Designfax weekly eMagazine

Subscribe Today!

Archives

View Archives

Partners

Manufacturing Center
Product Spotlight

Modern Applications News
Metalworking Ideas For
Today's Job Shops

Tooling and Production
Strategies for large
metalworking plants

New table-top robot lends helping hand -- and arm -- to manufacturers big and small

The Danish pioneer of collaborative robots has created a new, smaller robot for light assembly tasks and automated workbench scenarios. The U.S. launch of the UR3 will be at Automate 2015 in Chicago, March 23.

Industries worldwide have embraced the collaborative benefits of the user-friendly UR5 and UR10 robots that feature unrivaled performance vs. affordability and can work next to people with no safety guarding. With the new UR3 robot, Universal Robots brings this market-leading concept to the table -- literally.

This compact table-top robot weighs only 24.3 lb, but it has a payload of 6.6 lb, 360-degree rotation on all wrist joints, and infinite rotation on the end joint. These unique features make UR3 the most flexible, lightweight table-top robot to work side-by-side with employees in the market today.

UR3 tightens screws, applying the correct torque.

 

 

The U.S. launch of UR3 is at 10 a.m. at Universal Robots' booth #960 at Automate 2015 in Chicago, March 23.

CTO and co-founder of Universal Robots, Esben Oestergaard, led the three-year development phase of the new addition to the UR robot family.

"With the UR3, table-top automation is easy, safe, and flexible," Oestergaard says. "A single worker can accomplish what traditionally would be a two-person task by having the UR3 robot as a third-hand helper. It's an ideal choice for applications that require 6-axis capabilities where size, safety, and costs are critical."

UR3 is an optimal assistant in assembly, polish, glue, and screw applications requiring uniform product quality. The new robot can also be used in a separate workstation mounted on the table for picking, assembling, and placing parts in optimized production flows. Because of its compact form and easy programming, it's easy to switch it between tasks to meet agile manufacturing needs, making total cost of ownership low and the payback period fast.

UR3 applies glue with steady and consistent pressure.

 

 

UR3 applications span manufacturing industries from medical devices to circuit boards and electronic components.

"A big demand driver will be automating production in confined environments," says Oestergaard. "With the UR3, we can now fit a 6-axis robot into more assembly and manufacturing lines where erecting large safety enclosures would not be feasible. The UR3 is ideal for relieving employees from working in environments with toxic or hazardous materials, and that scenario will also drive the adoption of UR3 robots."

UR3 has 15 advanced, adjustable safety settings. One of these is the unique force sensing that enables the robot to limit the forces at contact if it collides with an employee. The new robot has a default force sensing of 150 Newton but can be set to stop if it encounters a force as low as 50 Newton in its route.

By combing UR's industry-leading easy programming technology with infinite rotation and improved force control, the UR3 will be an expert craftsman. The robot can pick up screws and mount and tighten them, applying the correct torque. In gluing applications, UR3 can dose exactly the same amount of glue with constant and steady pressure along a narrowly defined path.

The UR3 features the same 0.1-mm repeatability as the UR5 and UR10 robots and can follow the outline of a surface, such as the aluminum edge around a smartphone, by "feel" rather than through the programming of precise movements and coordinates, which otherwise would require more than 100 data points programmed into the application.

"With the UR5 and UR10 robots, we see end users integrating our robot arms in applications and industries that we didn't initially expect. I'm sure we will be equally surprised to witness the adaptation of the UR3 into new scenarios where robots haven't ventured before," says Oestergaard.

More info on UR3 can be found on Universal Robots' new website: www.universal-robots.com/UR3.

Source: Universal Robots

Published March 2015

Rate this article