New general-purpose robots are easier to program.

After years of selling customized robots as part of turnkey packaging and automotive molding cells, Husky Injection Molding Systems Ltd. of Bolton, Ont., has now developed a line of general-purpose robots. Moduline Top Entry (MTE) robots feature a-c servo drives on all three axes along with a special servo controller from GE Fanuc.

MTE robots come in five payload capacities: 15, 34, 78, 110, and 265 lb. Each size is available with different stroke lengths, allowing the MTE line to serve injection machines from 150 to 4000 tons. Husky plans to follow these top-entry models with Moduline turret-style models spanning a similar payload range.

EASIER CONTROL PROGRAMMING

According to Husky robotics product manager James Rodrigues, MTE marks the first use of Fanuc Power Mate H servo controls in an injection molding robot. (GE Fanuc Automation, Charlottesville, Va., is the North American supplier of these servo controls.) "These controls integrate a six-axis CNC controller with a PLC - all in one box," explains Rodrigues. This servo technology is already established in painting and welding systems from Japan's Fanuc Robotics. "The control system's reliability is well documented in tens of thousands of installations," Rodrigues says.

Power Mate H's application software is brand-new. A joint development of Husky and GE Fanuc Automation, the software avoids any hint of the "computer-ese" normally found in robot sequencing. "The way the software is structured does not require a user to know how to write a computer program," explains Rodrigues.

Instead, users build robot programs by stringing together blocks of plain-English statements representing robot movements. "These sequence blocks reflect exactly what you see the robot doing," says Rodrigues. Users choose the statements from pop-up menus on the pendant screen before cutting and pasting them into a completed program.

What the user doesn't need to worry about is a lot of the interlock logic, error checks, and alarm statements that would take up about 75% of conventional robot programs, Rodrigues says. "Only a fourth of a typical robot program actually makes the robot go."

Users can store MTE's programs in controller memory. Programs can also be downloaded into "flash memory" cards.

MODULARITY ADDS FLEXIBILITY

As the name suggests, Moduline robots have a modular design offering several possible upgrade routes from the standard configuration. MTE's list of standard and optional features includes the following:

* End-of-arm tooling - MTE comes standard with one vacuum circuit, but Husky offers tooling modules for additional vacuum circuits or pneumatic options. "We can supply specialized end-of-arm tooling for any application," claims Rodrigues.

* Quick disconnect - All robot services end in a quick-disconnect gang-plate arrangement, plus a single multi-pin connector for the electrical service. The end-of-arm tooling itself uses a bayonet-style locking mechanism to facilitate quick changes.

* More axes - In addition to its three servo axes, MTE comes standard with a pneumatic tilt axis. Husky can also upgrade MTE to six axes in the three larger payload sizes.

* Steel rails - The robot's main beam does not have linear bearings; instead, it uses the hardened-steel rail/cam-follower arrangement found on Husky's custom robots.

* Speed - Peak velocity for Moduline is up to 5 meters/sec on the y axis and up to 2 meters/sec on the x and z axes.

COMPETITIVE PRICING

Husky will offer Moduline robots at "prices competitive with the all-servo offerings of other premium suppliers," says Rodrigues. Husky will not offer any non-servo or partial-servo alternatives. "We believe all-servo robots offer a greater degree of flexibility and reliability. Anything less is a compromise," says Rodrigues.