Yushin Precision Equipment Co. Ltd. used advanced design technology — like what Boeing Co. uses to create super-light aircraft — to make its two newest, and fastest, part-extraction robots.
The company displayed both models — the HSA-series top-entry and the TSXA-series of servo-driven, side-entry robots — at K 2010 in Dusseldorf.
Kyoto, Japan-based Yushin said the HSA robot is 14 percent faster than previous models, thanks primarily to optimized design technology.
Takayo Kotani, senior manager for research and development, said the company was able to make several parts on the robot significantly lighter — which in turn made the complete system 13 percent lighter than previous models. The beam, for example, is a completely different shape, with a design similar to the fan of a tree, allowing it to stand up to mechanical stress.
“Kyoto University developed the design optimization software, and our engineers worked with their professor on this project starting about three years ago,” Kotani said. “We did quite a lot of [design] simulation with many parts of our robots.”
This marks a new approach to robot design. Typically companies use larger motors to make machines faster, she said. By making robots lighter, Yushin will be able to make more energy-efficient models. But the first step was to make them faster, because the company wanted to feature high-speed lines at the K show, where both robots are being displayed for the very first time.
“We were able to make the robot lighter while keeping the structural integrity and rigidity,” she said.
The new design has other advantages. The 38 percent thinner lower frame of the main arm on the HSA allows molders to minimize the mold-open distance, for example. And the optimized design on the TSXA allows for a dual-axis motion system, which lets the robot traverse the mold at a much higher rate of speed.
“It's also a great configuration for a medical clean room, because a molder can extract parts from the machine and then take them all the way out a door to a packing line,” said Chris Parrillo, national sales manager for Yushin America Inc., the Cranston, R.I., subsidiary of the parent company.