Summary: Automating processes and boosting production rates with pick-and-place robots is what businesses do to enhance productivity.
ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PICK AND PLACE ROBOTS?
What are pick and place robots?
How do pick and place robots work?
Uses of picks and place robots?
What advantages do pick and place robots offer?
Robots are increasingly widely used at work, and companies are installing more robotic conveyor system every month. It is important to note that robots can perform a number of tasks depending on their functionality. Our article focuses on pick-and-place robots.
Statista estimates that industrial robot sales worldwide tripled over the past ten years, reaching nearly 400,000 units in 2018. There are more than 2,000 robot installations for every 10,000 workers in the automobile industry.
Continue reading to learn more about robotics’ uses, their operations, and how robots do automated tasks.
What are pick-and-place robots?
You probably guessed that pick-and-place robots pick up and place objects on production lines, packaging lines, or palletize products at the end of manufacturing processes.
Automating processes and boosting production rates with pick-and-place robots is what businesses do to enhance productivity. Through robotics, companies can automate repetitive chores faster and more accurately than humans, because the margin of error is smaller than with people, allowing them to dedicate resources and staff to more complex tasks.
How do pick and place robots work?
They carry things from their original location to a target location by picking them up and transporting them there. Pick-and-place robots work simply on the principle of removal and placement. As a form of robotic process automation (RPA), robotic handle automation is used to direct and instruct pick-and-place robots to perform tasks.
They are often employed for simple, repetitive operations like picking up objects and moving them from one location to another, such as from storage onto a moving robotic conveyor system, as was briefly discussed above. A pick-and-place robot is typically mounted on a stand, and naturally, a robot with a larger payload will be on a larger stand than a robot with a smaller payload, which is strategically positioned to have the appropriate reach for the task at hand.
Uses of Pick and Place Robots?
There are numerous applications for robotics in general, and depending on the sort of robot you employ and its varying capabilities, what you require a robot to do may vary. For instance, you may purchase robots that can pick up and position little goods, like doughnuts, from a stainless steel belt to large-scale operations that entail robotic palletizing for units weighing tons.
Assembly
Pick and place robots can remove a component, good, or item from one belt conveyor during an assembly process and then transfer it to another robotic conveyor system. This frequently happens in small electrical goods and fresh produce production lines when a robot is required to move products from one production line to another.
Packaging
It will pick up an object but package it instead, which is comparable to an assembly process. Accordingly, in the previous example, when products were moved to a different packaging line, this is the packaging line with an additional robot(s) packing the things, typically at a faster rate and with smaller individual pieces.
Selective Selection
Robots with vision systems can identify specific objects on the manufacturing line or robotic conveyor system that fit a specific description. Variations of how this might function include the robot selecting a certain section of a conveyor line using machine vision and understanding what to watch out for or selecting goods that don’t adhere to the manufacturing line’s criteria.
Inspection
Vision systems are frequently used in robotic conveyor systems that employ pick and place robots. Robots equipped with vision systems can keep an eye on the goods, materials, produce, or anything else that is being transported on a moving robotic conveyor system and identify any defective goods, which the pick-and-place robot will remove from the conveyor line as it works.
What advantages do pick-and-place robots offer?
There are many advantages that businesses might obtain from adding pick and place robots to their systems, from speeding up the production line to lowering the company’s operational costs.
Nonetheless, it is necessary to keep in mind that pick-and-place robots, or any other type of robot, may not always be the right choice. Businesses need to assess their workforce and whether or not using automation or robotics is the right decision.
Here are a few instances of how pick and place robots can benefit a business by enhancing customer service and boosting productivity.
Speed
Businesses can experience a considerable gain in speed to their operations by utilizing a pick and place robot. A pick and place robot system can operate at a speed that is unlikely for human to match consistently once it is set up and synced, in contrast to people performing the activity.
For instance, a pick and place robot can pick up a small item off a conveyor line and place it into packaging at a rate of about 200 items per minute if the object is something like miniature biscuits. Robotics Online reports that vision systems, which are used to direct pick and place robots, can recognize 100 items per second.
Reliability and accuracy
Due to the absence of human error, robots are excellent at completing tasks consistently and accurately. Since robots are trained to perform specific duties, they will consistently complete those jobs since they do not get weary, get distracted, or stop to think about what they are doing.
Return on investment (ROI)
The process of integrating robots into an existing system has many advantages. Advantages, however, are not always clear at the onset. It may be difficult for businesses to recognize installation costs and potential ROI. Nevertheless, as the number of months or items available increases, which causes an increase in the potential items to sell and a related increase in profit, the ROI becomes more obvious, especially as a certain threshold of time or products are passed, such as six months, a year, 18 months, or two years.
As soon as the pick and place robotic system is paid for; the costs are drastically reduced to merely system maintenance while margins are raised, giving a business a more effective, greater output, and typically cheaper cost production system.
The employment of pick and place robots is becoming more common since the demand for human labour is quickly declining. These robots are more precise and effective, making company operations quick, easy, and streamlined.
Robotics will become fully incorporated into various businesses as time goes on, boosting production.