F & P Robotics
Lean Production – AM in Robotics
Description
F&P Robotics AG develops and distributes innovative lightweight robots that collaborate with humans in a professional environment. The company is focused on the reduction of complexity in automation. The F&P robot’s design is based on a safety concept that enables direct human-robot-collaboration. It meets the ISO standard 15066 for collaborative robotic applications. Soft covers, limited power, and collision detection allow for applications without the need for safety barriers.
Requirements
The P-Rob is a highly flexible ready-to-use small robot
(Fig. 1). Therefore, flexibility is also a must when it comes to the production of diverse plastic components. Thus, the geometry of, for example, the casings or grippers needs to be quick, simple, and easy and must have cost-effective options for adjustment, optimization, and manufacturability.
The plastic coating of the metallic robot arm structure needs to be dimensionally stable inside for a firm seat and must have cushioning characteristics on the outside and be soft enough so that the highest possible personal protection can be guaranteed.
Production method
The above-described requirements can only be met using the additive manufacturing method. Injection molding technology results in excessive initial costs due to the product variety and the low part count. Many functions were integrated into the component with the above-described requirements, which is why this geometry with all its undercuts turned out to be too complex and not applicable for this milling technology.
With Multi Jet Fusion (Fig. 2) and Selective Laser Sintering technologies, there are no longer any high initial costs of injection molding processes, and all the additive manufacturing advantages become useful.
- Geometry corrections are possible at any time and at no additional tooling cost
- Undercuts are producible (Fig. 3)
- Orders are not placed, and production does not start until there is a need (production on demand), which eliminates storage fees
- Quick time-to-market
- Replacement parts can be produced at any time
Today, all casings of the entire P-Rob and other smaller parts such as, for example, gripper, are produced using additive manufacturing.
The constructive solution includes an additively manufactured housing and a foam mat that is glued on top of it. Leather is attached to the foam, and the leather is wedged and fastened onto the leather groove within the SLS housing (inside) (Fig. 4). With this solution, the leather can be attached smoothly and without wrinkles.
With the resulting high flexibility in terms of design, order, and production flexibility, this translates to an exciting enhancement to the term lean production.
Requirement
The casings are rather large components in terms of additive manufacturing such as SLS or MJF. Thus, an efficient use of the machine engineering area cannot be guaranteed. The better the volume is used with components, the more economical a parts series can be produced.
It is possible to achieve even better efficiency by restructuring the F&P casing pieces so that they can be encapsulated into each other. This way you can achieve a more optimal and higher packing density within the production machine, which results in shorter production times and lower costs.
