Force sensors and robots

Force sensors and robots

With the development of industrial technology, the application of robots is becoming increasingly widespread, and their efficient work efficiency greatly enhances the production capacity of enterprises. However, industrial robots cannot detect their surrounding environment well and need to be combined with professional instruments to achieve certain functions. As more and more different sensors are introduced into robots, they become more sensitive and intelligent. Here are five applications of force sensors in robots:

1. Hengli
The torque sensor was first manufactured for applications such as grinding and polishing. Due to the difficulty in automating these applications, robots require certain force feedback to determine whether the force they are pushing is sufficient.
By introducing force feedback loops in the program, it is easy to automate these applications and achieve consistency in the manufacturing process. In this case, an external device is needed instead of the embedded solution provided by the robot manufacturer.

2. Target positioning
In practical applications, many users usually believe that the only way to locate and quantify components is to use visual sensors. But in reality, this is not the only solution. It cannot be denied that the visual system is a good way to locate or quantify components, but using force sensors to find and detect components is also feasible. Determining their position on the X-Y plane is one thing, determining their height is another. In fact, to achieve this, a 3D vision system is needed. If it is a pile of objects, there is no need to know the exact tree shape of the entire pile of objects, just go to that pile of objects every time to look for it. The robot only needs to determine the height of the pile of objects and continuously adjust its grasping height.
Another search function that uses force sensors is the "free mode" of the sensor. This may be due to insufficient utilization of the parameters of the force sensor. The "free mode" or "zero gravity" mode can "free up" the axis of the robot, which will enable it to improve its compliance. For example, if you want to tighten a part on a CNC machine, you can free up two axes so that the part can be perfectly closed while maintaining a certain grip. This ensures that all force is applied to the center of the components, without any additional force acting on the axis of the robot.

3. Repetitive force
If users are considering using robots for assembly tasks, they hope that the robots can repeat the same tasks over and over again. However, one of the reasons why assembly tasks are difficult to automate is that they require operators to perform force testing. By introducing force sensors, external forces applied during the assembly process can be felt. Robots need to apply very precise force when installing batteries on mobile phones. Due to the easy damage of these components, it is indeed difficult to assemble them intact and undamaged. That's why a very low force value should be set to prevent component misalignment and damage.
4. Weigh things
The application in the above picture is to separate the orange and blue ice balls. However, the way we use them has nothing to do with their colors. Actually, it's related to their weight. The orange puck is heavier than the blue puck. The sensor can distinguish them according to the weight.

Most collaborative robots achieve manual guidance by using built-in force sensors, but traditional industrial robots do not have this type of sensor built-in. That's why traditional industrial robots require a force sensor. With the force sensor, you can manually guide the teaching robot without using a teaching device. With just one force sensor, the robot can be taught by setting its starting and ending points, as well as a linear trajectory in between.
As seen so far, force feedback is very useful and can be applied to many different applications. Can you analyze your workflow and see if you can use force sensors instead of visual systems. Most of the time, force sensors are easier to integrate and do not require integrators, as users can complete them themselves.