The robot is rarely the problem. What holds, guides and controls it is.

Robotics

Which robot to buy is a manageable decision — payload and reach follow from the component. The task lies next to it: in the grip, in the detection, in the coordination of motion and system control.

Request a system design

1 · The challenge

A robot that reliably executes the wrong motion solves no task

A robot can grip, transfer, position, turn and load. That is the manageable part. The real questions arise before it moves for the first time.

What is it gripped with?
Without damaging the component and without losing it — with sensitive, warm or uneven parts, that is the hardest question of the whole cell.
How does the system detect the position?
Is the part there at all, and does it lie the way the grip expects it to?
Who coordinates motion and control?
Robot motion and system control are two programs. They have to fit together — even in the event of a fault.
What happens with the next component?
If the next part looks different, this is where it is decided whether the cell keeps up or has to be rebuilt.

2 · Engineering considerations

First the component, then the grip, then the robot

In this order, not the other way round. From geometry, weight, surface and position of the workpiece follows how it has to be gripped. From that follow payload, reach and number of axes.

Order of the system design

01ComponentGeometry, weight, surface and position are recorded.
02GripFrom that follows how the part is picked up safely.
03RobotOnly now are payload, reach and number of axes fixed.
04CellControl system, safety technology and surroundings follow the grip.

Six-axis articulated robot in a parts cleaning system, on its wrist a cage-like gripper fixture made of round bars with a central clamping cylinder; behind it the piping and a process tank — The gripper fixture is not a catalog part: it arises from geometry, weight and surface of the workpiece. Only after that are payload, reach and number of axes of the robot fixed.

Two articulated robots with multiple gripper fixtures in front of the open door of a treatment chamber; inside the chamber the guides of the lifting table, on the right the conveying of the cell — Once the grip is settled, the cell follows: two robots take over at the same chamber because the cycle time demands it — not because two robots would be better than one.

Machine vision is examined, not presupposed

It is not standard equipment on every system. It is used when it is technically required or when you want it. Where the part position can be defined mechanically, that is the simpler and more robust solution — a camera that detects a position which is fixed anyway costs money and can fail.

Programming is two disciplines, not one

PLC programming controls the system, robot programming controls the motion. We do both in our own company, project-specifically. That is the difference from an integration in which two suppliers wait for each other as soon as something changes at one point.

There is no fixed rule “task X → cell Y”. Which solution is the right one is decided by component, production volume, cycle time, range of parts, workpiece fixture, degree of automation and cost-effectiveness together. We calculate every system accordingly, not from a catalog.

3 · The solution concept

What comes together in the cell

Five elements that are designed together. None of them is a catalog item — each follows from the component and the task.

Robot integration

Our standard is KUKA. At the customer’s request we use other robot manufacturers — including ABB, FANUC and Yaskawa. If your factory standard specifies a make, we follow it. The standard is our recommendation, not a prerequisite.

KUKA · StandardABBFANUCYaskawa

Gripper technology

Here we are deliberately flexible. Depending on the project, standard grippers are used, we design customer-specific grippers, or we develop them together with specialized partners. There is no tie to a particular manufacturer: what counts is the grip that fits the component — not the origin of the gripper.

Special grippers for tasks without a suitable standard

Control system and programming

Our standard is Siemens PLC; HMI and control cabinet components are predominantly Siemens. PLC programming is carried out project-specifically by us, as is robot programming. We build the control cabinet ourselves.

Machine vision

For detecting the position of the component or for checking the result — when it is technically required or wanted. Not standard equipment.

Safety technology

Safety fences, safety doors, light curtains and further measures — designed according to risk assessment, not from a catalog.

4 · The result

One contact for mechanics, control system and motion

A cell in which gripper, robot, control system and safety technology are coordinated with each other — designed, programmed and commissioned from a single company.

For you, that means: changes to the system do not run through three suppliers. Whoever designed the mechanics also programmed the control system — and is the same person you call in two years.

Cross-section

Where else robotics is found with us

With us, Automation & Robotics is not only a service area of its own, but the technology that runs through both core pillars.

Loading and unloading of parts cleaning systems is robot-supported — with the rotary indexing cleaning system, that is the defining characteristic of the configuration. And water jet deburring is predominantly robot technology with us: there, the robot guides the nozzle.

Industrial Parts Cleaning High-Precision Water Jet Deburring

Scope of supply

Vertical integration and digital system lifecycle

Vertical integration Digital system lifecycle

Automotive industry Food industry

Questions and answers

Frequently asked questions about robotics and control systems

Which control system is used?

Our standard is Siemens PLC, as are HMI and control cabinet components. If your factory standard specifies another make, or if another is technically better suited, we integrate that one. This is our recommendation, not a prerequisite — we follow your requirement, not a supplier tie. Control cabinet manufacturing and programming come from our own company.

How is a robot cell programmed?

The motion paths arise from component, processing locations and robot system. The programming — PLC as well as robotics — is carried out project-specifically by us and is part of our vertical integration. Our standard is KUKA; if you want ABB, FANUC, Yaskawa or another make, we integrate that one.

Applications

Components on which the automation is decided

5 worked-out tasks name a robot solution as a possible concept. What tips the balance in each of them is on its own page.

Each case sets out the design factors, the possible system concepts and the methods in detail — here you only find what it is about.

Cylinder head

The spray jet hits what it sees — and what it does not see only becomes visible in the residual contamination verification.

Aluminum die-cast part

Contamination on an aluminum die-cast part adheres differently than a cooling lubricant — and what has to come out of the cavity sits in a geometry that was built for exactly that: to be inaccessible.

Defined part temperature

The component is clean and dry — and still not ready for handover: a part that is too warm is of no use for a leak test.

Large and heavy parts

Size and weight are not a surcharge on an existing system design: they act on system dimensions, payload, workpiece fixture and loading at the same time.

Also with a robot solution as a possible concept: Multiple part variants

None of these cases inevitably leads to a robot solution. Which concept it becomes arises from the interplay of the design factors — the machine type is the result of the system design, not its starting point.

All applications

Direct contact

AddressITR GmbH powered by Zippel
Hauptstraße 31
93186 Pettendorf
Pettendorf bei Regensburg

Phone+49 (0) 9409-777 3598
Fax +49 (0) 9409-777 3607

Emailinfo@itr-anlagenbau.com