Application: Collaborative robots
Industrial robots typically operate in safety zones and are used for heavy, highly dangerous and repetitive tasks in aerospace, automotive assembly, handling, painting, coating and other applications. Conventional industrial robots are usually gigantic and bulky, they take up a large area and the programming processes are usually time-consuming.
Factory automation is becoming more and more diverse in terms of manufacturing requirements and new technologies, and with the introduction of smart factory concepts, several new robot manufacturers, especially in China, have established themselves in recent years. Robotic applications have gradually expanded from conventional heavy industry to light industry, such as assembly of 3C (computer, communication and consumer) products and other automated production lines where robots are required to provide high precision and flexibility.
The use of collaborative robots (cobots) is becoming a fast growing trend in today's industrial automation. They are designed to work together with humans to perform planned tasks in production by simple and fast programming or even self-learning processes.
Cobots achieve a significant increase in overall performance by using magnetic RLS encoders. The encoder is attached to the end of the reduction gear to directly monitor the actual angle of rotation of the robot joint. Compared to some robot designs where the encoder is mounted at the front of the reduction gear, this approach eliminates system errors, resulting in a robot repeatability of ±0.1 mm, which is sufficient to meet most market requirements.
RLS absolute magnetic encoders are true absolute encoders without the need for battery backup - the absolute position is determined immediately after power-up. The encoders have several built-in self-monitoring functions that support the operational reliability of the Cobots. With their specially designed compact form, they allow integration into the reduction gear to avoid increasing the joint's thickness too much. Hollow rings allow cables to be fed through them, simplifying cable management and giving customers more flexibility in system design. In addition, the lightweight RLS encoders have significantly reduced the load on the joints, resulting in lower energy consumption.
The RLS absolute encoders have excellent performance specifications to meet the most demanding requirements of robotic applications. Resolution is up to 20 bits, with system accuracy of up to ±0.1° and repeatability better than the unit of resolution. Excellent dirt immunity with IP64 protection allows operation in harsh industrial environments.