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TUTORIALS | LAYOUT CONFIGURATION | ROBOTICS AND MATERIAL FLOW

ROBOTICS AND MATERIAL FLOW
RELATED FILES RoboticsAndMaterialFlow.vcp Description Component package that contains ready made components which are used in this tutorial.

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INTRODUCTION
THE PRESENT TUTORIAL WILL DEMONSTRATE ONE OF THE BIGGEST ADVANTAGES OF VISUAL COMPONENTS’ 3D FAMILY OF PRODUCTS, COMBINING ROBOTICSSIMULATION AND MATERIAL FLOW ONTO ONE PLATFORM. IN THIS TUTORIAL, YOU WILL BUILD A HIGHLY FLEXIBLE LAYOUT FOR PACKAGING APPLICATIONS FROM A LIBRARY OF READY MADE COMPONENTS.

NOTE: Drag and drop the component package into the 3D world. It will install all necessary components and the layout that are needed to perform this tutorial.

GENERAL
The basic set of components available in this small librarycan be used to quickly assemble complex layouts for robotics and material flow analysis in packaging applications. From the layouts, information can be extracted such as capacity, throughput, utilization of machines, etc. An example of such a layout is presented in the following picture.

OVERALL COMPONENT LIBRARY
Install the component package. The installed components can be found by searchingin the eCat after the tutorial name “Robotics and material flow“. The provided component library robot platform controlls robots and all associated conveyors and feeders. All robot movements are automatically created based on the userdefined sample instance next to the robot platform.
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COMPONENTS DESCRIPTION
First we will go through a small description of the components that will be used throughout the layout, give an overview of the main parameters and the behavior the components will have.

TUTORIALS | LAYOUT CONFIGURATION | ROBOTICS ANDMATERIAL FLOW

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Conveyor/Process Point/Loading Point The conveyor is a highly flexible simulation component that can be used as a regular conveyor, that simply takes the flow of components in and out. It can also serve as a processign point, where the main component coming in is stopped, and some process is performed on that part, such as assembly or loading of extra components. When theconveyor is at the beginning of the line, it can be used as a loading point, where a robot can pick parts from a crate or feeder and places them onto the conveyor itself to start the flow of components in the line. The geometry of the conveyor can ba changed through the use of the parameters. The conveyor Height, Width and Length can all be modified, as well as the conveyor specific parameters,such as Speed and Capacity, as well as Type. Other parameters include the amount of feet the conveyor has, as well as the Diameter of the rolls and the spacing.

Type: Belt Length: 1000 Legs: 2 Mode: Load

Type: Chain Length: 1500 Legs: 2 Mode: Process

Type: Roll Length: 2000 Legs: 4 Mode: Conveyor

The main parameters to use in this layout are the AutoMode check box, which automaticallydetects components connected to the conveyor and sets the Mode accordingly. The conveyor Mode can be changed from Simple Conveyor, to Loading station, to Processing point depending on the needs and position in the layout. The parameters from the conveyor can be accessed from the Parameter tab page. The parameters are divided for clarity purposes into three sections: • Conveyor • Geometry •Process Each of these sections contain several parameters that can be modified by the user. Feel free to play around with the different values The most important parameters are the Process parameters, which allow one single component to behave like three different machines. It also enables the configuration of the Processing Range and the Process Position along the conveyor. The same conveyor can be...