The Solution of ROCHU Soft Robotics Gripper

Micron had already computerized phase of the clip production. It used a robotic arm from Ranger Automation with an quit of arm tooling that grabs sixty four person clips out of the mold, locations them onto a desk fixture that snaps collectively 4 clips, and sends them to a conveyor belt. The conveyor brings the clips to two operators who pick them off the conveyor and area into the container in the right orientation.

To put off the two operators, Micron had integrator Advanced Automation (Portsmouth, NH) set up an ABB IRB 360 FlexPicker, Keyence vision system, and Soft Robotics gripper to automate the pick out and area phase of the process. The imaginative and prescient system guides the robot and gripper to pick up the clips and put them into a special-sized box.

This system price about $120,000, according to Breau, and the installation took one week in August 2016. Breau says clip production experienced little downtime at some point of the installation.

This used to be Micron’s first time working with each ABB and Soft Robotics, each of which Breau says have been encouraged through the automobile seat manufacturer. “We were hesitant due to the fact there’s no convenient way to vacuum the clips off the conveyor belt due to the fact of the way they land,” says Breau. “And damage is a no-go for our customer. Fixing the clips is a nightmare, so Soft Robotics saved us with by no means damaging any parts.”

Breau says the human operators would periodically harm the clips due to the way they had been grabbing them.

“They’d grab a handful at once, which can lead to a piece snapping on the bottom layer internal the box,” says Breau. “If the end-user gets one that’s broken, they have to stop the complete manufacturing line – and that trouble comes straight back to us. But it’s highly tons been absolutely eliminated as Soft Robotics is easy on the parts. It additionally doesn’t pick out up components that aren’t whole (if only three clips are snapped together, no longer four) because the imaginative and prescient gadget will observe it’s no longer a finished part.