Mr. Brandstetter, where does robot integration in machines make sense?

Sebastian Brandstetter: Even though automation has increased significantly over the past three decades, there are still many machines and systems with integrated manual workstations. Just think of bending machines: There are still often workers there who insert the sheet metal pieces and turn them until all the desired bends have been completed. A robot can take over such a task. It can even act as an additional axis in the bending process and thus speed up the process. Not to mention the fact that a fully automatic bending machine can work 24 hours a day.

Can't such a machine also be implemented with a conventional robot system?

That's not so easy. There are strong dependencies between the movements of the bending machine and the robot. The axes must constantly exchange data with each other in order to achieve the desired bending result. This can only be implemented in a truly effective way if the robotics application is an integral part of the machine - in other words, there is only one controller and one machine application.

You say that robots make machines more flexible. What do you mean by that?

If we look at classic production machines, they are very specifically geared towards one product or even one product type. In some cases, complex mechanical devices are installed, for example to move a product from one machine level to the next. If the product changes in terms of size, weight or shape, these devices have to be adapted, replaced or even redesigned. A robot doesn't care, it adapts its path planning to the new conditions if necessary and the machine can continue production.

Do robots make every machine more productive?

I wouldn't go quite that far. But I think that robots actually pay for themselves in far more cases than is generally assumed. This is also true when it comes to operator safety. Take, for example, machines that move very quickly, such as a filling line. Defective or overturned bottles must be ejected from the process. If this is done by a human, the speed of the system must be reduced to a safe level as soon as someone opens the safety door.
However, if a robot removes the bottle in question, the machine can continue to run at full productivity.

Don't integrated robots make machines bigger?

On the contrary, integrated robots reduce the footprint of a machine. Robots can perform complex manipulations that previously required complex - and therefore large - mechanical constructions. In addition, the integrated solution from B&R eliminates the need for a separate robot control cabinet and the robots can also be mounted upside down or sideways. And when machine builders combine robots with intelligent track systems, they can optimize their machines even further.

How does that work?

The shuttles of the track systems can be controlled individually and synchronized with the robot movements with microsecond precision. Processing can take place during the movement and the process can be adapted to other product properties at any time without hardware changes. This increases throughput and reduces the required footprint.

What does this mean for machine manufacturers?

They can offer their customers a completely new type of machine, a machine that automatically adapts to the product to be manufactured - even if this specific product was not even known when the machine was developed. In this way, manufacturing companies can fulfill one of the most urgent wishes of consumers: individual products at the price of mass products.