Cobots and service robotics with plug-and-play gears
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In logistics, care, kitchens, bars or in the fields: the potential for service robotics is great. Cobots take on monotonous and non-ergonomic tasks here. For the simple, cost-effective implementation of such lightweight robots Igus an Gearbox kit for cobots. The focus is on the fully integrated Tribo strain wave gear with motor, absolute value encoder, force control and controller. Deployed in Service robot Rebel Igus now accelerates the Low Cost Automation. Here you can find out what's new about the cobot and gearbox:
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Smart Igus Cobot with digital ecosystem
Bionic finger gripper for Cobot Rebel
November 30.11.2023, XNUMX | In order for the Cobot Rebel to actually work, it needs suitable end effectors such as grippers and vacuum cleaners. Igus offers a large selection of various manufacturers on its RBTX marketplace. Due to some customer requests for a robot hand that can be easily moved via... Plug-and-Play can be connected to the cobot, Igus now has one of its own finger gripper
Service robot now in a smart version
16.03.2022/XNUMX/XNUMX | Igus is now delivering the Service robot Rebel also available as a smart version. Just one year after the first presentation of the modular gearbox for cobots, igus is already recording 20 automation projects per week. In doing so, igus relies entirely on its motion plastics expertise: the use of plastic makes the collaborative robots, weighing 8,2 kg, the lightest service robot with cobot function in its class. All mechanical components in the Rebel are developed and manufactured by igus. The payload of the cobot is 2 kg and its range is 664 mm. The repeat accuracy is ± 1 mm at 7 picks/min.
The centerpiece is the world's first industrial cobot gearbox made of plastic. "Behind these numbers are 1041 tests in our in-house laboratory since 2019, in which we have carried out tribological and thermodynamic tests on 15 material pairings and tolerance chains," says Alexander Mühlen, head of the low-cost automation division at igus.
"It was a particularly big challenge heat generation in the fully integrated wave gears. You will through the Motor thermally influenced. During development, we therefore also concentrated on larger motors and better efficiency in order to significantly reduce heat generation. “As a result, we were able to achieve continuous improvements and ultimately even quintuple the number of cycles to two million. That corresponds to a typical service life of two years.”
Visibility for preventive maintenance
Igus has his Motion Plastics know-how also incorporated into the power electronics for the collaborative robots and for the first time developed an encoder with the help of conductive plastic tracks. Speed and number of cycles, runs, temperature and current can be measured exactly. Thanks to a cloud connection with a webcam, a dashboard shows the generated data live. The user thus has full transparency about the cobots in operation. Key figures such as wear, cycle time and quantities are determined.
There is the human-robot collaboration Rebel in two options: as an open source version without robot controller, power pack and software for 3900 euros for a quantity of 1 and as a plug-and-play version with cobots, control software and power pack for 4970 euros for a quantity of 1. According to the "build or buy" approach, users can choose not only the complete robotics but also the individual Rebel harmonic drives available in diameters of 80 and 105 mm. The torque is 3 Nm (80) or 25 Nm (105) at 6 RPM, with a gear ratio of 50:1.
Online marketplace with 40 partners
The rebel is on the Online marketplace RBTX available. Here users will find individual components, integration support as well as hardware and software from more than 40 partners A wide variety of robot kinematics, Cameras, software, grippers, power electronics, motors, Sensors and controls – everything is 100% compatible with each other.
Robot drives for the rapidly growing market
On a 400 m² customer testing area experts advise daily via live video and send solution offers within hours. “We feel that we are making automation even more accessible, as we advise more than 20 customer projects per week with our RBTXpert service in Germany alone. We are therefore expanding the service by the end of March to include ten additional online consultants. Internationally, we are already available in seven countries, and a further 14 are in preparation,” says Alexander Mühlens. "An exciting ecosystem of additional services is currently developing from these positive experiences, the many projects implemented and the numerous discussions with customers."
App Store for more ideas
The aim is to further simplify the integration of low-cost automation with new offers and business models. “We will provide an app store where vendors of low-cost automation and free software developers can contribute their software ideas. By using existing software, users can Automation realize even faster. This makes it possible to connect the robots to digital services such as IFTTT or smart assistants such as Alexa or Siri.
The visitor can then, for example, order their favorite coffee in a coffee bar by speaking and the collaborating robot will then serve it. This results in completely new business models like pay-per-pick, where users don't pay for the robot, but only for its task. These new possibilities will permanently change the robotics market as well as everyday life,” says Mühlens.
Plug-and-play gearbox construction kit for robots
18.02.2021 | "With our low-cost automation solutions, we enable designers to enter the future of service robotics at low cost," explains Stefan Niermann, Igus management for low-cost automation. “This opens up space for completely new ideas in the area of automation: robots that can serve coffee in retail stores or empty the dishwasher at home; Cobots that are used in care, as well Industrial robots - and all made in Germany ”, says Mr. Niermann. He presented together with Alexander Mühlen that Robots to go Philosophy at the Hannover Messe Preview 2021:
Tribo wave gear for 5th axis
They play a particularly important role Transmission as the heart of modern robots. Last year, the motion plastics specialist presented a new generation of tribo shaft gears for movement on the 5th robot axis. Friction and wear are optimized by lubrication-free tribo-polymers. The use of Plastics allows the extremely compact design and inexpensive manufacture of the collaborative robots.
Robotic grippers, EOAT, gripper kits for cobots and industrial robots
The dry gear Wave gearing can, for example, in the last axis before the grabn of jointArm Robots, portal robots and delta robots can be used. The Gearbox kit for cobots complements the wide Igus offer in the field of low-cost automation. With the plug-and-play solution, exciting applications for cobots can be implemented quickly - without having to worry about power electronics.
The gearbox kit consists of Tribo wave drives in sizes 80 and 105. In addition, motor controller, electronics for force control, absolute value Encoder and engine integrated. In the gearbox there is a tribo wave generator and a tribo flex ring with external teeth as well as an external rotor BLDC motor for use. Along with Fasteners an individual robot can be constructed on the basis of the gearbox. With the additional electronic components, this can also be implemented as a cobot.
“We look for our lightweight plastic Strain wave gear Market opportunities in robots that weigh less than 8 kilograms,” says Alexander Mühlens, Head of Low-Cost Automation at igus. “Because with that Robotic In low-cost automation, in addition to load capacity and price, weight also counts. This means lightweight robots can be transported more easily and used more efficiently on driverless transport systems, 7th robot axes or, in the near future, even on drones.”
Harmonic gears for industrial robots, cobots and handling
The low weight is also a clear advantage when used in cobots, because smaller masses also cause smaller forces in collisions. Thanks to the electronic components in the fully integrated harmonic drive are HRC skills given. Using an absolute value encoder Forces and torques can be determined and safely limited via the motor current. A double encoder measures in front of and behind the joint, recognizing forces and torques in order to be able to react to them.
Low-cost automation is growing continuously
The fully integrated harmonic drive should also be in a new version of the service robot Rebel from igus are used. This makes these collaborative cobots much leaner. The integrated BLDC motors with power Electronics make them cheap.
“Our goal is to bring the service robot to the market for small quantities for 2900 euros. He should 2 kg with a range of up to 650 millimeters and a dead weight of less than 10 kilograms as well as a minimum running time of 2 million cycles ”, announces Alexander Mühlens.
The Cobot gearbox complements the wide range for the Low cost automation from igus with gears, various robots kinematics to steering. In addition to low entry prices, low-cost automation also means automating only as much as is necessary so that the investment pays for itself within a few months.
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The author Oliver Cyrus is Head of Press + Advertising at igus GmbH in Cologne.