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Sebastien
Posts: 219 Handy
Installing a Universal robot on a servo driven linear axis |
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Sebastien
Posts: 219 Handy
in Applications
Hi pros,
we haven't search much yet into that topic and my first was to ask you guys if you done something like this. We are currently looking at a project where the UR would need to be moved on a rail. So far it is quite easy as the rail will have only two positions (one at each end). So the integration is quite simple.
However I was curious to see how hard would it be to have the UR move on a servo driven axis? We are used to work with this on Fanuc robot where the axis is integrated to the system such that when you move a 6 axis robot on a rail, on the teach pendant there are 7 axis to move. So when you teach points, they record all 7 axis values. I am guessing that it would be feasible to make this work on UR but could be tricky. What do you think? Any experience you are willing to share?
we haven't search much yet into that topic and my first was to ask you guys if you done something like this. We are currently looking at a project where the UR would need to be moved on a rail. So far it is quite easy as the rail will have only two positions (one at each end). So the integration is quite simple.
However I was curious to see how hard would it be to have the UR move on a servo driven axis? We are used to work with this on Fanuc robot where the axis is integrated to the system such that when you move a 6 axis robot on a rail, on the teach pendant there are 7 axis to move. So when you teach points, they record all 7 axis values. I am guessing that it would be feasible to make this work on UR but could be tricky. What do you think? Any experience you are willing to share?
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I do wish that UR would allow for 7th axis control like other robots.
Moving the robot to a certain position, do some work there and then move the rail to another position is something that could work in our case and I think is feasible to do with UR. However we would be interested to see if anyone tried a sort of coordinate motion between the rail and robot to have both move at the same time!
We do have a robot running a 7th axis but it's not moving the robot, it's moving the part for the robot and there is some coordination between those two but it's limited in scope.
@baghakian Could you share how you integrated the control of the robot with the linear actuator on this project?
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Please remember that this will not be a true 7th axis. I had the robot moving while the linear actuator was moving (used a thread in the UR program).
For a very straight forward solution without the need to do interpolated motion with the UR, we highly recommend IAI electric actuators - https://www.intelligentactuator.com. We already have several applications using them together with UR3 and UR10 with no issues.
Strong points of IAI is a very extensive range and easy setup. You can "talk" with IAI by digital I/O or serial communication.
If you want, we can suggest a model based in your requirements such as effective stroke, necessary speed, etc..
But a worst case scenario would be a 2m slider for a UR10 together with a controller it will come about 5k€ (one ballscrew unit, repeatability ±0,01mm, 1.080mm/s, 45kg payload with 0,4G acc/dcl).
After finished all the electrical connections, the unit will be ready to run in less than 10 minutes.
We also used them when we have a robot with dual grippers and the application needs the distance between grippers to be variable.
We are looking at an application where we would have a UR10 on a rail. The robot needs to move to three different positions (one at each end and one in the middle). The distance between the two end positions is 2.5m. Where can I get quotation for your system for this application?
I just saw it. One of my contact at Automate stopped by the booth. I wonder how much it cost and how well it has been integrated!
Just looking at it at the show it looks like a pretty nice integration. There are features they need to add to the cap such as force control and encoder counts but not bad for version 1.
The way way they are making it collaborative at the show is adding some laser scanners to it that allow it to stop when someone gets too close. These are not included as standard so there's 5-7k just in scanners. Also, it can be up to 30' (~9.1 m) long. I'll try to get a video tomorrow if it and post.
@matthewd92 Based in your feedback, moving point to point it's something very easy to do with IAI system.
I understand this is an old thread (1 year!) but I just thought it'd be useful to show you what we've done so far at Vention to allow for easy commissioning of a 7th axis for any UR model.
You may have read it from Universal Robots at Fabtech this year, but we launched an easy-to-use Vention URCap to set your 7th axis position as you program your robot, directly from the teach pendant - i.e., no need for extra hardware.
Hardware wise, we've created a basic configuration with the help of our motion partner, Thomson Linear, as well as some of our own timing belt actuators. Keep in mind that you can easily ask to change the lengths, width or even orientation of the axis via our online CAD & application engineering team. The original design can be seen here, pricing includes everything (all the hardware + URCap).
I'd actually be curious to know what you guys think?
Let me know!
The length of the design I sent earlier is 1530mm (60in) but can easily be adjusted.
Overhead mounts use the same motion components, but we adjust the structure based on the available supports at the ceiling.
Has anyone here found a solution for a 7th axis that does coordinated movements?
It's on our radar and we are currently scoping the feature.
We have been focusing on expanding our range (literally) of 7th axis, as you can see below.
We'll definitely provide updates as we go!