RS celebrated the partnerships with its strategic suppliers at the two-day event, which facilitated industry networking, a keynote speaker session and a panel discussion, providing the opportunity for industry figureheads to highlight innovations and challenges, and share best practice on key issues and developments affecting the industrial sphere today, such as plant reliability. There were five awards presented in total:

• First Choice Supplier Award – 2022 Winner: Festo
• Dynamic Supplier Award – 2022 Winner: Doncaster Cables
• Technical Support Award – 2022 Winner: SKF
• Sales Collaboration Award – 2022 Winner: Ambersil
• Most Innovative Supplier Award – 2022 Winner: Teledyne Flir

The event saw customers also being invited to RS Connect for the first time since the event was founded five years ago, with the aim of understanding more about their immediate requirements, and helping them meet these requirements through our supplier partners. RS also held its first ever LinkedIn live content sessions from the event, and received more than 200 viewers live from the customer day.

RS managing director for the UK and Ireland Emma Botfield, said: “We’re thrilled to be able to celebrate our strategic partnerships through an event such as this, and bring together customers and suppliers. We will continue to open our annual RS Connect event to our customers each year to help them find the best solutions, products, and support for their complex needs.

“As well as recognising those suppliers who go above and beyond to meet the needs of RS in fulfilling its mission to be a first-choice solutions provider, the event enables us to showcase the solutions, expertise, and products within our offering. These enable industrial players to keep running their business efficiently and in the most cost-effective way with our innovative solutions, technology, and human touch approach.

“We’d like to extend our thanks to all event attendees and participants, and offer congratulations once again to our deserved winners,” she added.

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nautilUS 2 is a 12-month extension to the three-year project, enabling it to move forward from the initial phase of development and testing to the delivery of a commercially viable product based on the underlying technology. Field trials are now taking place on 10 water tanks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) conducted by project partner Sonomatic, a leading oil and gas exploration service provider, which is supplying the NDT sensor and service. Two further consortium partners are providing remote support during this second phase, with project lead Electrocomponents responsible for fulfilling delivery, and InnoTecUK providing the robotics platform.

Oil and fuel storage facilities require a robust and reliable infrastructure and regular inspection is critical to ensure that tanks are fit for purpose. Existing inspection methods often result in storage tanks being taken out of service to be drained and inspected for corrosion, which is hazardous, time consuming and costly work.

However, one answer to this problem is a small robot that can monitor and plot its own position while carrying out inspections. The nautilUS robot uses active real-time remote controls to move around a tank and an ultrasound probe to take measurements of floor thinning. It then records data regarding location for post-processing following retrieval of the robot. The robot’s design also offers the smallest possible footprint to allow entry to liquid storage tanks via small manholes.

“The project has now been extended by a further 12 months, supported by additional funding from this innovative industrial consortium, which brings together complementary skillsets from many different companies and organisations in the UK,” said Mike Burrows, senior innovation adviser at Electrocomponents.

“We are excited to see the project deliver proof of concept and move to the next stage in its evolution with field trials and possible commercialisation. The platform and the NDT inspection devices have gained significant interest from more than 60 operators and inspection companies. Additionally, we believe the platform will not only prove to be of significant value to the petrochemical industry, but also will open up many opportunities for the reuse of the technologies being deployed in the robotics and in the system.”

Project nautilUS is a UK-based consortium championed by several leading global companies and institutions, which started working together in February 2018 to design and develop a multi-million-pound certified non-destructive testing (NDT) solution. Co-funded by Innovate UK, the full consortium includes InnoTecUK, London South Bank University, Sonomatic, and TWI. In addition, the Quality Functional Deployment (QFD) model for the project was developed via RS Monition, Electrocomponents’ maintenance engineering specialist service.

The nautilUS project’s initial three-year development programme began in February 2018, and the prototype robot undertook its very first oil tank inspection in an industrial environment in the summer of 2020, achieving successful proof of concept for the project.

In addition to activities carried out by the project members, Electrocomponents’ DesignSpark engineering platform has been part of the multidisciplinary team throughout the project. Project nautilUS is detailed is this article

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Both models are supplied with controller, teach pad/pendant, all cables, connectors, RoboForthII and RobWin7 software and comprehensive manuals and, as a result, are ready to use immediately out of the box. Their high efficiency motor drives, solid machined-alloy construction and industrial-standard quality deliver outstanding accuracy and reliability, making them suitable for 24/7 operation without failure.

The R12 model comes in five- or six-axis variants, offers a 500 mm reach and is capable of handling a 1 kg payload. The larger R17 model, is a five-axis robot, with a six-axis option, and can handle a 3 kg payload over a reach of 750 mm. In total RS will stock 38 standard lines comprising the two different robot arms, several gripper formats and actuation methods (pneumatic/electric) and numerous optional accessories, including an Android/Bluetooth teach pad, vacuum grippers and USB and TCP/IP converters.

With many years’ experience in the domain, ST Robotics boasts that its robots’ high intelligence finds them niches in the most complex tasks, where they will do most of what their big brothers do, much that they cannot do and at a fraction of the price.

RS is providing large amounts of supplementary support in the form of compatible and complementary product listings, tutorials and bespoke entries within the highly popular DesignSpark section of its website.

For more information on ST Robotics products available from RS visit http://smarturl.it/STROBOTICS. Or visit the RS Components website for general information on robotics

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With Industry 4.0, the so-called Smart Factory and the internet of things (IoT) currently occupying the limelight in the engineering world, it is easy to forget the substantial effect that previous ‘industrial revolutions’ have had on engineering and manufacturing.

Arguably, the advent of numerical control (NC) and – even more so – computer numerical control (CNC), brought about the biggest change in contemporary manufacturing operations, leading to the widespread adoption of automated and robotic solutions. Indeed, by linking computers with control solutions and the manufacturing ‘coal face’, companies now have easy access to the Big Data that is underpinning this latest round of industry buzzwords.

It is hard to imagine any production line or laboratory not having some form of automation in their midst, but robotics have not quite had the same level of saturation, primarily due to the ease at which simple, cost-effective solutions can be developed and deployed. But this is set to change, thanks to a new initiative from RS.

Underpinning the new initiative is a selection of tutorials hosted within the DesignSpark section of the RS website, which take visitors through all the steps necessary to build a fully working and programmable robotic arm. Part one shows the user how they can deploy open-source resources and controllers to develop a robotic arm capable of being used in sophisticated industrial automation applications.

By selecting an open source design and associated code from Ruc Fablab (http://www.ruc.dk/fablab) and combining it with an Arduino-based PLC from Industrial Shields, Massimo Temporelli, President and co-Founder of The Fablab demonstrates in a video how the first steps can be taken on the road to a fully featured robotic solution. The tutorial page also includes numerous design file downloads and lists all the other components used in the build, including the servo motors, the power supply and the wiring – all of which are available from RS.

In part two, Massimo takes the robot to a real industrial environment to demonstrate its capabilities and potential for real-world industrial applications.

Part three takes the concept even further with the deployment of an Igus Robolink D industrial mechanical arm. Using the same open-source processor Massimo develops an even more capable solution, backed by the capabilities of the Igus components, which are based on existing industry-proven hardware and materials. Although the principle is the same, some of the components have changed from step one, but once again these are listed on the tutorial’s page. As before, a video is available to take the user through all the primary steps. The final episode of the DesignSpark tutorial, sees the finished robot in action in a cosmetics company where it is put into action handling fragile glass components.

In order to make the transition into a robot-equipped workplace, laboratory or classroom even easier, RS has created new robotic ‘bundles’, each of which comprise the parts required to build an Igus Robolink D robotic arm – one with a 1 kg capacity and another with a 4 kg capacity and longer reach.

The kits include four articulated joints, ready assembled with NEMA stepper motors; two pressed-steel connection arms; a connecting component for the base motor to the arm; a robot base unit with Harting connectors and an assembly kit, which contains mechanical and electrical and assembly componentry, fixtures and fittings.

By using popular industrial formats for the connectors, users have an incredible freedom of choice regarding onwards connectivity and integration with wider systems. Indeed, every single part needed to create a complete robotic system is available from RS. Users can also develop the robots further beyond their kit form, by purchasing additional components from the Robolink D range.

Although robots were originally conceived to replace human workers. Most of their benefits now arise from the way they complement the human workforce. By undertaking repetitive and laborious manual tasks, robots free up their much more ‘costly’ human peers to undertake more value-adding work that makes better use of their time and capabilities. These new robotic bundles also offer an attractive entry point for any smaller establishment, which may operate on a lower budget and they will bring the efficiency and reliability of robotic solutions to a far wider audience. Not only will users benefit from the functional capabilities of robotic solutions, but the bundles also offers significant cost savings versus buying the individual parts separately.

Both robot variants will deliver up to four axes and four degrees of freedom and are ideal for use in applications including R&D departments, educational establishments, laboratories and small-/medium-sized industrial factories; anywhere where a reliable, precise, affordable and flexible collaborative bench robotic arm is needed.

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Each of the two available kits comprise the parts required to build an Igus Robolink D robotic arm – one with a 1 kg capacity and another with a 4 kg capacity and longer reach. Both can offer up to four axes and four degrees of freedom and are ideal for use in applications including R&D departments, educational establishments, laboratories and small/medium industrial factories; anywhere where a reliable, precise, affordable and flexible collaborative bench robotic arm is needed.

In addition to the parts required to build the robotic arm, RS has also devoted a significant part of its DesignSpark website over to educational videos and instructions that will help users to pair the robot with controllers and programming solutions, giving them the freedom to choose a programming language and control hardware that is best suited to their precise requirements or to simply integrate them into an existing factory automation control infrastructure.

The DesignSpark website contains a number of tutorials, including videos created by Massimo Temporelli, President and Founder of The Fablab, in Milan. The tutorials*, which can all be referenced from each other, depending on the user’s stage in the build journey, contain all the necessary instructions to build a working robotic model.

With the introduction of these new Robolink D kits from RS and Igus, a lot of the ‘black art’ regarding the design and specification of robotic systems is removed. By deploying this approach, users can have the confidence that they can build a robotic solution that matches their precise needs as opposed to “dumbing down” a much more expensive unit. The open-source control solution makes integration a lot easier too, and allows the robot to easily connect into what are steadily becoming even more connected enterprises and smart factories. In this case compact and affordable does not mean lower performance – these robots easily compete with more expensive robots in their class.

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Unlike traditional mechanical cable connectors, ARISO contactless connectors use an inductive magnetic coupling system between transmitter and receiver (M30 x 80mm sized) and thereby do not require physical contact. ARISO contactless connectors are able to transfer data and power not only through air, but also across many different materials as well as fluids such as oil and water. ARISO contactless connectors will also automatically switch off in the event of a foreign metal object coming between the transmitter and receiver.

Designed to replace complex and expensive harness constructions and slip rings to enable connectivity where connections have previously not been possible, the ARISO contactless connectors series comprises five contactless male and female connectors that come with enhanced design specifications. There is also interchangeable dynamic pairing between the ARISO contactless connectors and they are capable of connecting with traditional systems via standard M12 cables.

The ARISO contactless connectors’ use of dynamic tuning means that the connectors are able to maintain a connection and avoid misalignment problems caused by shifts in movement. This freedom of movement includes 360° rotation, angular motion or a variable degree of distance between connectors. This results in a connection that is highly resistant to vibration, as well as making the devices ideal for on-the-fly connections, such as when connecting remote I/O or sensors on moving machine parts.

The ARISO contactless connectors are also designed to provide safe and reliable connectivity and offer unlimited mating cycles even in harsh environments via high vibration resistance and fully sealed couplers, which also means significantly reduced maintenance costs. This makes the ARISO contactless connectors highly suitable for conditions that are wet, dusty or contain debris and pollutants. The ARISO contactless connectors also provide a range of protection features including reverse polarity protection for power and data transmission, protection against over heating, and IP67 ingress protection.

Overall, with none of the wear and tear due to friction caused by traditional contacts, ARISO contactless connectors have a very high service life. This offers a whole new range of deployment opportunities providing increased design flexibility and cost savings.

The TE Connectivity ARISO contactless connectors range is now in stock at RS Components for immediate shipping.

Visit the RS Components website for more information on ARISO contactless connectors.

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