Large DIY palletiser robot from Igus at a low price
Igus says its drylin XXL gantry robot is up to 60% cheaper than comparable robot solutions and is particularly easy to put into service, with free online configuration help.
The robot has a working envelope of 2000 x 2000 x 1500mm and is said to be particularly suitable for palletising applications up to 10kg. The robot is available from £8,000 including the control system and can be easily set up and programmed yourself without the help of a system integrator.
The DIY kit allows users to commission a pick-and-place linear robot quickly and easily for tasks including palletising, sorting, labelling and quality inspection. Key components are two timing belt axes and a rack and pinion axis with stepper motors. The package also includes a control cabinet, cables and energy chains as well as free control software, called Igus Robot Control (iRC). Users can assemble the components into a ready-to-go linear robot in just a few hours, with no external help, without previous knowledge and without any formal training. And if additional components are needed, such as camera systems or grippers, users can quickly find what they need on the RBTX robotics marketplace.
This Cartesian robot can be used, for example, on conveyor belts that transport products from injection moulding machines. In this case, the robot removes moulded parts with a maximum weight of 10kg from the production line, moves them at a speed of up to 500mm/s and positions them on a pallet with a repeatability of 0.8mm.
The system does not require any maintenance: the linear axes are made of corrosion-free aluminium, the slides move over plain bearings made of high-performance plastic, which, thanks to integrated solid lubricants, enable low-friction dry running with no fluid lubricants for many years – even in dusty and dirty environments.
“Palletising robots developed in cooperation with external service providers can cost between £80,000 and £120,000, more than the budget of many small companies,” says Adam Sanjurgo, product manager of Low Cost Automation at Igus UK. “We have therefore developed a much cheaper solution by using high-performance plastics and lightweight materials such as aluminium.”
Sanjurgo says the drylin XXL room portal robot is a low risk investment that usually pays for itself within a few weeks. “Thanks to this kind of automation, companies can relieve their employees of physically demanding and time-consuming palletising tasks and redeploy the resource for more important tasks.”
Visit the Igus website for more information
