Omron’s new partnership agreement with Visy Automation came into effect mid-December. Omron will supply Visy’s automation equipment over the next two years and be given first consideration for upcoming projects requiring automation equipment.
Omron’s single platform automation, Sysmac, has therefore become the cornerstone of Visy Automation’s future automation direction. This includes advanced vision systems and the supply of Delta Robots - a highly efficient automation system for picking and placing products - and Omron’s new intelligent controllers.
The new Delta-3 Robot can increase productivity and significantly reduce operating costs. It achieves up to 200 cycles per minute and can be synchronised with multiple conveyors to perform on-the-fly pick and place operations. The Omron Sysmac NJ Machine Automation Controller (MAC) is the core of this system architecture.
In the past, robots were controlled exclusively by dedicated robot controllers. A machine architect can now decide to control a robot in exactly the same way as all other parts, from one control system, by using one programming environment, the new Sysmac Studio software. This is a first – a single solution that integrates machine control, vision, HMI, safety, and robotics using one programming software with one connection.
The NJ501 uses the fastest motion network in the world – EtherCAT. The control system calculates Delta-3 kinematics in a few microseconds and achieves top performance regarding the number of robot cycles and repeatability. And up to eight Delta robots can be controlled by one Sysmac NJ controller. The integration of the NJ-Robotics controller with the G5 servo systems provides the maximum throughput in pick & place applications.
The Delta-3 robot has three arms and is programmed to pick and place with fast movements of low weight loads. Previously, these tasks were performed manually – a time consuming and high cost operation.
There’s an optional fourth arm for workpiece orientation. It not only places an object in a tray, but positions the object so it is always placed the correct way. The Delta-3 robot rotates at 360º and can work in an envelope of about 1100mm.
The Delta-3 packaging robot was voted Best Robot 2014 at the Automation Inside Readers’ Choice Awards.
