Three Robots and 12 Automated Operations in One Cell

A dozen different automated operations are featured in one integrated injection molding cell at the Sepro Group’s booth to demonstrate the advantages and flexibility of robotic automation.

The three robots include a Cartesian beam unit, a 6-axis articulated arm robot and a cobot. They are paired together with a 125-ton Milacron injection molding machine creating a flying disc toy. The robots and the downstream equipment — which include a laser printer, two different vision systems, a labeler and conveyors — are all controlled via the Sepro Visual 3 controller, which is also integrated with the molding machine control.

Jim Healy, vice president sales and marketing for Sepro says the demo shows how three different kinds of robots, fully integrated with the molding machine, can perform operations that otherwise would have required multiple operators. The entire operation has a footprint of just 205 ft². All the automation and guarding adds just 95 ft.² to the floor space required for the press alone.

In the demo, a Cartesian, general-purpose Sepro Success 11X robot with a servo-actuated wrist, removes the molded disc from the machine. For a smaller footprint, the robot is mounted in the axial configuration — inline with clamp movement — so the part is delivered to the clamp end of the molding machine rather than its side. The part is degated by the robot end-of-arm tooling while it is transports the disc to the clamp end of the machine. There, it holds the part for laser printing before placing it on a conveyor, which drops it into a collection tote bin.

Next, a 6-axis 6X-170.2 articulated-arm robot, guided by 3D vision, locates and grips a disc in the bin. The vision system recognizes which side of the disc is gripped by the robot. If necessary, the disc is placed in a fixture so the 6X robot can regrip it from the front or convex side and position it so that a paper label can be applied on the back or concave side. The robot then releases the decorated disc so it slides down an inclined tray, landing in a completely random position. To locate the disc, an HC 10 cobot, which is supplied by longtime Sepro partner Yaskawa, uses a uses 2D-vision system. The cobot picks up the disc and places it into a tote bin on a space-saving over/under indexing conveyer for transport out of the cell enclosure.