Characteristics of industrial robots:

Industrial robots meet the needs of social production and bring economic benefits. Features include:

① It has strong applicability to the environment and can replace people in dangerous and harmful operations. In places where long-term work is harmful to the human body, the manipulator will not be affected. As long as reasonable considerations are made according to the workpiece environment and appropriate materials and structures are selected, the manipulator can work under abnormal high or low temperatures, abnormal pressure and harmful gases, dust, and radiation.

② Robotic arms are durable and hard-working, can liberate people from heavy and monotonous labor, and can expand and extend people's functions. As long as you pay attention to maintenance and repair of the robot, it can handle long-term monotonous and repetitive work.

③Accurate movements can ensure and improve product quality while avoiding human operating errors.

④ It has good versatility and flexibility, especially general-purpose industrial robots, which can adapt to the requirements of rapidly changing product varieties and meet the needs of flexible production. This is because the manipulator action program and movement position (or trajectory) can be changed flexibly, with numerous degrees of freedom, and can quickly change the work content to meet production requirements. Automation is more effective in medium and small batch production.

⑤The use of robots can significantly improve labor productivity and reduce costs.

Classification of industrial robots:

1. According to the scope of use

(1) Special manipulator is a mechanical device attached to the host machine and has a fixed (sometimes adjustable) program and control system. The special manipulator has the characteristics of few movements, single working object, simple structure, reliable operation, etc., and is suitable for large-scale automated production. Currently it is widely used in light industry and electronics industry.

(2) Universal manipulator It is a manipulator with an independent control system, variable programs, and flexible and diverse movements. The universal manipulator has a large working range, high positioning accuracy and strong versatility. It is suitable for medium and small batch automated production that constantly changes production varieties, and is widely used in flexible automatic production lines.

2. According to driving mode

(1) Mechanical transmission manipulator It is a manipulator driven by a mechanical transmission mechanism (cam, connecting rod, gear, rack, etc.) to drive the movement of the actuator. Its main characteristics are accurate and reliable movement and high action frequency, but its structure size is large and the action program is immutable. Generally used as loading or unloading device of automatic machines.

(2) Hydraulic transmission manipulator It is a manipulator that uses oil pressure to drive the movement of the actuator. It has large weight-grabbing ability, compact and lightweight structure, stable transmission, flexible movement, stepless speed adjustment and continuous trajectory control. However, because oil leakage has a greater impact on working performance, it has strict requirements on sealing devices and is not suitable for working at high or low temperatures.

(3) Pneumatic transmission manipulator It is a manipulator that uses the pressure of compressed air to drive the movement of the actuator. Its main features are convenient media source, rapid pneumatic action, simple structure, low cost, and the ability to work in high temperature, high speed and dusty environments. However, due to the compressible nature of air, the stability of the working speed is poor, and because the air source pressure is low, it is only suitable to work under light load.

(4) Electric drive manipulator It is a manipulator that directly drives the actuator movement by a specially designed electric motor, linear motor or stepper motor. Because there is no need for an intermediate conversion mechanism, the structure is simple. The linear motor manipulator has fast movement speed, long stroke, and is easy to use and maintain. At present, mechanical design is developing in the direction of "mechatronics", and the use of electric power to directly drive manipulators will become increasingly common.

Applications of industrial robots:

Industrial robots are widely used in industrial production, roughly including the following aspects:

① Realize single-machine automation: automatic loading and unloading of various semi-automatic machine tools.

② Form an automatic production line: Based on the automation of single machines, automatic loading, unloading and transportation of workpieces can allow some single machines to be connected into an automatic production line.

③Special working environment: In environments such as high temperature (heat treatment, forging, casting, etc.), toxic and harmful, interstellar exploration, seabed resource development, etc., robots (or automatic or remote control) are used to replace humans.

Industrial robots meet the needs of social production and bring economic benefits.