Composite Robots: More Than the Synergy of Hands and Feet
On the morning of July 15, Wu Fei, Vice President of ELITE Robot, and Cai Songlin, Vice President of Technology and Product of ELITE Robot, attended the opening ceremony of Standard Digital Logistics Demonstration Plant in Kunshan, Suzhou, China. Leaders of Kunshan City, Lujia Town, and General Manager of Standard Robots attended the opening ceremony. The 2021 Summit Forum on Digital Transformation of Enterprises in the Manufacturing Industry also started. More than 200 upstream and downstream ecological enterprises, government representatives, universities, investment institutions, and media were present at the ceremony to explore the future of digital flexible logistics.
Pictures of Wu Fei and Cai Songlin “My acquaintance with Standard Robots began in 2018, when the cobot business boomed for the first time in the Chinese market. At that time, the combination of cobot and SLAM laser navigated AGV chassis had numerous applications and explorations in European and American markets, but it was still a relatively new choice in China. Witnessing a large group of AGV manufacturers, including Standard Robots, take advantage of the opportunity and develop rapidly in recent years, ELITE Robot sincerely wishes our partner to reach new heights.” Wu Fei, vice president of ELITE Robot, said at the event.
The launching of ELITE + Standard composite robot project for a benchmark client in the 3C industry The composite robot is a kind of robot that integrates the functions of AGV mobile robots and industrial robots. In the industrial field, the robotic arm is mainly deployed to pick up and place objects, and the AGV mobile robot has the walking function, extending the working space of the device. According to the characteristics of the combination, the composite robot is equivalent to hands and feet, which combines the functions of the two kinds of automation equipment.
If the composite robot is only considered as a simple addition of AGV vehicle and robotic arm, then this viewpoint is much one-sided. “Technology is one of the biggest difficulties in the composite robot system composed of AGV + robotic arm.” Cai Songlin, vice president of technology and product of ELITE Robot, said, “The whole set of the cobot and AGV application requires the development enterprise to be skilled in both technologies. Moreover, another difficulty that needs to be overcome is how to make the two types of devices cooperate with each other and work stably as an integrated system, and be able to match different environment awareness schemes according to different scenarios. Generally speaking, the application scenario of composite robots is much complicated. In a specific scenario, such as the semiconductor workshop and CNC workshop, it not only needs to complete the task of moving and picking up materials, but also needs to be included in the production line process to undertake the specific processing operations, such as loading and unloading, vision detection, and material removal. Therefore, the composite robot has higher requirements for the environmental adaptability of the AGV vehicle and the openness of the cobot arm.”
Since last year, ELITE Robot and Standard Robots have successfully launched a number of composite robot projects. The two sides have established a deep adaptation and formed a tacit understanding after the cooperation of different application cases. For users, this means that they can get easier-to-use devices, more efficient cooperation, and more stable and reliable solutions. In the future, with the continuous technological innovation and product improvement of both sides in our respective fields, we will have a more eye-catching performance in the existing markets including traditional industries and the incremental markets, such as textile, agriculture, and patrol inspection.
