According to the International Federation of Robotics, the cobot market is expected to grow by 68% annually by 2022, from around 35,000 systems installed worldwide today. Especially in Germany, the country with the highest density of industrial robots and therefore comparatively low growth in this segment (only five percent annually compared to 15 percent worldwide), the cobot is a key technology in the further development of automation markets. These can be found particularly in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as they require a lower investment budget and can be used flexibly.

HLS Cobot World is a young division of the HLS Engineering Group with a focus on lightweight robotics and human-robot collaboration and is one of the German system integrators and sales partners of Universal-Robots. "We see a growing market in the areas of handling and packaging with lightweight robots for a wide variety of products. This is also where we see the Piab vacuum gripper being used first and foremost," explains Uwe Schmidt, the division manager.

The KCS vacuum gripper system is able to pick up products of many different shapes, materials and surfaces. This means that the cobot can be used at different points in the production process as required and the capacity of the cobot can be optimally utilized to achieve a quick return on investment.

The technical foam of the vo vacuum gripper can hold various products. (Image: Piab)

Bernd Gries, one of the key developers at Piab, explains: "Our customers need to be able to respond to trends such as individualized products, a growing product mix and shorter product life cycles. By developing a compact all-round vacuum gripper, we wanted to meet precisely these requirements. Now we can provide our customers with an end-of-arm tool that meets the demand for a process- and location-independent automation tool, making it easier for SMEs in particular to get started with automation."

The KCS system from Piab consists in part of a separate pump unit in which modular vacuum generation is integrated in a small space. The valve technology is freely configurable and digital or analog vacuum detection can be integrated, making the KCS system a plug-and-play unit. The second part is the gripper unit. Both are connected to each other by a tool-free quick-change system. The entire unit can be attached to all common cobot models using the third component - a corresponding adapter.

The underside of the main gripper consists of a technical foam that can adapt to different contours and can therefore flexibly pick up different parts. This eliminates the need for precise detection of a workpiece as well as gripping surfaces. Accordingly, in many applications it is not necessary to change the gripper when changing the parts to be picked up. The cobot is therefore immediately ready for use in different processes.

"HLS customers' processes are mostly manual processes with small batch sizes and a large number of variants. With the new KCS vacuum gripper from Piab, we can implement a larger number of product variants with the same automation solution in a very short time thanks to the interchangeable molded foam," continues Uwe Schmidt.

For direct food handling, the gripper can also be equipped with a special FDA-approved technical foam. The Cobot gripper forgives inaccuracies in the placement of the object to be picked up thanks to the soft, adaptable foam surface. The object is not damaged even if the height of the object is too low.

For special applications, such as handling plastic bags for concentrates or granulates, Piab has developed another gripper unit that can be quickly exchanged using the quick-change system. Both gripper units have rounded sides and the technical foam surface largely eliminates the risk of injury.

The pump unit is equipped with Piab's new generation of Coax-SX vacuum technology. The lightweight Pichip unit is a small vacuum pump optimized for integration and was chosen because its near-silent operation makes it particularly suitable for use directly at the employee. As coax ejectors are up to twice as fast as other ejectors and deliver three times more flow than a conventional ejector with identical air consumption, the Pichip unit can deliver high performance even with low or fluctuating supply pressure. as