TM Robotics, partnered with Shibaura Machine, is displaying four of Shibaura Machine’s robots at the Processing and Packaging Machinery Association (PPMA) show, which focuses on linking packaging professionals, innovators and suppliers with end-users. Taking place from September 29 through October 1 at the NEC in Birmingham, United Kingdom, Shibaura Machine’s featured robots, including those at high speed, demonstrate extensive capabilities and give attendees a better understanding of production benefits at a surprisingly low cost when considering the overall performance and value.

Thanks to the growing need for automation in the workplace, this year the PPMA has added a robotics area, located at Stand K90, featuring unique robotics applications from several manufacturers. TM Robotics’ “robot restaurant” demonstrates the ability to pick and place a variety of products with a single head by featuring a Shibaura Machine TV800 6-axis robot laying out a dinner place setting, handling a wine glass and wine bottle, and simulating the pouring of wine. Managing the wide range of items with such diverse shapes, materials, and weights with a single tool is not a straightforward task, often requiring multi-part grippers or tool-changers. TM Robotics manages the diverse tasks using one VERSABALL gripper from Empire Robotics for everything.

The next feature, at PPMA Stand A54, includes robots from Shibaura Machine and others, with three Shibaura Machine robots displaying two separate applications. One cell houses both a single Cartesian linear actuator from Shibaura Machine’s BB Range of Cartesian robots and a THP550 SCARA robot. The THP550 is a high-spec, high-demand 4-axis robot capable of running with complete accuracy at full speed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In the display, at a high speed, the THP550 tracks and aligns with a moving carriage mounted on the linear actuator, and when the robots are synchronized the SCARA robot lowers a locating pin into a hole on the carriage of the linear actuator, following a range of prescribed moves

The third Shibaura Machine robot at Stand A54 is a TH450A SCARA guided by a vision system, supplied and integrated by Fisher Smith. The TH450A robot picks four color poker chips from their random positions off the moving conveyor and loads them in sequence into a two-by-two pallet. When the pallet is full it is removed, emptied, and returned by another robot. At different times during the sequence, both robots enter the same work area and software interlocks ensure they do not collide.

“PPMA is one of the most important exhibitions of the year for us, so we’re thrilled to be displaying the capabilities of our three core robot types – SCARA, 6-axis and Cartesian – at this year’s show,” said TM Robotics CEO Nigel Smith. “With so many targeted tasks being presented, PPMA attendees – and robot purchasers – are able to get a taste for the comprehensive range of industrial robots TM Robotics offers, regardless of whether a company needs high-precision assembly, machine loading/unloading, or material-handling application.”