Rail-mounted robots – saving floor space “on track”

When manufacturers are first designing their robotic workcells or systems, they need to envision the floor space they have available. Those with smaller facilities may be able to save floor space through rail-mounted, or gantry, robots that run on overhead tracks.

Not only are gantry robots good for saving floor space just by their design, they are also able to save floor space, especially with palletizing applications, because they can stack products higher than the typical floor mounted robot.

Despite their upside-down presentation, a rail-mounted robot may actually be more efficient manufacturers that need to save floor space. The robots can move along a track, doing several things on a production line, instead of being in one fixed position and area. This could also save manufacturers money by having one rail-mounted robot do the job of two or three floor-mounted robots when the manufacturers have limited floor space.

Gantry models from Fanuc, Motoman, and KUKA not only save floor space, but also operate at a higher level than human workers could ever achieve manually. As stated above, these robots can stack products higher and can stack them at a rate of 24 cycles per minute for 25 kg items.

However, rail-mounted robots are not the only way that manufacturers are able to save floor space in their facilities. One of the new trends for robotics manufacturers is to make smaller, stackable robot controllers that can sit one, two or even three high. This frees up floor space that would have been taken up by several big, bulky controllers in the past, especially in multi-robot systems.

Robots.com, a certified integrator for Fanuc, Motoman, ABB, Universal Robots, and KUKA robotics, has several rail-mounted robots and stack-able controllers available to save every inch of floor space necessary in your facility.

For more information on automating with any of these models from Robots.com, contact us today online or at 877-762-6881.