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FANUC America has introduced its LR Mate 200iD/14L, the 10th model in its LR Mate series of tabletop industrial robots. Since the LR Mate Series was launched nearly 30 years ago, it has become one of FANUC’s biggest sellers with 70,000-plus units installed across the world.

The LR Mate can handle parts weighing up to 14kg in the automotive, e-commerce and warehousing, food and beverage, medical device, pharmaceutical, and many other industries. The 10 models in the LR Mate Series include clean room and wash proof versions, each with various wrist speeds and reaches to accommodate even the most limited workspace.

“The LR Mate was introduced in 1992, and has been deployed in a variety of traditional manufacturing and service applications. Some of the most interesting things we’ve seen this robot do include serving coffee, fulfilling orders in retail stores, and even preparing fast foods,” said Carolyn Chase, product manager, LR Mate robot series, FANUC America.

The robots offer both upright and invert mount installations. The series also offers an ISO Class 4 clean room/food-grade variant for food handling and healthcare packaging applications.

These small tabletop robots can be equipped with a variety of intelligent features, including robot vision and force sensing functionality for even higher levels of accuracy and productivity. Here are some of the benefits of robots:

• Available in three variations: standard, short, and long arm.
• 4kg to 14kg wrist load capacity with up to six-axis articulation.
• Integrated 24VDC power, signal and air for easy end-of-arm-tool connection.
• Integrated thru-arm cable option for iRVision, force sensing, Ethernet and auxiliary axes.
• Flexible mounting (upright, invert, angle).
• Easy integration into machines.
• Standard IP67 rating allows operation in factory environments with dust and oil mist; many variants have an optional IP69K rating for wash proof, clean room or food grade environments.

FANUC recently launched a feature that enables CNCs to directly program robots through G-code. FANUC said this helps to unify the programming of both CNCs and robots, and reduces operator training.