Ask the Experts | Answers from ABB Inc.

We need a robot to move 3 bottles weighing 120 grams total, having an open top, containing a food ingredient that can't be spilled. The distance to move is 2-12 inch segment. Place empty on filling station, move to conveyor. All this happens at standard conveyor height. What kind of robot would we need for this? Basic please, newbie.

Mark, you have various possibilities to handle the bottles. See the ABB Robotics product range at www.abb.com/robotics. For application support in this matter, please do not hesitate to contact Rick Tallian - richard.tallian@us.abb.com

We have a process of sterilizations of surgical instruments after surgery in Emergency Room or Operating Rooms. The sterilzation process consists of work flows though work center, such as washing, and sterilization then sorting and packeting individual instuments into Kits for future operations. This is a very labor intensive operation and we want to explore at applications of robotics. Scope of applications, 5,000 hopitals with surgical rooms.

Sorry if the last response had nothing in it, that was a mistake. There are several solutions that would involve an integrated vision system and pack out trays. Depending on the orientation of the surgical tools and the trays a flip over station may be necessary. It could be like a "Random Bin Picking" application. The other question is the sterile environment, is clean room class 10 rating acceptable? We also have food grade wash down robots. Some of these robots are use in pharmacy industry. Please call us with some more details to continue guiding you to a good solution.

Robin Schmidt - ABB (248)-467-7811

I'm working on a project and need industrial robotics injury and fatality statistics. I'm having a hard time finding them, could you help me please.

If I remember correctly OSHA keeps track of all the work related incidents.

We have a 3 axes robot (Cincinnati) and I am looking for a collision sensor or something.

Would this be a T3-363 or T3-373 robot? There are several types of external clutch sensor that could work for that type of robot. The typical integration would go to the HOLD SET I/O point for or the E-Stop circuit with some type of bypass to recover in the event of a crash. The E-Stop string would be the fastest reponse.

You would want to choose a clutch that would be able to carry the load appropiate for your tooling and product.

Robin Schmidt ABB Inc.

When will R15.06 be modified to address new products such as ABB Robotics SafeMove and Fanuc Robotics DCS?

There has been a Technical Report written by the RIA an registered with ANSI July 13, 2008 that addresses this technology and gives guidance for use until the 15.06 is updated. The document is named RIA TR R15.206-2008. This document covers parts of the new safety technology available, some applications were not addressed in this Technical Report and will be addressed more completely in the upcoming revision of 15.06

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us.

Robin Schmidt ABB Inc. robin.r.schmidt@us.abb.com

I need a 2 jaw robot gripper to pick and place a 20mm x 20mm x 30mm piece of aluminium. It will be fitted to a vs series denso six axis robot. Do I need to purchase a gripper that's made for the type of robot or can I make up an adapter for the gripper? Need for my final year project. Thanks for any help.

You should be able to make an adapter for the gripper you have. The robot tooling is generally "Generic" they may be operated by Air or electric solonoids, you will need to match the electrical and air requirements that are available with the interface and the signals on the arm. Make sure the adapter you make doesn't push the gripper too far from the mounting plate, you need to make sure it is in the weight and moment of inertia capacities of that robot.

We manufacture boilers (stainless steel or cooper depending on the model) for coffee machines. We are looking for a MIG/TIG Welding Robot. Boiler´s sizes: Largest: 450 mm x 250 mm. Smallest: 150 mm x 50 mm. Thikness: 1.5 mm – 2.5 mm Any robot suggested for this application?

ABB has experience welding both copper and stainless. We typically try to utilize GMAW (MIG) welding instead of GTAW (TIG). We have several robots that will work for your application, but we must first discuss your production details (example quantiity/year).

Please feel free to contact me to discuss your application in more detail.

Best Regards, Josh Williamson Robot Automation Lab Manager ABB Robotics cell (248) 841-3718

I have a robot to pick up material from conveyor. Without getting conveyor tracking software, is it possible to connect the encoder signals to the robot controller directly or through any other means in such a way that robot understands? Please help.

Typically the information for the robot to automatically offset the position requires some type of link to the motion planner internal to the robot. Most robots have the ability to offset a programmed point with values or a range of values but they usually are not “Dynamic” – meaning they keep updating in real-time unless some special hardware/software combination is enabled.

Can you give some more details of what you are trying to accomplish and with what sensors/tools are you trying to do it with? What kind of robot is it, how fast is the conveyor moving, does it change speed, and does it stop?

Robin Schmidt – ABB robin.r.schmidt@us.abb.com