The Solution
GKN Driveline was looking for a solution to automate the high-level experience and sense of operators while allowing humans and robots to coexist safely. They decided to introduce UR cobots that meet these criteria. Mr Hidefumi Yoshida, Senior Manager of the Manufacturing Engineering Section, says: “The reason why we selected UR was that they were already adopted by a major Japanese car manufacturer. The payload also met our needs.” First, a UR5 cobot was introduced to the gear assembling process, replicating the sense of human touch provided by the operators. “Using the external torque sensor and gripper from Robotiq, selected from the UR+ portfolio, we succeeded in reproducing it by trial and error,” says Mr Sakamaki. GKN also considered safety. For example, zone sensors are set in 4 different directions, which sets the robot in slower motion when people are around.
Next, two UR5s were introduced to the front and back inspection process of a thin iron plate installed in the viscous coupling. The introduction of the robot to this process was proposed by Mr. Tomohiro Kikumoto, leader of operations, after seeing the success of the gear assembling application. “Although old machines, called front and back discriminators, have been used to date, it is insufficient, and therefore, line workers were asked to manually carry out such inspection tasks after a long day of work. Robots became desirable in order to eliminate such unnecessary overtime work,” Mr Oyama explains, with Mr Kikumoto adding, “As a result, we succeeded in manufacturing under a full 24-hour operation. The risk of worker fatigue has been reduced, and we are delighted to have been able to automate their processes based on our suggestions.” Unlike traditional robots, UR cobots do not require safety fencing. After a successful risk assessment, people and robots can work in the same space. This realises the safe space-saving.
When introducing the UR cobots, Mr Sakamaki, Mr Kikumoto and a total of seven people attended the three-day core training provided by an official distributor of UR cobots. Mr Yoshida concludes, “We purchased another UR robot for demonstration purposes to encourage other departments to try and consider applying UR robots to other production processes. As a UK-based company, all the companies in the GKN group have a culture of trying new things and sharing successful experiences. This case story became a good example for our Japanese operation to share with GKN departments in other countries. We will strive to make proactive efforts so that humans and robots can coexist.”
To find out more about Universal Robots cobots, visit our UR Cobot page.
