Is Your Robot Happy and Healthy?

Keep­ing your robot in a good mood is eas­i­er than you’d think. A lit­tle TLC goes a long way. Fol­low these robot­ic main­te­nance tips and your robot will enjoy a long, stress-free life.

Good Hygiene:

Does your robot need a show­er? Whether it’s weld­ing spat­ter, dirt and/​or dust, mate­r­i­al can accu­mu­late on the exte­ri­or of the manip­u­la­tor, con­troller, and teach pen­dant. It’s a good prac­tice to rou­tine­ly clean the out­side of your robot, espe­cial­ly if it is work­ing in a messy envi­ron­ment. Make sure mate­r­i­al does­n’t build up and inter­fere with functionality.

Peri­od­ic, thor­ough inspec­tions of the robot­’s exte­ri­or will allow you to pre­vent future prob­lems. Check all cabling for wear­ing or rip­ping. Make sure all con­nec­tions are intact.

Strong Joints:

Is your robot expe­ri­enc­ing joint pain? While inspect­ing your robot, pay close atten­tion to the axes. If your robot has plan­e­tary gear reduc­tion units, the grease should be replaced year­ly. Grease replen­ish­ment will keep the robot lim­ber — dra­mat­i­cal­ly impact­ing accu­ra­cy, repeata­bil­i­ty and over­all productivity.

Stress Test:

You don’t need a tread­mill to run your robot through its paces. Make sure to check for any alarm codes. Dou­ble check that the robot­’s home posi­tion is cal­i­brat­ed cor­rect­ly and it func­tions flaw­less­ly through­out its entire range of movement.

Men­tal Health: 

Take care of your robot­’s brain. It’s impor­tant to peri­od­i­cal­ly inspect the inside of the con­troller cab­i­net, mak­ing sure all the wiring and con­nec­tions are intact. On the robot itself, the inter­nal health of cer­tain com­po­nents (arm bat­tery, tim­ing belts, ser­vo cool­ing fans etc.) must be checked annually.

Fre­quent Check-ups:

In addi­tion to year­ly exam­i­na­tions, most indus­tri­al robots require an intense inspec­tion every three years. Check your robot man­u­al for spe­cif­ic checklists. 

Look­ing for more infor­ma­tion about robot­ic main­te­nance? Con­tact Robots​.com experts online or at 877−762−6881.