Words of Wisdom: The future of automation

Robots and automation technology for plastics processing applications have come a long way, but they will continue to evolve to meet ever-expanding global demands. In simple terms, robots have become faster and smarter. Controls and drives are getting smaller, and costs continue to fall. Robots are now affordable for every molder, for use on both new machines and those already in place.

Tomorrow?s robots will continue to be highly intelligent with expandable and assignable input/output configurations to meet challenging beside-the-press demands, such as inspection, quality control, and added value functions such as decorating, accomplishing this all with extremely easy-to-use controls.

Future robot developments will continue to be influenced by the simultaneous developments on processing machines and tooling technology. Everyone attempts to decrease the cycle time and therefore increase the productivity of plastics processing machines. For automation systems, this translates into even shorter part-removal times.

The continuing employment of dynamic servodrives and finite element calculations in the design of the robot axes will further improve the mechanical structure of the robots and will allow faster and vibration-free motions. Therefore, robots must be constructed of proven materials. Bearing designs have come a long way to reduce maintenance intervals. Another important factor in the productivity of the work cell is the reliability of all components, including the robot. Today?s controls offer self-help guides to the user for quick troubleshooting at the machine.

Robot controls have and continue to make it easier for any molder to quickly write, test, and deploy a robot. Most robots are taught routine work right at the press, using the robot pendant to teach sequences, positions, and speeds. Most often an earlier program is called up and some modifications are made to store and set forth the new program. This works very efficiently for a wide range of molding applications.

Robots are increasingly involved with added-value steps or quality assurance at the press. Recently developed robot controls offer many more options and configurations than were available in the past. Advanced robot control allows the robot to operate several programs simultaneously. The robot controls upstream functions such as vibratory feeder bowls and escapements, along with EOAT grippers, vacuum, and actuators; multiple wrist (including articulated servo control) requirements; and many activities that occur downstream.

The use of sophisticated control systems allows the programming and adjustment of teach sequences with graphical support and representations. This translates directly into minimum training times for operators with underlying self-explanatory menu guide systems and therefore the shortest mold changeover times.

Robots are also participating in information exchange. The integration of robots into a company-operated Intranet and/or Internet offers a multitude of possibilities to improve monitoring of production processes in a plastics processing plant, as well as universal data and information exchange. Important information regarding the operating status of various pieces of connected auxiliary equipment, as well as possible error conditions, can be routed centrally to a server. The server can then provide this information to any number of clients or it can be configured to transmit error messages or important changes in operating status to e-mail enabled devices such as cell phones or personal digital assistants. Even entire teach programs for robots can be centrally administered.

The foundation for this development is the continually advancing use of industrial network components, which are based on a mature and open technology, such as transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) and Ethernet. The TCP/IP protocol has experienced a boom in the PC area during the last years and will do so in the automation field. This will be used for the transfer of process data, as well as for maintenance and diagnostic purposes via the Internet.

It is important to note that all these advances and improvements will be available on robots without significant price increases. In the near future, plastics processors will be able to add automation that is not at the moment economically feasible.