of steel, and food-grade grease in
the mechanical unit. While the in-
troduction of articulated food robots
was warmly welcomed by the indus-
try, it demanded more. Increasing
automation levels implies increasing
output quantity.
While picker robots could achieve
multiple picks per movement speed
remains an issue. Next to articulated
robots there is also the delta robot,
also known as spider robots. They
have been around for quite some
time, finding their way easily into the
food industry. While their use has
been validated, they do break down
regularly due to a lack of stiffness at
high speeds and lack in many cases
additional degrees of freedom. So
for FANUC the most challenging area
was certainly the development of a
new delta robot, not with four axis
but having six degrees of freedom
with the appropriate supporting
structure.
The FANUC M-3iA is a delta robot
with full six degrees of freedom. It
allows users to pick up food articles,
and places it in any chosen way into
a tray, blister or other carrier. The re-
sults are stunning: for the first time
vegetables and fruits (for example)
can be packaged in even smaller
containers, in the desired direction.
And all this is realised at speeds
pertaining to delta technology.
FANUC Robotics Eu