IMTS to feature exhibits highlighting the benefits of collaborative robots, or "cobots."
In addition to ten Technology Pavilions covering everything from additive manufacturing to quality assurance, IMTS 2018 (International Manufacturing Technology Show), will highlight the latest trends in automation including collaborative robots and mobility.
Tim Shinbara, VP – Technology, The Association For Manufacturing Technology (AMT), which owns and produces IMTS says, “Collaborative robots, mobile robots, IIoT-enabled systems, AI and automation careers will be some of the dominant automation trends at IMTS 2018” which takes place on 10-15th September at McCormick Place, Chicago.
Mike Cicco, President & CEO, FANUC America Corporation and AMT Board Member, believes that machine tool owners and managers attending the show should explore collaborative and mobile robots, for both high-volume and low- to medium-volume operations. He envisions a work cell where the robot could tend the CNC, such as for loading and unloading on long part runs without an operator.
“Automation mobility is moving forward. Equipment used to be bolted to the floor, but now there is a whole slew of what people are calling mobile robots, which pairs an automated guided vehicle with an articulated arm robot,” says Cicco. “We’ve also found interesting ways to deliver parts to robots and automated cells through mobile robot platforms.” Instead of investing in automation for each milling operation, a mobile robot can tend multiple machines, notably for operations with long cycle times.
A new generation of mobile robots can be self-propelled, manually wheeled or skid-mounted and relocated without the need to reteach all of its movement points using a pendant control, saving hours of programming time.
One of the more impactful technology advances will be the use of vision systems on robot arms for bin picking.
IMTS 2018 also marks the 10th anniversary of MTConnect, a set of open, royalty-free standards that fosters greater interoperability between controls, devices and software applications. A premiere demonstration will take place at AMT’s Emerging Technology Center featuring a vertical CNC mill, a ROS-I (Robot Operating System-Industrial) interface and an articulated robotic arm that autonomously transfers the milled part to a CMM.
“For the first time at IMTS, we will demonstrate an MTConnect-enabled ecosystem,” says Shinbara. “This many-to-many interface enabled system could demonstrate how data sharing creates a closed-loop system. Using data from the CMM, the CNC could compensate for tool wear by recalculating its offsets to maintain tolerances closer to the median of the specification.”
One of the more impactful technology advances will be the use of vision systems on robot arms for bin picking. Automation systems being demonstrated at IMTS 2018 will combine a vision system with artificial intelligence (AI) and a deep learning algorithm so the robot can teach itself to 3D pick an entire bin. The robot will use a camera to take a picture of what’s in the bin, but it has no idea what the part looks like or where and how to pick it up. The algorithm will gauge whether the pick succeeds or fails, enabling the system to learn how to make a good pick as it empties the bin.
Second and third areas of AI capability focus on very discrete tasks and a more holistic approach, such as systems that learn to improve movements between the robot and the CMM or a CNC that adjusts feeds and speeds over particular time to achieve better quality or optimise tool life.
This year, students are also invited to experience automation first-hand at the Smartforce Student Summit in partnership with FANUC, ABB Robotics, Carl Zeiss, Festo-Didactic, Haas Automation, Heidenhain, Mastercam, Mitutoyo and Siemens.
TCT is a partner of this year's IMTS event, click here for conference pass and travel discounts.
