Robots on the press line

Using robots over traditional hand tooling in draw press operations is justified only if the robots are quick enough to keep pace with the presses. In the past, there has been no robot capable of coping with the work cycle time of draw presses which can be as often as 18 strokes a minute. KUKA Welding Systems and Robot Corp changed this by developing robots for draw presses that are capable of tending presses from 20 ft away, can keep up with the 18 strokes/minute press cycle and have an accuracy of motion around plus or minus 0.20 mm. Despite such progress, widespread use of robots in the sheet-metal business has yet to be seen due to several factors, including still-unresolved servodrive and controller issues and the unfamiliarity of automation-oriented sheet-metal people with robots.
For years robots have tended presses--forging presses, for example. Laboriously moving billets in and out of giant, fire-breathing multi-ton mechanical or hydraulic presses. And now come the robots to the [...]