Historically, robots and humans haven’t mixed very well. Many a programmer has had his or her day ruined by failing to consider all the possible scenarios that could result from manual intervention into a work cell. The average machine operator’s ability to do precisely the wrong thing at the worst possible moment and then be somewhere else when the white shirts arrive is the stuff of legend among controls designers.
Rethink Robotics is producing equipment that not long ago would have been unthinkable—a robot that is capable of working in a human environment. Collaborative robots are lightweight manipulating arms with integrated vision sensors to help them avoid any hazards that their human coworkers might leave in their path. Additionally, these machines continuously monitor the torque at each joint and will stop safely if abnormal forces are detected anywhere in their work envelope.
Rethink Robotics’ latest addition to the collaborative robot family, Sawyer Black, comes one year after the company was acquired by the Hanh Group, a network of specialized companies for industrial automation and robotics. Sawyer Black will be debuting at the K2019 Hahn Group booth (e61, hall 10) in Dusseldorf, where it will be demonstrating as a palletizing application.
Typical uses for Sawyer Black include tasks that would be dangerous or repetitive for humans to perform such as CNC machining, circuit board assembly, metal fabrication, injection molding, packaging, line loading/unloading as well as test and inspection. With 7 degrees of freedom and 1260MM of reach, the robot can also be used in areas where there is no space for human employees. The latest hardware revision boasts quieter, more reliable components that the company says will result in improved reliability and greater acceptance in the workplace.