Pioneer of collaborative robots showcases new cobot-assisted, mobile, and modular tabletop system featuring vision-guided multiple part feeding and kitting with conveyor tracking and case loading-unloading. While most robotic cells and automated machinery in the market are stationary setups designed to complete one task for their usable life, Universal Robots Certified System Integrator, Allied Technology, has taken a new approach.

Allied Technology’s new mobile tabletop system will be showcased in Universal Robots Pack Expo booth S-8257 September 25 to 27 in Las Vegas and includes:

• Intelligent Part Feeder using Vision Guidance to singulate multiple different small parts
• Articulating End of Arm Tooling to pick multiple parts
• Conveyor Tracking and automation for crowding groups of parts on a conveyor
• Variety pack case loading and unloading of cases to be resorted
• All self-contained on a mobile tabletop system

Also showcased in Universal Robots’ booth is a new demo featuring a UR10 collaborative robot that invites attendees to interact by interrupting its palletizing routine by pressing a button, prompting the cobot to present a bottle of water to the attendees. This demo shows several different types of applications/uses for the robot:

Palletizing and depalletizing with flexible use: This type of application uses the UR to remove items from a tray, cart, box, or any other container that can be placed by the robot. After removing the items from a tray, the operator can use the robot for any number of operations, examples would be inspection, machine loading, presenting to an operator, or even manipulating the parts around other equipment.

Interpreting input from outside resources: The UR10 robot is constantly monitoring for a signal from the button and once received, the programming uses a logic check to then maneuver the robot into performing a different action which, in this case, is presenting the water bottle to the person who requested one. Interpreting digital signals or more complex communication allows the UR robot to perform a multitude of tasks depending on what’s needed and when.

“We believe a robot cell should be modular, flexible, and easy to use. The systems we design are scalable and allow for a company to easily make changes when production has new requirements or a new product to run,” said President of Allied Technology, Mike Halley, adding that Universal Robots has given Allied Technology a great advantage in a market where high mix/low volume is becoming the norm. “The UR robots are simple to program from a low and high-level standpoint and holds the collaborative certifications needed to support the unique, flexible robot cell designs.”

Unlike investments in traditional robotic cells that are caged, pre-programmed and designed for a single purpose, the multi-purpose UR robot offers a lower threshold for investment and offers more possibilities over the life of the investment. The robot arms can be plugged directly into a wall outlet and are so easy to program and set up that the typical “out of box experience” is less than an hour. With more than 16,000 UR cobots now deployed worldwide, Universal Robots has a 60% share of the cobot market and has documented the production benefits in a wide range of packaging and palletizing case studies.

UR cobots for scalable packaging will also be showcased in these PACK EXPO exhibits:

ADCO Manufacturing – booth C-3243 • The leading manufacturer of packaging machinery and complete end-of-line systems will showcase an integrated packaging system featuring a UR5 cobot mated to an ADCO model Compact 4 vertical rotary cartoner. Aside from the safety and ease of deployment benefits, the UR5 will demonstrate its proficiency and precision in repetitively picking and placing small objects. The Compact 4 will automatically erect each carton, present it to the product load area and then seal each carton after the UR5 loads the product.

“Universal Robots enable us to quickly and cost-effectively address many customer needs that previously needed more complex and expensive fixed automation or industrial robotic setups. The inherent simplicity, flexibility and safe operating parameters of all UR products certainly opens up doors many new and different automation opportunities,” says Scott Reed, Vice President of ADCO Manufacturing.

Belden – Booth S-8181 • Belden, a leader in signal transmission setups, will partner with Universal Robots to showcase their combined innovative setups; a UR3 cobot will be controlled by Belden’s Lumberg Automation LioN-P μDCU via discrete commands in a pick and place application.

“With the rise in smart, connected devices brought on by the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), it is necessary to prepare infrastructure and make sense of the influx of data,” shared Tim Senkbeil, Product Line Manager with Belden. “The LioN-P μDCU setup helps simplify this by providing the functionality of a PLC with the ability to handle less complex applications locally and much more cost-effectively than would be the case if a PLC was used.”

FP Developments – booth N-414 • FP Developments Inc. designs and manufactures fully integrated collaborative robotic work cells for small scale pharmaceutical and medical device production. The company will present three live UR robot demos during the show:

September 25, 2017 11:00 AM	Cobotic Inspection	FP manufactures robotic systems for inspection; the cobot handles all the products and provides consistent positioning for precise inspection.
September 26, 2017 11:00 AM	Robotic Syringe Filling	Robotic Syringe Fillers are a hands-free automatic syringe filling system designed to operate within a typical LAF booth.
September 27, 2017 11:00 AM	Robotic Syringe Labeling	The RSL handles syringes & provides consistent positioning for precise application without offline/pre-printing & offers presentation for inspection.

“We see a collaborative robot as a tool on demand as needed … one that can quickly be transitioned between packaging tasks to streamline production planning. Flexibility in manufacturing involves ability to deal with variation in volumes, design and material handling as well as variations in the process sequences. We look forward to showcasing these important capabilities at PACK EXPO,” said Craig Tomita, Area Sales Manager at Universal Robots.

Universal Robots is the result of many years of intensive research at Denmark’s successful robot cluster, which is located in Odense, Denmark. The company was co-founded in 2005 by the company’s CTO, Esben Østergaard, who wanted to make robot technology accessible to all by developing small, user-friendly, reasonably priced, flexible industrial robots that are safe to work with and on their own can be used to streamline processes in the industry. The product portfolio includes the collaborative UR3, UR5 and UR10 robotic arms named after their payload in kilos. Since the first UR robot launched in December 2008, the company has experienced considerable growth with the user-friendly robots now sold in more than 50 countries worldwide. At just 195 days, the average payback period for UR robots is the fastest in the industry. The company, a part of Boston-based Teradyne Inc., is headquartered in Odense and has subsidiaries and regional offices in the U.S., Spain, Germany, Singapore, Czech Republic, India, and China. Universal Robots has more than 300 employees worldwide. For more information, visit www.universal-robots.com.