In the industrial workplace, heavy lifting can be a fact of life. For example, workers routinely lift and transport heavy, bulky parts on automotive production lines and in machine tending. Proper lifting technique is essential to a standard training program, but even properly executed lifting takes a toll on the body, especially if the worker must support the object away from their center of mass. Reaching with carried weight is dangerous and tiring. As such, it can reduce productivity and safety in your plant.
In addition to harm caused to workers, lifting tasks also bring a greater risk of part damage. It’s simple physics: Lifting an object increases its potential energy, and the last thing you want for a sensitive part is to see that converted into kinetic energy: crash.
This intelligent lifting device is a gantry-mounted cable hoist, powered by servos and equipped with force sensors. The device carries most of the load, allowing the operator to lift and transport objects up to 1320 lbs. and 200 ft. per minute.
In the video, Chuck Brimmer, VP Operations at Motivation Industrial Equipment, demonstrates two use cases.
The first case is a simple installation task, common to automotive, heavy equipment or machine OEMs. The intelligent lifting device, called the GForce iQ, is attached to a large motor housing. Not only can the operator easily lift the part into position for installation, but virtual limits can be set on the x,y and z axes, constraining the operator’s range of motion. This can prevent, for example, the part dropping onto a work surface or worker’s toe. It can also prevent the operator making unnecessary or unsafe movements, such as moving the object into another work area or lifting too high.
The second case is a simple box loading/unloading example. With a suction cup gripper, the hoist can essentially “bump fire”, so to speak, toggling the gripper without any buttons or switches. This expediates bin loading dramatically, and reduces the worker’s exertion to basically zero.
Check out the video for the full demonstration, and visit Motivation Industrial Equipment for product information.