Robotic Machine Tending

A collaborative robot arm can run almost any machine tending application

See how you can get higher product quality and consistency and faster output for your machine tending operations with a collaborative robot arm from Numatic Engineering. Robots can replace human workers in the repetitive and potentially dangerous work of loading and unloading parts from a milling, brake press, CNC, plastic molding, or other machine. Collaborative robots give you all the advantages of automation without the high costs and dedicated production space required by traditional industrial robots.

What is robotic machine tending?

Typical machine tending applications involve a human worker loading a part into a machine to execute a program. Then the worker removes the finished product and loads another part. These operations are repetitive and can even be dangerous for human workers, due to accidental or repetitive injuries. In areas with high employment, it can be difficult for manufacturers to find workers who are willing to tend machines. And it can be hard for human workers to provide consistent, accurate, and fast throughput for these boring jobs day in and day out.

Collaborative robot arms quickly, accurately, and consistently tend machines, hour after hour, day after day. And that frees your employees for more valuable activities.

Robotic machine tending benefits:

  • Improved production capabilities
  • Higher product output, quality, and consistency
  • Reduced risk of injury
  • Lower operating costs, with average robot payback of just 195 days

Advantages of collaborative robots for machine tending applications

  • Fast and easy robot deployment, even for small-volume production and fast change-overs
  • Easy programming with no experience required, and re-useable programs for recurrent tasks
  • Lightweight for easy redeployment to different machines
  • No need for dedicated, shielded work cells (after risk assessment)
  • Safe side-by-side human interaction with patented force-limiting technology

Explore our most popular machine tending cobot, the UR5 >

See how machine tending cobots are used in the Metals & Molding industry >

See how machine tending cobots are used in the Plastics & Polymers industry >