News & Insights
New Technology Demo Cell
Featuring several exciting new technologies, our Demo Cell is on display now on our factory floor.
As a fun way to explore emerging technologies, the Modular engineering team designed and built an automated demonstration robot that uses multiple technologies to sort letter blocks and spell the words Design, Build and Control.
MagneMotion®™
In recent years, several intelligent conveying systems have come to market, which use moving magnetic fields to move vehicles along a rail and stop accurately without mechanical assistance. MagneMotion®™ is one of these transport systems, and we chose to use it in our demo cell architecture and have also integrated it into a number of large scale production platforms which have allowed our customers to increase throughput and reduce machine footprint.
Gripper
The robot end-of-arm tool is a Robohand electric gripper made by DESTACO. This maintenance-free gripper uses electrical energy to open and close, removing the need for a compressed air supply. This device, along with our MagneMotion®™ transport system, significantly reduces the energy footprint of our cell by completely removing pneumatic energy. This demonstrates our commitment to reducing the cost of ownership for our customers.
Allen Bradley Hardware & S88
The GuardLogix platform was chosen to control our cell and interface between our associated devices. We have standardised our program structure for Allen Bradley controllers in line with ANSI/ISA-88 (S88) guidelines on several projects. This initiative also includes our HMI faceplates. This benefits our customers by creating shorter development times and faster debugging of issues, which means reduced costs and increased reliability.
Mitsubishi robot
Modular Automation have a long-standing history as a Mitsubishi robot integrator, and this cell uses a Mitsubishi RV-F series six-axis robot to perform the loading and unloading tasks of our letter blocks. Significant time was spent implementing inching functions as well as path continuation after an unexpected interruption, such as an emergency stop events.
Traffic Light
Demo cell operation status is indicated by a Balluff BNI0072 Smart Light. This unit can have up to five LED segments in any of five colours. The unit cycles through several different colour sequences as the machine cycles through its phases of operation. This can provide operator indication functionality such as machine faults, warnings, raw material shortages etc.
Visit our factory floor to see our new technology Demo Cell in action.
For more information or to discuss an automation project, contact our team today.