Robots are the mainstay in robotic automation systems, but that says a lot and says nothing at all. Each of these complicated machines called robots have very specific parts that do very specific tasks, so that the robotic automation systems of which they are a part, can be successful in assigned functions.
One of the main parts of a robotic automation system is the manipulator. The manipulator allows for the movements that the robot makes to perform its assigned tasks. The manipulator is made up of two or more segments that are linked together. These linked segments are sometimes called “chains”. These links are created to slide from one location to another or they can be jointed so that they can rotate to reposition other parts of the chain. The manipulator allows the robot to have “degrees of freedom”, which is to say it can move from one or more locations to other locations. The robot has freedom of movement because of the ability of the movement abilities of the manipulator. The movements that are done by the manipulator can be either directed by a person who gives it manual instructions or it can be instructed by a controller that is the brain of the robot. This controller is a computer that is programmed to give instructions to the different parts of the robot.
The power supply is another main part of any of the robotic automation systems. This is the part of the robot that is the source of power for movements that are performed. You would think that electricity is the only power source for the robot, but there are two others, pneumatic and hydraulic. In many cases the robot receives its power from some combination of these three sources. Pneumatic power is used for robotics that are not as complex because this power source is less expensive. This source is least reliable because of the noise it generates and it sometimes is prone to leak fluid. Hydraulic power can have the same faults as pneumatic, but it is used more that pneumatic because of the amount of torque that can be generated to power robotics. When there is a need for heavy lifting or movement, hydraulics are the power source of choice. Electric power is the most common of the power sources for any of the robotic automation systems. This power source does not require the presence of pumps or other devices to operate and it is cleaner and quieter. The decision for the type of power for any of the robotic automation systems that you might implement might need to be influenced by required cleanliness in the environment of the operation and the total amount of power required from the source.
Any robotic automation system will need a brain for making decisions and giving instructions to the other parts of the system. The controller is the part that does this work. The controller is a computer that has memory spaces for the permanent storage of programs that can be executed to give robotic instructions. It also has a random access memory where any of the programs stored in permanent memory can be executed to give out instructions. The programs, written by humans, are loaded into the permanent memory of the controller for execution in the future. When the controller is required to instruct the other parts of the robotic system to perform functions, the program to do this is loaded from the permanent memory into the random access memory for execution. As this program runs it gives instruction to the sensors and receives feedback from them. The program gives instruction to all the devices that are configured in the manufacturing operation. The controller also receives input from manual devices that connected to it, like keyboards and other devices. The controller determines the most important capabilities of the robotic, accuracy in the tasks performed, and repeatability of those tasks. When the program for a given manufacturing operation is running, the instruction that are sent to a robot will tell where it should be positioned and what it’s orientation should be. Accuracy for this task is measured in very small increments. The program will also determine how often a function should be repeated in order to complete the task. Accuracy of a task being repeated to the exact same location for how ever many times are necessary is the hall mark of excellent automation.
The tool at the end of a robot arm is the place where all the work is actually done. There are as many tools that go on the end as there are jobs to be done by them. This part of the robotic is the one that has the widest amount of variation. Many manufacturers have created special tools for robots to just the exact job that they require for their automation to do. When a new automation job is to be done they will create a new tool for the new manufacturing job.
The main variations in a the life of a robotic occur in the program that is written to perform the automated tasks and the tool that is added to the end of the robot arm to do the tasks that are required.
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