The Solution
Instead, they looked to collaborative automation. “The Universal Robots seemed a great platform,” he says. “They’re lightweight, they’re easy to use, they’re low voltage, and certainly could work together in the same environment as individuals, so we decided to give the Universal Robots a shot.”
The application involves picking up “godets”, metal pans containing powder cosmetics products, and placing them on trays packaged in boxes and sent to a different department for final processing. In the presses, the powder is pushed into the godets, which then travel under a 3D profiler head from Cognex for surface inspection and to measure the powder volume in the pan. If the godets pass inspection, a UR3 cobot picks them up in groups of two or four, depending on the product, and places them on a tray. When the tray is full, a UR5 cobot picks it up, moves it to one of five case locations and places the tray in the case. The UR5 cobot then moves to where empty trays are stored, picks up a tray and places it back in the tray staging area, waiting for the next one to drop in front of the UR3 while it’s loading.
Mobile cobots support fast changeovers for a wide product mix
The cobot-based carts currently run up to ten different product “recipes” for different godet shapes, which can range from round to square or rectangular, as well as various thicknesses and weights, and which can come out of the presses one or two at a time. The carts are designed for up to 20 product “recipes.”
Set-up time and changeovers were key challenges to overcome in the application. With Universal Robots, Coty could mount a UR3 and UR5 cobot on four mobile carts that can be rolled from one press to another. Baublitz says, “It is much more cost-effective than having twelve different stations with robots at them. It made a project go from not being possible from a financial standpoint to being possible. Having them mobile was critical to making the project go forward.” Set-up time for the mobile cobots is typically just 15 to 30 minutes to unplug, move and set up the cobots at a new press.
Collaborative robots are designed to operate safely alongside human workers. However, in order to meet the required production rates, Coty needed to push the envelope of the robots’ speed and force outside of the collaborative range. To protect operators, Sydorko added lightweight plexiglass guarding and light curtains. These don’t inhibit the carts’ mobility, but if a worker opens a door or reaches through an active area, the robots immediately drop into a safe collaborative speed. The robots resume their maximum speed once the worker shuts the door or moves out of the light curtain.
“You can go as fast as you need to and make sure you can keep up production rates, but you can also be collaborative if that makes more sense. It’s the best of both worlds,” says Sydorko, who often gets asked why he chose Universal Robots rather than a high-speed traditional industrial robot for the Coty application. One of the key reasons is that traditional robots don’t run off a low-power source. “Right now, we’re running the carts off 110 volts,” he says. “We would have to use 240 or 480 volts to run a traditional industrial robot. It gets challenging when you want to move carts and puts operators at higher risk.” The weight of a traditional high-speed robot and the size of the control platforms were also factors.
AUTOMATION CHALLENGES SOLVED:
- Global cost competitiveness secured
- Ability to meet production rates outside collaborative speed while still providing a safe work environment for employees
- High-value staff are freed up to focus on more skilled tasks
- Ergonomically unfavourable jobs are now automated
- Ability to automate high mix/low volume production
