Hi Pros,

On October 10 2019, Robotiq released its CNC Machine Tending Kit.

Accelerate the implementation of machine tending jobs and cut down on cycle time by using two Hand-E grippers along the new Machine Tending Copilot licence which offers Contact Offset capabilities, and benefit from the new Visual Offset capabilities of the Wrist Camera (optional hardware) to make your programs more agile. These adaptive programs will help you get to production faster than ever before!

The CNC Machine Tending Kit also comes with fingertip extenders to grip bigger parts, with fingertips conversion kits, and lots of fingertips from which to choose. Use the fingertips conversion kit to easily mount your custom fingers on Hand-E grippers.

With two Hand-E grippers, the Wrist Camera, and the Machine Tending Copilot licence, the CNC Machine Tending Kit
reduces cycle time, and enables shorter turnarounds for production changes.

NEW WRIST CAMERA FUNCTIONALITIES

Cam Locate Node: Option to “Process one at a time”

You can now implement Cam Locate loops with the “Process one at a time” option. It reduces cycle time by taking one picture instead of many.

Scan Code Node

The Wrist Camera now supports reading barcodes and 2D codes, with a total of 11 types of codes: Datamatrix, QR, PDF-417, Code 93, EAN-8, EAN-13, ITF-14, UPC-E, UPC-A, Code 39, Code 128.

Find Visual Offset and Apply Visual Offset Nodes

Thanks to the brand-new Robotiq tag, the Wrist Camera is now able to detect changes in positioning, and to alter robot moves based on this position variation (i.e. the “offset”). This process is two-fold, initiated by the Find Visual Offset node, and followed by the Apply Visual Offset node.

The Robotiq Visual Offset Tag is made of durable aluminum.

With the tag, ensure your robot program remains valid even when moving the robot between workstations. The tag acts as a reference position, which eliminates the need to reprogram moves. These innovations can also accurately find parts for mobile rigs entering a robot workplane for processing.

Save Image Node

This node lets you save to a USB drive pictures taken by the Wrist Camera. Among other things, it could serve as a means to collect visual data at any step of the program, or as a quality improvement tool when a Cam Locate fails to recognize a taught object.

MACHINE TENDING COPILOT LICENSE: FIND CONTACT OFFSET AND APPLY CONTACT OFFSET NODES

In addition to basic nodes offered by Force Copilot, the Machine Tending Copilot license introduces the Find Contact Offset and Apply Contact Offset nodes. With these, you will no longer need to place parts at an exact location on your workplane.

Find Contact Offset uses a Touch sequence to measure the real position of a part versus its taught position. It then communicates this variation to the Apply Contact Offset node.

The “Find Contact Offset” node can compensate for parts moved on one/multiple axes,
and adjust the program accordingly.

Finally, Apply Contact Offset modifies all moves accordingly, which means that even when a part is not placed at the exact same spot as the one that was taught, your program still works just as if that were the case.

You can compensate for displacement either on a single axis (Translation), or on multiple axes (Orientation).

For more information, please visit the product page or ask your local partner!

Cheers!