High-speed pharmaceutical sector robot offers six axes flexibility

The FANUC Robotics M-430iA/2P is designed for hose down cleaning, the robot is sealed to meet IP 67 standards and double seals on the major axes not only keep fluids out but ensure that grease and contaminants stays within the durable casings. Joints four and five use nylon gears and do not require any lubrication.

The robot arm’s high gloss finish gives a smooth surface and has been extensively proof tested against acid and alkaline cleaners commonly used for daily sanitising wash-down. All cables and pneumatic supplies to end of arm tooling are internally routed through the M430iA/2P to further prevent contamination.

With a reach of 700mm, the six axes arm provides a high degree of flexibility for horizontal or vertical product picking and placement. Its anthropomorphic arm design provides a large work envelope that allows the M-430iA/2P to quickly rotate or flip back on itself, if required, to cover an area of up to1.8mtr diameter. The arm can be vertically mounted, providing clear access when machine maintenance is required, or base mounted.

Two high-speed heavy duty motors for each of the major axes, joints one, two and three, use FANUC’s Dual Drive Torque, Tandem Control Technology. This allows very high speeds to be achieved by the M-430iA/2P – carrying out the industry standard benchmark test where the arm moves up vertically 25mm, horizontally 300mm and then down 25mm, the new robot achieves 120 cycles per minute (cpm) with a 1kg payload and 100cpm with a 2 Kg payload.

The M-430iA/2P is controlled with FANUC’s intelligent controller – the R-30iA series. The controller allows multiple arms to be controlled and has a fully integrated vision control system.