Mobile robots: Next-level automation for machine tools

Individual customer requirements – including high-mix, low-volume production at high speed – pose challenges for industrial companies, along with a shortage of skilled workers and rising prices for raw materials and services. Automation can solve these problems, and many forms of automation already are well advanced, including palletizing, handling and assembly tasks, and workpiece machining. But flexible and automated loading and unloading of machines with tools remains in its infancy. Together with KUKA, the globally active HELLER Group has launched and implemented a pilot project that aims to close this specific gap.

The two companies launched the project in the spring of 2021. The collaboration began by finding out which manual processes can be automated and where the limits lie, and found the right processes after overcoming several challenges. “We contacted HELLER and asked whether they saw a need for mobile robotics, and a direct ‘yes’ was the answer. This then gave rise to initial ideas and concepts, and ultimately produced our pilot project,” said Steffen Günther, KUKA Global Business Development Manager.

Here's how the solution works: employees provide information from production orders so a CERTA host computer can determine which tools a machine needs. The solution then orders a KUKA KMR CYBERTECH robot to fetch the appropriate tools from the warehouse. The mobile platform, driven by omnidirectional technology and with a KR CYBERTECH installed onboard, takes care of machine tending. “We have a maximum weight of up to 20 kilograms for the tool holder, so the KMR CYBERTECH was the optimal product for this,” noted Steffen Günther. The robot arm grips the relevant tools, places them on the appropriate fixtures on the platform, and the journey continues from there.