Facial Tissue Paper machine automation from human operator to collaborative robots and grippers

usman379 2016-12-05

Dear DOF Community,

This is my first post. I am a Mechatronics (Industrial Automation and Robotics) engineer from Pakistan. For almost all of my career I have been working in the Industrial automation (PLC/ DCS/ SCADA/ HMI/ Historian/ SIS/ F&G/ Instrumentation) Design, Management, Commissioning and maintenance based roles. Now I am getting a chance to work on robotics related Projects too, and I am very impressed with the Universal Robotics and Robotiq products.

here is my question

We have a customer requirement regarding the robot.

The maximum pay load for the robot is 4 kg (excluding the gripper assembly) and maximum reach is 90 cm.

The robot has to

1. identify a certain width of a tissue log with a specific number of tissue sheets

2. pick up the tissue log

3. rotate the log through 90 Degrees

4. then put the log on to a conveyor belt near by

The Height of the tissue log is 10 cm.

The Length of the tissue log is 150 cm.

The Width of the tissue log is 2 cm to 10 cm.

The maximum weight of the tissue log is 3 kg.

But the width and weight may vary job to job depending upon the number of sheets in the job.

The width of tissue log and number of sheets may vary job to job.

The pictures and video clip of the machine when a human is doing the same job as the robot would have to, is attached.

We have selected UR family robot of Universal Robots for our current application.

Now we are required an end effect-or that is connected to UR family robots and do the job as shown in the video (picking up the log, rotating the log through 90o and then place the log on to a conveyor belt)

Please suggest an end effect-or and also confirm its compatibility with UR robots.

Also please suggest that our current application can be handled with single robot and single end effect or or we have to move to two robots with two end effect-or.

We are selecting two UR5 Universal Robots and 2 Robotiq 2-FINGER 140 grippers for this application, and we need the advice and comment of the experts at DOF community to finalize our selection. Will Vision or camera be required.

Here are some attachments on Google Dirve

List of files on the Google Dirve link

InterFolder Machine 3D Animation

Machine Picture (1)

Machine Picture (2)

Machine Picture (3)

Machine Picture (4)

Machine Working Vedio_mpeg4

Scope_Auto_Separation_jinsung

tissue log

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BwQl_IVppyQGRmUyZFV5RWZWOUk?usp=sharing

**********(Also we tried to get quote from Qobotiq through their website link "get a quote" multiple times but no response, can some one provide a right email address or phone number through which we can contact and get a quote for Robotiq products.)***********

Thanks a lot for sharing your insights

Thanks and Regards,

Muhammad Usman Younis

Engineering Manager,

Devrim Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

(Subsidiary of Power Solutions Pakistan)

Head Office:

48-G III Johar Town, Lahore-Pakistan.

Tel: +92-42-3529 0781 - 82

Fax: +92-42-3529 0780

E-mail: info@powersolutionspk.com

Usman.younis@Devrimtechs.com

Cell: +92-331-5422355

https://pk.linkedin.com/in/usmanyounismaashaaallah

matthewd92 2016-12-05

@usman379 Welcome to the forum, I hope that you find many useful resources here.

I think that this job could be automated using the UR5 and (2) Robotiq 2F-140 grippers, those are the 2 finger, 140mm opening grippers. This would allow you to control the width of the log by going to various opening positions and slicing off the proper number of sheets similar to what the human is doing. you may need to create some customer finger tips that are thin but wide to more easily slice into the stack without damaging the sheets as well as provide more support by providing a wider area to grasp.

One issue that I see right away is handling the loose sheet after the log is rolled over. This could be tricky to handle with the robot due to lack of "eyes", would it be acceptable if that sheet did not get placed on top, could there be another way to automate that action such as an air blast that flips the loose folded sheet back on top?

usman379 2016-12-05

Good Day Mr. Matthew Bush,

thank you very much for your kind response, the last action done by the human operator (as shown in the actual machine video) to fold the top sheet is optional (so there is no need for the sheet to get placed on top after rolling over) as per our customer.,

you may have noticed that the complete set of tissue logs is constantly/slowly moving towards the human operator (So the Robot does will not be required to pick tissue logs from the exact same coordinates but these coordinates will be changing continuously), will this pose a challenge and require vision to detect the UV Lights that helps the human operator to identify where to pick the log.

Robotiq, does not reply via their website and I tried the phone and the dialed "4 for sales" but got the answering machine in french, . I have been trying to get a quote from Robotiq for 2 weeks now. any ideas or contacts (email/ phone number I can try)

thanks a lot
Cheers

matthewd92 2016-12-05

usman379 said:

Robotiq, does not reply via their website and I tried the phone and the dialed "4 for sales" but got the answering machine in french, . I have been trying to get a quote from Robotiq for 2 weeks now. any ideas or contacts (email/ phone number I can try)

thanks a lot
Cheers

@Catherine_Bernier can someone from there reach out to Usman regarding distribution in Pakistan?

Regarding the movement of the tissue, is the tissue always moving at the same speed? I would think the best way to do this would be with an encoder that is monitoring the motion of the tissue. UR has some built-in functionality for conveyor tracking, using encoders to get speed information from the conveyor, you could probably use this functionality to do what you need if the conveyor speed varies.

I personally wouldn't try to use vision to solve that issue, I think it would be a very difficult challenge to try to find the light for pickup as humans we are easily able to see that light and track the motion in real-time. Sensors would probably be a better bet.

Tyler_Berryman 2016-12-05

@usman379 I apologize for the long delay getting back to you. I will look into the problem since I am not certain why you were not contacted from one of our application engineers. I have also sent you an email so we can discuss pricing in a private conversation.

I agree with @matthewd92, I think that the use of two robots would be best for lifting a "Tissue Log" of this length. Since the operator is using both of his hands to manipulate the log, I think the easiest way to automate this task would be to use two robots to recreate his actions. I would also recommend using custom fingertips on the gripper to make it easier to pick up this stack of tissues. Something like this could be a good fit : http://dof.robotiq.com/discussion/comment/1239#Comment_1239.

The 2F140 gripper weighs 1Kg, so if you add the 3Kg associated to the "Tissue Log" you would have no problem using 2 UR5 robots for this application. The 2F140 gripper also comes with a software package that makes it very easy to program the gripper through the Teach Pendant (Robot's Touch Screen). This also makes all the programming centralized on the teach pendant. Here is a video demonstrating the programming of the 2F140 gripper through the UR's teach pendant : http://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/apqy723265.

Just an idea, but a small linear actuator could be used to separate the right amount of tissues to be moved from the conveyor. It could positioned on a rail to be adjustable to various amounts/thicknesses of tissues.

matthewd92 2016-12-05

The 2F140 gripper weighs 1Kg, so if you add the 3Kg associated to the "Tissue Log" you would have no problem using 2 UR5 robots for this application.

@Tyler_Berryman did you mean two UR5's or two grippers? I was suggesting using two grippers....

Tyler_Berryman 2016-12-05

@matthewd92 Yes, I meant two UR5's. Yes, two grippers could be used instead of two robots. I think something like @tylermartin's dual gripper setup could work well :

The grippers could be rotated 90° and the distance between both grippers could be increased to provide better support for the "Tissue Log".

ricardodeazambuja 2016-12-21

Hi @usman379,

Maybe this video (at 3:28) can give you some inspiration for your finger tips design:
https://youtu.be/WTOw7VMHXKc?t=198

I'm always astounded by the amount of things I learn from the How It's Made series...

Sometimes, in this type of application, a gentle, and precise, blow from a compressed air gun can also help separating things enough helping the robot to grasp them.

Cheers,

Ricardo