English
With the development of industrial technology, robots are used more and more widely, and their efficient work efficiency has greatly improved the production capacity of enterprises. However, industrial robots cannot detect their surrounding environment very well and need to be combined with professional instruments to achieve certain functions. As more and more different sensors are introduced to robots, robots are becoming more sensitive and intelligent.
Here is a brief introduction to 5 applications of load cells in robots:
1. Constant force
Torque sensors were first manufactured for applications such as grinding and polishing. These applications are difficult to automate because the robot needs some kind of force feedback to determine whether it's pushing hard enough.
By introducing force feedback loops into the program, these applications can be easily automated to achieve consistency in the manufacturing process. In this case, it is necessary to use an external device rather than the embedded solution provided by the robot manufacturer.
2. Target positioning
In practical applications, many users often believe that the only way to position and quantify parts is to use vision sensors. But actually this is not the only solution. There's no denying that vision systems are a great way to locate or quantify parts, but it's also possible to use force sensors to find and detect parts. It's one thing to determine where they are on the X-Y plane, it's another thing to determine what height they're at. In fact, to do this, a 3D vision system is needed. If it is a pile of objects, you don't need to know the exact location of the entire pile of objects, you just need to look for it in the pile of objects every time. The robot simply determines the height of the pile and then continuously adjusts its grasping height.
Another search function using force sensors is the sensor's "free mode". This may be due to an underutilization of the load cell parameters. "Free Mode" or "Zero Gravity" mode "frees up" the robot's axes, which will allow it to improve its compliance. For example, if you want to tighten a part on a CNC machine, you can free up 2 axes so that the part can fit perfectly while still maintaining a certain amount of grip. This causes the force to be applied entirely to the center of the component, with no additional force acting on the robot's axes.
3. Repeatability
If a user is considering using a robot to do assembly tasks, they want the robot to be able to repeat the same task over and over again. However, one of the reasons assembly tasks are difficult to automate is that they require force detection by the operator. By introducing load cells, the external forces exerted during assembly can be felt. The robot needs to apply very precise force when attaching the battery to the phone. Since these parts are easily damaged, it's really difficult to assemble them intact. This is why a very low force threshold is set to prevent component misalignment and damage.
4. Manual boot
Most collaborative robots are manually guided using built-in force sensors, but traditional industrial robots do not have this type of sensor built into them. This is why traditional industrial robots require a load cell. With it, you can manually guide the teaching robot without using a teach pendant. With just one load cell, the robot can be taught by setting the starting point and end point of the robot, as well as the linear trajectory in the middle.
As you've seen so far, force feedback is very useful and can be used in many different applications. Analyze your workflow to see if you can use force sensors instead of a vision system. Most of the time, force sensors are easier to integrate and do not require an integrator. Users can do it themselves.
