By March 14, 2013 Read More →

High throughput robot has a large work envelope

130314_FanucFANUC has added a new 3kg payload parallel link (delta) robot to its high-speed Genkotsu series. The company says the M-2iA fills a gap between existing 1kg and 6kg arms, providing a large work envelope combined with high throughput performance to meet the needs of mid-range assembly and handling tasks.

Two variants of the M-2iA are introduced, a standard reach and a long reach, to address a wide range of applications in the food, electronics and general manufacturing sectors.  Both arms are 4 axes, the fourth axis being a wrist rotation providing speeds up to 3,500 degrees per second.

The parallel link structure allows higher speeds and greater accuracy than conventional SCARA type assembly arms.  Handling a test payload of 1kg the M-2iA will complete the standard pick and place trial of 25mm up, 305mm linear and 25mm down in just 0.27 seconds, 222 cycles per minute, at ±0.1mm repeatability.

Aimed at assembly and packing operations the parallel link structure is the ideal line builder solution where space is confined; the cylindrical work envelope, up to 400mm deep and 1,130mm in diameter is concentric to the robot mounting base making it straight-forward to position and guard relative to peripheral equipment. A hollow wrist design allows for control cabling and pneumatics to be routed neatly avoiding snagging, helping to make programming faster and allowing fast wrist rotations.

The FANUC M-2iA is controlled by the new energy saving R-30iB controller, FANUC’s latest generation of intelligent controller. Packed with smart features the R-30iB is compact and when used in multi robot systems can be stacked to save valuable space.  Features include iRVision, real time interactive iPendant Touch, Learning Vibration Control (LVC) for path optimisation and auto motor braking for power saving.  All that the robot requires to benefit from iRVision is a camera and a cable to connect it to the controller – a housing is provided in the robot body to position a camera above the wrist.

Visit the FANUC website for more information.

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