Today’s Motor Vehicles
Engineering

Precision robot arm

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TMV Staff 2 min

March 14, 2017

The Meca500 miniature high-accuracy 6-axis industrial robot arm intended for professional use in a wide range of applications including precision assembly, testing & inspection, micro-precision positioning, pick & place, and automated dispensing. This multi-purpose robot arm is used both in assembly lines and as a component in third-party products.

More than twice as small as traditional small industrial robots, it weighs less than 5kg, its payload is 0.5kg. The robot’s controller is embedded in its palm-sized base. There is no bulky controller cabinet, no teach pendant, no messy cables – just a 24V external power supply cord and an Ethernet cable.

Equipped with zero-backlash gearheads and with high-resolution encoders, and having a body made entirely of aluminum, the Meca500 has a repeatability of 0.005mm – 20x less than the thickness of a sheet of printing paper, and between 2x and 20x better than other small industrial robots. The Meca500 boasts unmatched position and path accuracy too – path accuracy is better than 0.1mm.

The Meca500 is a plug-and-play device, offering great flexibility and simplicity. There are no training courses to take, no software to install, no options to purchase. Permanently connect the robot to a computer or a PLC via the Ethernet cable provided and use the programming language of your choice (Java, C#, Python, etc.)

In addition, an intuitive web interface for operating the robot resides in the robot’s controller and can be accessed via a web browser.

The Meca500‘s firmware can be updated through the robot’s web interface. Several novel features will be added to this firmware in 2017:

  • Based on CAD models imported in advance (in STL format), the robot will test in real time and avoid any mechanical interferences between its links, its end-effector, and its environment
  • Force-limiting algorithms and a hand-guiding mode will be implemented, transforming the Meca500 into a collaborative robot
  • EtherCAT connectivity will be enabled, further enhancing the robot’s openness and modularity

A miniature electric gripper that will be fully integrated with the robot will soon be released.