Robotic
Automation
Systems

Robotic Clip Installation

Operator loads fender flare to fixtures on a 2-position dial table. Fixtures are able to accommodate front and rear versions with quick change tooling. Various clip sizes are bowl fed to a magazine accumulator mounted on each of two robots. After the clips are installed, a third robot will remove the part from the dial table and position the part under a vision camera to detect presence and location of the clips. Accepted parts are placed on to an out feed conveyor.

Seal Feeding and Placement

Seals are bulk loaded to feed conveyor. The orientation of the seals is detected through an overhead camera which sends the positional offset to a SCARA robot. This robot will remove the seal from the conveyor and place it into a shaping fixture. The seals are eventually placed into the plastic part by a second SCARA robot.

Clip Installation

Operators load roof ditch component to fixture nests on 2-position dial table. Robot 1 will notch the roof ditch to allow for the clip assembly. Robot 2 will place the clips into their respective positions.

Injection Molding Machine Tending

Components are removed, four at a time, from the first Injection Molding Machine (IMM) and are allowed to cool on a cooling rack. Cooled parts are then picked up by the quad gripper to be overmolded in the second IMM. The robot will remove overmolded parts first and then loads the core parts into the second IMM. Completed parts are placed on an outfeed conveyor.

Fascia Processing

Molded fascias are unloaded from the Injection Molding Machine and placed into a staging nest to allow for robotic part handling. The fascia is held by the first robot while 2 secondary robots degate and flame the fascia edges to remove part flash. Completed parts are set onto a conveyor for further processing.

Robotic UV Adhesive Dispensing

Components are loaded 2-up on to a multi-station dial table. After probing for the presence of component features, a UV cured material is dispensed into the perimeter groove located on the outer edge of the part. Two robots were required to meet the target cycle time. After dispensing the material is UV cured and subsequently leak tested to verify the seal integrity. Accepted parts are placed onto a pallet conveyor for further processing.

Robotic Hot Melt Dispensing

Parts are fixtured on a pallet and conveyed into a dispensing station. The robot dispenses a bead of hot melt around the perimeter of the housing and the pallet is released from the station for further processing. The robot will alternate to a second conveyor position to complete the dispensing placing the second part on the pallet.

Surface Treat/Hot Melt Dispensing

Components are manually loaded to a 4 station indexing dial table. A Plasma treating head mounted to the first. The robot will prepare the surface of the component for the hot melt. The hot melt is applied by the second robot. The mating component is pressed into position on the operator station.

Heavy Vehicle Leaf Springs

As part of the process for spring manufacturing, hot springs are handled through various operations to taper the spring ends, punch holes, bend a profile, trim and coin surfaces as well as quenching and cooling. Previously this was a physically demanding process that an operator would repeat for every part.

Plastic Manifolds

The assembly of a complex manifold configuration requires multiple inner profiles to be vibration welded in place prior to the outer shells being assembled. A robot with a 3 component gripper was implemented to allow gripping of the insert as well as gripping the pre-welded assembly and the final welded assembly.

Automotive Body Panels

Two larger robots were required to remove automotive panels from a custom conveyor arrangement and place them onto side transfer conveyors. The robots are guided to the panels using individual vision systems. The robots automatically change their end of arm tooling based on the part type selected by from the operator control panel.

Cast Oil Pans

A central robot is used to remove cast oil pans from an infeed conveyor and places the oil pans to 1 of 3 robotic deburring cells. Each of the deburring cells has 2 rotating fixture nests to allow access to the inner and outer surfaces of the part. The 3 cells have guarding to allow each cell to run while an adjacent cell is down for tool replacement or cleaning. Each deburring robot has a radially compliant deburr head and follows a pathway where the material flash is present.