- panel production lines.

High Accuracy: High repeatability ensures accurate pick & place and high productivity. (positional repeatability:± 0.1 mm, angular repeatability: ± 0.1 degrees.

Wash-down with Acid or Alkaline Cleanser: The arm is designed for wash-down with acid or alkaline cleaner, thus assuring hygiene in food manufacturing plants.

Easy Maintenance: The shaft-less design prevents mechanical trouble, resulting in easy maintenance.

Arm lengths of just 350mm and repeatability of ±0.01mm mean that the TH350A is best suited to applications where precision and accuracy are paramount. It’s payload of up to 3kg means that it has the ability to cope with the demands placed on it in the vast majority of such applications. However, when carrying a pay load of just 1kg it can deliver impressive cycle times of only 0.41 seconds. In addition, the robot’s clean room class ten equivalent (0.1 µm) means it is suitable for use in low pollutant manufacturing environments.

Combined with the TH350A’s high level of accuracy, the clean room classification makes it ideal for manufacturing electronic equipment, such as semiconductors or hard drives for instance, or for laboratory use. The robot is also expected to find applications in the general manufacturing industry handling small components.

“It has recently been predicted that by 2015 10% of Japan’s workforce in assembly and process operations will be robotic,” explained Nigel Smith, managing director of TM Robotics. “The UK and Europe have quite a lot of catching up to do in order to remain competitive. Around 920,000 industrial robots were in use worldwide in 2005. Of these 52 per cent were in Asia, 32 per cent in Europe and 15 per cent in North America. Our ageing population and inflating wages mean we are more and more likely to become a community of knowledge workers. Robots like the TH350A allow manufacturers to remain competitive as this happens.”

The TH350A’s built in PLC can, regardless of robot operation and program, control I/O equipment. The SCARA uses a Toshiba Machine TS1000 robot controller and can be programmed using SCOL, a proprietary language similar to BASIC. As an option it can feature devicenet or Profi-bus connectivity. A further option is the Toshiba Machine teach pendant, an external switch pad that can be used to direct the robot through a sequence of movements.

Weighing just 14kg with a maximum height including the cable harness of 635cm the robot is suitable for use in very small cells, further emphasising its versatility. The TH350A will replace the TH350 in the Toshiba Machine portfolio of industrial robots.

Its impressive speed and Ethernet connectivity make it ideal for robot synchronisation on a production line. As a result, two or more SCARAs can work together, using a single vision system, and deliver a net capital expenditure saving compared to a single more expensive device.

The THP550 works in tandem with Toshiba Machine’s new TS3000 series controllers, which also feature an Ethernet connection for easy set up. Key to the functionality of both devices is the TM Robotics ‘one line = one camera’ philosophy, which cuts costs by sharing the vision from a single camera across multiple robots. This allows the system to sort large quantities of goods quickly and take advantage of easy programming via dedicated commands. In addition, the resultant, perfectly synchronised, automation can result in fewer damaged products than other methods of manufacture.

The THP550 offers a payload of 2kg, a 550mm arm length and a cycle time of 0.29 seconds. A composite maximum speed of 6.21m/s and repeatability of ±0.015mm on the X and Y axes means that the machine offers both the speed required by the most demanding applications and outstanding accuracy on highly repetitive pick and place tasks. Absolute encoders are standard while options include ceiling mount, IP65 wash down, clean room design and an extended Z axis. The easy to use TS3000 controller is programmed in SCOL, a language similar to BASIC, and features a built in PLC, creating the potential for total system management from the controller itself.

Nigel Smith, managing director of TM Robotics explains, “While SCARA robots have ease of integration, relatively low costs and versatility on their side, they have always been a little bit slower than the very fastest robot technologies. The introduction of the THP550 and other machines in the same series, mean that we can now compensate for that by offering a set up that provides all the speed advantages of a flexipicker with all of the simplicity, adaptability and flexibility of a Toshiba Machine SCARA.”

The launch of the Toshiba Machine THP550 coincides with the launch of TM Robotics’ new European brochure, which is available from hayley@tmrobotics.co.uk. The publication includes details of the entire Toshiba Machine automation range including six axis, SCARA and Cartesian robots.

Upon removing a layer of bottles the end of assembly then removes the separation tray and disposes of it through a hatch in the side of the cell. The next phase of this project involves an extension of the cell and a tool changer, upon completion of the filling cycle the capped bottle will be picked up by second tool and placed into the shipping carton and passed through a case closer.

The Kawasaki robot was chosen due to its ease of programming, its flexibility, the simple operation interface and repeatable accuracy. Line efficiencies have significantly improved since installation, so much so that the customer has now decided to invest further in Robotics & Automation.

Designed to be compact, mainly due to its neatly packaged arm the robot is ideal for box top loading and similar smaller package palletising applications. Its small build also allows the robot to be sited in a variety of positions, including ceiling mounting.

The FD50N robot has many other advantages, including a larger work envelope that any other supplier offering 2640mm for 800 x 1200 (D x W mm) palletising, 1810mm for 1200 x 800 (D x W mm). It also performs with the longest reach of its class at 2104mm.

The robot also has a 5th axis of movement covering +/-10 degrees, allowing additional complicated procedures during or after the palletising process.

With all of these features, the new FD50N robot provides a high throughput capacity, its compact size and a work envelope suiting a wide range of applications with smaller palletising applications.

The TH850 model offers a large working envelope of 320, significantly greater than most competitors. Exceptionally high linear and rotary speeds – 2000mm/s and 1147/s, respectively – can also be achieved, reducing standard cycle times to just 0.49s and offering manufacturers real productivity advantages.

“The TH850 offers a 10kg payload increase, compared to the next robot in the TH series,” explained Nigel Smith of TM Robotics. “This opens up a whole range of applications requiring repeatability and significant payload.”

The robot is supplied with Toshiba Machine’s TS2100 controller, which because it is both deterministic and PLC-based offer exceptional processing speeds and hence very rapid motion commands. It supports point-to-point, controlled path (both linear and circular), short-cut and arch motion. The controller also incorporates a TP1000 teach pendant, complete with a 5m cable, allowing users to program the robot’s motion using simple, intuitive guide keys.

Additionally, the TS2100 is equipped with a total of 70 external I/O, enabling control of other devices and complete automated systems within the manufacturing environment. Options such as I/O extensions, field-network connections and conveyor synchronisation are also available. Where PC-based control is used Toshiba Machine’s TSPC software can be used for programming.

Robots are becoming extremely important in palletising and handling applications because of their ability to consistently handle and stack pallets, bags, crates and boxes in an accurate and repeatable way.

Producers using manual labour are finding that goods that are stacked in an erratic way are unceremoniously rejected by their customers because of the major inefficiency problems that this causes with truck loading and warehouse storage.

The robot offers an immediate solution to this problem, as once programmed, will perform its handling tasks 24 hours a day, with consistent and highly accurate product stacking.

The new ZD 250S operates in 4 axis, with a working range of 1,800 x 1,600 x 2,200mm, handling up to 850 cycles per hour. Different hands can be fitted to the robot articulated arm to accommodate handling of different containers, bags, boxes, pallets, etc.

The robot control system is easily programmed and allows stacking in a variety of patterns including side-by-side or stacked in column, interlock or pinhole.

Based on the company’s TH450 SCARA robots linked to solid state cameras, the system not only tracks objects as they are carried on a moving conveyor, but the robot’s vision system will also discriminate between parts and orientations without special user programming.

Using the new conveyor tracking system, it is also possible to construct an inexpensive and automated line using an existing vision sensor (linked via industry-standard Ethernet). The robot can perform all necessary handling of the moving workpieces, taking account of the conveyor speed, and without ever needing to stop the conveyor.

The vision sensor picks up references from moving parts located in the workpiece detection area, just downstream of the robot itself, then automatically identifies each workpiece position on the conveyor. It can also perform discriminative handling of only items of a specified type among multiple types running on the conveyor.

The robot is also capable of performing sorting handling, in which it randomly picks up workpieces of multiple types running on the conveyor to group them according to type.

The new system has been designed for multiple conveyors – for example, the conveyor tracking synchronisation can be executed on one conveyor, while a previous conveyor synchronisation remains deployed on a second.

Four basic types of robot are available from the KF121 for small work to the KE610 for the automotive inner and outer chassis painting. A variety of wrists with up to 6 differing axes movement of roll or bend offer further flexibility of use. A choice of robot for all applications and installations.

All robot arms are fitted with built-in hoses as standard. Internally fitting the hoses minimises the opportunity of mist and spray sticking to piping and from dust being attracted to the workpiece. These internal hoses are either 40 mm or 70 mm in diameter.

Kawasaki Robotics are not new to painting as they have gathered 30 years of experience and use this knowledge to put together a high performance robot that will match every need.

So whether it’s a mobile phone case or an executive car, Kawasaki can supply the right painting robot package to do the job efficiently and meeting the best product finish quality.

The result is the new D Controller, a highly functional and versatile robot controller to meet the next generation of robot applications. It combines the latest hardware technology together with software which has been developed through the richness of diverse experience that exists within Kawasaki. Special attention was paid to ease of operation, the high level of expansion possibilities and easy maintenance characteristics.

For control and operation of the robot, the operator uses the Teach Pendant with its keypad and 6.4″ colour LCD touch screen. Dedicated software is also available for a wide range of applications including palletising, handling, spot-welding, sealing and arc welding. In addition, Kawasaki AS Language, a highly sophisticated robot programming language, expands the possibilities for advanced motion and process control.

D Controller offers high expansion capability with its compatibility with not only standard digital I/O, but also a variety of Fieldbus I/O systems such as DeviceNet, CC-Link, Profibus and Interbus-S to give direct connection to a wide range of peripheral equipment. Also available is K-Logic, a built-in PLC programmed with easy ladder logic as a normal industry standard.

The system supports network communication through Ethernet allowing data transfer between the controller and a host computer for program upload and download. Web server functions can also be used for remote access enabling remote diagnostics and monitoring of robot status.

An additional 2 axes can be easily incorporated into the standard 6-axis controller with up to 16 axes being possible to meet the exact customer requirements of a multi-axis robot system.