Schurter gets another collaborative robot for production

“Above all, the use of cobots reduces the workload for employees through automated and precise process steps such as loading, fixing, assembling lamination, dispensing and quality inspection, and frees up space for activities during production,” said the company, adding: “Complex project-specific devices are no longer necessary.”

In the German plant, for example, a cobot is used as a universal assembly machine with a manually-changed choice of tools, such as vacuum grippers, potting dispensers, lamination rollers or test stamps. “The main advantage is extremely short change-over times for the production of different customer-specific products,” said the the company.

The new cobot, and additional dispensing robots, are used on a touch screen assembly line in the Netherlands, set up to bonding glass to housings, and supporting a human operator through recurring process steps.

“Basically, the use of cobots leads to an increase in quality assurance, through lower tolerances in positioning accuracy and constant parameters in processing through, for example, defined press-in forces and controlled volumes during dispensing.,” according to Schurter.

Cobots are designed to work next to humans, rather than being caged for safety. As such they are designed to be inherently safe – for example: using low-force servos, low mass moving parts and soft-faced moving parts, while avoiding high-velocity moves.