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Note: Due to NDAs limited photos, drawings, and models can be shared. The product and technology I showcase in my video is a demo-line. As much as possible has been included, if you'd like to learn more do not hesitate to reach out to me.
Note: Due to NDAs limited photos, drawings, and models can be shared. The product and technology I showcase in my video is a demo-line. As much as possible has been included, if you'd like to learn more do not hesitate to reach out to me.
End of Arm Tooling (EoaT) Design and Playbook Creation:
Project Overview:
At this particular employer, there is a large push to incorporate more FANUC robots, particularly collaborative robots (cobots), into manufacturing spaces for material handling purposes. The only issue is, most of the materials in these manufacturing spaces are premade subassemblies of awkward or organic shapes as seen to the right. This makes traditional off-the-shelf EoaTs or vacuum pump systems ineffective. Though magnetic grippers are often used for such applications, the majority of these parts are casted (not magnetic).
Initially I was tasked with designing, prototyping, and manufacturing an EoaT system for a single application in collaboration with one of these manufacturing sites. With the success of the gripper, its cost effective design, as well as its ability to be manufactured in-house, I was asked to put together a playbook that our manufacturing sites now use to create their own grippers.
Off-The-Shelf Components:
Expecting manufacturing sites to design, develop, and manufacture their own actuating body that interfaces with a FANUC cobot is unrealistic. Instead I was able to find an off-the-shelf solution from a reputable company (SMC). Their LEHR series of gripper bodies (seen to the left) was created with the intention of the end user designing their own gripper fingers to fit their unique application.
Additionally, this particular solution requires no other hardware or software option purchases. The unit comes with an adapter plate (available for all FANUC cobot variations) as well as an M12 connector that provides both power and comms from the wrist of the cobot. It is a true plug and play solution that is controlled through a free CRX Plug-in software.
This allowed me to focus the contents of the playbook (as you'll see below) on the gripper finger design process, suggested FEA parameters, and mounting considerations.
Design, CADing, and Resulting FEAs:
The design showcased in this section was made for a manufacturing site and is currently employed by them - this (as a result) served as the basis for my enterprise wide playbook on custom EoaT development. For this particular application, a facility wanted to pick a 10kg pump from a material stack, flip it upside-down for an operator to apply a dampening adhesive on the bottom, before the cobot would plant it in the assembly. There it would apply pressure to the adhesive while the operator fastens and wires up the pump.
The design process I describe here is the basis of my playbook, which I cannot publish due to NDA restrictions. As seen in the slide deck to the right, the first step was to create an initial gripper design that interfaces with the SMC actuator. It should be noted that these gripper fingers are to be manufactured via Onyx printing, something all manufacturing facilities have access to in house. Onyx is a nylon-based material containing chopped carbon fibers, making it significantly stronger than standard PLA prints (almost comparable to aluminum). Though the pump
Initial gripper design after using Inventor's derive function.
has complex features (such as cooling fins) the process of creating a gripper that fits this is much simpler than many think. By creating an assembly (using Autodesk's Inventor) of the pump and a rectangular prism representing the gripper, the derive function can be used to cut all material from the prism that intersects the pump. Left with a gripper that is a perfect mold of the pump, volumes that are not going be used to actually support the pump can be removed to avoid interference. Further material can be removed to minimize print time, cost, and weight.
Once done the initial design was processed using Inventor's FEA software for both loading conditions - the pump horizontal and vertical. The loading conditions were simply the weight of the motor, as well as the inertia/moment of the cobot travelling at 250mm/s before coming to a stop. Both Von Mises and principal stresses were considered (with a FOS of 2). As seen in the images above both gripper orientations meet the criterium with a FOS greater than 2. If a manufacturing site would like to explore generative designs to further reduce print time, cost, as well as minimizing supports Onyx's Eiger software (a FEA software) can be used to do so as seen in the slide deck above.
Result:
Sadly I am unable to share videos from the production floor, but the images below show a time lapse of the Onyx printed gripper that was designed and developed by me. As mentioned previously, this gripper is the basis of an enterprise wide playbook aimed at helping our manufacturing sites quickly, effectively, and with little capital, develop their own EoaT with the suppliers and machinery they already have available to them.
Note: Due to NDAs limited photos, drawings, and models can be shared. As much as possible has been included, if you'd like to learn more do not hesitate to reach out to me.
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