Robotic Drilling Helps Beat the Competition
Robotic drilling can help remove the dangerous work from manual workers. When a drilling production line is automated, it provides a cost-effective method for users as it can reduce cost and increase the cycle times. Depending on your needs, a customized EOAT is available.
Manual drilling can be dangerous and exhausting work. Robotic drilling provides a cost-effective and safe alternative to using human workers for drilling. As drilling becomes automated, cost and waste are cut while cycle times are increased.
End-of-arm tooling is customizable to meet the consumer’s needs, whether in the aerospace industry, automotive industry, or any other. Robotic drilling is dependent on positional repeatability. The robot is responsible for delivering the right tool in the right orientation, and must remain rigid even when force is applied.
Robotic drilling is used in a wide variety of industries. Robots can adapt to the demands of the particular industry in which they are being used. For example, the largest use of robotics in the aerospace industry is to drill holes into components. Vision systems allow the robots to accurately locate where drilling needs to occur on an airframe. A fuselage needs thousands of holes drilled, and robotic drilling is essential for this process.
Fanuc robots are ideal for drilling and other applications that require a high amount of accuracy. The Fanuc M‑900iB/700 super heavy payload robot is ideal for aerospace drilling and deburring. It is equipped with secondary encoders and deflection compensation software to maintain high precision and rigidity. After drilling an airframe fuselage, it can then change to a deburring tool to debur the panel’s windows.
The Fanuc M‑900iB/260L 6‑axis robot is another drilling robot with a 260kg payload capacity and a 3100mm reach. Its arm has a drilling head that rotates at 1800 RPM, and is equipped with a 3.6kW motor.
KUKA robots are also used in the aerospace industry for assembly of complex aircraft structures, but are also used in other industries as well. The KUKA KR150 robot provides accurate robotic drilling in a variety of sand cores used to make castings for customers in the automotive and construction machine industries.
Motoman’s UP50 industrial robot has an arm with a 50kg payload capacity. The UP50 drilling system moves parts from table to table and drills holes in tubes. Pneumatic tooling inserts end caps into the tubes to complete the cycle. A UP20 model with vision can locate and orient a part before loading it into a drilling machine.
Robotic drilling is also future oriented. Robotic Drilling Systems AS is attempting to develop a fully automated drilling rig. The rig would “think” for itself, doing its own positioning, erecting steel reinforcements, and drilling a well without human interference.
Using robots for drilling speeds the process while ensuring quality and precision. Robots.com carries a variety of drilling robots from different manufacturers. If you are unsure on which brand you would like, we can help you choose the perfect one to fulfill your needs. Contact us today by calling 877−762−6881 or reach representatives online.
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