UK NEWS

Robot safety enables mobile machine tending

Be ambitious, dream big,’ proclaims a giant, brightly-coloured graphic that towers encouragingly above the bustling machine shop crammed with CNC machines at ALM Engineering near Newton Aycliffe in County Durham.

It was this spirit of enterprise and vision that turned necessity into a pioneering robotics innovation. ALM has uprooted machine tending robots, set them on wheels and turned them into freely accessible and adaptable mobile units that it can quickly and easily reposition wherever necessary.

The idea originated from the need for a device that would meet the growing needs of the family-run business. ALM’s development of collaborative robot (cobot) applications, based on technology from Universal Robots, was so successful that the company decided to perfect and market it to external customers, calling it the CoboTend. Now, a partnership with SICK UK enabled effortless safety without sacrificing productivity for the CoboTend, representing a vital step in the product’s continued development.

Two SICK nanoScan3 Pro safety laser scanners sit at opposite corners of the CoboTend’s trolley cabinet. Together, the laser scanners provide 360° coverage around the robot, slowing it to a safe speed when a person enters the outer of two fields and only stopping upon breaching the inner field. This concept means that the cobot can continue to operate safety and dynamically based on the proximity of the person rather than simply stopping if anyone gets too close, ensuring maximum uptime and productivity.

The SICK nanoScan3 Pro safety laser scanner is easy to integrate thanks to the SBot Speed URCap, a safety system that combines safety technology from SICK and Universal Robots.

SBot Speed URCap is simple and fast to set up using smart field definition and field teach-in. 

More information www.sick.co.uk

Mazak engineer wins drag bike race

A Yamazaki Mazak engineer made waves at Northampton’s Santa Pod Racers Club (SPRC)
drag bike racing circuit, securing first place in her fourth race of the season. Jas Cordelle, a
technical support engineer at Mazak, has progressed through the junior leagues, moving up
to the 850 class in 2022. Now in her third season at this level, Cordelle and her engineering
team have made further bike modifications to provide the power needed to compete at the
top. With a personal best of 7.26 seconds over a quarter of a mile, reaching a top speed of
178 mph, these changes are already starting to pay dividends.
More information www.mazakeu.co.uk

Heller UK celebrates 50th anniversary

Redditch-based Heller Machine Tools Ltd, a wholly owned daughter company of German
machine tool manufacturer Heller Maschinenfabrik GmbH, is celebrating its 50th
anniversary this year. Both the parent company and the UK and Ireland subsidiary build
four- and five-axis horizontal machining centres. The UK site is a global competence centre
for turnkey projects and innovative manufacturing solutions.

Heller began its UK operations in 1974. Seven years later, a bespoke factory was built in
Redditch, with the company relocating in 1997 to a nearby facility capable of assembling
more than 200 machines per year. This assembly capability has since been extended to over
300 machines. Today, more than 150 employees work at the facility, which has seen
investment of more than £2m in recent years.
More information www.heller.biz

Automated airframe drilling becomes reality

An automated drilling solution comprising a FANUC cobot (collaborative robot) is using pre-
qualified tools and process parameters to accelerate aircraft production in response to
booming order books and a record backlog within aerospace manufacturing. The ADUbot
has been developed in conjunction with two partners: aerospace automation specialist
Electroimpact; and Luebbering, a manufacturer of precision fastening and drilling solutions.
By automating the traditionally manual task of drilling thousands of holes in airframes,
ADUbot will help aircraft manufacturers to achieve high levels of rapid drilling autonomy,
releasing human operatives to perform more value-added tasks.

“The record number of orders for aircraft over the next decade means that manufacturers
and suppliers are having to streamline operations and cut cycle times, while at the same
time maintain the highest standards of quality and safety,” says Oliver Selby, head of sales
at FANUC UK.

In a bid to help aircraft manufacturers increase production rates without impacting on
quality, the FANUC/Electroimpact/Lueberring partnership identified drilling as a key
application that would benefit from automation.

“Traditionally, operators rely on a standard aerospace hand tool that uses a concentric
collet locking interface to metallic drill templates or drill jigs that are attached to the wing,”
says Robert Brownbill, senior mechanical engineer at Deeside-based Electroimpact. “These
produce tens of thousands of holes in aircraft every day, yet they are all operated by hand.”

The ADUbot sees a FANUC CRX-25iA cobot take over the manual aspects of this drilling
process. It supports quick programming for the task in hand and equally fast reprogramming
for the next job. Notably, the CRX-25iA is mobile, making it especially suitable for aircraft
assembly operations.
More information www.fanuc.eu

Immersive technology 

The next generation of engineering professionals are now training using the latest immersive technology following a £3m investment at Coventry University. The university’s College of Engineering Environment and Science has installed a Powerwall, which uses 3D immersive technology to help students better understand their mechanical designs and projects. It allows them to display and interact directly with a design on screen, zooming in to see it from all angles. This capability helps to expedite the development of prototypes and form a focal point for collaborative design sessions and discussions.

More information www.bit.ly/46PuSKw