Think about an automated precision sheet metal operation, one with all the technological bells and whistles at every manufacturing step. A flexible manufacturing system brings sheet from a live-inventory tower system to a laser cutting bed. Blanks are cut, sorted, and stacked automatically with part removal automation, then brought to a robotic press brake with automated tool changes and a robot with an ultraflexible gripper that’s able to handle a range of workpieces.
The formed pieces are stacked and then brought to processes downstream like welding and powder coating. It’s the epitome of flexible manufacturing automation—except, that is, for all the workers driving fork trucks or pushing carts full of parts. Material handling between manufacturing steps remains the last bastion of manual labor. Fabricators have had limited options, historically, but new forms of flexible, mobile automation are starting to change this.
Mobile robotics shipments have been growing at an extraordinary pace. According to ABI Research, of the 8 million robots expected to ship in 2030, nearly 6 million of them will be mobile. Mobile automation has transformed the robot industry, and the precision sheet metal fabrication arena could feel that transformation sooner rather than later.
Mobile Robots for Manufacturing
What are mobile robots, exactly? A common trait among nearly all of them is that, with the right safeguarding setup and plant design, they’re designed to react to and avoid obstacles by stopping and sometimes maneuvering around them.
The industry sells mobile robot systems using various terms, from automated guided vehicles (AGVs) to autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) with advanced navigation. Some view certain kinds of mobile automation as more or less intelligent and autonomous than others. Certain systems need some kind of physical attribute, like magnetic or reflective tape, while others use advanced LiDAR (light detection and ranging) vision technology to make their way around pallets of parts, building columns, or various other hurdles.
Still, as technologies progress, lines between different product classifications—AMRs versus AGVs, for instance—tend to blur. Some are more autonomous in certain ways, less autonomous in other ways. Some have manual manipulation options too, there for when the robot needs to move in a unique or unusual way, and it’s just not worth all the technical groundwork for autonomous operation.
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