ROBOTIC VALVE BAG PLACING – “DOMO ARIGATO, MR. ROBOTO”

“You're wondering who I am (Secret secret, I've got a secret)
Machine or mannequin (Secret secret, I've got a secret)
With parts made in Japan (Secret secret, I've got a secret)
I am the Modern Man!”

- Mr. Roboto – Written by Dennis DeYoung and performed by Styx on A&M’s 1983 “Kilroy Was Here”

Let’s face it, robots are scary. At some point or another, no matter how hard we try, in our mind they become RoboCop or Yul Brenner’s gunslinger from WestWorld. We get it. They were scary for us at first, too.

Taylor Products sold our first Robotic Valve Bag Placer in 2005 (TRV-1000) to a grout manufacturer in Paulsboro NJ, we too had trepidations. Not that it was going to start shooting customers, but that it’s programming would be complicated and/or cumbersome to our customers. As it turns out, there are things to be concerned about, but that wasn’t it.

The teaching pendants, Graphical User Interface (GUI) and US based support systems offered by our integration partner, Fanuc Robotics, made using the robot, maintaining it, and troubleshooting it relatively painless. In addition, the plus things that we thought would be present compared to an operator, all proved to be true as well: Depreciation, no payroll tax, flexibility compared to older mechanical designs are all wonderful. Combined with an average of 65,000 man hours between failures of the arm makes reliability unsurpassed.

That doesn’t mean that there weren’t drawbacks that we discovered along the way. While, yes, your new “employee” will work nights and Saturdays and not call in late or sick, “he” is also a blind 1-armed man (admit it, you just pictured Harrison Ford as the Fugitive chasing down Fredrick Sykes) and you need to treat “him” that way.

This results in 2 things (no Tommy Lee Jones isn’t part of it):
1. The need for automation quality bags so they can be reliably opened and placed repeatedly as mis-shaped or mis-glued heads can’t be seen.
2. Speed can be sacrificed compared to a person unless a second arm and/or an automated mechanism to bring the bags to the hanger arm are added.

By discovering limitations of a robotic placer, what it can do and what it can’t, over the last 8 years the danger (Danger!!! Will Robinson Danger!!! …sorry…couldn’t be helped, and you knew it was coming) of the unknown is now removed. Going forward in the 21st century robots are guaranteed to be a part of life. Remember, George Jetson learned to live with Rosie, even if he never did quite figure out the dog walk.

For more information on Robotic Automation Click Here.

Submitted By: Larry Eagan | Regional Sales Manager