Industrial Robotics: Revolutionary Applications in Sheet Metal Processing
Industrial Robotics: Revolutionary Applications in Sheet Metal Processing
Date：2023-12-15 20:52
The industrial robotics sector has changed profoundly and points toward a bright new future for sheet metal processes. Technology has moved this age-old industry to the very frontier of modern manufacturing. Precision and productivity have blossomed, revolutionizing the basics of how business is done. The most exciting news is that robotics has taken its place at the apex of these advances. This article examines the appearance of automation "on stage" in the sheet metal processing industry. We focus on the pivotal role of increasingly powerful and sophisticated robots, their cutting-edge applications, and the expanded productivity prospects that lie ahead.
One of the most basic yet critical elements of sheet metal processing is the operations for forming and bending. This is an area in which robotics has made some of its most significant strides, with their adaptive tooling and sophisticated algorithms now achieving remarkable levels of precision and control. Nearly all the robotic bending cells we saw at the FABTECH show used articulated arms, and for good reason: The arms also must adapt to the workpiece's geometry and feed direction much like the human body does. ... By the way, bending is not only an artistic task; it is almost always a fundamental part of any robotic system to manipulate a workpiece into a desired shape.
Processes and Principles
The cornerstone process in the fabrication of sheet metal is welding. Cobots—robots that work alongside humans—use welding tools to attain precision and repeatability when joining metal components. For the work that the robots can't or shouldn't do, humans are still the go-to experts for the hard and soft skills required to optimize the assembly process. Cobot and human welders need to make just as many decisions as they did 10 or 20 years ago. These decisions hinge on the same basic principles of good welding: (1) understand the assembly; (2) understand the materials; (3) understand heat; and (4) understand your welding tools and their capabilities. And yet, the fabricator's bay era remains very much "in the moment."
Using robots in laser cutting and precision machining has ushered in a new era for sheet metal working. When they are combined with laser cutting systems, robots display remarkable speed and agility—they are able to virtually "dance" around and precisely cut an intricate design in a metal sheet. If you have ever seen a human welder working, you know what I mean when I say that a robot welder can "dance," too—moving at just the right speed and to just the right places to get the job done. "Path planning" is a term that is often used in connection with robots. It is, ostensibly, an AI problem—deciding which way to go next for the most efficient cutting operation (or, in the case of a laser welder, the most efficient joining operation).
Sheet metal processing involves the careful handling of materials and the precise assembly of parts. Operations of this kind are nowadays mostly automated. Good robots and the right smart devices have worked wonders in achieving high efficiency and cycle times with the necessary quality. The parts arrive at the assembly point in a timely fashion; the necessary materials get moved around as they should, and the robotic arms that perform the actual assembly are programmed and calibrated to do their jobs with impressive perfection.
Ensuring the quality of parts made from sheet metal is crucial for the manufacturing process. Advanced robots equipped with machine vision and other sensors now do most of the inspection work. They can examine surfaces, check for defects, and verify dimensional accuracy, all in real-time. When an inspector would have once looked over the workpiece, a robot now does that job. But an inspector could only work on one part at a time, whereas a robot can do many in a seemingly endless fashion. And robotics nowadays is driven by AI algorithms that not only analyze the outcome of a passed or failed part and look for trends in the data, but also enable a system of predictive maintenance that keeps the robot in top shape—again, aiming for the highest quality standards.
Tomorrow's Opportunities and Ending Thoughts—Robotics in Sheet Metal Processing
This introduction serves as an intellectual job application for the authors and their employers. It needs to state the development of not just one but two arenas—the emergence of robotics in manual sheet metal processing and, more recently, the development of the automated cell, with or without the assistance of a human operator. The context must now include not only the user industries but also the general public, whose near-future life will be conditioned in ways we're not yet conditioned to imagine. Innovations in the next few years are likely to shake the sheet metal processing world even harder than the current shakeout is shaking it.
To sum up, the coupling of industrial robotics with sheet metal processing has brought forth a brave new world of manufacturing perfection. The technological synergy involved here—optimizing the performance of both robots and the human operators who supervise them—has taken the production of the parts that go into automobiles and just about everything else to new heights of precision, quality, and, yes, assurance. Nothing else comes close. And as these system components persist in innovating, the very future of the processed sheet metal looks awesome.
One of the most basic yet critical elements of sheet metal processing is the operations for forming and bending. This is an area in which robotics has made some of its most significant strides, with their adaptive tooling and sophisticated algorithms now achieving remarkable levels of precision and control. Nearly all the robotic bending cells we saw at the FABTECH show used articulated arms, and for good reason: The arms also must adapt to the workpiece's geometry and feed direction much like the human body does. ... By the way, bending is not only an artistic task; it is almost always a fundamental part of any robotic system to manipulate a workpiece into a desired shape.
Processes and Principles
The cornerstone process in the fabrication of sheet metal is welding. Cobots—robots that work alongside humans—use welding tools to attain precision and repeatability when joining metal components. For the work that the robots can't or shouldn't do, humans are still the go-to experts for the hard and soft skills required to optimize the assembly process. Cobot and human welders need to make just as many decisions as they did 10 or 20 years ago. These decisions hinge on the same basic principles of good welding: (1) understand the assembly; (2) understand the materials; (3) understand heat; and (4) understand your welding tools and their capabilities. And yet, the fabricator's bay era remains very much "in the moment."
Using robots in laser cutting and precision machining has ushered in a new era for sheet metal working. When they are combined with laser cutting systems, robots display remarkable speed and agility—they are able to virtually "dance" around and precisely cut an intricate design in a metal sheet. If you have ever seen a human welder working, you know what I mean when I say that a robot welder can "dance," too—moving at just the right speed and to just the right places to get the job done. "Path planning" is a term that is often used in connection with robots. It is, ostensibly, an AI problem—deciding which way to go next for the most efficient cutting operation (or, in the case of a laser welder, the most efficient joining operation).
Sheet metal processing involves the careful handling of materials and the precise assembly of parts. Operations of this kind are nowadays mostly automated. Good robots and the right smart devices have worked wonders in achieving high efficiency and cycle times with the necessary quality. The parts arrive at the assembly point in a timely fashion; the necessary materials get moved around as they should, and the robotic arms that perform the actual assembly are programmed and calibrated to do their jobs with impressive perfection.
Ensuring the quality of parts made from sheet metal is crucial for the manufacturing process. Advanced robots equipped with machine vision and other sensors now do most of the inspection work. They can examine surfaces, check for defects, and verify dimensional accuracy, all in real-time. When an inspector would have once looked over the workpiece, a robot now does that job. But an inspector could only work on one part at a time, whereas a robot can do many in a seemingly endless fashion. And robotics nowadays is driven by AI algorithms that not only analyze the outcome of a passed or failed part and look for trends in the data, but also enable a system of predictive maintenance that keeps the robot in top shape—again, aiming for the highest quality standards.
Tomorrow's Opportunities and Ending Thoughts—Robotics in Sheet Metal Processing
This introduction serves as an intellectual job application for the authors and their employers. It needs to state the development of not just one but two arenas—the emergence of robotics in manual sheet metal processing and, more recently, the development of the automated cell, with or without the assistance of a human operator. The context must now include not only the user industries but also the general public, whose near-future life will be conditioned in ways we're not yet conditioned to imagine. Innovations in the next few years are likely to shake the sheet metal processing world even harder than the current shakeout is shaking it.
To sum up, the coupling of industrial robotics with sheet metal processing has brought forth a brave new world of manufacturing perfection. The technological synergy involved here—optimizing the performance of both robots and the human operators who supervise them—has taken the production of the parts that go into automobiles and just about everything else to new heights of precision, quality, and, yes, assurance. Nothing else comes close. And as these system components persist in innovating, the very future of the processed sheet metal looks awesome.
Share to：
Recommend wonderful blog posts