(Newswire.net — July 12, 2018) Holladay, UT — Industrial robots have been around for fifty years, and according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), as of 2015, there were 1.63 million industrial robots in use across the world. Industrial robots have undergone some evolutions, and the current generation of robots are known as collaborative industrial robots.
An industrial robot can be defined as a robot arm/system used for manufacturing purposes in a factory.
In the current market, industrial robots for sale can be categorized either by application or the type of movement.
Application Specific Industrial Robots
Robots categorized by application are set apart by the type of work that the robot is designed to do.
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Welding Robots. A welding robot handles the parts and performs the actual weld. The welding process is completely automated with little to no interference from a human being. A particular favorite in the automotive industry.
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Palletizing Robots. Palletizing is a technical term that means loading and unloading items from a pallet (a stable transport structure that supports a variety of goods). A palletizing robot, therefore, performs loading and unloading operations. Particularly prevalent in the food industry, manufacturing, and shipping.
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Painting Robots. As the name suggests, the painting robot automates the painting process. Painting robots have been in use for years in the automotive industry painting applications.
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Assembly Robots. These robots are some of the most precise in the market. They are often dual arm, and they are used to perform assembly applications in industries such as the electronics industry.
Movement Specific Industrial Robots
Movement specific robots are set apart by the kind of movements their arms make.
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Cartesian. The robots make movements across three axes X, Y, and Z.
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Articulated. The robots have rotary joints ranging from two to ten or more joint structures. The joints allow for freedom and range of motion.
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Cylindrical. The robots make rotational movement along a joint axis. They are ideal for a cylindrical shape work environment.
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Polar/Spherical. Similar to Cylindrical, but instead of a rotational movement, they make a spherical one. They are ideal for a spherical shape work environment.
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SCARA. The robots are similar to Cartesian in that they also make linear movements across three axes. However, they also rotate around a vertical axis and are therefore perfect for vertical assembly tasks.
The versatility of robots as revealed by the many types of industrial robots enumerated above has enabled successful adoption into various vital industries.
One of those industries is the food and beverages industry.
Use of Industrial Robots in the Food Industry
By 2022, statistics estimate that the food automation industry will be a $2.5 billion industry. The estimates are due to the current enthusiastic adoption of collaborative industrial robots in the food industry.
Robotic butchery is one of the robotic applications already in use. JBS, a renowned beef manufacturer has managed to automate the butchery process, and more leaders in the meat industry are also considering the option.
Regarding secondary food processing, picking and placing is a task that is uniquely suited to robots. Food companies have realized this and have automated the task.
Atria Scandinavia, for instance, a leading manufacturer of vegetarian and gourmet products in northern Europe currently uses Universal Robots UR5 and UR10 for a variety of tasks including picking and placing.
The above examples offer just a snapshot of how valuable robotics is to the food industry. There are more applications already in use, and depending on a client’s need, most robot companies are always willing to customize the robot to suit the client.
Safety Issue
Safety is a critical issue. Imagine for a second that a robot whose job is to slice and cut has been introduced in a given food company. Unfortunately, on a given day due to a glitch, the robot ends up slicing the human workers working alongside it. It can be quite the tragedy.
It is, therefore, a good thing collaborative industrial robots are considered almost 100% safe. There is a safety standard that collaborative robots adhere to and most companies, for instance, Universal Robots always carry out a risk assessment before offering a robotics solution.
Conclusion
Industrial robots for sale are expected to introduce new applications as research and innovation heighten. Industrial robots of the future will thus be better than what currently exists.