Navigating the Challenges of Delicate Item Handling in Robotic Pick and Place

Iden­ti­fy­ing Del­i­cate Items and Prod­ucts across Indus­tri­al Sectors

The def­i­n­i­tion of del­i­cate items can vary across indus­tries, but here are com­mon examples:

• Elec­tron­ics. Small elec­tron­ic com­po­nents like microchips, cir­cuit boards, or sen­sors are sen­si­tive to sta­t­ic elec­tric­i­ty, tem­per­a­ture fluc­tu­a­tions, and phys­i­cal impact.
• Glass. If mis­han­dled, items such as mir­rors, lens­es, or glass con­tain­ers are prone to breakage.
• Pre­ci­sion Instru­ments. Items like sci­en­tif­ic equip­ment, med­ical devices, or pre­ci­sion mea­sur­ing tools often have del­i­cate com­po­nents that require care­ful han­dling to main­tain accuracy.
• Opti­cal Prod­ucts. Prod­ucts like cam­era lens­es, tele­scopes, and oth­er opti­cal devices have sen­si­tive lens­es that can be eas­i­ly scratched or damaged.
• Med­ical Devices. Devices like sur­gi­cal instru­ments or diag­nos­tic equip­ment may con­tain del­i­cate parts that require care­ful han­dling to ensure their func­tion­al­i­ty and safety.
• Fine Machin­ery. High-pre­ci­sion machin­ery with com­plex parts, such as watch­es or spe­cial­ized man­u­fac­tur­ing equip­ment, can be del­i­cate and sen­si­tive to rough handling.
• Frag­ile Mate­ri­als. Prod­ucts like ceram­ics, porce­lain, or cer­tain types of plas­tics can be eas­i­ly dam­aged if not han­dled properly.
• Aero­space Parts. Com­po­nents, such as light­weight mate­ri­als or intri­cate struc­tures, can be del­i­cate due to their spe­cif­ic design requirements. 

Com­pa­nies often imple­ment spe­cial­ized equip­ment and con­trolled envi­ron­ments to han­dle del­i­cate items. Prop­er pack­ag­ing, trans­porta­tion, and stor­age meth­ods are also cru­cial to safe­ly han­dling del­i­cate items through­out the sup­ply chain. Qual­i­ty con­trol mea­sures can help iden­ti­fy and rec­ti­fy issues before del­i­cate items reach the final prod­uct assem­bly, reduc­ing the risk of defects and ensur­ing cus­tomer satisfaction.

Rev­o­lu­tion­iz­ing Man­u­fac­tur­ing Effi­cien­cy: Unveil­ing the Pre­ci­sion and Speed of Pick and Place Robots

Pick and place robot appli­ca­tions involve auto­mat­ed robot­ic sys­tems designed to pick up objects from one loca­tion and accu­rate­ly place them in anoth­er. The pri­ma­ry goal is to increase effi­cien­cy, pre­ci­sion, and speed in repet­i­tive tasks involv­ing object move­ment. These func­tions require more scruti­ny in terms of del­i­cate item handling. 

Here are some com­mon pick and place applications:

Man­u­fac­tur­ing and Assem­bly Lines. Pick up items from a con­vey­or belt or a pal­let and pre­cise­ly place them in the required posi­tion for fur­ther processing.

1. Elec­tron­ics Assem­bly. Pick up tiny elec­tron­ic com­po­nents, such as resis­tors, capac­i­tors, and inte­grat­ed cir­cuits, and accu­rate­ly place them onto cir­cuit boards dur­ing assembly.
2. Pack­ag­ing. Pick­ing up prod­ucts and plac­ing them into con­tain­ers, box­es, or pack­ag­ing mate­ri­als. This is com­mon in food and bev­er­age, phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals, and con­sumer goods industries.
3. Mate­r­i­al Han­dling. Mov­ing items from one loca­tion to anoth­er with­in a ware­house or dis­tri­b­u­tion cen­ter. This includes load­ing and unload­ing items onto/​from pal­lets or con­vey­or systems.
4. Pal­letiz­ing and Depal­letiz­ing. Stack­ing prod­ucts onto pal­lets in a spe­cif­ic pat­tern for stor­age or ship­ping. Con­verse­ly, depal­letiz­ing involves pick­ing items from pal­lets for fur­ther pro­cess­ing or distribution.
5. Sort­ing and Order Ful­fill­ment. Sort­ing appli­ca­tions where prod­ucts need to be sort­ed based on spe­cif­ic cri­te­ria. In e‑commerce ware­hous­es, for exam­ple, robots can pick items from shelves and place them into des­ig­nat­ed bins for spe­cif­ic cus­tomer orders.
6. Med­ical Appli­ca­tions. Han­dling and sort­ing med­ical devices, com­po­nents, or sam­ples in a lab­o­ra­to­ry or man­u­fac­tur­ing setting.
7. Auto­mat­ed CNC Machin­ing. Han­dling raw mate­ri­als and fin­ished parts, load­ing and unload­ing them from machin­ing cen­ters with precision.

Under­stand­ing Del­i­cate Item Han­dling Chal­lenges with Fanuc M‑20iA/​10L Pick and Place Robot

Del­i­cate items, such as elec­tron­ic com­po­nents, frag­ile prod­ucts, or pre­ci­sion parts, require a metic­u­lous approach to han­dling. The Fanuc M‑20iA/​10L pick and place robot, known for its pre­ci­sion and ver­sa­til­i­ty, is com­mon­ly used in appli­ca­tions where del­i­cate item han­dling is paramount.

1. Pre­ci­sion Placement

Chal­lenge. Achiev­ing pre­ci­sion in item place­ment with­out caus­ing dam­age or dis­rup­tion is a com­mon chal­lenge. Del­i­cate items often require care­ful posi­tion­ing to avoid any impact that could com­pro­mise their integrity. 

Solu­tion. The Fanuc M‑20iA/​10L excels in pre­ci­sion place­ment thanks to its advanced vision sys­tem and adap­tive con­trol capa­bil­i­ties. Uti­lize the robot­’s vision sys­tem to accu­rate­ly iden­ti­fy and posi­tion del­i­cate items, ensur­ing a gen­tle and con­trolled place­ment process.

2. Grip­ping Sensitivity

Chal­lenge. Del­i­cate items may have var­ied shapes, sizes, and mate­ri­als, requir­ing a flex­i­ble and sen­si­tive grip­ping mech­a­nism to secure­ly hold them with­out caus­ing damage.

Solu­tion. The M‑20iA/​10L is equipped with intel­li­gent grip­ping tech­nol­o­gy, allow­ing for pre­cise and adapt­able grip­ping based on the char­ac­ter­is­tics of each item. This ensures a secure hold with­out exces­sive force, min­i­miz­ing the risk of damage.

3. Speed and Efficiency

Chal­lenge. Main­tain­ing effi­cien­cy in pick and place process­es while han­dling del­i­cate items can be chal­leng­ing. Slow­er speeds are often nec­es­sary to pre­vent jostling or misplacement. 

Solu­tion. The Fanuc M‑20iA/​10L strikes a bal­ance between speed and pre­ci­sion. Its opti­mized motion con­trol allows for con­trolled and effi­cient move­ments, ensur­ing del­i­cate items are han­dled with the required care with­out com­pro­mis­ing over­all process efficiency.

T.I.E. Indus­tri­al’s Solu­tions for Del­i­cate Item Handling

Nav­i­gat­ing the chal­lenges of del­i­cate item han­dling in robot­ic pick and place appli­ca­tions requires a com­bi­na­tion of advanced tech­nol­o­gy, pre­ci­sion engi­neer­ing, and reli­able replace­ment parts. The Fanuc pick and place robots are valu­able assets in address­ing these challenges.

Con­tact T.I.E. Indus­tri­al is your go-to source for high-qual­i­ty refur­bished robot replace­ment parts, ensur­ing you excel in del­i­cate item han­dling tasks.