A new range of extremely flexible robots has been launched by Mitsubishi Electric which are said to be able to reach a far greater working area than other robots – including round and behind their own base.
Suitable for use in confined spaces, the compact MELFA F-Series robots feature high performance components including specially developed servo motors and a powerful new controller, and are therefore able to maintain fast cycle times and high positioning accuracy. In fact the cycle time for a 12in movement is just 0.29 seconds.
The robots can be floor, wall or ceiling mounted, and all cabling is fully enclosed right to the end of the spindle for total protection and safety. The cabling includes pneumatic tubing and I/O for hand control, as well as CAT5 Ethernet cabling.
The F-Series controllers can be used as standalone devices or embedded into the Mitsubishi Electric iQ PLC rack. Supporting up to three robots on one rack allows the system to share data, thus enabling features such as automatic collision avoidance and cooperative control for when robots operating within the same workspace.
Not only are the new robots capable of supporting up to eight additional servo axes but they are also designed to meet IP67 demands, allowing easy cleaning of the arm, while food safe HG1 food grade grease is used for lubrication. For the pharmaceutical and medical sectors a cleanroom version meeting ISO 3 is available.
