Industrial robots
Installation of flexible cables
The software company ArtiMinds Robotics has developed a new approach for plugging ribbon cables that enables robot-based automation of this monotonous and unergonomic process.
In addition to connector assembly, plugging cables into assemblies is a very common application in electronics production. Ribbon cables are used for signal transmission, as they save space, time and therefore money when connecting assemblies. However, handling the dimensionally unstable and sensitive cables is difficult due to their low rigidity and requires a great deal of dexterity. For this reason, assembly is still mainly carried out manually by a worker.
Robot-based automation approach
To increase the efficiency and ergonomics of this process, ArtiMinds Robotics has developed a new robot-based automation approach. Using force-torque control, new areas of application can be opened up for industrial robots that cannot be implemented with realistic effort using conventional programming.
The sensor-adaptive application is planned, simulated and programmed using the no-code software solution ArtiMinds Robot Programming Suite (RPS). A vacuum gripper is mounted on the robot arm to pick up the ribbon cable from a defined position. The software's "spike search" module automatically compensates for tolerances during the insertion process. This means that in order to find the correct insertion position, the robot performs a force-controlled search movement and attempts to insert the cable into the socket.
As soon as the force/torque sensor registers a defined insertion depth, the robot knows that it has found the socket and robustly inserts the malleable component at this point. A tensile test then ensures that the cable is correctly seated.
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